Good news, bad news: WD ships first 1 TB mobile drive, doesn't fit in Mac laptops
Yes, it's a lot of storage -- but the drive's form factor won't fit into any currently available Mac laptop. (Note the update at the end of this post)I was pretty excited when the Western Digital news release hit my inbox. The new drives, the industry's first in that size for portables, have pretty good specs and capacious storage space. The problem really is the size. With Apple in the business of providing slim notebooks, the drive is just too tall (12.5mm) to make it into any Apple portable, which maxes out at a drive size of 9.5mm.
The drive will be available in a USB enclosure, and WD is also offering a 750 GB version of the drive as well. The 1 TB drive lists for US$250, while the 750 GB drive is $189. Those prices are for the drive alone. Mounted in a USB enclosure the 1 TB drive sells for $300.
Currently the largest 3rd party drives you can get in current Mac laptops max out at 500 GB.
The Mac Mini may be able to house the new drive, but it would be a pretty tight fit, and according to our Steven Sande, may require the removal of the SuperDrive.
Update: We've had a variety of responses to this post, with different ideas about which, if any laptops could take this new high capacity drive. I thought the quickest and best approach would be to try the experts at Other World Computing, who make a living selling replacement hard drives for Mac Desktops and portables. The tech there told me that the last generation 17" MacBook Pro can take the 12.5mm drive, but that the 15" model can't. He also said none of the unibody MacBook Pro models can take a drive of that size. I'm sure some won't accept this information either, but these were the most expert opinions we could find since Western Digital wasn't sure and Apple doesn't generally comment on such things. Since the drives are just shipping, we'll wait for some real world experience and report back. Thanks to all who commented.
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Yes, it's a lot of storage -- but the drive's form factor won't fit into any currently available Mac laptop. (Note the update at the end of...
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Ok all i just bought this 1tb at Bestbuy and tried it does fit into my 13 inch macbook pro. The only problem is now WD has gotten smart. The include a usb plug onto the hard drive. There is no longer a sata to usb adapter on the end. So it will not connect into the sata plug on the macbook motherboard. So as far as I know this is now a no go. If they come out with a sata version all of us MAC users would be set!
October 09 2009 at 6:56 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI'd call that all good news. WD is not a brand that I would buy again.
July 28 2009 at 11:11 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI'd have preferred a 500 GB Scorpio Black that would fit in my MacBook instead.
July 27 2009 at 7:45 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWill in fit in apple tv?
July 27 2009 at 5:55 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI really, really want two of these installed in a Mac mini. Removing the SuperDrive would make enough room and free up a SATA port.
That, and the external drive would be a nice replacement to the frickin' loud 1TB OWC Mercury Elite Pro that I have right now. It's doing an hourly Time Machine backup right now and it sounds like someone is shaking marbles in a coffee can.
TUAWSteve
Hey Steve, so are you saying this won't fit in the Mini's hard drive area? That stinks... my 200 gig drive is essentially full. :(
Has anybody tried putting a drive of this height into a mini?
I might have misread your original comment. Would just 1 (not two) of these drives fit in the last gen mac mini?
July 27 2009 at 5:44 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWho cares? SSDs FTW!!!
Seriously though, is having THAT much storage TODAY in your laptop really that important? Couldn't you just carry an external drive? I have a 500gig in my mac mini, though. Media servers need their storage!
I would prefer a cheap-ish 256 or 512 gig SSD to a terabyte of spinning platters!
External hard drives add extra bulk. Sure, SSDs are great, but platter drives still have a large demand in a low price dominated market. The lower the price, the better; for a lot of people.
"I would prefer a cheap-ish 256 or 512 gig SSD to a terabyte of spinning platters!"
Wouldn't we all? The market will shift once production costs go down. It's all a matter of time.
some people don't use desktops anymore! External drives are "messy" so the more internal the better. (Then we need a 2TB drive for backups!!!! Ugh)
Seriously, while 12.5 MM is the "spec" nobody has shipped 12.5 MM drives that weren't last years bargin technology in quite a while, especially after the change to SATA made a nice breaking point. With the push for even slimmer SDD units, making a 12.5 unit seems slightly stupid. The only notebooks that could take this are the old boats.. that use IDE drives so you couldn't have it anyway!
I did just add a 500GB to my white Macbook so a 1TB would make a nice Time Machine drive.
This blows. I've got a 250 gig in my 07-ish MacBook and I have around 1 gig free. I'd love to have a terabyte of space, but it looks like my only options are to get a 500 gb drive or wait and see if Seagate can make a 9.5" tb drive. =[
July 27 2009 at 4:03 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyHaha. 9.5 inches is pretty big for a hard drive. :P
9.5mm tall and a 2.5" diameter platter.
The unibody macbooks and macbook pros ie 13 and 15 inchers with removable doors can take the 12.5mm drives
http://www.alexpopovich.com/blog/2008/10/30/macbook-rev-f-audio-skipping-in-vista-analisys-and-solution/
I've also personally took off my battery door to measure.
This will change when they are able to make 1 TB drives without having to put two platters in them. I'm actually not sure what laptop these will fit in, Alienware maybe?
July 27 2009 at 3:39 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThese drives have 3 platters in the actually. So, if they managed to make 2.5" platters that could hold 500GB (or more), we'd be all set.
July 27 2009 at 4:45 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Replyarg.
*them,
This should be a lesson to everyone--PROOFREAD.
If it doesn't fit in a laptop I'd say they're shooting themselves in the foot as they're ignoring an existing market and hoping only new machines will support this drive.
Sounds really more like a marketing stunt than something practical.
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