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a N00b's Journey in Hard Drive Replacement

ohla313

ohla313

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 24, 2010
778
0
Hey everyone! Not a new member but have been lurking around the boards. Here's my first post...I got a MBP and want to upgrade the 160GB hard drive it came with. I looked around the forums and it seems the WD Scorpio Blue 1TB drive will fit. What external enclosure would fit the current drive in my MBP? I want to wipe out my current drive once the WD drive is installed and use it for Time Machine. How would I go about wiping out my 160GB drive? What are the steps in setting up the 1TB HD once installed in the MBP?

Thanks everyone
 
Well, you just install the 1TB, then boot from OS X disk and install OS X. Then put the old HD in enclosure/dock and transfer the files you need from it to the new one and then erase it with Disk Utility
 
thanks! but what enclosure should I get for my current HD? Also I read something about putting 00s in disk utility somewhere to make sure the drive is fully wiped? How do I do this?
 
ohla313 said:
thanks! but what enclosure should I get for my current HD? Also I read something about putting 00s in disk utility somewhere to make sure the drive is fully wiped? How do I do this?
Click to expand...

This looks good and fairly priced. Zero wipe out is useless as you're going to use the drive, if you sold it, it would be good thing to do but not needed now
 
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ah. so what criteria should i be looking for in an external enclosure for my MBP HD? It has to only be SATA, 2.5,..and what else?

I appreciate your help so far
 
The controller needs to be able to handle the size of the harddrive you want to put in it. You should be Ok with a 160GB HD though. Most controllers handle up to 500GB.

I would just buy a cheap 2,5 USB enclosure as the firewire ones are up to 10 times as expensive. I bought a MacPower SK2500 as the design is very apple-like. It also handles drives with 12,5mm height & up to 1TB. I got it for 15,- Euros and I'm fairly happy with it.
 
ohla313 said:
ah. so what criteria should i be looking for in an external enclosure for my MBP HD? It has to only be SATA, 2.5,..and what else?

I appreciate your help so far
Click to expand...

That enclosure works as it has USB too, the eSATA just doesn't. It must be 2.5" SATA with USB output (=90% of enclosures work)
 
ok great! so as long as it is SATA and 2.5" I am fine and it will support my MBP's 160GB HD? I can do the wipe of the drive after I install the new drive through the Disk Utility. As for setting up the new drive, I install it and then press C to boot from OS X DVD and run it from there?
 
ohla313 said:
ok great! so as long as it is SATA and 2.5" I am fine and it will support my MBP's 160GB HD?
Click to expand...

Yes, the enclosure you linked works, so does the one I linked

I can do the wipe of the drive after I install the new drive through the Disk Utility. As for setting up the new drive, I install it and then press C to boot from OS X DVD and run it from there?
Click to expand...

Yes, but transfer the files (if you want) from the old one to new one before wiping. Then just install the 1TB and OS X
 
Hellhammer said:
Yes, the enclosure you linked works, so does the one I linked



Yes, but transfer the files (if you want) from the old one to new one before wiping. Then just install the 1TB and OS X
Click to expand...

thanks but another question I have is that when I install the new OS, will the battery charge cycles be erased? Will OS X roll back the charge to 0 or still know I charged it before?

and would using firewire be better for time machine or is usb fine?
 
ohla313 said:
thanks but another question I have is that when I install the new OS, will the battery charge cycles be erased? Will OS X roll back the charge to 0 or still know I charged it before?

and would using firewire be better for time machine or is usb fine?
Click to expand...

Firewire is faster, but either works fine.
 
ohla313 said:
thanks but another question I have is that when I install the new OS, will the battery charge cycles be erased? Will OS X roll back the charge to 0 or still know I charged it before?

and would using firewire be better for time machine or is usb fine?
Click to expand...

Battery has its own CPU so I think no, it's not stored in HD.

USB is fine, FW is more expensive and it's only a small upgrade
 
Hellhammer said:
Battery has its own CPU so I think no, it's not stored in HD.

USB is fine, FW is more expensive and it's only a small upgrade
Click to expand...

ok great thank you! also would you know what screwdrivers I would need to open my MBP and move the mounting screws from my current drive to the new one? Like is there a set I can buy that includes those? Would I also need mounting screws to put my current drive into the external enclosure?
 
davidlv said:
You should be able to find the screwdrivers at any hardware store, but check out this site:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/
OWC has a large selection of HDs, cases etc. and I know they ship overseas, have had them send stuff from the USA to Japan, ususally takes less than a week.
OWC also has a toolkit
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/TOOLKIT11/
:cool:
Click to expand...

oh the one on the site is kind of pricey and 22 bucks including shipping for 2 screwdrivers? I think I will go to lowes for the screwdrivers then.

Would I also need mounting screws to put my current drive into the external enclosure? I was going to take the screws off my current drive to put on the 1TB but when I put my current drive into the enclosure wouldn't I need screws?

thanks!
 
ohla313 said:
oh the one on the site is kind of pricey and 22 bucks including shipping for 2 screwdrivers? I think I will go to lowes for the screwdrivers then.

Would I also need mounting screws to put my current drive into the external enclosure? I was going to take the screws off my current drive to put on the 1TB but when I put my current drive into the enclosure wouldn't I need screws?

thanks!
Click to expand...

Actually...
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/TOOLKITMHD/
:D only 5$ before shipping, has just the tools you need.
 
Installed 1TB in MBP now need help setting up drive!!

Ok so I installed the drive fine but it took awhile to boot from CD is that ok? Anyways from there I was told to go to disk utility and partition it but how many partitions do I make? 1? I plan to only run OS X on this MBP. So I go to Partition select how many partitions? and then click apply?

Thanks!
 
If your making a partition for windows or something it makes sense but I do not see why you need to other wise. Just let the harddrive be. But hey if you want win7 I would just partition some GBs for windows since you do have 1 tb hhd. Might be slow if the rpm is lower.
 
But when the patition choices are set to "current" it won't let me do anything. Or format the drive..I should just not format it and boot from the CD then?? The only way I could click apply is if I set it to "1 partition"
 
Ok so I went ahead anyways because the disk was running and it appears that now the HD has 989 GB free...did I do something wrong here?? I mean I don't really mind the lost 10 GB but I feel like something went awry..
 
Yes. Create "1" partition and then the other options should be available such as format which you need to do to format it as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". Once you've done that then you can continue to install OS X.

ohla313 said:
Ok so I went ahead anyways because the disk was running and it appears that now the HD has 989 GB free...did I do something wrong here?? I mean I don't really mind the lost 10 GB but I feel like something went awry..
Click to expand...

You'll never have the exact amount of what your HDD is, that 989 MB is correct.
 
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