While I must confess to being intrigued by the Creative Cloud stuff I think they are missing a trick by only having what amounts to the full Master Suite as the only option. If they offered a more limited version that covered fewer apps I suspect it would become a real no-brainer for a lot more people.

I realise you get a lot more storage for you money with a hard drive but did you consider a SSD? 256GB ones have come down in price a lot recently, less likely to cook itself and you almost certainly would notice the performance boost.

That's a good point, and you are quite right it would be an option. Sadly, it's beyond my budget. Crucial have 256GB 2.5in SSDs starting at £125, where I can get a 500GB HDD for less than £50.

If I thought it was worth the money, then I'd certainly look at an SSD over HDD for the MBP (too many TLAs!).

120GB SSD?
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/120gb-oc ... -s-50k-iop

120GB is smaller than the drive it would replace. I want to grow, not shrink.

Remove the DVD drive & replace it with a normal HDD then use the SSD for boot etc.

Much faster

A good thought, but it stretches the budget more than I would like. Besides, replacing the hard drive is - hopefully - a sticking plaster solution until I can afford to upgrade to a new machine.

Right, thanks to a windfall, I am able to purchase the new drive right now. I am considering this one:

HITACHI 0J26005 Travelstar Z7K500 2.5 inch Hard Drive 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 7200rpm

http://astore.amazon.co.uk/wwwx404couk- ... B007YJIGPQ

Can I just confirm this will replace the 160GB Hitachi HTS541616J9SA00 currently installed? Ta.

I can confirm that you can find them cheaper:

http://www.ebuyer.com/339424-hitachi-50 ... ve-0j11285

£38.06 inc. vat

It's the same physical dimensions and connector, so it should just slot right in. However, I am not an expert...

Ooh, ta. I'm planning on an Amazon purchase, though, because the windfall was a gift certificate and a bit comes back to support x404.

While I wouldn't be ungrateful, I do think gift certificates are a great way to ruin perfectly good cash!

Good luck with the operation. I hope it goes smoothly.

It should be faster because the head will only have to move a quarter the distance while seeking data, so you should find the laptop is more responsive even without going for an SSD.

Happy (and prosperous) New Year to one and all.

Not been here for some time...

Heather, the proposed Hitachi will be fine. As it's a 7200RPM unit (cƒ 5200RPM for your original 160GB jobbie) it will be appreciably faster, likely quieter and use less power.

All pluses!

SSD - I'm still unconvinced so far as serious hard drive work is concerned. These are (sophisticated) flash drives and there is still some doubt about life span. Simply because these have no mechanical parts does not mean they are hands down better than "traditional" HDDs.

There are also a number of compatibility issues with various Brands of SSD and earlier MacBooks/PowerBooks to do with firmware of SSD AND MacBook/PowerBook firmware.

Buy a cheap 2.5" USB enclosure and fit the 160GB, see...

Sumvision Hard Drive Caddy - Brushed Aluminium

Ian!! Great to see an old face round here again.
(you may know me as "MacOS10" from the old place)

Definitely all plus!

And good to see you again, Ian. You shouldn't be so shy.

I will keep the old drive about as a sort of back-up back-up of a working system. Whether I shall get an enclosure remains to be seen. It's not really big enough to re-use for other purposes, sadly.

Good to see you again squire!

Nice to know I'm not alone in the raised eyebrow assessment of SSDs and their longevity.

Steve, Heather and Alex,

Great to be made so welcome - much appreciated!

Went through a midlife crises recently, dumped the C5 and got myself an MR2 - boy racer?

Who, not me...