Cloning internal hd for replacement?

Ok, quick question. I am upgrading to a 120gb hd. How do I reinstall EVERYTHING on my new hd? Do i have to burn it all to disks? When I replace the hd, do I do a clean install using the macbook osx disk that come with the macbook?

If you had an external or network drive you could backup the entire disk image to the external drive, remove the old drive, plug-in the new drive, run the Apple install disks, reconnect to the network, and reinstall the original disk image.

That's a lot of work though. Maybe someone else can post an easier way. I know I've seen a USB to SATA cable, maybe you could get one of those copy your hard drive to the new disk, then remove the old disk, install the new one and off you go.

Thats exactly what I was hoping to be able to do macdude. I wasn't sure if a usb to sata wire existed, and if so, would it ork.

Found this:
http://tmg4apc.com/product_info.php?cPath=25_38&products_id=59&gclid=CO-vi5mX1IoCFQIiNAodTXMsgw
If I use this, would I be able to install mac osx through usb, or do I need to switch drives internally for installation, and once the new drive is in the macbook, could I use the original drive as an external using this device?

jaster said:

Found this:
http://tmg4apc.com/product_info.php?cPath=25_38&products_id=59&gclid=CO-vi5mX1IoCFQIiNAodTXMsgw
If I use this, would I be able to install mac osx through usb, or do I need to switch drives internally for installation, and once the new drive is in the macbook, could I use the original drive as an external using this device?

Click to expand...

You could use that or you could just buy an external enclosure for a SATA drive. This way you have an enclosure for the external drive. Here is a link to Newegg for some ideas: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...bmit=ENE&Description=serial+enclosure&Ntk=all

Once you get the enclosure I'd first try temporarily installing the new drive and see if you can't use Apple's Migration utility to move everything over to the new drive (not sure if that utility will work but it's worth a try). Otherwise you could look for a utility that will clone the image from your current drive onto the new drive. If that doesn't work you'll need to do a more manual method and install the new drive in your Macbook, the old drive in the enclosure, use the Apple Restore disc to get OS X on the new drive, plug-in the old drive to the USB port, and then move over anything you need.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.