What's the max size harddrive I can put in a MacBook?

May 21, 2007 1:23 PM

I'd like to put a larger HD in my MacBook, but I can find any reference to the max size I can put in it. I have an Intel Core Duo MacBook (2GHz). I purchased it around Sept. 2006. The stock 60GB HD is full. I saw a recommendation for a Seagate Momentus 160GB at 7200rpm. Can I go above 160GB? Is there a max that this laptop can handle? I'm leaning towards 7200rpm for better performance, but will this impact battery life??
posted by jpep to computers & internet (12 comments total)

Sorry, that first sentence should be: "I'd like to put a larger HD in my MacBook, but I can't find any reference to the max size I can put in it."
posted by jpep at 1:24 PM on May 21, 2007

You can custom-configure the MacBook up to a 200 GB hard drive, so I'm fairly certain it'll support any size as long as you get the right interface.
posted by chrismear at 1:33 PM on May 21, 2007

The MacBook determines the physical size of hard disk you can use. The hard disk industry determines the maximum capacity for that physical size. I believe that 200 GB drives in that size have fairly recently become available. A 200 GB drive from Transintl is $209.
posted by alms at 1:43 PM on May 21, 2007

I put a Seagate 160GB drive in my black macbook. So far so good. A little loss of battery life, maybe, but I run smcFanControl to keep the machine cool anyway and that sucks battery, so the loss of battery life might be my fan.

Installation was relatively easy compared to Powerbooks and iBooks.
posted by spitbull at 2:18 PM on May 21, 2007

Since mac's don't use BIOS or FAT (natively) or MBR partitions I'm guessing the volume size limit is probably huge. I know I can use 500G firewire on my mac book pro. Whatever it is it's probably larger than any hard drive available today otherwise you'd find the information you're looking for.

Oh, I found a link that might help.
posted by chairface at 2:39 PM on May 21, 2007

The limiting factor is the drive height. I believe all recent mac laptops require a 9.5mm drive height. Toshiba makes just such a drive that is available now, but it is only 4200rpm, so a bit on the slow side (of course it will appear faster for you as it will only be 33% full) compared to the 160 7500rpm Seagate. I think the Toshiba is going for around $145 now.

Faster 200+ GB drives have been released, but some of them are 12.5mm high so be careful (and they are hard to find at the moment). I've got a macbook pro and am looking to upgrade soon, right now I'm just waiting on the availability of the 200 5200rpm+ drives.
posted by cftarnas at 3:35 PM on May 21, 2007

Here's a link to the 200GB Toshiba drive I plan to get for my MacBook. It's $145 at NewEgg.
posted by jacob at 3:44 PM on May 21, 2007

There's a 250 GB model that will be out in June. link
posted by willnot at 4:09 PM on May 21, 2007

This may be a really blonde thing to say but what about an external drive?
posted by mu~ha~ha~ha~har at 6:34 PM on May 21, 2007

http://www.wikihow.com/Build-an-External-Hard-Drive
posted by mu~ha~ha~ha~har at 6:35 PM on May 21, 2007

Yes, a higher-rpm drive would decrease battery life.

If you haven't already, putting in as much RAM as possible would substantially improve performance with very little effect on battery life.

(And in most general-usage cases, the brightness of your display will make the most difference in battery life. When you're off AC power, always keep your display as dim as is comfortable/practical; that will make a big difference.)
posted by allterrainbrain at 9:34 AM on May 22, 2007

Thanks, everyone. I ended up going with the Seagate 160GB which actually runs at 5400rpm (not 7200 that I originally indicated). Although it seems that the macbook will support large HDs, I feel that once I fill up 160GB, I'll probably be in the market for a new laptop. Thanks for the input. It was very helpful.
posted by jpep at 11:51 AM on May 22, 2007