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MacBook HD Upgrade

BulkHedd

BulkHedd

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 13, 2006
497
18
I have a MacBook with an 80GB hard drive. Right now I have my iTunes library on an external 120GB hard drive. My iTunes library is getting close to 50GB now (including videos and podcasts).
I am thinking about buying a larger internal hard drive and installing that so I don't need to use the external drive so much but I don't really know the best way to do this.
I know how to remove and install the new drive but what I'm unsure about is the best way to back up and restore so that I can pretty much have my system exactly like it is now.
I am a recent Windows switcher so I don't have a lot of experience with OSX yet.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
 
brop52 said:
Don't void your warranty. Someone certified has to do it.
Click to expand...
Changing harddisk by ourselves void the warranty? That sucks..
If I have someone certified to do it, will it keep apple's warranty on other things?
 
brop52 said:
Don't void your warranty. Someone certified has to do it.
Click to expand...

Not for a MacBook. Only the MacBook Pro has to be disassembled to replace the hard drive. The hard drive on the MacBook is considered user-replaceable. It's as easy as replacing the RAM. This link is a manual from apple.com that shows you how to replace it.
 
makismagoo99 said:
Not for a MacBook. Only the MacBook Pro has to be disassembled to replace the hard drive. The hard drive on the MacBook is considered user-replaceable. It's as easy as replacing the RAM. This link is a manual from apple.com that shows you how to replace it.
Click to expand...

Nice. That's good to know. They organized the machine well then. Must be a lot quicker and easier than upgrading the HD in my G3 iMac. :)
 
Ok, so I use SuperDuper to back up my existing HD to an external drive. Then I install the new drive and then what, I install OSX then run SuperDuper again to restore the backup?
 
BulkHedd said:
Ok, so I use SuperDuper to back up my existing HD to an external drive. Then I install the new drive and then what, I install OSX then run SuperDuper again to restore the backup?
Click to expand...

a bit easier than that. clone your current install to your external, install the new drive, boot up from your external (make it the boot drive before putting the new drive in by going into system prefs) and then use super duper to clone over to the blank drive.

of you could just get an enclosure for the drive thats in there now, and then clone from that to the new drive using super duper once you switch them out.
 
BulkHedd said:
Ok, so I use SuperDuper to back up my existing HD to an external drive. Then I install the new drive and then what, I install OSX then run SuperDuper again to restore the backup?
Click to expand...
the easiest way is to put the new drive in a 2.5" external enclosure, and use SuperDuper to clone the old drive to the new one. Then take the new drive out of the enclosure & install it in the MacBook, and you're good to go. You can turn on the computer & it's all set. You can then put the old drive in the enclosure & have a nice external HD.
 
jon4lakers said:
You just need any 2.5 " SATA drive right? It dosent have to be designated 'for mac' or anything?

Any size drive you want?
Click to expand...

yes it has to be a 2.5" SATA drive
not sure if this is true for the SATA drives, but i know older notebook drives used to come in two heights, 9mm and 11mm. it'll have to be 9mm.
i just put a new drive in my macbook this past weekend from newegg. a 160GB Seagate.
 
PlaceofDis said:
yes it has to be a 2.5" SATA drive
not sure if this is true for the SATA drives, but i know older notebook drives used to come in two heights, 9mm and 11mm. it'll have to be 9mm.
i just put a new drive in my macbook this past weekend from newegg. a 160GB Seagate.
Click to expand...

Thanks. So any 9mm sata will work?
 
PlaceofDis said:
yep any 2.5" (9mm height) SATA drives will work. i think they cap out at 200GB right now (taking a hit in speed though?)
Click to expand...
Not really... once you start filling the drive past, lets say 74 GB, the 200 GB @ 4200 catches up with (and actually passes) the smaller capacity disks at 5400. Linky.

I'm very happy with the new 200 GB Toshiba in my MacBook... :)
 
PlaceofDis said:
good to know, Mitty. you learn something new every day. :eek: :D
Click to expand...
I know... it actually surprised me, too. I chose the 200 GB for capacity only, and expected to take a hit in speed, but the machine actually felt snappier in regular use after the switch from a (nearly full) 120 GB @ 5400 (only booting and starting huge applications seem to go a tad slower than it used to).

I recommend the 200 GB Toshiba disk warmly... and it's very easy to install, too... :)

Another possibility, when we're talking migration, is to start with SuperDuper! as said above, but instead of cloning your disk back, make a clean install of OS X and when asked use Migration Assistant to - well - migrate your Apps and Data over. It's a nice way to clean up a bit, but still get (mostly) everything back the way it was...
 
CrzyCanuck72 said:
the easiest way is to put the new drive in a 2.5" external enclosure, and use SuperDuper to clone the old drive to the new one. Then take the new drive out of the enclosure & install it in the MacBook, and you're good to go. You can turn on the computer & it's all set. You can then put the old drive in the enclosure & have a nice external HD.
Click to expand...

Ok, I think this is they way I want to go. I already ordered the drive and a toolkit from OWC (Hitachi Travelstar 160GB, 5400 RPM). Now I need to get a SATA enclosure. The ones on OWC are kind of expensive but a lot of the ones on Newegg seem to be limited to 100GB.
Any suggestions there?
 
southbark said:
While i do not recommend doing a hard drive replacement yourself here is a link to a good tutorial on how to do it

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2119528,00.asp
Click to expand...

Apple says its a User Serviceable Part. meaning. they don't care if you change it yourself. and its extremely easy to do so. takes all of 10 minutes. changing the drive in a MBP is another story (it took me about 40mins to change the hard drive in my 12" powerbook)
 
unixfool said:
I'm curious as to how much you paid for your 200GB Toshiba.
Click to expand...
A small fortune... i.e. NOK 1650 inc. taxes (25% VAT), which is about $276, a while back. :( And now the price has gone down to NOK 1150 inc. taxes (≈ $192). :(

But that's here in Norway... I'm pretty sure the prices in the US are lower... much lower... ;)
 
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