So I have filled the HDD on my MacBook Pro and I want to fit a new larger one.

Can anybody reccomend anyone in the Bath/Bristol area who could do the install? I am not willing to do it myself.

Give it a go. A small screwdriver is all you need if it is a modern one. It is unbelievably easy.
As far as software goes… That too is really easy, just plug a hard drive in and activate Time Machine.

It’s really not hard.

It’s a pre-unibody one is it as easy?

I have a Timecapsule so I assume you install new hardware and then back up?

Check out ifixit.com for instructions on replacing the HDD. I use carbon copy cloner for backups.
Basically;
1, back up your HDD to an external
2, replace your internal HDD
3, reboot from your external HDD & clone it to your new internal.
I found it really easy with ccc, never tried time machine. Everything was just as I left it, even history in safari open the tabs I just shut beforehand.

@OP

Pick your model and have a look at the steps involved.

http://www.ifixit.com/Browse/MacBook_Pro

If it’s too tricky, I think Bristol has an Apple Store. Might be worth ringing them to see what they would charge for fitting, as you will want to supply the HD yourself. It will be a 2.5″ SATA if I remember right, but the iFixit guide will clarify.

Cheers Jamie and Kiwijohn.

The guide for my Mac is very clear but involves completely opening the machine to the elements and the removal of many small screws. A job I would prefer to be done in a workshop with some form of static protection.

I have found an independent re-seller in Bath and I have dropped them a line.

Fair enough. I never did my iBook because it looked like a nightmare. The unibody MacBooks on the other hand are a breeze.
I wouldn’t get a new HDD from an apple store though.

For the record, I did mine myself, 15″ pre-unibody Macbook Pro, in a very un-static environment and it all worked out ok.

The amount of screws is ‘interesting’. There are differing sizes as well. But, patience and a good set of jewellers screwdrivers should see you ok.

Changed the HD on an old white iBook or two. Bought some good jewellers screwdrivers, as adviosed above, and taped the screws to a sheet of paper as I removed them – labelling where they came from. IIRC Someone had written a guide.

Do you really need to replace it though?

How big is it, and why’s it full?

Do you really need everything what’s on it, on it all the time?

Rather than replacing it, which is costly, will render it out of action for a few days at least, and is slightly risky, I personally would invest in a NAS with twin drives in a mirrored RAID configuration.

something like this:

http://www.dabs.com/products/netgear-readynas-duo–1x-2tb–network-attached-storage–nas–6CNH.html?refs=52910000&src=3

Many times more storage than available on a laptop HD, with not installation or compatibility issues.

Then, transfer all stuffs which you don’t need access to all the time, onto that. So all your pics and movies and stuffs are still in one easily accessible place, but not cluttering up yer hard drive and making your laptop slow and heavy. You will find it is much lighter to carry, without all those stuffs on it clogging it up.

Macs are brilliant at networking with external devices; setting up a NAS is really easy. Airport can access the stuffs via your router, and all your other devices can too.

I don’t get the thirst for big HDs in laptops; unless you’re into video editing or something, why do you need the storage. Bung on external drive at home, then it’s all safer.

Why does the word ‘sum mat’ (space added to let it appear) get edited to ‘something’? What’s the problem with a popular colloquialism? Will all colloquialisms be replaced with ‘proper’ words? 😕

was not…

Ah, I get it. How long did someone have to sit down and configure that filter?

How pathetic. Get a life ffs. Jeeze! 😆

I have thought about creating a partition on my Timecapsule as another option.

hmmmmmmmmmm

If you went the external route, Amazon are doing a 2TB WD Elements for £86ish.

Edit: Might be worth seeing if that price drops, according to Camelizer they were about £56 early last year.

Pre-unibody is easy.
Remove battery (use coin to twist the release)
Remove L shaped metal covering bracket (handful of tiny screws)
Pull out HDD (iirc there’s a tab or something attached to it)

To put it back together, just reverse the above.

No idea about the back up stuff. Never really used the OSX bit, nor had a time capsule.

Hey Pete, I didn’t know you could partition Time Capsule. Is it an easy enough job do you know?

“Remove battery (use coin to twist the release)”

You are talking about a different model to mine.

@Andy

You’re talking about Alu Powerbooks and Core Duo Macbooks. OP has a MBP.

@ Pauly you do it from the disk utility.

Not tried it yet. Not sure how I would move my iTunes and iPhoto libraries afterwards.

You already have Timecapsule? Then why you is worry?

I think the only question which remains, is why do you need to have so much stuff on your laptop?

@ Elf, lots of stuff in iTunes and iPhoto basically. backing up several iOS devices to this ‘outer is not helping either. As an example I bought Wall-E off iTunes the other day. You get the HD version, there SD version and the iTunes extras. Weighed in at about 6GB all done!!

@Elf, replacing the HD in an older MBP gives a nice performance boost too. I went from the 120Gb drive in my 15″ MBP to a 500Gb drive and the laptop was noticably snappier despite it being only 5400rpm, not 7200rpm.

The transfer rates on a newer drive with higher density platters can be much faster simply because more data can be written or read from a platter on a single spin of the drive.

6 months later and my HD now has 160Gb on it (when I replaced it was 90Gb of 120Gb) full. So, in my case putting a larger drive in does mean you hang on to more junk because you can.

Swapping the drive was not difficult and using Carbon copy cloner only took an afternoon. Just remember which screws go where!

If you’ve got a Time Capsule why not plug in a USB external hard drive to it, that’s what I did to store all my MP4 movies that I’ve already watched

Or you can set it up as your iTunes library

How Frankers? I assumes you create a partition on the Timecapsule but how do you get your iTunes content on to the it?