Do it yourself Hard Drive upgrade option for new MacBook question

[aneftp]

My financee thinks I'm crazy. I already have a 2 month old intel 24 inch imac with 4GB RAM that I barely used because I am never home.

I travel a lot but my 17 inch gateway intel core 2 (T7200) was just too heavy to log in an out of airport 2 times a week so I gave her a practically new laptop.

Anyways I brought a 2.2 gz Macbook yesterday; 5 pounds is light enough for me and I couldn't justify the Macbook Air's price tage. I haven't even booted up the computer. I already upgraded the RAM. Now I want to go to the store and buy a 320GB hard drive to replace the stock 120GB hard drive.

So is it recommended prior to booting up the macbook to put a new hard drive in? Do I actually need to boot the laptop up....and than shut it down before I replace it?

Last question is can I use the reinstall discs that came with the Macbook and just reload the OS and the default programs with my new unformated hard drive?

 

[Jaffa Cake]

So is it recommended prior to booting up the macbook to put a new hard drive in? Do I actually need to boot the laptop up....and than shut it down before I replace it?

I don't think it matters either way, to be honest. I replaced my hard drive after I'd been using the machine for a few months, other people swap the drives as soon as they get the Mac. Mind, it might be an idea to boot up and make sure the Mac is running perfectly before making the swap – if you've got a faulty model then at least you'll know it's not your handiwork that's caused it.

Last question is can I use the reinstall discs that came with the Macbook and just reload the OS and the default programs with my new unformated hard drive?

Yep, that's exactly what I did. As an alternative, you can use an app like Carbon Copy Cloner to clone your hard drive's contents across to the new one. Mind, as you're planning on swapping the drive almost as soon as you've got the Mac in your hands I suppose you may as well just do a new install and start from scratch.