Replacing harddrive on mid-2009 MBP 13.3"

[thetrystero]

I currently have a factory 160GB harddrive which I'd like to replace with a new Western Digital 500GB Scorpio Blue I just purchased. I'd like to be able to clone the data on my present drive to the Scorpio and get up and running as soon as I install it. I've already downloaded Bombich Carbon Copy Cloner.

1. Which type of external casing should I get for the Scorpio. Is USB ok or do I absolutely need Firewire? The FAQ on Bombich says that if I want to boot from the external enclosure, I need to buy an enclosure that'll boot OS X. Does this apply if all I want to do is a block level clone and then put the Scorpio straight in to the Mac or can I just use any old enclosure?

2. Do I need to format the Scorpio at all before doing a "backup everything" clone using CCC, or will CCC take care of that for me?

 

[Z06jerry]

I currently have a factory 160GB harddrive which I'd like to replace with a new Western Digital 500GB Scorpio Blue I just purchased. I'd like to be able to clone the data on my present drive to the Scorpio and get up and running as soon as I install it. I've already downloaded Bombich Carbon Copy Cloner.

1. Which type of external casing should I get for the Scorpio. Is USB ok or do I absolutely need Firewire? The FAQ on Bombich says that if I want to boot from the external enclosure, I need to buy an enclosure that'll boot OS X. Does this apply if all I want to do is a block level clone and then put the Scorpio straight in to the Mac or can I just use any old enclosure?

2. Do I need to format the Scorpio at all before doing a "backup everything" clone using CCC, or will CCC take care of that for me?

1. USB is OK, Firewire isnt req'd. Intel Macs will boot from USB.

2. You need to format it first to Mac OS Extended Journaled

FWIW, the WD Scorpio blue may not be your best choice for uMB, see post 55

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/744690/

 

[ViciousShadow21]

after doing this quite a bit lately this is the best way i discovered is to put it in the enclosure, format it using Disc Utility, clone it, then switch them out.