Transfering files to new HDD

[ZenWLH]

I'm going to upgrade my CE MB(:D) to 4GB RAM and a 500GB hard drive... How should I transfer my files and everything? Would I need to buy Leopard for the new hard drive? I wouldn't know how to get EVERYTHING onto my new 500GB.


Please help...

[Bengt77]

No, you won't need to buy Leopard. You have it and you'll still be running it on only one machine. No worries. The easiest and cheapest way to be up and running in no time is to download either SuperDuper! (http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html) or Carbon Copy Cloner (http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html). Either application will clone your hard drive to any new drive and make it bootable. Very convenient. Be sure to format your new drive (HFS+ Journaled) before the copying, though. When the cloning is finished, you can just replace your MacBook's internal drive for the new 500GB drive. Press the power button and you won't even notice there's a new drive in there. Well, except for the fact that it's a whole lot bigger, that is.

Please note, though, that for this procedure you need an external hard drive enclosure. You can get a relatively cheap one from OWC (http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MOTGSU2/).

CE MB(:D)
EDIT: I see what you did there. http://images.macrumors.com/vb/images/icons/icon14.gif

[ZenWLH]

So do I download SuperDuper! on my old HDD then copy everything, take out the 160GB, put in the 500GB then I'm good? How do I format my new HDD?



http://www.powermax.com/parts/show/a-mce-msp500g72k

I also looked on Newegg and there's good deals but this one is a kit and should make everything easier right?

Ha, I wouldn't trade this CE for the new ones at all. ;)

[Bengt77]

Yes, you do indeed download SuperDuper! to your internal hard drive. To clone, you'll need an administrator account (chances are your personal account already has administrator rights). You must do nothing else while the cloning is in progress.

The PowerMax kit looks good. It's a Seagate Momentus 7200.4 drive, plus enclosure, plus a SuperDuper! trial version. The trial version does everything the registered version does, except smart updates if you decide to use the application for your backup routine (which you should, by the way). The smart update feature makes sure only the files that are altered since the last backup are copied. That means that the trial version will erase the external drive and copy everything over each time you backup your hard drive. As registering only costs $27,95, I absolutely recommend you buy it if you plan on using it as your backup solution.

On many websites, the Seagate drive alone will cost you about $150. The OWC enclosure I showed you is $28, meaning that for only $1 you get the convenience of having everything you need all in one package. I think that's definitely worth it. Note that OWC offers another very nice enclosure for just under $20 (http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/ES2.5BPU2S/). That, plus $150 for the Seagate drive, costs you $170. As the SuperDuper! trial version doesn't cost anything to download, that's $9 less than the PowerMax kit. See for yourself if that's worth it for you.

Formatting your new drive requires putting it in the enclosure, connecting it to your MacBook and opening Disk Utility (it's in your Utilities folder, inside the Applications folder). There, you select the new drive, click the 'Erase' tab and choose 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)' and give the drive a name. You won't need to install Mac OS 9 drivers. After you've set everything, you click the 'Erase...' button and wait.

[ZenWLH]

Yes, you do indeed download SuperDuper! to your internal hard drive. To clone, you'll need an administrator account (chances are your personal account already has administrator rights). You must do nothing else while the cloning is in progress.

The PowerMax kit looks good. It's a Seagate Momentus 7200.4 drive, plus enclosure, plus a SuperDuper! trial version. The trial version does everything the registered version does, except smart updates if you decide to use the application for your backup routine (which you should, by the way). The smart update feature makes sure only the files that are altered since the last backup are copied. That means that the trial version will erase the external drive and copy everything over each time you backup your hard drive. As registering only costs $27,95, I absolutely recommend you buy it if you plan on using it as your backup solution.

On many websites, the Seagate drive alone will cost you about $150. The OWC enclosure I showed you is $28, meaning that for only $1 you get the convenience of having everything you need all in one package. I think that's definitely worth it. Note that OWC offers another very nice enclosure for just under $20 (http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/ES2.5BPU2S/). That, plus $150 for the Seagate drive, costs you $170. As the SuperDuper! trial version doesn't cost anything to download, that's $9 less than the PowerMax kit. See for yourself if that's worth it for you.

Formatting your new drive requires putting it in the enclosure, connecting it to your MacBook and opening Disk Utility (it's in your Utilities folder, inside the Applications folder). There, you select the new drive, click the 'Erase' tab and choose 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)' and give the drive a name. You won't need to install Mac OS 9 drivers. After you've set everything, you click the 'Erase...' button and wait.

So what should I buy? This enclosure is necessary to get everything on my new HDD? If you could tell me everything I need to buy I'll save it all and buy it after I buy my RAM...

Now, I'm just worried about messing up or not being able to do it. :(



As for backing up my MB and other computers, I'll be getting a Time Capsule as soon as I move so will that be all I need?

[Unprocessed1]

I'm going to upgrade my CE MB(:D) to 4GB RAM and a 500GB hard drive... How should I transfer my files and everything? Would I need to buy Leopard for the new hard drive? I wouldn't know how to get EVERYTHING onto my new 500GB.


Please help...

Time machine transfers everything, even settings and applications!

[Bengt77]

Time machine transfers everything, even settings and applications!
Time Machine will not, I repeat, not make your drive bootable, though. You really want to use an application that makes the new drive bootable. If you use Time Machine, you'll have to install Leopard again on your new drive and then, when that's finished, use Time Machine to copy the necessary files over. With an application like SuperDuper! you do nothing but wait, swap drives and be ready to go. Couldn't be easier, really.

So what should I buy? This enclosure is necessary to get everything on my new HDD? If you could tell me everything I need to buy I'll save it all and buy it after I buy my RAM...

Now, I'm just worried about messing up or not being able to do it. :(
Okay, what you need is either the kit from PowerMax you linked to yourself (http://www.powermax.com/parts/show/a-mce-msp500g72k) or the kit that OWC offers (http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Seagate/DIYST95007U2/). You probably can't go wrong with either, but do know that there's much love for OWC on these fora, probably for a reason. If you go for the PowerMax kit, you will just need to install SuperDuper! from the cd you get with it. If you go for the OWC kit, you'll need to download it. There's nothing else you'll need. Everything else needed (cables) comes with the kits. That's what kits are for.

As for backing up my MB and other computers, I'll be getting a Time Capsule as soon as I move so will that be all I need?
Time Capsule is nice, I guess, but I'm not the person to comment on it, as I've never used one or even see one in action.

[ZenWLH]

Okay, what you need is either the kit from PowerMax you linked to yourself (http://www.powermax.com/parts/show/a-mce-msp500g72k) or the kit that OWC offers (http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Seagate/DIYST95007U2/). You probably can't go wrong with either, but do know that there's much love for OWC on these fora, probably for a reason. If you go for the PowerMax kit, you will just need to install SuperDuper! from the cd you get with it. If you go for the OWC kit, you'll need to download it. There's nothing else you'll need. Everything else needed (cables) comes with the kits. That's what kits are for.


Thanks for all the help man. So I download CCC3 on the OWC and let that do what it needs. Then I hook my new HDD to the enclosure and format that. And that transfers everything, correct? Then I just take out the old one and switch it...

[Bengt77]

Let me make a step-by-step list, just to be sure.

1 - put the 500GB drive in the enclosure
2 - hook up the enclosure with the drive to your MacBook
3 - open Disk Utility and format the 500GB drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
4 - (download and) install SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner
5 - use either application to clone your internal drive's contents to the 500GB drive
6 - make sure the 500GB drive is bootable (try it out by restarting from it)
7 - if that works, swap the internal and external drives (put the internal drive in the enclosure)
8 - your MacBook should be as it was before, but will have a bigger hard drive
9 - the enclosure with your 'old' drive will come in handy for you never know when

[ZenWLH]

Let me make a step-by-step list, just to be sure.

1 - put the 500GB drive in the enclosure
2 - hook up the enclosure with the drive to your MacBook
3 - open Disk Utility and format the 500GB drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
4 - (download and) install SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner
5 - use either application to clone your internal drive's contents to the 500GB drive
6 - make sure the 500GB drive is bootable (try it out by restarting from it)
7 - if that works, swap the internal and external drives (put the internal drive in the enclosure)
8 - your MacBook should be as it was before, but will have a bigger hard drive
9 - the enclosure with your 'old' drive will come in handy for you never know when

Thanks so much! Wow huge help. Thanks a ton... With RAM I can just switch it out right?

[Bengt77]

Thanks so much! Wow huge help. Thanks a ton... With RAM I can just switch it out right?
Yeah, no sweat. Replacing RAM is really easy. Then again, replacing the hard drive is even easier.

[Unprocessed1]

Time Machine will not, I repeat, not make your drive bootable, though. You really want to use an application that makes the new drive bootable. If you use Time Machine, you'll have to install Leopard again on your new drive and then, when that's finished, use Time Machine to copy the necessary files over. With an application like SuperDuper! you do nothing but wait, swap drives and be ready to go. Couldn't be easier, really.



Yeah, but if I understand the OP correctly, he will be able to do this without a hitch (assuming he still has his OSX reinstall disk) since he's only swtiching HD's.

I just did this with my new MBP, and it only took about 30 minutes for 40 GB of data

All what the OP needs to do is create a time machine backup on an external HD. Swap HD's, put in the OSX install disk, and when prompted, plug in the external and Time machine will take of the rest.

[Bengt77]

Yeah, but if I understand the OP correctly, he will be able to do this without a hitch (assuming he still has his OSX reinstall disk) since he's only swtiching HD's.

I just did this with my new MBP, and it only took about 30 minutes for 40 GB of data

All what the OP needs to do is create a time machine backup on an external HD. Swap HD's, put in the OSX install disk, and when prompted, plug in the external and Time machine will take of the rest.
Ah, okay. That explains. Then again, I believe using either SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner is still the easier and more convenient way to do it.

[ZenWLH]

Yeah, but if I understand the OP correctly, he will be able to do this without a hitch (assuming he still has his OSX reinstall disk) since he's only swtiching HD's.

I just did this with my new MBP, and it only took about 30 minutes for 40 GB of data

All what the OP needs to do is create a time machine backup on an external HD. Swap HD's, put in the OSX install disk, and when prompted, plug in the external and Time machine will take of the rest.


OH WAIT, In the box which wasn't open there's the Apps Disc and I'll check right now but I'm sure there's the Mac OS X disc! Woohoo!

So I need to hookup an external hdd, then go to time machine and copy everything there, then switch HDD's and it'll copy it back to the new internal HDD.

Easy... What size External HDD should I get? And if I do it this way, I don't need those kits, right?

[Bengt77]

The advantage of either kit is that when (not if, but when) your internal drive fails, and you've kept regular backups on one of those kits, you could just swap the drives and be running again in minutes. The hard drive in a big external drive won't fit in your MacBook, meaning you'll have to buy a new internal drive and copy the stuff over again from the external drive.

Either will work fine, but when things break, one of those kits will save the day.

[iLog.Genius]

He can use Time Machine IIRC. When he boots of his install DVD, under utilities, there is an option to restore from Time Machine image. If it isn't there, I apologize, don't work with Time Machine, that's for Wireless Multimedia. :p