Using an external HDD to replace macbook HDD?

Quote from Rockalittle : @ rockysosua it looks like it's soldered. I'm willing to take a shot at some soldering work if I only knew what was required. Also the metal cover appears to be riveted instead of screwed into place. I'm thinking WD doesn't wan't us swapping out their externals LOL

Sell the drive or put it back in the external and use it for backup, There are a lot of solder points there, and its likely high temp silver solder that desoldering is more difficult than the lead based stuff you are use to.

Quote from Rockalittle : Would this one work? Seagate Expansion 1.5 TB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive STAX1500102

Links are really important here. Like other people said stick with an internal drive for this since you know what you will be getting. Also most of the drives you have posted are storage drives, not Main drives. Your performance will be better with a performance drive, some of which are 7200rpm but not all. HD Density makes up for some of the slower RPM drives almost to the point where there is very little difference.

thanks for the info

Quote from Rockalittle : @ rockysosua it looks like it's soldered. I'm willing to take a shot at some soldering work if I only knew what was required. Also the metal cover appears to be riveted instead of screwed into place. I'm thinking WD doesn't wan't us swapping out their externals LOL

Yeah, they started doing that with a lot of their drives. I wouldn't do the soldering it needs. Its really not worth it, and you could likely damage the board making it a paper weight. Listen to LiquidRetro on this one.

Quote from Rockalittle : Would this one work? Seagate Expansion 1.5 TB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive STAX1500102

Usually Seagates are safer, but you need to find someone who did it before. I would not guess on this, just verify that the drive you want to buy is a model that people have opened and confirmed to have a normal SATA connection.

I'll second LiquidRetro's statement about the storage vs main drives, but if a slightly slower speed is not a big deal to you, its understandable. Really using an external instead of an internal is only valuable if you can find a cheap external that has been verified to work.

Quote from Albort : dont macbook use a different kind of HDD? I know mine is like a usb stick sized one... EDIT: i have an MBA air, 2011

Your (and my) MBA do use a different drive (I have the 13" 2011). The 12+2 connector on the DIMM-sized drive is completely different from the standard SATA connector used in PCs. OWC makes replacement drives for the new MBA line. You can buy a 480GB drive for about $800.

MBPs and standard MBs use standard SATA drives.

Well.... after extensive searching I believe the seagate I mentioned earlier will work. I also believe it is the largest capacity HDD available in 2.5" form with sata connection.

Also the HDD that came in the macbook is 5400rpm so shouldn't that be ok?

Quote from Rockalittle : Well.... after extensive searching I believe the seagate I mentioned earlier will work. I also believe it is the largest capacity HDD available in 2.5" form with sata connection. Also the HDD that came in the macbook is 5400rpm so shouldn't that be ok?

It appears that the Seagate is also a 5400 rpm, so you wont lose or gain any speed, but you will gain the extra space you desire.

Thats what I'm thinking.
I may even keep the WD as a backup because it's so small and doesn't require ac power.
I have a seagate 1tb external but it's big and needs ac power

For movies and crap I would keep them on a different drive, no point in filling up your computer with that crap.

Quote from mrbobhcrhs : For movies and crap I would keep them on a different drive, no point in filling up your computer with that crap.

Point well taken but movies and crap is really what I want on there. My other documents require very little space.