Questions regarding HDD replacement
I have purchased a 1TB 2.5" Hybrid Seagate HDD (ST1000LM014) for my Early-2011 MBP, so I have several questions regarding the replacement of the hard drive by myself:
1. Do I need to purchase a tray for the HDD?
2. Is there any way in which I could replace the hard drive without having to restore the operating system to 10.6.7? I have a 2.5" external case for HDDs and thought of cloning the hard drive before installing it on my laptop.
3. Or as an alternative, can I restore the OS using Time Machine back ups?
Macbook Pro specs:
Macbook Pro 8,1
Core i7, 2,7Ghz
4GB RAM (2x 2GB)
Toshiba 500GB serial-ATA 5400-rpm
Is this a good question?