Change out hard drive question

[jetworkr]

I was wondering if after replacing my current hard drive with a new 7200rpm hard drive and a clean install of snow leopard in my macbook--would I be able access the old hard drive as a back up to retrieve my data-- putting it in one of those usb cases--and plugging it in as a secondary drive. I used to be able to do this in windows...
Thanks Jim

 

[Badger^2]

yes.

You would use Migration Assistant to bring the data back and get it in the right places.

 

[jetworkr]

Thanks Badger.

 

[mrtekkid]

I have a uMBP 15" mid 2009.

It has a 250 GB hard drive.

I was thinking about upgrading the hard drive to 500 GB.

I had a few questions before I made the jump.

What is the difference between 5600 RPM and 7200 RPM? I know it's faster but will it be louder or generate more heat??

I don't really mind the 5600 RPM that is in here right now, so I was wondering if the upgrade in speed would be worth it.

What brand would be good to upgrade to? I was looking at a Seagate at: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Seagate/ST9500325AS/

Is there a better place to get the drive or a better brand that you would recommend? Everything that I have seen at 500 GB for 5600 RPM is around $100 (looked at newegg.com as well)

When I get the drive and install it inside the computer, run disk utility to format the drive and then do a fresh install of OSX 10.6 onto the empty drive, boot from the DVD and do a Time Machine restore?

Then I was figuring that I could create the Bootcamp partition and use Winclone to restore my Windows backup.

Any concerns or comments for this plan?? Any help is appreciated!!

 

[mrtekkid]

Anyone?

 

[paddy]

@ mrtekkid, I'd advise against switching to a 7200, it drains the battery like nothing else!

 

[mrtekkid]

Thanks for the advice! I do not normally unplug the system all that often, but I would hate to see the battery drained when I do. Kinda negates having a portable computer if you can't take it too far from the wall.

So the 5600 will give me longer battery life and will be cheaper. Good to know.

 

[Techhie]

Thanks for the advice! I do not normally unplug the system all that often, but I would hate to see the battery drained when I do. Kinda negates having a portable computer if you can't take it too far from the wall.

So the 5600 will give me longer battery life and will be cheaper. Good to know.

In my experience the 7200 RPM drives have little effect on the battery life. I guess it depends on what you are doing, you just have to ask yourself wether speed or duration is important (or get a SSD )

 

[mrtekkid]

In my experience the 7200 RPM drives have little effect on the battery life. I guess it depends on what you are doing, you just have to ask yourself wether speed or duration is important (or get a SSD )

In my experience if I am doing anything unplugged from the wall, it will be light use (ie. web surfing, email, instant messaging, word processing)

Anything along the lines of games or Photoshop that uses more processor I normally plug into the wall because they obviously kill battery usage quicker than the above mentioned activities.

----

Is my process of replacing the drive okay? I do not have the ability to clone it before I put it in, so I figured if I replaced the drive and booted from the Install disk I could format the drive with Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and install SL onto the drive, and do a Time Machine restore to bring the data over to the new drive.

I know WinClone will work to restore the Windows partition as I just used it to expand my friend's Windows partition from 125 GB to 500 GB just last night.