Restore HD without startup disc?

[zacl87]

Hey friends, infrequent poster here..

Currently creating a disc image to upgrade hard drives however I've left my SL disc in a different part of the country.. When I put in my new hard drive is there a way to access my disc image from my back up source without using the SL OS disc?
cheers

 

[Fishrrman]

"Currently creating a disc image to upgrade hard drives however I've left my SL disc in a different part of the country.. When I put in my new hard drive is there a way to access my disc image from my back up source without using the SL OS disc?"

Not sure what you're trying to do here.

Are you swapping out the internal drive in a laptop/desktop, and want a way to "dupe" the contents from one drive to the other?

If so, there are easier ways to do it.

What are you trying to accomplish?

 

[zacl87]

"Currently creating a disc image to upgrade hard drives however I've left my SL disc in a different part of the country.. When I put in my new hard drive is there a way to access my disc image from my back up source without using the SL OS disc?"

Not sure what you're trying to do here.

Are you swapping out the internal drive in a laptop/desktop, and want a way to "dupe" the contents from one drive to the other?

If so, there are easier ways to do it.

What are you trying to accomplish?

Ok sorry. I'm upgrading my hd in my macbook. I've made a disk image and put it on an external hd. I don't have my snow leopard install disc here and I was under the impression that when I put in my new hd I would have to use the startup disc to access disk utility and restore my disk image from my external hd.

easier way?

 

[Fishrrman]

"easier way?"

Yes.

First, get one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=USB/SATA+dock&x=0&y=0
(numerous variations shown)

Then, do this:
1. hook up the sata dock to the Mac (old drive still inside)
2. boot the Mac
3. when you get to the Finder, open Disk Utility
4. use DU to initialize the new drive in the dock
5. once initialized, use CarbonCopyCloner (freeware) to "dupe" the contents of the internal onto the new drive in the dock
6. next -- IMPORTANT -- do a "test boot" from the new drive BEFORE you do the surgery to replace the drives. To do it, do this
a. select the new drive in startup disk
b. reboot -- Mac should now boot from the dock in the drive
7. if you're satisfied that everything looks as you want it to on the new drive, shut down and do the swap

When done, keep that dock handy -- you will surely find other uses for it.