Hands-On Review--Western Digital Scorpio 320GB 5400RPM 2.5" Hard Disk Drive in a MacBook Pro

When I bought my 15" 2.4GHz MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo last June, I ordered it with the largest drive then available as a CTO from the Apple Store, a 200GB Toshiba model. I needed the space because, having sold my Power Mac G5 Quad, the MacBook Pro served as my principal desktop computer as well as my principal notebook computer for travel.

Unfortunately, the 200GB Toshiba was also a slower 4200RPM drive while most drives these days are either 5400RPM or 7200RPM. My review showed the slower speed in increased time the MacBook Pro takes to startup (+24%) and to copy large or large numbers of files (+49%) when compared with the previous model. It has remained a point of mild dissatisfaction as Apple added faster (200GB/7200RPM) and larger (250GB/5400RPM) hard drives as CTO options to the latest refreshment of the MacBook Pro.

Over the past 6 months, most of the 182GB actual capacity of the 200GB Toshiba (both the 150GB Mac and 32GB Boot Camp partitions) has become filled so I need an even larger capacity drive.

Fortunately, Western Digital recently released a 320GB model (WD3200BEVT) of its 2.5" Scorpio SATA notebook hard disk drives running at 5400RPM. This is the largest capacity notebook hard disk drive currently available and it is 9.5mm in height so it fits the MacBook Pro. I ordered one to retrofit into my MacBook Pro. Some will say that doing this will void my Apple warranty. It will, of course, if the drive itself or my installing it is implicated in any subsequent problem that occurs with the MacBook Pro. I have been installing new hard drives in PowerBooks for many years and have never had a problem as a result nor a refusal by Apple to fix a rare but unrelated problem. Please note, however, that "your mileage may vary."

Western Digital's new 320GB Scorpio drive has a designed 3Gb/s transfer speed and 8MB of cache. Western Digital notes its high performance, low power consumption and ultra-cool and quiet operation. It is very popular at $199.99 since I had to wait for the second shipment even though I had ordered one when they were announced as available back in early November. The second shipment in mid December was sold out the day it was announced. OWC just began selling them on Monday and other Mac vendors like TransIntl will soon have them as well.

I used iFixit.com's online guide to install the hard drive. Doing so is not too difficult but it is definitely not for the squeamish, meek or ham fisted. I was pleased to learn from the guide that my MacBook Pro would be easier than my 12" 867MHz PowerBook G4 for which I have changed drives several times. Still, some 21 tiny screws have to be removed and replaced correctly, the MacBook Pro's upper case removed and three delicate ribbon cables dealt with.

iFixit.com does not yet have a guide for the 2.4GHz MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo so I used the one for its predecessor 2.16-2.33GHz model. I made several alterations to the procedure and there was only one surprise difference from the guide. Here are my notes:

1. The most difficult part of going in was lifting off the upper case holding the keyboard. It seemed to be caught on something in the front middle on each side of the latch. However, with delicate lifting and persistent but careful rocking left and right the upper case finally came free. Subsequent inspection showed no catches or fasteners in the "stuck" area so it must be due to the screw flanges having extra material protruding from the holes as a result of the screws. One could easily bend and crease the upper case if care is not taken at this point.
2. After freeing the upper case, I did not disconnect the trackpad/keyboard ribbon cable as suggested in the guide but stood it up on edge leaning against the screen. I am very squeamish around ribbon cables and avoid disconnecting them if it is not necessary.
3. I used my finger nails instead of a spudger to disconnect the hard drive ribbon cable from the logic board.
4. I used my finger nails to disconnect the IR and and sleeplight cables before lifting up the ribbon cable glued to the hard drive.
5. I used my finger nails instead of a spudger to free up the ribbon cable glued with a mild adhesive in several spots to the hard drive.
6. The hard drive retaining bracket used TORX screws instead of Phillips screws as shown in the guide. My #6 Torx driver was a bit too small for the Torx screws and a #7 was a bit large but thankfully it worked.

The drive replacement procedure took a little over 45 minutes but I have done this numerous times. A first-timer should take some 1-2 hours.

When I pressed the power button, the startup chime sounded and my MacBook Pro booted off the old Toshiba drive in an external FireWire case. A dialog box popped up with the message that the new drive was not recognized and should be initialized. I dismissed it and then used Drive Utility to partition it with the GUID partition map required for Intel-based Macs--the 320GB Scorpio has 286GB of usable space after formatting, some 100GB more than the 200GB Toshiba. I completed a clean install of Leopard and used Setup Assistant to import all of my files from the old drive.

The 320GB Scorpio is much faster than the 200GB Toshiba. It took an average of 35 seconds to startup, i.e. from chime to fully complete desktop, while the Toshiba took 56 seconds--the Scorpio is 38 percent better. The Scorpio took 36 seconds to duplicate a 500MB folder of files and the Toshiba took 62 seconds--the Scorpio is 61 per cent faster. Using Xbench 1.3 the Scorpio scored 53 while the Toshiba scored 31--the Scorpio is 71 percent faster. Applications launch more briskly using the Scorpio. In addition, the 320GB Scorpio runs very quietly and seemingly cooler than the 200GB Toshiba.

The Western Digital Scorpio 2.5" 320GB 5400RPM notebook hard disk drive (model WD3200BEVT) has an MSRP of $199.99 and a 3-year warranty. It is the highest capacity notebook hard disk drive currently available. [Bill Fox]

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