New harddrive - need help installing it

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I got a 750 GB hard drive for my 2007 model Macbook to replace my 120 GB one that it came with that is now maxed out. I don't know a thing about computers at all, so I was hoping one of you guys might be able to give me a link to a VERY DETAILED and easy to follow step-by-step guide to move all my info over to the new hard drive and install it in my Mac. I got the DIY kit from OWC that came with the tool kit and the enclosure that allows you to be able move the data over. I looked on ifixit and i didn't see any instructions for using an enclosure like the one that came with my kit. Anyhow, I need help big time. I need instructions for somebody that's a computer dummy...LOL.
 
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iFixit.com has great instructions but you need to enter your model # to get the proper instructions. Start here: ID Your Mac - iFixit.
 

chscag

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Leave the 120 GB HDD in your machine for now.

Put the new 750 GB HDD in the enclosure you received from OWC. And attach it to your Black Book via USB. Open Disk Utility and format the 750 GB drive as HFS+ using the GUID scheme. Leave it in the enclosure for now.

Next, go here and download|install Carbon Copy Cloner on your old hard drive. (It's donation ware) Now use CCC to clone your old hard drive to the new 750 GB in the enclosure. CCC will make the new drive bootable.

Next... See if you can boot the machine from the 750 GB drive in the enclosure. Reboot, hold down OPTION key and choose the external to boot from. If it boots OK, proceed.....

Remove your old 120 GB hard drive from the machine and replace it with the 750 GB HDD. Reboot. If you've done everything correctly, the machine should boot normally from the now new internal 750 GB hard drive.

Just make sure that when removing the old drive and replacing it with the new one that you don't break anything. Be real careful.

Let us know.
 
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is it better to do a CCC rather then just reinstalling the OS X and using time machine to restore?

I was told that using a cloned drive can cause sluggish performance?
 
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It seems like the instructions from chscag are the easiest i've come across yet. However, I also would like to know the answer to what whitehorse84 stated in regards to cloning the hard drive affecting performance. The only instructions I can find on ifixit is just on how to actually install the new hard drive into the computer. Installing it in the computer is the easy part, I'm just wanting to make sure I have good instructions to get all my data moved over. Can one of you guys post the directions for doing the time machine and OS X install that whitehorse suggested so I can try to decide which one would be easier to do?
 
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ATX.. if you simply just install the drive into the computer I believe all you'd have to do is:

Install the drive
Re-assemble
insert the OS X disc (if you dont have this, you may be better off cloning)
hold down C to boot from the disc
open up disc utility, format the new drive
install OS X on selected new drive
when prompted to migrate over data with time machine hook up whatever you've been using and choose that drive and you should be good to go.

I think.
 
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is it better to do a CCC rather then just reinstalling the OS X and using time machine to restore?

I was told that using a cloned drive can cause sluggish performance?

All I've noticed is boot up time being slowed down by about 5-10 seconds, but no difference to performance once up and running.
 
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ATX.. if you simply just install the drive into the computer I believe all you'd have to do is:

Install the drive
Re-assemble
insert the OS X disc (if you dont have this, you may be better off cloning)
hold down C to boot from the disc
open up disc utility, format the new drive
install OS X on selected new drive
when prompted to migrate over data with time machine hook up whatever you've been using and choose that drive and you should be good to go.

I think.

Ok, I've never used time machine before, so I would need to figure out how that works. I use Carbonite to keep all my stuff backed up. Since I upgraded to Snow Leopard, I'm assuming I would use the Snow Leopard disk to boot from right? Sorry for these dumb questions, but I just don't know much about computers...LOL
 
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Ok, I figured out time machine and backed up on a separate external drive. I'm thinking of trying the time machine way. I think i'm going to format the new 750 GB drive in the enclosure (as chscag suggested) then install it into my mac and boot up using my snow leopard disk and install the Snow Leopard OS X onto the new drive. Then I will try to move the data from the time machine backup on the external drive onto the new internal drive. I'm not too familiar with using the disk utility program. Can you guys tell me which options to choose and what steps to take in the disk utility program to format the 750 GB drive that is in the enclosure?
 
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The left hand column of the Disk Utility window will show physical devices, and then the associated volumes of the drive below. So, for example, on my computer, I see 121.33 GB Apple SSD TS... and below it, Macintosh HD. The first is the physical drive, the second, the formatted volume on the drive.

Select the physical drive, and to the right, a Partition tab will appear. Click Partition, from the pull-down menu, select 1 Partition, click the Options button below and select GUID partition map, name your volume anything you like, and click Apply. This will create the partition map, format the drive and assign the name you've chosen to the volume.

One thing to keep in mind about Time Machine restores - if you don't restore prior to creating an administrator account, do NOT name the administrator account the same thing as the admin account on the old computer. Use something different, or you'll end up with an account name conflict.
 
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One thing to keep in mind about Time Machine restores - if you don't restore prior to creating an administrator account, do NOT name the administrator account the same thing as the admin account on the old computer. Use something different, or you'll end up with an account name conflict.

Thanks very much for the helpful info Stranger. When I restore my mac thru time machine with the new hard drive, won't it just restore my old admin account that is associated with the old hard drive? I don't really want to have two admin accounts. I just want to keep it where I have one like I do now since I'm the only one that uses this computer.
 
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It should prompt you to do the restore prior to account creation. Some folks bypass the restore process at that point, create an admin account, finish booting to the desktop, and then restore... it's a matter of personal preference. If you go ahead and restore when prompted in the setup process, you should be fine. As far as having multiple admin accounts, you can certainly delete the one(s) you no longer need from the Accounts Preference Pane.
 
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Thanks to all for the replies. You guys have all been very helpful. I am so unknowledgeable about computers. I really appreciate all the feedback. I'll keep you all posted when I have time to get the new one installed and let you all know if I run into problems.
 
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Ok, which option should I select? Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or Mac OS Extended? This is going to be my new internal hard drive for my macbook. Does it matter which one I choose?
 
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Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
 
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Ok, great news. I just finished up and with all the help from you guys and the great instructions from ifixit, I got the new drive installed with no problems whatsoever. Only thing I can tell is that there might be some plug-ins for IMovie that didn't get installed, but I'm just going to go ahead and reinstall it. I ended up doing it the time machine way. Thanks again so much for all ya'll's help!
 

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