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iamrawr

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 16, 2010
263
0
New Jersey
I'm delighted to say that I am about to own my first apple computer! woohoo! :D going to college and making the switch from a 2006 xps 17" haha

anways i've ordered a momentus XT for it. so i was wondering it's possible to swap in the XT (as a completely blank hard drive), turn on the macbook pro, and then finally put in the OSX disks to set it up? or would i have to do that whole time machine thing... i've never swapped a hard drive before, so i might need some tips and precautions, like creating a non-static environment.

also does anyone know a good enclosure that's compatible for the stock hard drive that i plan to use as an external backup?
are hard drive enclosures just a hollow case and you have to get separate ports, such as firewire, for that enclosure? or do they come with the enclosure itself?
 

iBookG4user

macrumors 604
Jun 27, 2006
6,595
2
Seattle, WA
so i was wondering it's possible to swap in the XT (as a completely blank hard drive), turn on the macbook pro, and then finally put in the OSX disks to set it up?

You could do it that way and it will work fine.

or would i have to do that whole time machine thing... i've never swapped a hard drive before, so i might need some tips and precautions, like creating a non-static environment.

If you already have data on your current hard drive that you want to transfer over, then you should consider using Migration Assistant. As for swapping the hard drive, I'm always too lazy to create a non-static environment. As long as you're careful, you should be fine, although if you're paranoid find a place where you can perform the swap where you are on hardwood flooring or tile.

also does anyone know a good enclosure that's compatible for the stock hard drive that i plan to use as an external backup?
are hard drive enclosures just a hollow case and you have to get separate ports, such as firewire, for that enclosure? or do they come with the enclosure itself?

I use this enclosure, it works fine and is nice and cheap. :)
 

Rubydoppler

macrumors 6502a
Jan 25, 2010
942
0
USA
I did exactly what you asked, same HDD, same steps. Popped it in, threw in my factory disk, and here I am.
 

Rubydoppler

macrumors 6502a
Jan 25, 2010
942
0
USA
A bit OT, but how are you liking the Momentus XT?

It is definitely the cheapest and biggest performance boost you could do.
Can't hear / feel it at all.

Someday I hope to move to a full on SSD, but that's when they're cheaper, and probably with my next laptop purchase.
 

iamrawr

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 16, 2010
263
0
New Jersey
I appreciate all the feedback guys. But regarding the first question that I asked... Does anyone know exactly what will happen after one puts the OSX DVD into the dvd drive? What shows up on the screen while using a blank hard drive? I wanna make sure I go through the process right without any hiccups. Will there be anything like serial confirmation numbers or special codes I need to put in for an OS activation since it's originally on the stock drive? Do I even know what I'm talking about??? :eek:

And would anyone recommend booting up the stock one first to look for any problems with the Mac before swapping in the momentus?
 

elleana

macrumors regular
Nov 30, 2009
229
9
I appreciate all the feedback guys. But regarding the first question that I asked... Does anyone know exactly what will happen after one puts the OSX DVD into the dvd drive? What shows up on the screen while using a blank hard drive? I wanna make sure I go through the process right without any hiccups. Will there be anything like serial confirmation numbers or special codes I need to put in for an OS activation since it's originally on the stock drive? Do I even know what I'm talking about??? :eek:

And would anyone recommend booting up the stock one first to look for any problems with the Mac before swapping in the momentus?

Yes, boot up once at stock before swapping out just to make sure everything works fine. You might also want to check things out in About This Mac to make sure everything is in place.

Also, not sure if you are aware but you will need two different screwdrivers (Phillips 0 and Torx T6 if I recall correctly). Make sure you have these - I had the wrong size Torx so I had to go and get one the next day!

Once you swap out the hard drive and boot up, you should get to the OSX setup screen. You'll have to partition the hard drive before installing.
 

iamrawr

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 16, 2010
263
0
New Jersey
Yes, boot up once at stock before swapping out just to make sure everything works fine. You might also want to check things out in About This Mac to make sure everything is in place.

Also, not sure if you are aware but you will need two different screwdrivers (Phillips 0 and Torx T6 if I recall correctly). Make sure you have these - I had the wrong size Torx so I had to go and get one the next day!

Once you swap out the hard drive and boot up, you should get to the OSX setup screen. You'll have to partition the hard drive before installing.

Yea I have to make sure I got those tools. A local store should have them if I don't have any. I've watched the OWC tutorial video of it and it was pretty helpful.

But why would I need to partition the drive? Does it have to do with the ssd portion and hdd portion of the momentus?
 

jbrenn

macrumors 6502a
Aug 27, 2008
638
0
Yea I have to make sure I got those tools. A local store should have them if I don't have any. I've watched the OWC tutorial video of it and it was pretty helpful.

But why would I need to partition the drive? Does it have to do with the ssd portion and hdd portion of the momentus?

New drives dont come partitioned. It is necessary because operating systems use different types of partition tables. fat32 ntfs ect. The drive makers just leave it to the user to do.
 

iamrawr

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 16, 2010
263
0
New Jersey
New drives dont come partitioned. It is necessary because operating systems use different types of partition tables. fat32 ntfs ect. The drive makers just leave it to the user to do.

But if I run bootcamp to install another OS (such as win7 which needs ntfs) won't it make a partition anyway?
 

FuNGi

macrumors 65816
Feb 26, 2010
1,122
33
California
But if I run bootcamp to install another OS (such as win7 which needs ntfs) won't it make a partition anyway?

That's right. If you use bootcamp once you are up and running it will make a partition for you and enable you to toggle it's size. I recommend NTFS because you can make that partition greater than the 32 GB limit set by FAT.

Also, you may need to hold down the C or D key (search it, I can't remember) to boot from the CD if you go the swap before turning the machine on route. But like another poster mentioned, I would turn it on first to make sure everything is cool before you can blame your new fangled harddrive for a problem.
 

halprin

macrumors newbie
Jul 20, 2003
15
0
Austin, TX
Confirming what everyone else has said.

1. Boot it up first to see that everything is what it is supposed to be
2. Insert your grey computer DVD
3. Shutdown computer
4. Go through the process to replace the hard drive
5. Boot up the computer
6. It should automatically boot to the DVD since there is no operating system on the hard drive. If not, hold down C on boot up
7. I do not know if the step by step install process will automatically format your hard drive, but if not, go to the the Utilities menu and select Disk Utility. From there, select your newly installed hard drive, and format it as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). This will give your hard drive one partition. You'll create the Windows NTFS partition later with Boot Camp
8. Go through the rest of the steps and install!
 

davidlv

macrumors 68020
Apr 5, 2009
2,291
874
Kyoto, Japan
First, you will need a Philips head screwdriver #00 and a Torx T6.
As mentioned above, with a new HD installed, boot up with the "c" key held down (tells the computer to boot up from the DVD drive).
Before doing the OS installation, use the "Utilities" menu, and "Disk Utility" to partition the HD (completely not related to the Momentus XT's 4GB of SSD), see the attached Preview file for some more details.
You should have an easy time doing this, it sounds MUCH more complex than it really is.
Warnings: Some of the screws holding the back on are really small. Be careful to not let them escape to the floor! Also, be sure to get them back in the same location they came from, there are different lengths.
Be careful not to let a rampant screwdriver gouge the soft aluminum back.
Good tinkering :cool::apple::cool:
 

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iamrawr

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 16, 2010
263
0
New Jersey
First, you will need a Philips head screwdriver #00 and a Torx T6.
As mentioned above, with a new HD installed, boot up with the "c" key held down (tells the computer to boot up from the DVD drive).
Before doing the OS installation, use the "Utilities" menu, and "Disk Utility" to partition the HD (completely not related to the Momentus XT's 4GB of SSD), see the attached Preview file for some more details.
You should have an easy time doing this, it sounds MUCH more complex than it really is.
Warnings: Some of the screws holding the back on are really small. Be careful to not let them escape to the floor! Also, be sure to get them back in the same location they came from, there are different lengths.
Be careful not to let a rampant screwdriver gouge the soft aluminum back.
Good tinkering :cool::apple::cool:

sweet! thanks for the in-depth details
 

iamrawr

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 16, 2010
263
0
New Jersey
gonna be my first mac so... how would one go about the mac checking to see if everything is alright? something like system profiler?
 

elleana

macrumors regular
Nov 30, 2009
229
9
gonna be my first mac so... how would one go about the mac checking to see if everything is alright? something like system profiler?

Just click the apple button on the top left, About This Mac... More Info...
 

Jayrock

macrumors newbie
Jul 19, 2010
2
0
I just installed a new hard drive in my macbook pro, insert the OS install discs and if I turn it on I get the greyish off white screen and nothing else, and if I start it up holding Option I get the "install OS X" icon, but when I click on it the computer freezes. Ive tried several times, and it happens everytime. I can hear the HD spinning and the computers heating up, but nothing appears to happen, even after waiting 5+ minutes. Why would this be?
 

davidlv

macrumors 68020
Apr 5, 2009
2,291
874
Kyoto, Japan
I just installed a new hard drive in my macbook pro, insert the OS install discs and if I turn it on I get the greyish off white screen and nothing else, and if I start it up holding Option I get the "install OS X" icon, but when I click on it the computer freezes. Ive tried several times, and it happens everytime. I can hear the HD spinning and the computers heating up, but nothing appears to happen, even after waiting 5+ minutes. Why would this be?
1st are you sure the machine is freezing? It can take a really long time to boot from the DVD. If it is freezing then you may have a hardware issue with the DVD drive or the Install Disks, sure that DVD is the one that came with the machine or a retail version of SL? Disks from any other machine will not work.
Best way to proceed if the DVD drive doesn't work is to install your old drive in a cheap USB enclosure, connect that old HD drive to the computer and try booting up from the old drive, by pushing the option key and selecting it.
If you can boot from the old drive via USB you can then use Disk Utility in the Applications/Utilities folder to partition the new drive and then use Carbon Copy Cloner (free download) to clone the old drive to the new internal drive.
That should get you back up and running.
 

Jayrock

macrumors newbie
Jul 19, 2010
2
0
1st are you sure the machine is freezing? It can take a really long time to boot from the DVD. If it is freezing then you may have a hardware issue with the DVD drive or the Install Disks, sure that DVD is the one that came with the machine or a retail version of SL? Disks from any other machine will not work.
Best way to proceed if the DVD drive doesn't work is to install your old drive in a cheap USB enclosure, connect that old HD drive to the computer and try booting up from the old drive, by pushing the option key and selecting it.
If you can boot from the old drive via USB you can then use Disk Utility in the Applications/Utilities folder to partition the new drive and then use Carbon Copy Cloner (free download) to clone the old drive to the new internal drive.
That should get you back up and running.

It seems as if it freezes. It wont let me move the mouse or anything. But, I can hear the harddrive spinning and the machine gets pretty hot. It recognizes that there is a dvd in the drive, because the icon pops up and says "Mac os x install disc1". Ive let it sit like this for about 10 minutes and still nothing. I dont have the original discs anymore, I actually had to borrow some from a friend, but I think they had been for the regular macbook. Im about to meet up with my friend witht he exact machine to get her discs and try it. My old harddrive had died, so I cant make a copy of it onto a usb. Perhaps I could do so with my friends computer and put the usb in mine?
 

iamrawr

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 16, 2010
263
0
New Jersey
It seems as if it freezes. It wont let me move the mouse or anything. But, I can hear the harddrive spinning and the machine gets pretty hot. It recognizes that there is a dvd in the drive, because the icon pops up and says "Mac os x install disc1". Ive let it sit like this for about 10 minutes and still nothing. I dont have the original discs anymore, I actually had to borrow some from a friend, but I think they had been for the regular macbook. Im about to meet up with my friend witht he exact machine to get her discs and try it. My old harddrive had died, so I cant make a copy of it onto a usb. Perhaps I could do so with my friends computer and put the usb in mine?

I don't think I could be that much of help but maybe you bought an incompatible hard drive? I think it has to be a SATA connection. Which hard drive did you get?
 
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