Disk Utility problems/questions

So, I am very new to Macs after making the recent and easy transition from my multiple PCs. I decided that the 80gb hd isn't enough for me so I bought a 160 gb to replace it with. I also bought an enclosure for my 80 gb to use as an extra backup.
Anyway, using disk utility, I tried to backup my user files (music, library, pictures etc.). After 3 hours and only a third of the way through the process, I got a message saying "Unable to create "folder" - input/output error." Question #1: Should it be taking this long to create a disk image?
Question #2: Also, is there an easier/quicker way to get my new drive into my computer and transfer all of my files to it? It doesn't look like I will be able to use disk utility to back it up.
Question #3: Can I just switch the drives, and hook up my 80 gb and transfer it via firewire or something? I'm a little hesitant about just removing it without some kind of backup though, because I really don't know what I am doing. Computers aren't my specialty.
I have searched thoroughly through the forums, but I haven't found the answer i'm looking for.
Thanks for the great forum and the help on this one.

You would want to boot to the CD/DVD that came with your Mac. Once booted you can run disk utility from the CD. There is a restore feature. Select a source and a target. This will perform a clone if you will,...

Be sure the external drive is plugged in before you boot to the CD.

Hold down the "C" key while powering up to force boot to a CD/DVD.

You may want to erase the external before the clone which can also be done from the CD/Disk Utility.

I don't have an external. Should I take my new 160 gb, put it in the enclosure, and then follow your instructions? After that I suppose I would have to then remove my 80 gb from my mac, remove the 160 gb from the enclosure, put the 80 gb in the enclosure and put the 160 gb in my mac. Then install my Mac OS X disck and things should be good right? Do I need to do anything to my new 160 gb drive or is it ready to go?
Thanks for your help. Sorry for my mac ignorance....

Sorry for not being specific enough, also for not noticing you have a Macbook.

Do you really want to attempt replacing the HD yourself?

If so then,...

Insert the CD/DVD that came with you Mac into the drive. Insert the 160gb HD into the external enclosure. Connect the external encosure to the Mac.

Reboot the Mac and hold down the "C" key to force the Mac to boot to the CD/DVD drive. Once booted you'll be able to run Disk Utility from the above menus. First format the 160gb HFS extended. You'll be able to tell the drives apart by capacity. You'll notice a restore option, once selected there will be the source and target options. Drag the 160gb from the left to the target field and the 80gb from the left to the source and choose restore. This will clone the existing drive to the new one. At that point when completed you'd have the arduous task of replacing the HD in the laptop. Voiding the warranty. Not for the weary.

You notice at no point did you reinstall Mac OS. We simply cloned hard drives.

Actually replacing the Hard Drive in your MacBook is pretty simple, and I dont believe it voids your warranty.

Here are some instructions for the task.

http://www.google.com/search?q=replacing macbook harddrive&sourceid=mozilla2&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Got it done! Thanks for the help!

Excellent! Glad the hard drive has been replaced. I agree with you that 80GB is now getting smaller and smaller as the days go by. And with Leopard soon to be released, with its Time Machine feature... Now that will need a whole lot of HD space, me thinks.

I heard Leopard will require 160Mb of space... hehehe.

j/k

You know what, CB? I wouldn't be surprised the way apps are going nowadays.

It used to be You can NEVER have enough RAM. Now it's You can NEVER have enough RAM and disk space. :^P

Actually MHC I made a typo..I meant 160 GB... for Leopard. But then again I'm still j/k.

You know what, CB?² I actually read 160GB. LOL

There was actually a much easier way to do all this. You could have used an App like Carbon Copy Cloner, stuck the 160Gb in the new enclosure, cloned the 80Gb to the 160Gb then just swapped the drives. I've done this 5 or 6 times myself and it's pretty easy.