Best way to clone my HDD for replacement?

[xplnusa]

So I just ordered this drive to replace the 500GB in my MBP that is full.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/seagate...ulti/7523041.p?id=1219277910533&skuId=7523041

Can anyone please advise me on the best way to clone my current drive so that I can swap them out. Any other items I might need to order from Amazon or anything like a cable or something.

Thanks.

Heath

 

[CoastalOR]

So I just ordered this drive to replace the 500GB in my MBP that is full.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/seagate...ulti/7523041.p?id=1219277910533&skuId=7523041
Can anyone please advise me on the best way to clone my current drive so that I can swap them out. Any other items I might need to order from Amazon or anything like a cable or something.
Thanks.
Heath

Here are some migrating instructions that might help.
I recommend Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) to clone your current drive. It has a fully functional 30 day trial. It is also able to clone the Recovery partition for you. Here is the CCC instructions if you want more information.

 

[xplnusa]

Thank you...

 

[glenthompson]

When cloning with CCC I prefer to mount the new drive in an external case, make the clone, test it in the external case, then install it. Any problems are likely to show up before installing the new drive so you save some work if there's a problem.

 

[The All American]

I used a USB to SATA cable from Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-SATA...ns&keywords=sata+hard+drive+adapter+usb&psc=1) and opened Carbon Copy Clone. Followed the instructions in the app and it went smooth. After the backup onto the SSD was done, the install took 4 minutes.

 

[xplnusa]

What does the external case do? How does that differ from using a USB to SATA cable?

 

[xplnusa]

I used a USB to SATA cable from Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-SATA...ns&keywords=sata+hard+drive+adapter+usb&psc=1) and opened Carbon Copy Clone. Followed the instructions in the app and it went smooth. After the backup onto the SSD was done, the install took 4 minutes.

Thanks for the heads up. Thats kind of what I was thinking actually.

 

[Weaselboy]

What does the external case do? How does that differ from using a USB to SATA cable?

Exact same thing functionally. The external case just uses that same cable going into a plastic case so you don't see the drive.

 

[xplnusa]

Hard drive FINALLY showed up last night. I've had the cable from Amazon since before the new year. I downloaded Carbon Copy Cloner. Later today I'll swap the drives out and cross my fingers!

 

[Fishrrman]

If you have yet to do the drive swap, I'd suggest you put the SSD into the enclosure FIRST, and "prep and test" it that way BEFORE you swap drives.

This way, if things don't go as planned, you still have a bootable MacBook.

Once the drive has the OS installed, and your data migrated, do a "test boot" to be sure it's "as you wish".
THEN it's time to swap the drives around...

 

[xplnusa]

Already done. Everything went beautifully...