MacBook HDD Upgrade Issues and Complications

[ksmith688]

Hey guys,

I have a new 500 GB seagate hdd that I want to install into my 06 blackbook. Before I can even get started I know that I need to backup my current HD. This is where i'm having a problem. I've searched the forums but am still confused as to what the easiest, quickest way to back up my current hdd and restore it onto the new one once installed.

Initially, I was going to just Time Machine backup my current HDD and then just swap out the HD re-install leopard and restore from the backup. Would this work?

Then I started searching the forums and found out about SuperDuper. I was going to go through with that but I ran into problems with booting from a USB external drive. I dont have a firewire drive and really dont want to buy one, so basically I guess my question is can i clone my hd onto my usb external using superdrive, swap out the old hd for the new one and then boot from my usb external hdd drive to clone all my old info?

Any suggestions for making this easier? because i feel like i'm making it too complicated, lol.

Thanks,

kevin

 

[NewMacbookPlz]

Just Time Machine your current drive to your USB external drive. Install the new drive, put Leopard on, then use the Migration Assistant to import your Time Machine backup.

 

[Ov3rlord Falc0r]

Just Time Machine your current drive to your USB external drive. Install the new drive, put Leopard on, then use the Migration Assistant to import your Time Machine backup.

+1

It is super simple really. Back up using time machine, install new drive, install OS on new drive, then when you are asked if you want to transfer files select the option for time machine.

 

[gnasher729]

Your MacBook will boot from an external USB drive. However, it must be formatted using Disk Utility with a "GUID partition table". Doing that, you can boot from USB. Without a GUID partition table, FireWire won't help you.

Using a Time Machine backup is obviously a good idea. Make sure that you don't have anything excluded from your Time Machine backup. A nice method is buying an external case as well, put your 500 GB drive in, then use Disk Utility to format it with a GUID partition table, then use Disk Utility to complete the complete original drive to the new one. Reboot holding the option-key pressed to boot from the external drive to check that everything works. Then swap internal and external drive.