Best way to transfer old HD to new HD, copying or image?

[RoboCop001]

Hello.

So I've got this old iMac I want to upgrade the HD with. The HD is making a strange buzzing/hum every now and then, and it does it for a while and always after a certain amount of time when it's powered on. The HD is about 4 years old at least, so I'm thinking it's going bye bye soon. It kind of sounds like the buzz you hear from speakers when there's nothing coming out of them.

Besides that, it's almost full. So either way I'd like to replace it.

So, I did actually start a new topic about this a while ago, but it got buried and people kept suggesting that I boot into target disk mode, which it doesn't support because it has no FireWire. lol...

Here's a quote from the most useful post...

I'd boot the iMac into target disk mode, connect it to the MBP and also the connect the MBP to the new drive which would temporarily be in the external enclosure. Use the "restore" feature in disk utility with the iMac internal as the source, and the new drive in the external as the destination. When the copy is complete, you should be able to swap the new drive back in.

So is this the best way? To use the restore feature of Disk Utility?

The fastest connection the iMac has is a 100Mbs Ethernet. So... not so fast for 40GB transfer. And again, there's no FireWire, so no target disk mode.

Here's what I'm thinking.... My setup is this... MacBook Pro, external LaCie drive, and the iMac HD inside an external enclosure.

So I'll connect the iMac HD to the MBP via USB2, and the LaCie via FireWire.
Then I'll open Disk Utility and turn the iMac HD into a disc image, saving it onto the LaCie drive.
Then I will remove the iMac HD from the enclosure, put the new HD in there, and restore the disc image from the LaCie drive onto the new iMac drive.

I guess it'll take a little while because it has to make it a disk image, but that's ok I guess.

Is there a better way though? I assume I can't just copy the files with drag and drop right? I need everything to go over, invisible files and all... I just want to make sure it goes over perfectly.

Oh, and before someone suggests "Just pay for the service fee at the store." I already have the HD and the external enclosure from another old iMac with a broken power supply. Incidentally, it's the exact same model iMac but with an recently purchased 80GB HD... lol...Oh, and any suggestions on what to do with the other iMac would be great... recycle? Use it for something besides a computer? hmm...

 

[Cave Man]

Put Carbon Copy Cloner on your iMac, connect your new drive in its external enclosure, then clone the old drive to the new one. After that, put the new drive in your iMac.

 

[czachorski]

Carbon copy cloner. It's free on versiontracker for a version that will make a perfect image. Image the old drive to the new one. Just copying won't get all the hidden files.

 

[RoboCop001]

Great! I'll try out Carbon Copy Cloner then.

But the thing is, the iMac only has USB1. That would take forever for 40GBs of data, wouldn't it? If I remember correctly, it took 6 hours to backup only 7GBs of data. Wow...

Would it not be faster by putting the iMac drive in an enclosure, imaging the drive with CCC, and then putting the new drive in the enclosure, and restoring the image onto the new drive? I'd be doing that on my MBP with USB2 and FireWire.

Or what about using CCC to do it remotely via Ethernet, through the MBP to the new drive in an enclosure via USB2?

I'm just looking for the fastest way. I'm thinking the first method with using only the MBP? I know there's an extra step of swapping the drive in the enclosure to put the data on the new one, but would that not be quicker anyway than the iMac via USB 1 or Ethernet?

 

[Cave Man]

Great! I'll try out Carbon Copy Cloner then.

But the thing is, the iMac only has USB1.

Hmm. You have a G3 iMac. I interpreted the "4 year old hard drive" as a G4 iMac (with Firewire). It would be faster to pull the drive, but also a lot more work. Either way, you're going to have to pull the drive so might as well do it that way.

 

[RoboCop001]

Hmm. You have a G3 iMac. I interpreted the "4 year old hard drive" as a G4 iMac (with Firewire). It would be faster to pull the drive, but also a lot more work. Either way, you're going to have to pull the drive so might as well do it that way.

Ah, sorry about that. I always miss something! Yes, it's a G3 iMac. Unfortunately, 2 months after I bought it, every model came with FireWire. Oh well.

So I'll do it entirely with the MBP then.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[czachorski]

Great! I'll try out Carbon Copy Cloner then.

But the thing is, the iMac only has USB1. That would take forever for 40GBs of data, wouldn't it? If I remember correctly, it took 6 hours to backup only 7GBs of data. Wow...

Would it not be faster by putting the iMac drive in an enclosure, imaging the drive with CCC, and then putting the new drive in the enclosure, and restoring the image onto the new drive? I'd be doing that on my MBP with USB2 and FireWire.

Or what about using CCC to do it remotely via Ethernet, through the MBP to the new drive in an enclosure via USB2?

I'm just looking for the fastest way. I'm thinking the first method with using only the MBP? I know there's an extra step of swapping the drive in the enclosure to put the data on the new one, but would that not be quicker anyway than the iMac via USB 1 or Ethernet?

Ok, I see what you are trying to do a little better here. So you are planning on:

1. Take HD out of iMac and put it in an enclosure
2. Image the iMac HD onto the MBP.
3. Take the iMac HD out of the enclosure and put the new, bigger HD into the enclosure.
4. Transfer the image from the MBP to the new HD in the enclosure.
5. Move the new HD from the enclosure to your iMac.

Does that capture what you are saying? Yup, that would work. It does seem like it would be faster to do these HD swaps and get the faster USB2 transfer rates, rather than doing the imaging with USB1.

Good luck!

 

[RoboCop001]

Ok, I see what you are trying to do a little better here. So you are planning on:

1. Take HD out of iMac and put it in an enclosure
2. Image the iMac HD onto the MBP.
3. Take the iMac HD out of the enclosure and put the new, bigger HD into the enclosure.
4. Transfer the image from the MBP to the new HD in the enclosure.
5. Move the new HD from the enclosure to your iMac.

Does that capture what you are saying? Yup, that would work. It does seem like it would be faster to do these HD swaps and get the faster USB2 transfer rates, rather than doing the imaging with USB1.

Good luck!

Yup, exactly! Well, except that I'd be imaging the drive onto another external HD via FireWire since there's not enough space on the MBP drive

Anyway, thanks for the reply!

 

[czachorski]

Yup, exactly! Well, except that I'd be imaging the drive onto another external HD via FireWire since there's not enough space on the MBP drive

Anyway, thanks for the reply!

Got it. Is sounds like a good plan. Let us know how it goes.

BTW - I did a similar thing 2 years ago with the HD in my PowerMac, and it worked very well. That swapped HD is still running that machine today. CCC is a nice tool.