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I need some help. . . I want to replace my completely filled hard drive with a new one. (640 GB 5400rpm Western Digital) Is this a good HD to go with? Or should I go with the 500 GB 7200rpm Seagate?
I think I can handle taking out the old drive, but how do I transfer all original data to the new HD? I don't have many tools to work with. I do have a Time Capsule (500gb) if that helps.
Is this a good question?
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When I replaced the hard drive on my Macbook, I first put the new drive in an enclosure and used Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the drive in the Macbook onto the new drive. Then I tested the cloned drive by restarting the computer from the enclosure. Then I removed the old drive from the Macbook and replaced it with the drive from the enclosure. And finally, I put the old drive into the enclosure -- keeping it untouched for a little while just in case there was a problem with a new drive.
I liked this solution because it left me with the old external hard drive in an enclosure, which I've found very useful for moving files around. I also left a Leopard install on that hard drive, which made it a great troubleshooting tool when I upgraded the computer to Snow Leopard. I could restart the computer in Leopard from the external drive if I ever wanted to see if a problem was specific to Snow Leopard.
To answer your other question, I went with the 500 GB 7200 rpm Seagate because I wanted the extra speed more than the extra gigabytes. The computer felt significantly faster after the upgrade. Made me very happy.
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However, as I said above, you have to purchase an enclosure, versus using TM just uses what the OP already has. Cutting down on purchasing new gadgets is kinda the purpose here- is it not?
Sure, but it keeps the old drive working, which wouldn't be possible without an enclosure. Guess it depends on whether Mike has any use for an external hard drive.
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A simple way to do this would be to back up your old drive with Time Machine, swap the drives, then restore the new drive from Time Machine. It's a little more complex than cloning, but a lot simpler and often cheaper (eg. no nee to buy an enclosure).
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Ok, now boys lol I have a good sense of humor, I got the idea. So, I guess my next step is to check the price of an enclosure.
A few more questions, I read different articles about speeds, Is there a big difference between a 5400 and 7200? Most articles say no, but I wouldn't mind other opinions.
Do I need to buy other parts to go with the enclosure? It never hurts to have an extra HD around.
What size is the HD for the A1226 (Santa Rosa)?
Will the Firewire SATA HD enclosure on iFixti work?
When I install the new HD, do I install Snow Leopard first then activate my most recent TC backup?
I appreciate all your help, I know how to use a computer =) but not the tech stuff.
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well you don't necessarily need to purchase an enclosure, you can just use the method i outlined earlier.
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well, if you have to fit a new harddisk and you have the time capsule backup - where is the problem?
fit the new harddisk, install the OS and restore your data from the time capsule
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That's exactly what I just said- and you could be a little less rude to the poster.
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