Question about changing the main HD.

[Gunga Din]

Hello all, this weekend i'll be picking up a Stock Mac Pro. Today I ordered at WD 150gb 10k RPM Raptor.

What is the best way to make that new drive my main, for OS and booting?

Do I just reinstall Leopard onto that drive and wipe the 320 Stock one to use for Time Machine or install the new Raptor, copy from the 320gb stock and then go back to wipe the 320 HD? (Then Change somewhere in the options to make the raptor my boot up drive?)

Also this is my first Mac. I'm not sure how i'm even gonna do all this in an OS i'm not familiar with. Is it easy? Can someone give me a road map lol ?

Thanks and I look forward to joining your community !

 

[cliffrouse11bas]

Here is what I did. I placed the new hard drive in slot 2 and ran Carbon Copy Clone from disk 1 to 2. I then switched from the new hard drive to slot 1 and moved the boot disk(or original 320gb) to slot 2. I changed the startup disk to the new hard drive in disk 1 and then formatted the old hard drive. Very easy and quick.

 

[siorai]

Here is what I did. I placed the new hard drive in slot 2 and ran Carbon Copy Clone from disk 1 to 2. I then switched from the new hard drive to slot 1 and moved the boot disk(or original 320gb) to slot 2. I changed the startup disk to the new hard drive in disk 1 and then formatted the old hard drive. Very easy and quick.

I did the exact same thing. Worked flawlessly.

 

[Gunga Din]

Here is what I did. I placed the new hard drive in slot 2 and ran Carbon Copy Clone from disk 1 to 2. I then switched from the new hard drive to slot 1 and moved the boot disk(or original 320gb) to slot 2. I changed the startup disk to the new hard drive in disk 1 and then formatted the old hard drive. Very easy and quick.

excellent, thx for the quick reply. is carbon copy on the OS or a separate program i need to buy?

 

[XianPalin]

Looks like it's donationware, available here:

http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html

 

[MikeL]

CCC is a separate program.

Both going through the restore process and cloning the drive are easy options. There's nothing hard about either. Moving the drive from one bay to any other bay is completely unnecessary and without any benefit.

You'll have to format (partition) the drive with Disk Utility once you put it in the MP. Use a GUID partition map.

Then clone or reinstall. If you clone, be sure to set the startup disk to your new drive in System Preferences.

I think you'll be very pleased at how easy this all is.

 

[Gunga Din]

CCC is a separate program.

Both going through the restore process and cloning the drive are easy options. There's nothing hard about either. Moving the drive from one bay to any other bay is completely unnecessary and without any benefit.

You'll have to format (partition) the drive with Disk Utility once you put it in the MP. Use a GUID partition map.

Then clone or reinstall. If you clone, be sure to set the startup disk to your new drive in System Preferences.

I think you'll be very pleased at how easy this all is.

I was thinking about replacing my HD in my Dell because its 4 yrs old and I wanted to continue to use it for gaming....but i'm not gonna even go into the process people were recommending for doing it on a PC. Complete and utter hell !!!

So, as the HD was being shipped, I changed my plans and i'll be picking the Mac Pro this weekend lol . If i could have copied it easier on my Dell it might allow me to wait on any new computer, but it would have been a nightmare !

 

[oceanzen]

Would it be possible to take out the default 320 drive, replacit with a decent one put in the OSx install DVD turn it on hold down C and then install?