How to install a new internal hard drive to a MBP?

[Effortless]

Hi folks,

I need some advice from all you techies out there!

I have a MacBook Pro 15" 1.83GHz Core Duo with an 80Gb hard drive which is now full. I have bought a 320Gb replacement hard drive, and was going to swap this weekend using the brilliant guides on iFixit. I have an external USB 2 drive on which I have cloned my internal drive using Personal Backup 4, and I have confirmed several times that I can boot from this.

My question is this... after the physical swap, what do I need to do to prepare the new drive for use? Is it as simple as just cloning directly from the external drive? Or do I have to format, initialise the new drive, or do something else?

Many thanks in advance!
Effortless.

 

[richard.mac]

when you install the new drive boot into your install DVD and open Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and then restore the clone using the restore feature in Disk Utlilty.

 

[Effortless]

Is it a major problem if I've mislaid the original DVD? Could I use disk utility from within the utilities menu after I've booted up from the external drive?

Thanks for any advice or help.
Effortless

 

[jeffmc]

Is it a major problem if I've mislaid the original DVD? Could I use disk utility from within the utilities menu after I've booted up from the external drive?

Thanks for any advice or help.
Effortless

if you can boot up from an external drive you can create an image of the 80 gig internal and then move it from the internal to the external as a .dmg.

install the new drive and boot up from the external again, go to disk utility,select the internal drive then go to the restore tab. it'll ask for a source and a destination. the source being your .dmg file, the destination being the internal drive itself. it'll lay that exact image onto the internal without the need of reinstalling or requiring the os x disks.

you are aware this voids your apple care if you've purchased it right?

 

[brand]

you are aware this voids your apple care if you've purchased it right?

Show me where it specifically says that.

 

[Effortless]

Yes, I think hard drive upgrades do invalidate the warranty, but I think my MBP is out now anyway. And I didn't fancy Apple taking lots of cash and lots of time to do it for me, so I'm happy to have a go!

Thanks,
Effortless

 

[Neil321]

Yes, I think hard drive upgrades do invalidate the warranty, but I think my MBP is out now anyway. And I didn't fancy Apple taking lots of cash and lots of time to do it for me, so I'm happy to have a go!

Thanks,
Effortless

Replacing the HD on your MBP does not void your warranty unless you screw something up in the process
& then have to take it in as a result of this. The way round this is merely put back the original parts then
take it in

 

[aross99]

What I have done for this, is:

1. Install your new drive in an external enclosure (OWC sells one for SATA drives for about $30), and clone your internal drive to the new drive in the external enclosure with something like Carbon Copy Cloner.

2. Boot off the external drive and make sure it copied correctly.

3. Pull your new drive from the external enclosure and install it in your MBP.

4. Boot up and see if everything is OK.

If you want, put your old drive in the external enclosure and reformat it as a backup drive - AFTER you know everything is good with the new one.

I have done that several times now with a couple of MB's, and the process should be the same with the MBP...

 

[jeffmc]

Show me where it specifically says that.

let me clarify: I was specifically talking about the new hard drive which is obviously not covered by your warranty anymore. what the person prior to me said is correct, if you damage your computer in the process then your entire warranty is out the window

IE - you install this new drive and a month later your logic board dies. you want to put the original drive back in before taking it to the genius bar because they can argue that your installation of an unauthorized hard drive cause the logic board failure, which is totally possible as they have no time frame of when anything failed or was installed just the current state of the machine.

just keep it in mind if you ever need to take it in for service it would be a good idea to keep the old drive around just to avoid a hard time.

 

[richard.mac]

Is it a major problem if I've mislaid the original DVD? Could I use disk utility from within the utilities menu after I've booted up from the external drive?

Thanks for any advice or help.
Effortless

ya you can only format a drive that you a currently not booted into so you can use anything that has a OS X on it such as a clone or the install DVD.