Please help with MacBook Pro HDD upgrade

[xytrius]

Hi, my first post!

A buddy has a MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012, now with Yosemite and all updates) which came with a 500 GB HDD. He just bought a 1 TB HGST HDD and wants to upgrade by transferring all programs and data (He does not have the OS CD's or the application CD's) and asked for my help.

Opening the MacBook and replacing the HDD is not a problem.

However I am I am confused about how I should go about doing the software/data transfer without doing any re-installation of software.

I have lots of experience with PC’s, and the procedure there is straightforward - use a tool like Acronis to create an image and store it in an external drive, remove old HDD, install new HDD, transfer image to new HDD and the upgrade is complete.

Is there a similar procedure I can follow on the MacBook Pro? Thanks in advance.

 

[chscag]

Is there a similar procedure I can follow on the MacBook Pro? Thanks in advance.

Yes, Carbon Copy Cloner a similar program to Acronis True Image. Use the same procedure you did with the PC.

 

[xytrius]

Thank you chscag!

I downloaded CCC, and am going through the help files.

 

[MightyGem]

Assuming that the new HDD is just a bare drive, then you/he will have to buy an enclosure/caddy for it. Something like this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003RIL0EM/

Then just connect the drive to the Mac, clone the Mac's HDD to the external drive, and then swap the drives.

 

[xytrius]

Thanks.
Another dumb question: Will the cloned drive have its entire storage area available (moving from 500 GB to 1 TB) after installation or will I need to perform an additional step?

 

[chscag]

Thanks.
Another dumb question: Will the cloned drive have its entire storage area available (moving from 500 GB to 1 TB) after installation or will I need to perform an additional step?

The cloned drive will maintain its original storage space.

 

[xytrius]

Thank you chscag.

I used Carbon Copy Cloner and the entire process took around 5 hours (around 500 GB of data transfer) including software transfer and hardware removal/dis-assembly.

Carbon Copy Cloner is excellent.

For hardware I used:

OWC DIY KIT: 1.0TB 7200RPM HD for MacBook, MacBook... in stock at OWC

Macsales /OtherWorldComputing is just superb.

 

[chscag]

Thanks for posting back the good results. Many of us use CCC and depend on OWC for memory and other Mac accessories. Both are excellent choices.