My Plan for my MBP 13 inch.

[radiocity25]

I gave it some thought and have a game plan. ok so here's the deal. I plan on buying the WD Scorpio Blue 1 TB drive for my MBP 13 inch. Do I need 1 TB? no not really, but if I am going to upgrade my hard drive I want to do it big. And I plan to use this laptop very long so it will accumulate data. So I have a couple questions...

1. What external enclosure should I buy to put my current drive in when I do the swap?

2. I want to start from scratch with the 1TB drive, seeing as I don't have many apps installed right now I can just do it over again. I don't mind. So how do I go about setting it up. After installation of the drive, I just turn on the laptop and pop in the OSX CD? Do I need to press any button as it starts up? Sorry I am a Mac n00b.

3. How do I wipe my current drive completely clean? I want it to be a fresh drive so I can use it as an external when i put it in the enclosure.

Thanks!

 

[DesmoPilot]

Any 2.5" enclosure will work.

- Boot up off of the OS X DVD (start your computer, after you hear the apple tone hold the C key)
- write zero's to both HDs (after you've started up off the DVD, go into disk utility)
- Format both as Mac OS X extended journaled or whatever it is
- install OS X on internal
- profit

 

[radiocity25]

Any 2.5" enclosure will work.

- Boot up off of the OS X DVD (start your computer, after you hear the apple tone hold the C key)
- write zero's to both HDs (after you've started up off the DVD, go into disk utility)
- Format both as Mac OS X extended journaled or whatever it is
- install OS X on internal
- profit

Can you please go into more detail for the zeros? im sorry i am real n00b. how do I format an external? so I first put in the OS X DVD and turn off the Mac, swap the drive out. turn on the mac and hold down C. install OS X but the zeros??

thanks!

 

[DesmoPilot]

Can you please go into more detail for the zeros? im sorry i am real n00b. how do I format an external? so I first put in the OS X DVD and turn off the Mac, swap the drive out. turn on the mac and hold down C. install OS X but the zeros??

thanks!

Writing zero's makes sure you absolutely wipe the drive, it's an option you can't miss in disk utility. You format an external just the same as a normal HD, cept obviously you have to plug it in via USB.

 

[radiocity25]

Writing zero's makes sure you absolutely wipe the drive, it's an option you can't miss in disk utility. You format an external just the same as a normal HD, cept obviously you have to plug it in via USB.

ok so in order to format any future external drive, I would have to install OS X on it? For Windows it was usually plug and play. So once I open Disk utility after I install the OS to the internal, I will be able to find the place to write the zeros??

Ok so let me get this straight, in order to clear out my current drive for external drive use I'd go into disk utility and type 00 into an option there? And then insert the OS X DVD and turn off mac. then swap out the drive and turn on Mac and hold C. Then after install of OS X I would go to disk utility and enter 00?

 

[DesmoPilot]

ok so in order to format any future external drive, I would have to install OS X on it? For Windows it was usually plug and play. So once I open Disk utility after I install the OS to the internal, I will be able to find the place to write the zeros??

Ok so let me get this straight, in order to clear out my current drive for external drive use I'd go into disk utility and type 00 into an option there? And then insert the OS X DVD and turn off mac. then swap out the drive and turn on Mac and hold C. Then after install of OS X I would go to disk utility and enter 00?

You have to format BOTH drives to the Mac OS Extended (journaled) file system, you do that in disc utility once you've booted off of the CD, it's not hard you'll understand more when you actually see it in front of you. Of course you don't have to install OS X the external, the external is plug and play, just format it to Mac OS X Entended (journaled) for full functionality.

As for the writing zero's, ugh just forget I mentioned it.

 

[radiocity25]

You have to format BOTH drives to the Mac OS Extended (journaled) file system, you do that in disc utility once you've booted off of the CD, it's not hard you'll understand more when you actually see it in front of you. Of course you don't have to install OS X the external, the external is plug and play, just format it to Mac OS X Entended (journaled) for full functionality.

As for the writing zero's, ugh just forget I mentioned it.

oh cool! sorry if I am being a little dense, I just am really new to Macs. So the 00 won't effect the functionality of the new drive? Will it still work alright? I know how to install the drive and such through a instruction video. Are there any in regards to formatting the drive?

 

[DesmoPilot]

oh cool! sorry if I am being a little dense, I just am really new to Macs. So the 00 won't effect the functionality of the new drive? Will it still work alright? I know how to install the drive and such through a instruction video. Are there any in regards to formatting the drive?

It's the same as doing it on PCs basically, don't think of it as being much difference just because its Mac. Writing zero's isn't a Mac exclusive thing, its a general HD thing, no it won't effect functionality its just a step I prefer to do (it's a way of formatting the data on the HD itself and giving it a fresh slate so to speak, as all data on hard drives is just 0's and 1's).

What do you mean formatting the drive? I've told you how to do that a couple times already.

 

[radiocity25]

It's the same as doing it on PCs basically, don't think of it as being much difference just because its Mac. Writing zero's isn't a Mac exclusive thing, its a general HD thing, no it won't effect functionality its just a step I prefer to do (it's a way of formatting the data on the HD itself and giving it a fresh slate so to speak, as all data on hard drives is just 0's and 1's).

What do you mean formatting the drive? I've told you how to do that a couple times already.

Ok I get it now. Thanks! Also I was wondering when I do a fresh OS X instal, will System Profiler still know how many charge cycles and all maintenance related data is on my MBP? Or will the new install wipe that out and think it had no cycles yet?