Upgrading CE MacBook hard drive with external USB HD

[badgerman]

Ok so hopefully getting my scorpio Blue tomorrow. I have no SATA case to Carbon Copy Clone (CCC) to the new HDD from my current HDD.

Can I use my external HDD to this? I will need to delete my TM to do so, and then CCC my current internal HDD to the external HDD.

Can I then swap the old internal HDD for the Scorpio. Format as GUID macOSX journal then use CCC to clone from external HDD to new internal HDD?

Any tips, am I missing something. Shall I boot from CCC'd external HDD to format the internal one, then copy over?

All my research points to not using my TM, is this true, shame to loose my old TM saves.

Any advise on CCC vs free Super Duper? Also not sure I can find my disks since a move. Do I need them?


Cheers

 

[fluffyx]

Use Time Machine. It will clone the data beautifully.

If you had a hard drive failure, Time Machine would restore EVERYTHING. It can do the same if you replace your hard drive.

No need for CCC.

 

[badgerman]

Cheers mate, how come everyone says use CCC or SD? ifixit etc

do I need my install disks to hand for TM clone and HDD upgrade?

 

[fluffyx]

Cheers mate, how come everyone says use CCC or SD? ifixit etc

do I need my install disks to hand for TM clone and HDD upgrade?

Yes, you will need your original install discs, or a Snow Leopard install disc.

CCC/SD have been around longer than Time Machine, so some techs may be more familiar with them. Also, if you aren't already using Time Machine, CCC/SD will be a little bit faster from start to finish. For these reasons, if a computer repair shop were to transfer data for you, they'd probably use CCC/SD instead of Time Machine.

For a consumer, however, Time Machine makes perfect sense. The underlying technology that Time Machine uses to do a full restore is the same as the Migration Assistant's, which lets you transfer data from an old Mac to a new Mac. Migration Assistant has been around since 10.3 and Apple has had a lot of time to perfect it. It is pretty much perfect now .

 

[badgerman]

Yes, you will need your original install discs, or a Snow Leopard install disc.

CCC/SD have been around longer than Time Machine, so some techs may be more familiar with them. Also, if you aren't already using Time Machine, CCC/SD will be a little bit faster from start to finish. For these reasons, if a computer repair shop were to transfer data for you, they'd probably use CCC/SD instead of Time Machine.

For a consumer, however, Time Machine makes perfect sense. The underlying technology that Time Machine uses to do a full restore is the same as the Migration Assistant's, which lets you transfer data from an old Mac to a new Mac. Migration Assistant has been around since 10.3 and Apple has had a lot of time to perfect it. It is pretty much perfect now .

Ok great will stick with TM as then i dont need to delete the history. I have a bootable OSX partition on ext HDD will that do if cant find the disk?

Will that reinstall all my apps or do i need my ilife disks etc? Any issues around itunes or iphoto libraries?

 

[fluffyx]

Ok great will stick with TM as then i dont need to delete the history. I have a bootable OSX partition on ext HDD will that do if cant find the disk?

Will that reinstall all my apps or do i need my ilife disks etc? Any issues around itunes or iphoto libraries?

Aha! There is a reason for Carbon Copy Cloner! If you don't have your original Mac Restore DVDs, or a Snow Leopard DVD, it's not very easy to restore from Time Machine.

If your computer's under warranty or under AppleCare and you have lost your original discs, call AppleCare and request replacement discs. I think they're free or inexpensive.

 

[badgerman]

Aha! There is a reason for Carbon Copy Cloner! If you don't have your original Mac Restore DVDs, or a Snow Leopard DVD, it's not very easy to restore from Time Machine.

If your computer's under warranty or under AppleCare and you have lost your original discs, call AppleCare and request replacement discs. I think they're free or inexpensive.

Ok will do. In the meantime....

I think my bootable osx partition on my ext hd. Should be ok if restart and hold down alt after replacing hdd. Then chose disk utility and format new hdd to guid. Then restore from a back up using tm

is this correct?

Also everything is reinstalled with tm. Don't need to use original dmg?

 

[fluffyx]

Every application will be properly reinstalled with Time Machine.

I'm not sure how to restore everything from a Time Machine backup if you don't have your installer DVD, or if it's even possible. Can someone else provide experience?

 

[badgerman]

Ok so tm worked perfectly.

Just booted from external hdd and reformated new hdd then restored with tm.

Cheers for advice!