hard drive upgrade using an external

[chameanstea]

Hi all,

I was wondering, what are the specific steps on how to upgrade the hard drive on one of the new current gen. macbook pros using a bootable external hard drive?

Sorry I'm such a noob at this, but I'm not really all that computer/tech savvy.

Also, I did a search about this and it came up with one thread that was semi-useful, but it didn't really go into detail.

Please and thank you.

 

[stridemat]

I may be being dense, but what exactly do you want to do? Replace the hard drive in your macbook or boot from an external hard drive?

Or none of the above?

 

[chameanstea]

Sorry if I was vague >_<

I want to use the external hard drive to boot my mbp with the new internal drive inside it, since I've heard that it's possible. I'm just really confused as to what the specific steps are.

So I guess to answer your question, both?

 

[scottness]

I've swapped out an external drive (minus the enclosure, of course) with one of my older MacBook's drives before. Worked ok. Is this what you're trying to do?

 

[scottness]

Sorry if I was vague >_<

I want to use the external hard drive to boot my mbp with the new internal drive inside it, since I've heard that it's possible. I'm just really confused as to what the specific steps are.

So I guess to answer your question, both?

Assuming that your external is bootable, yes you can. Hold the OPTION key during restart and choose what drive you want to boot from.

 

[stridemat]

Ok booting from an external hard drive can be achieved by:
1. Make sure whatever you want to boot is bootable (i.e. you may have used superduper to clone your existing hard drive.)
2. Copy the bootable files onto your ExHD
3. Bootup and hold down the ole' "option" key
4. your screen should come up with an option for you at this point. Choose the ExHD to boot into it.

 

[chameanstea]

Assuming that your external is bootable, yes you can. Hold the OPTION key during restart and choose what drive you want to boot from.

So after that, do I have to partition or format the new drive? And if so, how?

I apologize for my tech illiteracy, and thank you, guys, for your quick replies!

 

[Gabriel GR]

Your computer will be slower if you boot from an external hard drive.

If you open the external drive's enclosure, remove the hard disk that is inside and put it in your mac, then it will be ok.

USB is slower than Firewire which is slower than SATA so you see where this goes.

 

[xlii]

So after that, do I have to partition or format the new drive? And if so, how?

I apologize for my tech illiteracy, and thank you, guys, for your quick replies!

I think we are still confused as to what you are trying to do. If you want to remove the harddrive that is inside your mac and replace it with a new one... the instructions on how to do that are in the user manual that came with your new mac.

If you want to make a new hard drive that sits in an external enclosure bootable and then boot your mac from that external enclosure... this is what you need to do...

1.connect the external disk that is in the external inclosure to your mac using firewire or usb (firewire is faster, but both will work).

2. Use disk Utility to format the new disk drive. You need to format it Mac Os Extented Journaled.

3. Carbon Copy Cloner is a free download. Find it, install it and use it to clone your existing boot drive to the drive in the external enclosure.

4. To boot from the external drive... when you turn on or restart you mac hold down the option key as soon as the mac turns on and hold it down until you see the boot options appear on your screen. Select the one you want and it will boot from the drive that you selected.

 

[chameanstea]

Sorry for being so stupidly vague >_<

What I'm trying to do here, essentially, is to upgrade the hdd in my mbp. I know there are instructions, but I don't have an external enclosure for the internal drive, so what I want to do is to replace the internal drive, and then boot the computer from the external hard drive (which I've already cloned).

But I'm confused as to what to do after I've booted it from the external hard drive. Do I have to format the new internal drive (which would already be inside the machine at this point)?

Edit: Just in case anyone's still confused, I've got two drives in this situation: the external hard drive, and the hard drive I want to put in the macbook, which is a WD 640 gig Scorpio Blue.

 

[combat]

So let me get this straight? You want to swap the HD's? The original internal with a new one from an external drive? Your last post is very confusing...

However, yes you would need to copy your current HD onto the exHD and then find some instructions on how to swap.

But I probably totally mis-interpreted your post...

 

[chameanstea]

So let me get this straight? You want to swap the HD's? The original internal with a new one from an external drive? Your last post is very confusing...

However, yes you would need to copy your current HD onto the exHD and then find some instructions on how to swap.

But I probably totally mis-interpreted your post...

You're very close, though! Everything except for the part about switching the drives is correct.

I don't have an external enclosure for the drive I do want to use, so I plan on using the separate external drive to boot my mbp after I put in the new hard drive.

 

[Moocher]

So, you have

1. One external drive with an enclosure, which is formatted how? and has what? on it.

2. One currently functioning internal drive

3. One bare brand spanking new internal 2.5" hard drive

Is this correct??


And, you want to

a. Clone your existing internal drive to your external

b. Swap your existing internal drive with #3 above, the brand new bare internal

c. Format the new internal

d. Clone the external to the internal


Is this correct?



Mooch

 

[chameanstea]

So, you have

1. One external drive with an enclosure, which is formatted how? and has what? on it.

2. One currently functioning internal drive

3. One bare brand spanking new internal 2.5" hard drive

Is this correct??


And, you want to

a. Clone your existing internal drive to your external

b. Swap your existing internal drive with #3 above, the brand new bare internal

c. Format the new internal

d. Clone the external to the internal


Is this correct?



Mooch

Yes it is. Thank you.