Switching an already in use external hard drive and internal hardrive

[Ioneous]

So i want to switch my 500gb external hard drive and the generic factory 80gb hard drive in my laptop, but i already have alot of stuff on the external, if i cloned my mac onto the external and switched would i be able to access the files on previously external hard drive via my computer?

 

[spinnerlys]

Yes. You can use CarbonCopyCloner for this, but make sure that no folder/file in the root directory of the 500GB HDD has the same name as any root folder/file on the Macintosh HD (80GB).

You can make a temporary folder on the 500GB HDD named "untitled folder" and move all the other files and folders in there before you clone to it.

Also make sure that the 500GB HDD is 2.5" and has a maximum height of 9.5mm (or 12mm on some MB(P)s).

And you have to be sure that they both use the same connectors, either SATA or PATA (IDE).

 

[Ioneous]

Am i able to use a Western Digital 500gb Harddrive? or is it not up to technical specs?

 

[spinnerlys]

Am i able to use a Western Digital 500gb Harddrive? or is it not up to technical specs?

There are lots of WD HDDs even with 500GB, so you need to be more specific.
Also you have to know what MacBook you have.

 

[Ioneous]

Its a 500gb My Book (says nothing else on the box)
and i believe it s 2007 white mac book.
if it helps in any way
Model Identifier: MacBook2,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 1 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MB21.00A5.B07

 

[spinnerlys]

So it looks like this

or that

?


Or does it look like this

or that

?


If it's one of the latter two, it might work.

If you connect the external My Book to your Mac and open Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities), select the external drive there and look for the model identifier and post it here.

 

[Ioneous]

WD 5000AAV External Media is the model

 

[spinnerlys]

WD 5000AAV External Media is the model

Is that the complete info? Are there no more letters and numbers there?

And is it housed in one of the first two cases or the latter two?

 

[Ioneous]

yes that was all it said for me. no extra letters or numbers
nvm i looked it up, and it is to big T-T oh well tho, it wa a nice thought, thanks for ze help

 

[spinnerlys]

nvm i looked it up, and it is to big T-T oh well tho, it wa a nice thought, thanks for ze help

I thought so too, it's a 3.5" HDD, you need a 2.5" HDD.