Hard drive replacement advice

[B. Shakey]

Which of these options would be the best way to upgrade the hard drive in my Macbook?

1. Put the new drive in an external enclosure, clone my original drive with SuperDuper!, install the new drive.

2. Install the new drive, install OS X, use migration assistant to transfer programs/files.

3. Put the new drive in an enclosure, boot to that drive, install OS X, use migration assistant, then swap the drives.

Option 1 seems the easiest, but is there an advantage to doing a clean install of OS X?

[louishen]

If you are happy with your present set-up 1 is the quickest way

If you feel you need a fresh install of the OS then 2 would be a good choice

[Vettefellow]

I just used an external dock to install the OS on before dropping it in the system, and it worked out great. The best advice I can give is to make sure you have a T6 Torx on hand... I got all the way to the drive, and didn't have a T6 on me They can be pretty hard to find, but your local computer shop or Sears should have one.

[Noxian]

I did option 1 on mine 2 months ago, Worked very well.

[ImBatman]

I was wondering what software would you use to clone your drive in option #1?

...wait my bad, I guess I wasn't paying attention

[wezman2k]

i just used time machine, i have an external too.

install the new drive, boot up with os x disc in the drive, then load your machine from a backup using time machine.