Best way to upgrade internal hard drive

Hi,
I have a 100gig hd in my laptop and it is pitifully small for the kind of work I'm doing (audio, video, animation and web work). I record things like audio and video to an external drive, but need to keep a certain number of instruments and tools on my system drive to travel lightweight and work on planes etc.
So, my understanding is that there are limits to how big a hard drive you can put in a Macbook Pro depending on the model. I also understand that it is a real pain in the *** to do so yourself and that you void your warranty by not letting an Apple specialist do it for you. Are both of those assumptions true?
If so, how would I find out how big a hard drive I can put in my MacBook Pro (system profiler details below), and can an Apple specialist do it for me?
Thanks for any help:
Model Name: MacBook Pro 15"
Model Identifier: MacBookPro1,1
Processor Name: Intel Core Duo
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per processor): 2 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
SMC Version: 1.2f10

Thanks for your responses people.
Normally, I'd go for an external FW hd, but I use the FW port for my sound card or for capturing video and I have an old MBP (the one that DOESN'T have a FW800 port - lame, I know). Also, it's not a good idea to daisy-chain FW devices when using it for audio work, so unfortunately that option is out.
I have an eSATA card in my expresscard slot with two ports - one I use for an external eSATA Lacie D2 drive for my audio work when plugged in, but the other one is free. Only problem with that, is that I'd need to power any external hard drive to use it via the eSATA port which means I couldn't work on projects 'on-the-go'.
Really, it would be ideal to have more space on my internal drive and not worry about carrying extra kit around.
I saw this drive in the OWC shop: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Seagate/ST9320421AS/
But what I need to know is whether that size drive will be compatible with my MBP (and if so, does anyone knows a good place to get that drive)? I'm based in the UK by the way.
Thanks
Message was edited by: onesizeup

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What is the best way to upgrade a hard drive on my macbook?

How do I get the information on my current internal hard-drive onto another internal hard-drive?
Thanks in advance for any and all information.

You can use SuperDuper or CarbonCopy Cloner to accomplish that.
You'd need an external disk or mount your old internal in an enclosure.
-mj
Message was edited by: macjack

Best way to upgrade internal boot drive

Hi all, I have a G4 dual 1gig with the standard 76 gig internal drive and Lacie 250gig external for my I Tunes library, photos, and video editing.
The internal drive is showing 33 out of 76 gig available. I know that ideally you should not have your boot drive filled more than 50%. My question is should I add another internal drive? Or get a bigger drive to use for the boot up?
How do I tell my Mac to recognize or use another drive for boot up purposes?
I'm relatively green at playing with start up preferences.
Thanks,
Ed

Hi, Ed!
You still have sufficient space on your startup drive to operate efficiently, unless you're working with two-hour video projects right on the startup drive, which can eat up over 30GB...
You can easily add additional ATA hard drives of any size to an MDD Mac. You can have up to four total. Shop around online for a large ATA drive and you'll find some good deals, especially when coupled with a rebate. The mass merchants like CompUSA, Best Buy, Circuit City, Tiger Direct, Fry's (outpost.com), Newegg, etc. have sales that generally change weekly. You want an ATA drive for hooking up natively to your logic board bus. (A SATA drive requires the addition of a controller card.) For shopping purposes, don't let terms like ATA,PATA, IDE, EIDE, Ultra ATA-133, or Ultra ATA-100 confuse you - consider them all interchangeable terms for buying a new drive. Just don't mistakenly get a SATA or SCSI drive.
I'd look for a 3.5" drive that runs at 7200 RPM and has an 8MB or 16MB buffer, as opposed to a 2MB buffer, which is slower. The four major brands are Seagate, Maxtor, Western Digital, and Hitachi, any of which should serve you well.
When you get the drive, set it to Cable Select (for an MDD or later Mac) and connect it to the second bus on your logic board, attaching it to the end connector of the ribbon cable. You might first check to insure that your current drive is now set to Cable Select, which is the standard setting which it was to have originally been set when it shipped from Apple.
After installation, reset PRAM and boot normally to your startup drive, launch Disk Utility, and initialize (fancy word for initial formatting) the drive using Mac OS Extended as the format. I'd recommend checking the box to install the OS 9 drivers even if you don't intend to use OS 9. You might also consider using the option to overwrite zeros to the drive when you first format it, which will map out any bad sectors which may be present and preclude their future use. This option takes a few hours, but is good insurance against potential data corruption.
After formatting, the drive icon will appear on your desktop along with your startup drive (just like the external one does when mounted).
If you load an OS on a second drive, you have a choice of drives to boot from. You can easily select or change the default startup volume by selecting it in the Startup pane of System Preferences. Alternately, you can boot to the Startup Manager by holding down the option key at startup, selecting and and booting to the non-default volume.
You can clone your startup volume to another drive volume by using Disk Utility's Restore option, or better yet by using a third-party shareware utility like CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper!, which most folks seem to prefer.
If you have questions, please feel free to post back and one of the Members will gladly help you further.
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Best way to upgrade to new drive?

What is the best way to upgrade the hard drive on a Macbook? I mean to ask, what is the best way to transfer the complete system onto a new hard drive?
Thanks!
Captain!

# Buy the desired new 2.5" drive. If buying a 500GB unit, the Samsung SpinPoint fits inside, the Hitachi doesn't, the Fujitsu is too slow.
# Buy an external Firewire case for the drive. Install the new drive in it (this is temporary).
# Power up and plug in the new drive to the Mac. Make sure the system sees the new drive.
# Using Disk Utility, reformat the drive to a single partition, using a GUID partition scheme and in HFS+ format. Most new drives come in FAT32 or NTFS format. Search in the forums how to get rid of the NTFS format.
# Using SuperDuper, Carbon Copy Cloner or even plain old Disk Utility, clone your startup volume (internal drive) onto the external.
# Reboot and start up from the external (press Option before startup sound). Verify that everything works.
# Shut everything down, take new drive out of case, exchange with internal drive. Do it yourself or pay qualified technician to do so. Old style MacBooks are relatively easy, MacBook Pro's are more complex, Oct'08 portables are a piece of cake.
# Start portable, verify everything works. If so, put old drive in external case and use as a backup device. Else put it back in so you'll have a working computer while you figure out what went wrong.
# Enjoy...
Note: Since the Nov'07 release of the Mac portables, they have the Apple Hardware Test available as a hidden partition in the HDD, meaning that you can test your Mac without requiring the original Install Disk #1. If you change the internal HDD, you will lose that functionality, since no one has figured out how to copy the thing over to the new drive. This means you will need your Install Disk #1 to test your hardware from that point on.

I just bought a new Mac and I want to transfer some data (not all) from my old Mac. Basically, I want to move my itunes library, iphoto library, and a few documents. I have not even turned on my new Mac yet. Is the best way by an external hard drive?

I just bought a new Mac and I want to transfer some data (not all) from my old Mac. Basically, I want to move my itunes library, iphoto library, and a few documents. I have not even turned on my new Mac yet. Is the best way by an external hard drive?

If both have Firewire ports then you can accomplish your goal by using Target Disk Mode. If this is not possible then you can do using an external drive or if you have a local network connect both to your network and use filesharing between the two computers.
File Sharing on Macs
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I just got my MacBook Pro a month ago. However I am realizing I need more hard drive space due to aps and programs. I use am external but am concerned about the space. Is there a way to upgrade my hard drive from apple and keep my warranty valid?

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That would depend on whether your model actually has a hard drive. If you have the new 2013 Retina model, then you have a fixed storage device built-in that cannot be modified after purchase.

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Please note that "cloning" a hard drive is not the same as replacing it. You clone the drive to preserve its contents (usually on the drive that will be the replacement). You still have to get into the MB, physically, take out the old drive and install the new one. There are plenty of web sites that tell you how to do this replacement. This is one I like: http://www.macinstruct.com/node/130
The details do vary depending on the vintage of your MB, so if that link is not for your model, try searching the web for instructions specific to your need. Or post back here with details about your Mac.
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Background - I have a 13" MacBook Pro with 250GB hard drive and recently I have had to delete or migrate files to external HDs to gain space. I spent last night doing just that. I also have two EHDs - a 2TB My Passport and a 3TB Seagate GoFlex Home WiFi capable. I do my backups to the SeaGate using Time Machine. My issue is that I currently only have about 38 GB available on the hard drive after making the moves last night.
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Upgrade your MBP's internal boot drive to something larger, 250GB just doesn't cut it.
A 2010 machine, I wouldn't bother with the expense of a SSD, a 7,200 750GB or 1TB should do nicely and you can install it yourself or have a local geek do it.
You might as well max the RAM too, if your in AppleCare it won't violate it as long as nothing is broken.
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William Beede wrote:
In my case I backed up my old internal hd to my new external 1 TB hd.
Surely you mean you used +Setup Assistant+ or +Migration Assistant+ to transfer the data? Or a "clone" via CarbonCopyCloner, SuperDuper, or Disk Utility?
Now it appears TM wants to ADD the contents of my new internal hd to those already backed up(another 220 gb).
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Hi,
I want to upgrade my internal drive but I don't know how to do that. I have already purchased a WD 1TB internal hard drive. However, I contacted apple support and they said if I try to upgrade the hdd myself, then the warranty of the macbook would be void. I am from India . I currently have a Macbook Pro mid 2012,13 inch.
Also, do i need to download a setup of Yosemite before changing the hdd?
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Thanks and Regards
Abhineet Arora

You know what the impact will be on the warranty terms. If you want to install it yourself, look at this video:
http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/macbookpro_13_unibody_mid12_hd/
It is not very difficult. You will need a #00 Phillips and a #6 Torx drivers.
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I got some really useful answers on this forum when I was trying to recover from a hard disk crash. Thanks to all who helped. Now, I have a few more questions.
On the recommendation of the service technician at the Apple
store, I went on line and bought a Seagate 250 GB
internal drive, and installed it in my G4, only to
discover that it can only recognize 128 GB. Oh, well, it was pretty cheap.
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to work on the CD burner. It turned out to be broken,
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Thanks.
Powermac G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9) 1.4 GHz, 896MB SDRam

Hi, Dave!
I don't know for sure whether the drive will work in the FW case that held the optival drive. Why don't you temporarily connect it and check?
If you install the drive internally and put an operating system on it, it will boot regardless of whether it's configured as Master or as Slave. You could have an operating system on both drives if you cared to. You'd be able to boot from either of them (which is determined by - and may be changed in - the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences from a booted system, the menubar of the install disk, or the Startup Manager (invoked when the option key is held down at startup).
You can use the Restore option in Disk Utility to clone your startup volume to a volume on another drive. Better yet, try SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner, which are faster. Cloning will make a bootable duplicate of the startup volume you can use just like the original, without having to reinstall anything.
The software solution you're referring to is Intech's ATA Hi-Cap Support Driver. Read the info at the site; there are some restrictions on how you need to set up the drives for it to work properly. If you instead buy an ATA-133 PCI controller card ($60-$80), you won't have the restrictions and will have a faster drive bus to operate with, taking advantage of the speed of the ATA-100 or ATA-133 drives you have, while allowing you to use the native logic board bus to add an additional (<120GB) drive.
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Hi-
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http://www.storagereview.com/articles/200607/500_1.html
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chenango232 wrote:
Missing a pretty big step here.... How does one install a new OS on an external drive? You can't install an OS without first booting into an OS. I don't have a disk to boot to, but have gotten as far as downloading the install software. Perhaps the answer you should be providing is that I need to create an install disk somehow?
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1. Get an empty external hard drive and clone your internal drive to the external one.
2. Boot from the external hard drive.
3. Erase the internal hard drive.
4. Restore the external clone to the internal hard drive.
Clone the internal drive to the external drive
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4. Check the box labeled Erase destination.
5. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager appears. Select the icon for the external drive and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
After startup do the following:
Erase internal hard drive
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your internal hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed. Do not quit Disk Utility.
Restore the clone to the internal hard drive
1. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
2. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
3. Check the box labeled Erase destination.
4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the internal hard drive. Source means the external startup drive.
Note that the Source and Destination drives are swapped for this last procedure.

Best way to upgrade internal hard drive

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