Help Me w/ Hard Drive Replacement in Macbook

[Stratman58]

I have an old Macbook CoreDuo (not Core2Duo). It has served me faithfully and I need to keep it going. My hard drive died. My last Time Machine backup to an external drive was about 2 months ago, but Disk Warrior allowed me to move more recent files onto my external drive. I've bought a new drive, and I'm getting ready to install it. I need help understanding the best way to restore my files.

I think I can boot from the original install disc and then restore from Time Machine, and then add back in the more recent files. But....

Would I be better off doing a clean install of the OS, starting with my 10.4.6 install disc and then upgrading to Snow Leopard (which I have on disc) before loading back all my applications, documents, etc?

What's the best process to restore my system?

Thanks!
(BTW, I've been a daily reader of MacRumors for over ten years... since before OSX came out. Never had a reason to post in the forums before!)

[Brian Y]

Originally Posted by Stratman58

I have an old Macbook CoreDuo (not Core2Duo). It has served me faithfully and I need to keep it going. My hard drive died. My last Time Machine backup to an external drive was about 2 months ago, but Disk Warrior allowed me to move more recent files onto my external drive. I've bought a new drive, and I'm getting ready to install it. I need help understanding the best way to restore my files.

I think I can boot from the original install disc and then restore from Time Machine, and then add back in the more recent files. But....

Would I be better off doing a clean install of the OS, starting with my 10.4.6 install disc and then upgrading to Snow Leopard (which I have on disc) before loading back all my applications, documents, etc?

What's the best process to restore my system?

Thanks!
(BTW, I've been a daily reader of MacRumors for over ten years... since before OSX came out. Never had a reason to post in the forums before!)

You don't need to go 10.4 -> 10.6 - just do a clean install of 10.6 .

You can recover from time machine, but I'm always a fan of clean installs whenever possible.

[Stratman58]

Originally Posted by Brian Y

You don't need to go 10.4 -> 10.6 - just do a clean install of 10.6 .

You can recover from time machine, but I'm always a fan of clean installs whenever possible.

Thanks! That was my inclination too. The old Macbook hasn't ever had a clean install since I got it many years ago. It will probably benefit nicely from a clean install, especially since who knows what might have been getting slowly corrupted as my drive was dying.

I can then use Time Machine to restore my applications and documents, correct? Hopefully my Keychain, too?

[Stratman58]

OK, installed my new 250GB drive, formatted, installed Snow Leopard, did software update, then used Migration Assistant to restore my files from my most recent Time Machine backup. Went pretty much without a hitch, and didn't take very long. Computer is up and running nicely once again.

[Donia330i]

Originally Posted by Stratman58

OK, installed my new 250GB drive, formatted, installed Snow Leopard, did software update, then used Migration Assistant to restore my files from my most recent Time Machine backup. Went pretty much without a hitch, and didn't take very long. Computer is up and running nicely once again.

what drive did you install?

[Stratman58]

Originally Posted by Donia330i

what drive did you install?

A Hitachi 250GB 7200RPM drive I bought from eBay for $50. This is the item number if you want to look it up on eBay. 140900938957

Working fine.

[Stratman58]

My Macbook ran really nicely for a few weeks after installing the drive. Then it started acting up a bit... and a bit more. Weird crashes and hangs. Time Machine backups failed to complete. My address book is gone. DiskWarrior, TechTool, and Disc Utility all reported that the new drive's S.M.A.R.T. system indicated that the drive was failing and I should back up my data and replace the drive ASAP. It has a one-year warranty so I'm not concerned about that (except for the hassle and downtime). I backed up everything I need that wasn't covered in the last successful Time Machine backup, and then I erased the drive by zeroing out the data in preparation for returning it. But now the diagnostics show that the drive is fine. My questions:

1. Did zeroing out the data effectively repair the drive and now there's no need to replace it, or is it likely to act up again?
2. I wonder if the vendor will refuse the warranty claim if the drive is returned without it reporting a failure?

Suggestions anyone?
Thanks!

[minifridge1138]

Personally, I wouldn't trust that drive.
It failed once and you got your data back. You might not be so lucky a second time.

I suppose that you could call the manufacturer and explain what happened.

[Stratman58]

Originally Posted by minifridge1138

Personally, I wouldn't trust that drive.
It failed once and you got your data back. You might not be so lucky a second time.

I suppose that you could call the manufacturer and explain what happened.

Thanks for the advice, and that's what I've decided as well. BTW, I did contact the seller, JacobsParts in Indianapolis and explained the situation. They were very gracious and helpful and made it clear that they would replace the drive with a new one regardless of their findings upon receipt. I've got no affiliation with them, but I have to say that they've been a first-class outfit to deal with thus far.