If you cause any damage replacing the drive Apple will not repair the computer for you. Page content loaded. Question: Q: what kind of hard drive does a macbook pro use? More Less. Communities Get Support. Sign in Sign in Sign in corporate. Browse Search. Ask a question. User profile for user: Picpocket Picpocket.
Question: Q: Question: Q: what kind of hard drive does a macbook pro use? Reply I have this question too I have this question too Me too Me too. Question marked as Solved User profile for user: Kappy Kappy. View answer in context. In a bid to satisfy the consumer's need for speed without sacrificing storage, hard drive producers came up with hybrid drives. In short, Fusion Drives or hybrid drives are hard drives that have a few gigabytes of flash memory added on, and a system that diverts data between the two locations, while still appearing to the computer as if it is one logical drive.
The flash memory is used to cache frequently-accessed files, such as system files, as detected by its onboard system. Cached files are considerably quicker to retrieve from this storage area, but requests for other files remain slower as they have to be fetched from the mechanical drive. Apple's solution, Fusion Drive , fits within the banner of hybrid drives, combining an SSD with a much larger hard drive. This offers the same effect as a single hybrid drive, including faster booting times and speedier file access, but it reverts to the slower speeds for other non-cached files.
Apple does offer the Fusion Drive as an option on some Mac configurations, including the updated Attaching the drives to the rest of the computer can be performed in a variety of ways, but most people will come into contact with just a few: SATA and M.
Instead of having a wide IDE cable that connects to two drives SATA instead uses one thin cable per drive for data, while power via Molex connectors is also replaced by a similar connection. The newer M.
This eliminates the need for cables to power or transfer data, making things neater and more compact compared to those that require cables. Due to directly plugging in, M. While it would be technically possible for a mechanical drive to use M. While having a different name, M. As an aside, there are also M. By connecting using the PCI-Express interface, the connection allows for even faster transfers. For example, while an M. In some cases, it is also possible to add an M.
This extra speed also costs more money, increasing the M. Given the limited use cases for these high read speeds, such as video editing 4K footage, it may be more useful for a person buying storage to opt for the M. Over the years, Apple has moved towards soldering flash-based storage directly to the logic board of its Mac products, in order to create ever thinner devices. Older devices like earlier Mac mini models offered the opportunity to upgrade with a bit of effort, but newer models generally don't have this capability.
For example, the teardown of the inch iMac refresh revealed the mechanical drive option wasn't available, with the SSD was soldered to the logic board.
Furthermore, there isn't any form of expansion connection on the logic board pertaining to storage, effectively eliminating those sorts of upgrade options. Namely how long the chips in an SSD will last for.
The NAND flash memory chips that are used to store data on an SSD are made up of a number of cells, which each can hold bits of data, changeable by electrical signals.
Depending on the type of flash, different amounts of bits can be saved per cell. SLC is the most expensive, as only one bit is allocated per cell, meaning more memory chips have to be used than other versions for comparable capacities. Typically reserved for enterprise usage, SLC flash can have the longest read and write cycles, referring to the number of times each cell can be accessed, as well as being generally more reliable in the face of errors or extreme temperatures.
MLC, as the name suggests, is a cell that holds multiple bits of data in a cell, cutting the production cost significantly. The cost savings also mean it is less durable than SLC, with read and write cycles per cell hovering around 10, compared to the , of SLC. For eMLC, the cycles per cell count rise to around 20, and 30, The cheapest type of memory to produce, TLC is capable of storing three bits in a cell.
The cycle count is the lowest of the bunch at around 5, per cell, which sounds low but still equates to several years of usage. When looking at the specifications of a drive or a review, people may see references to sequential and random access speeds, along with figures relating to reading data from the disk and writing to it.
In short, they are two different ways a drive could access data on a drive, which examines two specific scenarios. Sequential access refers to blocks of data that are read in order, whereas random access involves pulling data blocks from multiple locations. For hard drives, sequential access is preferential, as that would mean a series of blocks of data would be read in one go without having to wait for the read head to move to a new position and wait for the platter to spin around to the right start point for the next section.
In cases where files are removed and leave gaps that can be filled with smaller files later on, this can lead to a loss of sequential data blocks. This leads to a phenomenon called fragmentation, where the performance of a hard drive is hampered by the constant need to find where the next block of data is located after one section ends. In effect, the faster sequential access is eroded away, with activity resembling the slower random access. That is why hard drives needed to be defragmented over time, allowing the system to reorganize blocks of data to ensure sequential access as much as possible.
This can take hours, and requires a drive to copy file fragments to unused parts of a hard drive, before copying them back into positions that are more beneficial.
Random access tests typically revolve around accessing blocks of data in different orders or positions than would normally be expected for sequential access. A hard drive would have to skip between positions in such cases, which is inefficient for the drive's operation versus sequential access.
An example of this would be comparing reading data for a large movie file versus loading a game, with the latter using many small files a fraction of the size of the movie file.
As these files may not be accessed in the same order as they were written to the disk, the drive has no choice but to skip around to access all the required data blocks in order, namely equating random access.
For SSDs, this is less of a problem due to the lack of mechanical components being the main slowing factor. Even so, there is still some variance between drives in terms of sequential and random speeds. When looking at a drive, take into consideration the types of files that you intend storing on it. Large video files may benefit more from a drive with better sequential access speeds, while documents and tasks relying on numerous small files will generally be better on a drive with higher random access speeds.
For Mac users, the problem of upgrading their device is one where their choices are limited for the most part. The implementation of directly-soldered SSDs in Macs, especially in portable models like the MacBook Pro , rule out any possibility of internal changes. In cases where there seems to be a chance for users to switch out the drives for something else, Apple has also put measures in place to hamper such attempts.
The introduction of the T2 security chip into Mac models has enabled Apple to increase the security on drives by having it handle encryption. It does mean the price is higher, but if transfer speed is the most important consideration when looking for the best external hard drive for your Mac, then this is the drive to go for. Not only is your data kept protected from knocks and drops with the rugged shell, but it's also got bit AES security features and NFC Near Field Communication features as well.
This is a great external hard drive for your Mac if you are concerned about keeping your data safe and secure. It is a good performer when it comes to data transfer speeds but doesn't come near the top of the leaderboard. Unsurprisingly, it doesn't reach the top speeds of solid state external drives, but for external hard drives based on traditional HDDs, this is the drive to consider.
With MacBooks coming with USB Type-C connections, this is an excellent - and stylish - external hard drive that makes the most of this speedy new port. If you're worried about people getting access to your data if your external hard drive is stolen, than you'll like the iStorage drive here.
If someone tries to tamper with your iStorage drive, you can configure it to self-desturct. What's more, the data is encrypted by the bit AES protocol, with multiple forms of protection in place to ensure the bad guys don't get in no matter how persistent. When you consider all that extra security, the prices won't scare you away either. It's more pricey than the other drives of its capacity, but the extra security it offers will be well worth it for many people.
When choosing the best external hard drive for your Mac, you need to consider other things beyond storage capacity and price. Of course, those two things are absolutely vital. Another deciding factor, however, is the connection. Many external hard drives have USB 3. There are other things as well, including a rugged build if you plan on taking it out in the field with you, and portability if you plan on traveling around with it. While we will talk mostly about hard drives as storage device write and read on spinning metal or glass platters, we have to mention SSD solid state drives as well as they have grown both in capacity and in performance.
That however came at the cost of endurance, especially at the lower end of the market and is likely to be an issue if you use our SSD storage extensively.
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