Upgrading HDD - a few quick questions

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I've searched the forums and found a lot of answers to my initial questions regarding upgrading the HDD in my 2006 MBP. I have a couple more I was unable to find or wasn't 100% sure of:

1. It appears a hard drive is a hard drive, and they are all compatible with any computer as long as it fits. When I upgraded my RAM I had to buy a specific kind to work with my 4 year old MBP. Do I need to worry about that with the HDD? It appears the only thing I need to avoid is the 1 TB disks because they won't fit.

2. I've figured how to copy my hard drive onto the external HD with carbon copy cloner...but I can't find how to go the other way. Once I install my new HDD, how do I get the copy of my old one onto the new one? Do I use carbon copy cloner, and select the external backup as the source and the new HDD as the destination, or will I need to use another program?

Thanks a ton!
 

Slydude

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No need for another for another program. Do just as you suggested launch Cloner and choose the external drive as the source and internal drive as destination.

I don't recall for sure you may have to format the new internal drive first in order for Cloner to "see" it. That's easily done with Disk Utility. BTW you could also perform the restoration within Disk Utility by going to the "Restore" tab once the new drive is formatted. Same rules apply for choosing source and destination drives.

One other suggestion before you remove the existing drive. Boot from the "clone" on your external drive and open a program or two just to be sure everything's OK. I've only had a cloning operation fail once and didn't discover it until I really needed it.
 
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C2D 2.26 | 500GB Seagate Momentus | 2GB 1066 (soon to be 8)
I've searched the forums and found a lot of answers to my initial questions regarding upgrading the HDD in my 2006 MBP. I have a couple more I was unable to find or wasn't 100% sure of:

1. It appears a hard drive is a hard drive, and they are all compatible with any computer as long as it fits. When I upgraded my RAM I had to buy a specific kind to work with my 4 year old MBP. Do I need to worry about that with the HDD? It appears the only thing I need to avoid is the 1 TB disks because they won't fit.

2. I've figured how to copy my hard drive onto the external HD with carbon copy cloner...but I can't find how to go the other way. Once I install my new HDD, how do I get the copy of my old one onto the new one? Do I use carbon copy cloner, and select the external backup as the source and the new HDD as the destination, or will I need to use another program?

Thanks a ton!

1. Only thing about laptop HD's is you need to make sure it is a 2.5" form factor with a 9.5mm height. You can use anything up to 500GB (and I think a 640GB Samsung Spinpoint). Then you need to look at the speed of the drive. There are 5400rpm drives and 7200 rpm drives. 7200rpm drives will boot up faster, and save/open things a bit faster than a 5400rpm drive. If you bought it from Apple, it will have a 5400rpm drive. I recommend getting a nice 7200rpm drive.

Look at: WD Scorpio
Seagate Momentus / Momentus XT
Samsung Spinpoint

2. What I would recommend doing is just leave your hard drive in your laptop, and put your new one in the external enclosure. Then use CCC or SuperDuper! to copy the internal to the external, which you have already done. Or put the external in (if you don't trust the internal) and then put the new hard drive in the external and copy it over.
 
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Great. Thanks guys.

I'll make sure I stay within the 9.5mm height. I was hoping to get a 750 gig drive, but even if I have to go with the 500 gig it'll be a huge improvement over the current 120 gig.
 
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Yes, 9.5mm height is what you're looking for.
 
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Thanks. I've got it narrowed down to 2. One is the linked Seagate above and the other is a 640 GB Samsung Spinpoint. The spinpoint has better reviews on Newegg and reading some other forums leads me to believe Seagate hasn't exactly been putting out great products. Which of these two would you recommend:

Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Spinpoint MP4 HM640JJ 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Newegg.com - Seagate Momentus ST9750420AS 750GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive -Bare Drive
 
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Personally, I would go with the spinpoint over a regular momentus. Now, if it were between the spinpoint and momentus XT, that's a different story. The spinpoint is one of the TOP regular hard drives you can buy at the moment.

I would hold off on that 750gb momentus because it's getting old to the point that there are no longer incentives on it...meaning something new is about to come out soon. Plus, that's a pretty penny for a normal drive. At that price, I would go with the Momentus XT.

As for the reviews, you gotta remember one thing. These manufacture these things to the point that you won't be able to count them! So, to accurately know their reliability based on a handful of reviews is not going to happen, since people will put more effort into complaining about something, than to praise it...you know how it goes.
 
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Imo it's a toss up. Look at warranty and things like that. I am using a 500gb Seagate Momentus and it has been fine (granted its only been two months). But I do know the SpinPoint series of HD's are very reliable.
 
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Okay...One last question. I've added the Samsung Spinpoint to my X-mas list and am fully confident I can install it without any trouble. I'm now trying to plan how to clone my current hard drive to the new one.

OPTION 1:
I have a 500 GB Western Digital external hard drive. My original plan was to clone my internal drive to the external drive, install the new hard drive, then transfer the cloned copy of my old hard drive from the external to the new internal. If I do this, how exactly can I open Carbon Copy Cloner on the computer before I have an OS installed on the new internal hard drive?

OPTION 2:
Open the external hard drive, put the new hard drive in that casing, then clone my current internal to the new 640 GB drive that I put in the external hard drive casing. This would probably be the easier option...but I'm having two issues with it:

1. I'm not 100% sure it's a 2.5" SATA drive. It is SATA, but I can't find anything on the box or in the manual saying it's 2.5". Are all SATA drives 2.5"? Here's a link to my external hard drive: WD Support / Installation / My Book / My Book Studio Edition

2. There are no screws or anything to loosen the casing! I'm assuming it can just snap off...but I don't want to break the casing. Because of this if there is a way to do option 1 I'll probably go with that.
 
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Okay...One last question. I've added the Samsung Spinpoint to my X-mas list and am fully confident I can install it without any trouble. I'm now trying to plan how to clone my current hard drive to the new one.

OPTION 1:
I have a 500 GB Western Digital external hard drive. My original plan was to clone my internal drive to the external drive, install the new hard drive, then transfer the cloned copy of my old hard drive from the external to the new internal. If I do this, how exactly can I open Carbon Copy Cloner on the computer before I have an OS installed on the new internal hard drive?

OPTION 2:
Open the external hard drive, put the new hard drive in that casing, then clone my current internal to the new 640 GB drive that I put in the external hard drive casing. This would probably be the easier option...but I'm having two issues with it:

1. I'm not 100% sure it's a 2.5" SATA drive. It is SATA, but I can't find anything on the box or in the manual saying it's 2.5". Are all SATA drives 2.5"? Here's a link to my external hard drive: WD Support / Installation / My Book / My Book Studio Edition

2. There are no screws or anything to loosen the casing! I'm assuming it can just snap off...but I don't want to break the casing. Because of this if there is a way to do option 1 I'll probably go with that.

If it has its own power supply (the external HD) it's 99% likely a 3.5" hard drive (desktop drive).

You can always buy another case at like best buy for 2.5" drives, or get a universal hard drive adapter from radioshack / best buy (where I got mine) and clone it that way.
 
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If it has its own power supply (the external HD) it's 99% likely a 3.5" hard drive (desktop drive).

You can always buy another case at like best buy for 2.5" drives, or get a universal hard drive adapter from radioshack / best buy (where I got mine) and clone it that way.

Yeah...I saw an enclosure on Amazon for like $8 including shipping. All the reviews were pretty positive. I may end up getting that...I was just hoping to save those $8.
 
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By the way! Just as a quick note, the 7200rpm drives will run a bit louder compared to the 5400rpm and from what I've heard it's really dependent on the brand of the drive as well. I'm a seagate and honestly I'm not a huge fan of it. It is plenty fast, but but it's already starting to act up here and there and I don't think it will last all that much longer. But that's another debate entirely :)
 
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Seagate 750 gig momentus installation issue

Folks,

I purchased from OWC and installed a Seagate 750 gig 7200 hard drive into my Intel Macbook Pro. When using the 10.4 installation disk utility the drive is recognized as a 5.5 TB drive and I can not parttion the drive. (Input / output errors). OWC replaced the drive and the new one does the same. Any thoughts?
 
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Seagate Momentus

Folks,

I purchased from OWC and installed a Seagate 750 gig 7200 hard drive into my Intel Macbook Pro. When using the 10.4 installation disk utility the drive is recognized as a 5.5 TB drive and I can not parttion the drive. (Input / output errors). OWC replaced the drive and the new one does the same. Any thoughts?

I am having the exact same problem with my late 2006 MacBook Pro Intel 17". HELP
 
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I should have posted the fix. I ended up buying a 500 gig drive. It appers the 750 gig is not compatible. I then upgraded to Snow Leopard. I've been running for several months.
 
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