My best option for the MacBook Pro?

[thecoolone1]

Well, I'm a new owner of a MacBook Pro 13" and the Hard Drive is only 160GB I believe which is plenty of space for what I use it for but I would much rather have my Music/Movies/Pictures and all media separate from that space. I was just thinking of getting a portable External Hard Drive for all of my media but then I could also upgrade my 160GB drive to let's say a 500GB Drive and do away without an External drive. What would you do? Upgrade your existing internal HD or get an External HD?

The MacBook Pro usually just stays on the desk anyways so an External HD wouldn't be any inconvenience to me but if I wanted to just unplug it and go will that harm anything?

Also, there is plenty of External Hard Drives available right now and I was wondering if any were better than others? I just want something basic, portable, and works with a mac. No firewire needed, USB is fine with me. I was really looking at the My Passport from WD and was wondering if the non Mac Ready versions work with a Mac anyways?

Also, has anyone heard of or experienced iomega?

http://go.iomega.com/en-us/products...rtable/prestige-portable-series/?partner=4760

I would appreciate any feedback!

 

[DoFoT9]

put 500GB into the MBP.

buy an external 2.5" sata enclosure and put your 160GB hdd into that!

perfect. now you have both

 

[thecoolone1]

put 500GB into the MBP.

buy an external 2.5" sata enclosure and put your 160GB hdd into that!

perfect. now you have both

But if I changed the HD in my MBP now then wont I have to install OS X on it over again?

 

[DoFoT9]

But if I changed the HD in my MBP now then wont I have to install OS X on it over again?

you can either clone your current hard drive, or use Time Machine (+ external HFS+ formatted hdd) to copy the data onto the new hard drive, it will appear IDENTICAL to your current one but with more space!

 

[thecoolone1]

you can either clone your current hard drive, or use Time Machine (+ external HFS+ formatted hdd) to copy the data onto the new hard drive, it will appear IDENTICAL to your current one but with more space!

How do I do either one of those? Is there a guide some were?

Would I just put the new Drive I buy in an enclosure (then plug it in via USB) and use Time Machine to copy/clone everything to the new drive and once that's done, just install it into the MBP? Sorry for being an idiot but I'm new to all this lol!

 

[DoFoT9]

How do I do either one of those? Is there a guide some were?

Would I just put the new Drive I buy in an enclosure (then plug it in via USB) and use Time Machine to copy/clone everything to the new drive and once that's done, just install it into the MBP? Sorry for being an idiot but I'm new to all this lol!

haha dont be sorry everybody goes through it!

there are two routes you can take, personally i recommend time machine, but lots of people prefer cloning (and will support it aggressively).

do you already have an external hard drive to utilise? because both methods will require it (otherwise it will get messy-i can walkthourgh that tho)

once i know if u already have a backup drive i can proceed with explaining

 

[boshii]

i swapped out my stock drive with a 640GB on the first day i got my mac using the method dofot9 described.

i can vouch that the process of cloning the drive is pretty straightforward. i was able to do it without any guides or anything and i've used pc's all my life

 

[DoFoT9]

i swapped out my stock drive with a 640GB on the first day i got my mac using the method dofot9 described.

i can vouch that the process of cloning the drive is pretty straightforward. i was able to do it without any guides or anything and i've used pc's all my life

its a pretty easy process hey!

im curious, did you have an extra external hdd to put the clone onto?

or did you to this:
1. put 640gb into enclosure
2. clone existing hdd to 640gb using program/disk utility
3. copy clone from 640gb to existing hdd
4. erase 640gb
5. put 640gb into laptop, put existing hdd into enclosure
6. boot from apple disc/clone disk
7. restore 640gb using disk image from existing disk.

or did you do something else that im not accustomed to lol? because afaik you cant create an image from a booted disk?

 

[boshii]

its a pretty easy process hey!

im curious, did you have an extra external hdd to put the clone onto?

or did you to this:
1. put 640gb into enclosure
2. clone existing hdd to 640gb using program/disk utility
3. copy clone from 640gb to existing hdd
4. erase 640gb
5. put 640gb into laptop, put existing hdd into enclosure
6. boot from apple disc/clone disk
7. restore 640gb using disk image from existing disk.

or did you do something else that im not accustomed to lol? because afaik you cant create an image from a booted disk?

it was about a month ago but i'll describe it as i remember it. i'm actually booting off an 160GB ssd and have the 640GB for media.

i put the ssd in an enclosure then cloned the stock drive to the ssd. erased the stock drive and that's now my external hdd.

i have the ssd in my optibay and the hdd in the stock hdd location.

 

[DoFoT9]

it was about a month ago but i'll describe it as i remember it. i'm actually booting off an 160GB ssd and have the 640GB for media.

i put the ssd in an enclosure then cloned the stock drive to the ssd. erased the stock drive and that's now my external hdd.

i have the ssd in my optibay and the hdd in the stock hdd location.

ahh right so the cloning software you use could clone to a hdd directly. how foolish of me not to think of that!

if you could recommend any software for the OP im sure he would be greateful

i only know of PC programs, ive never had to do it for macs (always used TM).

 

[boshii]

ahh right so the cloning software you use could clone to a hdd directly. how foolish of me not to think of that!

if you could recommend any software for the OP im sure he would be greateful

i only know of PC programs, ive never had to do it for macs (always used TM).

SuperDuper works wonders

 

[DoFoT9]

SuperDuper works wonders

ahh true. have heard good things about that.

 

[thecoolone1]

haha dont be sorry everybody goes through it!

there are two routes you can take, personally i recommend time machine, but lots of people prefer cloning (and will support it aggressively).

do you already have an external hard drive to utilise? because both methods will require it (otherwise it will get messy-i can walkthourgh that tho)

once i know if u already have a backup drive i can proceed with explaining

I think I'm going the 'clone' route. I think I have it down but please correct me if I'm wrong.

I was thinking of purchasing a Western Digital 500GB 2.5" Hard Drive and slipping that into an Enclosure such as this one http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/USB2/OWC_Express and then plugging it in via USB and using Disk Utility to format the WD drive to Mac OS Extended (journaled) and setting it as a GUID Partition Table to make it bootable. Once that was done, I would use SuperDuper to clone my current hard drive (Macintosh HD) to the new WD 500GB Drive backing up all files.

Before I swap the 2 Hard Drives I'm going to test it out by restarting the MBP and holding down the option key down to boot from the external hard drive (i heard it way be a bit slow since it's plugged in by USB). If all works well then I'll open up my MBP and take the WD drive out of the enclosure and put that in the MBP and put the current 160GB into the enclosure. Now I'll have a 500GB hard drive and an extra 160GB external drive just in case!

 

[DoFoT9]

I think I'm going the 'clone' route. I think I have it down but please correct me if I'm wrong.

good idea, its pretty easy.

I was thinking of purchasing a Western Digital 500GB 2.5" Hard Drive and slipping that into an Enclosure such as this one http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/USB2/OWC_Express and then plugging it in via USB and using Disk Utility to format the WD drive to Mac OS Extended (journaled) and setting it as a GUID Partition Table to make it bootable. Once that was done, I would use SuperDuper to clone my current hard drive (Macintosh HD) to the new WD 500GB Drive backing up all files.

sounds great so far

Before I swap the 2 Hard Drives I'm going to test it out by restarting the MBP and holding down the option key down to boot from the external hard drive (i heard it way be a bit slow since it's plugged in by USB). If all works well then I'll open up my MBP and take the WD drive out of the enclosure and put that in the MBP and put the current 160GB into the enclosure. Now I'll have a 500GB hard drive and an extra 160GB external drive just in case!

that sounds awsome! it will go slower yes, but nothing ridiculous. you have it down packed easy as

 

[davidlv]

I think I'm going the 'clone' route. I think I have it down but please correct me if I'm wrong.

I was thinking of purchasing a Western Digital 500GB 2.5" Hard Drive and slipping that into an Enclosure such as this one http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/USB2/OWC_Express and then plugging it in via USB and using Disk Utility to format the WD drive to Mac OS Extended (journaled) and setting it as a GUID Partition Table to make it bootable. Once that was done, I would use SuperDuper to clone my current hard drive (Macintosh HD) to the new WD 500GB Drive backing up all files.
Before I swap the 2 Hard Drives I'm going to test it out by restarting the MBP and holding down the option key down to boot from the external hard drive (i heard it way be a bit slow since it's plugged in by USB). If all works well then I'll open up my MBP and take the WD drive out of the enclosure and put that in the MBP and put the current 160GB into the enclosure. Now I'll have a 500GB hard drive and an extra 160GB external drive just in case!

100% correct. However, SuperDuper is not completely freeware, the function of the free version is limited to erasing the disk and cloning in one operation. In this case that is exactly what you want to do so its OK, but Carbon Copy Cloner (freeware) will allow for incremental clones, copying only the parts that have changed. Also, and I do not know if this is particular to my setup, but after cloning a drive to either an external firewire or USB drive (have both) Disk Warrior will display some red ink and repair minor errors on the cloned drives. I suggest running at least Disk Utility on the cloned drive and DW if you have it (highly recommended) just to be everything is fine. Also, people posting on this forum have had a variety of experiences with different 500 GB drives, I personally had a bad time with a WD Scorpio, and good luck with a Seagate 7,200 rpm Momentus. Others have suggested the new Hitachi 7,200 rpm 500GB, both for being quiet and fast. YMMV. Don't get upset if one brand doesn't work well the first time, just try another and use the 1st one as an external (can rarely have to many backup disks). Congrats on the new MacBook Pro.
Let us know how it turns out.

 

[ayeying]

I find cloning to be a lot faster then restoring from time machine, even when both are running off of a USB 2.0 external drive. But that's just me.

You can do this also:

Put the 160GB in an enclosure. Put the new 500GB internally.
Start the computer and hold "Option" and Boot off the external drive, yes it works..
Use "Carbon Copy Cloner" or "Super Duper" or even Disk Utility
Clone the external 160GB into the internal 500GB
After completed, shut down the computer.
Unplug the USB cord
Start the computer.

It's like you never done anything... except gained a whole lotta space. I do not recommend running an Western Digital drive off an external enclosure. It seems that WD drives DOES NOT like to be used as an external drive and will run ~1/2 a true USB 2.0 speed (~15MB/s) which, depending on how big the cloning is, would take a LONG time. I remember reading a few forum posts but I can't seem to find the link anymore. However, this has happened to me on 3 different Western Digital drives so far. Running it internally gives it full speed. Running it in an enclosure limits to 1/4 it's true speed and 1/2 of USB speed.

 

[thecoolone1]

I find cloning to be a lot faster then restoring from time machine, even when both are running off of a USB 2.0 external drive. But that's just me.

You can do this also:

Put the 160GB in an enclosure. Put the new 500GB internally.
Start the computer and hold "Option" and Boot off the external drive, yes it works..
Use "Carbon Copy Cloner" or "Super Duper" or even Disk Utility
Clone the external 160GB into the internal 500GB
After completed, shut down the computer.
Unplug the USB cord
Start the computer.

It's like you never done anything... except gained a whole lotta space. I do not recommend running an Western Digital drive off an external enclosure. It seems that WD drives DOES NOT like to be used as an external drive and will run ~1/2 a true USB 2.0 speed (~15MB/s) which, depending on how big the cloning is, would take a LONG time. I remember reading a few forum posts but I can't seem to find the link anymore. However, this has happened to me on 3 different Western Digital drives so far. Running it internally gives it full speed. Running it in an enclosure limits to 1/4 it's true speed and 1/2 of USB speed.

Do you mind sharing on how to do the clone thru Disk Utility? That's FREE and seems alot easier

 

[DoFoT9]

Do you mind sharing on how to do the clone thru Disk Utility? That's FREE and seems alot easier

its easy, but requires you to do those steps above that i stated.

boot from the install disc, open disk utility, click on your hard drive (the top most on the left side), then go to the file menu->new->disk image from disk0 (im guessing its disk0).

then you must save the .dmg to your new 500gb hdd, then copy to your 160gb hdd, then swap etcetfc.

 

[thecoolone1]

its easy, but requires you to do those steps above that i stated.

boot from the install disc, open disk utility, click on your hard drive (the top most on the left side), then go to the file menu->new->disk image from disk0 (im guessing its disk0).

then you must save the .dmg to your new 500gb hdd, then copy to your 160gb hdd, then swap etcetfc.

Is it more or less the same as following this guide?

http://www.macinstruct.com/node/147

Also, when doing a clone using Disk Utility, is it best to leave the current Hard Drive in the system and just putting the new Hard Drive I purchase in a Enclosure and use it thru USB or is it best to take the current one I have in there now (160GB HDD) out and put that in an Enclosure and put the new one in (500GB) and just simply boot the system with the External Drive?

That's the part I'm confused on the most.

 

[DoFoT9]

Is it more or less the same as following this guide?

http://www.macinstruct.com/node/147

Also, when doing a clone using Disk Utility, is it best to leave the current Hard Drive in the system and just putting the new Hard Drive I purchase in a Enclosure and use it thru USB or is it best to take the current one I have in there now (160GB HDD) out and put that in an Enclosure and put the new one in (500GB) and just simply boot the system with the External Drive?

That's the part I'm confused on the most.

oh wow! i did not know that you could do that directly!! that makes it SOOOO much easier for you!

use that guide, its perfect for you

i would just leave the 160GB in the MBP until you are sure that the clone is working correctly - as you said, hold down ption:, if it boots then change them over. saves the most time imo

 

[thecoolone1]

oh wow! i did not know that you could do that directly!! that makes it SOOOO much easier for you!

use that guide, its perfect for you

i would just leave the 160GB in the MBP until you are sure that the clone is working correctly - as you said, hold down ption:, if it boots then change them over. saves the most time imo

Great! I'll put in an order for an Enclosure and a Hard Drive. 320GB or 500GB will do but there is so many, it's hard to choose. Alot of mixed reviews on the Western Digital HD's but I don't know who else makes top notch HD's.

 

[DoFoT9]

Great! I'll put in an order for an Enclosure and a Hard Drive. 320GB or 500GB will do but there is so many, it's hard to choose. Alot of mixed reviews on the Western Digital HD's but I don't know who else makes top notch HD's.

wd, seagate or samsung imo are the top at the moment for laptop hdds i have a samsung 500GB 5400rpm in mine at the moment its great!

i would probably recommend the WD though, they are awsome.

 

[ayeying]

its easy, but requires you to do those steps above that i stated.

boot from the install disc, open disk utility, click on your hard drive (the top most on the left side), then go to the file menu->new->disk image from disk0 (im guessing its disk0).

then you must save the .dmg to your new 500gb hdd, then copy to your 160gb hdd, then swap etcetfc.

Not really. Remember, you can boot OSX off an Internal or External Hard Drive. The Install disk not required here.

Here's a screenshot. Just drag the partitions into the "Source" and "Destination". You can do this without booting off using an install CD.

 

[ronjon10]

Why don't you dump the optical drive and put a bigger hard drive in that slot?

This way you'd be able to take your stuff along without needing to bother with the external drive. You can then get an external optical drive if you think you'd ever need it.

 

[DoFoT9]

Not really. Remember, you can boot OSX off an Internal or External Hard Drive. The Install disk not required here.

Here's a screenshot. Just drag the partitions into the "Source" and "Destination". You can do this without booting off using an install CD.

ok so answer me this. if i was to attempt to copy my mac hd to an externally attached computer using the exact config that you have in that screenshot - would it allow me to do so? you have booted from the drive that you want to copy to the external. i thought you couldnt completely copy everything from a drive that was booted, is my question.