Upgrading HDD in a MacBookPro (HDD cloning?)

[MickyBlueyes]

I have a 2008 MBPro (2008 vintage, Penryn??) with a 250Gb HDD which is getting a bit full, mainly due to a lossless iTunes library of ripped Cd's which I stream to my HiFi.

As I don't want to move it to my NAS & stream from there (where there is a full Time Machine backup by the way) I am looking to swap the current 2.5" Hitatchi drive for a 500Gb, I wanted to pick the brains of the forum as to the best way of cloning/copying the current drive to then swap into the case having not taken this sort of step in Mac-world.

If it was in a PC I would just replace drive do a bare new OS install & copy files, but I'm not fully ofay with all the Mac OS permissions/settings etc so hence looking for a 'simple clone & swap' type situation, and if necessary software to do it with.

TIA
Mike

 

[Ragnar]

You can boot to a USB drive, so the easiest way I know of is to install your new drive, then plug the old one in via a USB adapter (or 2.5" USB shell if you feel like keeping it as an external drive). Then use "Carbon Copy Cloner" to duplicate the old drive to the new one.

Takes a little while, but worked flawlessly for me a few times!

HTH,
David.

 

[MickyBlueyes]

Thanks for that David.

Having done several hours web research that's pretty much what I was looking at doing now. It appears that there are two software packages that will do it Carbon copy cloner as you say and Super Duper, both of which are free (which is a refreshing change.

Any reason why you swapped out the drive before cloning? I must admit that I was going to do it the other way round (clone then swap).

Regards
Mike

 

[cookie]

you could also use SuperDuper to clone your old drive to the new one. if you pay for it, you get incremental back-up facility as well.

you'll need an external HDD case, or something like this to connect up the drive temporarily.

or you can fit and install OS-X on the new drive, then restore from your time machine back-up.


ps. i have a similar MBP and looking at the guides on iFixit, it looks a right PITA just to physically swap the drives.

 

[MickyBlueyes]

you could also use SuperDuper to clone your old drive to the new one. if you pay for it, you get incremental back-up facility as well.

you'll need an external HDD case, or something like this to connect up the drive temporarily.

or you can fit and install OS-X on the new drive, then restore from your time machine back-up.


ps. i have a similar MBP and looking at the guides on iFixit, it looks a right PITA just to physically swap the drives.

We've obviously been looking at all the same stuff

I'm used to fiddly little jobs so having a go anyway!

Caddy and Hybrid Seagate Hybrid drive ordered oh, and a spudger

I couldn't decide between CCC & SDuper, as I only want to clone I think I'll stick with Time machine for now it's just too easy

Thanks Cookie

 

[mr_magicfingers]

I did this a few weeks ago, took me about 30 minutes to change out the drive. Bought an external caddy from ebay for a fiver and used carbon copy cloner to clone the drive ahead of time, then just change the drive and boot up.

Doddle.

Just make sure you have a set of tiny torx drivers, and an antistatic wriststrap wouldn't go amiss but isn't vital, just touch the casing before you start to equalise any static charge.

If you're going to store all your lossless rips, as I do, consider a backup or a raid 1 drive. I bought 2 1Tb drives and a raid 1 enclosure and use that for all my media on the mac mini we use as a media center. That way, if a drive fails I won't have lost all my music and have to rerip it again. It's transparent in use and a good backup against hardware failure.

J.

 

[Ragnar]

Any reason why you swapped out the drive before cloning? I must admit that I was going to do it the other way round (clone then swap).

No reason, could be done either way - probably makes more sense to clone first. I swapped first because I was going to do a fresh install of OS X but then needed the laptop working ASAP.

 

[MickyBlueyes]

OK cheers chaps.

Awaiting deliveries to allow play to commence. Especially interested to see if the Hybrid HDD makes much difference.

 

[stolzy]

IIRC when you install mac os x on the new drive it wil offer you the opportunity to import your files and settings from the old drive (which you've plugged into a usb adapter - works very straightforwardly

 

[Dazlove]

IIRC when you install mac os x on the new drive it wil offer you the opportunity to import your files and settings from the old drive (which you've plugged into a usb adapter - works very straightforwardly

Or, since you have a full backup on Time-Machine, once you have installed the new HDD and loaded a fresh copy of OSx then your mac should connect to your Time-Machine and as above, offer you the opportunity to import everything.

This worked perfectly for me....right down to the desktop wallpaper. It was exactly like the 'old' mac...except for the 250Gb of extra space.

Make sure you do a back-up just before you pull the drive though.

Regards

Dazlove

 

[MickyBlueyes]

190GB cloned in about 3 1/2 hrs with CCC..

About 40 mins later with the aid of little fingers and the spudger (which is a must have on one of these b2ggers to get the ribbon cables loose) it's up and running.

After 3/4 boots, and the most used application starts, the hybrid drive had them on the SSD chips and the thing is flying along very rapidly

Happy bunny

One question though-
System profiler now has a (2) suffix on the system spec, is this normal? can I get rid of it? does it make any difference?

Sorry that3 isn't it