[zippy]

I've got a friend who's MacBook HDD seems to have bit the dust. It won't boot, clicks like a son of a gun, and isn't recognized by Disk Utility. I've tried a PRAM reset, but with all that clicking and scratching, I told him the drive is most likely toast. (here's where we give a little shout out to Time Machine. woot woot)

I don't know the exact model of MacBook, but I know it's one of the easy to replace hard-drive models.

It seems that now would be a good time to upgrade in both size and speed (a 7200 RPM drive should work in this thing -right?). I thought I remember hearing good things about the WD Scorpio Black drives. Newegg has one that I think is the right type here for $75.

Does anyone know off hand if that's the right type of drive? Any other suggestions on specific drives?

[bassplayinMacFiend]

I picked up a WD 500GB HDD for my MacBook from OWC last year. They had a combo package with an external case for the old HDD but guess you won't need that in your case.

I'd cross reference OWC and Newegg to find the best deal for you. OWC stuff is all Mac compatible and Newegg commenters are good about mentioning Mac compatibility/non-compatibility in the comments section.

[beardedmacuser]

I've been using a 320 gig WD hard drive (model no WDC WD3200BJKT-00F4T0 according to System Profiler) for the last couple of years without any problem whatsoever in my plastic MacBook (GMA X3100 model).

[zippy]

Thanks for the info guys. One other question:

I assume he can just order a 'bare drive' and take the little wrapper/enclosure thing off of the existing drive. Or is it better to order one of the kits that comes with a new wrapper (or whatever you'd call that)?

Also, I did talk to him again, and he purchased the MB in Sept. '07. (no Applecare)

[PB PM]

Almost any 2.5" SATA drive will work just fine. There are a few 500GB drives that are too tall, but I don't think there are many of them around anymore.

[Dorian Gray]

Originally Posted by zippy Any other suggestions on specific drives?

The fastest hard disk drive on the market for a typical mixed workload is the Hitachi Travelstar 7K500. It's available in various capacities up to 500 GB. See my thread on installing this in a MacBook Pro for more details.

Any 2.5-inch SATA drive with a height of 9.5 mm will work. The thicker 12.5-mm drives probably won't (and none of them are any good anyway).