Help - upgrading from Tiger to Snow Leopard AND new larger hard drive, MBP

Question

Howdy!
My iPhone has finally demanded that I upgrade my MBP from Tiger. And as if by coincidence, my now puny 100GB internal drive is packed full with less than a gig free most of the time. (10% free is the MINIMUM free allowance, I know!!) I run old copies of Adobe CS2, Quark, Quickbooks, Microsoft Office... would love to keep them working without purchasing upgrades, but probably isn't a realistic hope. None of it is mission critical at this point.
So I've purchased the $29 Snow Leopard DVD (from a reseller - it says CPU Drop-In DVD Version 10.6 on the disk), and a new 750GB internal drive (same reseller - The drive is a 2.5" SATA 5400RPM 8MB-Buffer Hard Drive (9MM Slim) (RoHS Green Friendly)), to get with the times.
My other resources include:
- two 1TB LaCie external drives with FW and USB2 ports
- one other LaCie external drive - I think 360GB?
- Retrospect 5.0 (most of my backups are encrypted Retrospect files on those three LaCie external drives, but there's some room on them)
- a $22 USB 2.0 to SATA/IDE adapter with AC power, to access whatever laptop drive might be without an enclosure temporarily
- a copy of Carbon Copy Cloner software
- I just ordered an upgrade to my ancient (OS9) copy of DiskWarrior
- A monster UPS battery backup and line conditioner that everything plugs into for this process
It has been a long time since I've DIY'd any undertaking this complex, and I'm looking for advice on what to do first, how to go about this.
Here's my setup:
Model Name: MacBook Pro 15"
Model Identifier: MacBookPro1,1
Processor Name: Intel Core Duo
Processor Speed: 2.16 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per processor): 2 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP11.0055.B08
SMC Version: 1.2f10
I'm guessing I should do it like this, PLEASE EDIT or make suggestions or tell me what I forgot to do before I do it!!
1. Back up everything to at least two external locations! Also, make a bootable copy of my current internal drive in its own volume, to at least one external drive that is formatted in HFS+ GUID partition style, with Carbon Copy Cloner (would Retrospect work well for this instead?).
2. Free up at least 20GB on the current internal drive (100GB). Hopefully 30GB.
3. Run Disk Utility on the current internal drive. Fix any problems. (Should I hit it with DiskWarrior instead?)
4. Format the new 750GB drive to HFS+, GUID partitions. (How long will that take? Can I do it with the USB-SATA cable adapter, sitting on my desk, or does it have to be in an enclosure? The adapter has AC power)
5. Run Disk Utility (or DiskWarrior?) on the new internal drive in its temporarily external position. Fix any problems.
6. Boot off the Snow Leopard CPU Drop-In DVD and install onto both drives. (Will this version of the DVD I have wipe all files when it installs to a disk???)
7. See how they run. Boot off the old 100GB internal drive, boot off the new to-be-internal 750GB drive. Panic if it's not going well.
8. If the current internal 100GB drive is rocking Snow Leopard and my familiar files and apps seem somewhat functional, use Carbon Copy Cloner to recreate the volume on the new larger drive. Then swap the drives physically. (Links to good step-by-step instructions on this part would be much appreciated here!!)
9. If the Snow Leopard DVD overwrote or snuffed out my familiar files and apps on the old internal drive, sigh deeply, then swap the drives physically. Use CCC (or Retrospect? or Migration Assistant?) to fetch my junk from the old internal drive's backup and plunk it on the new bigger internal drive (now installed).
10. See how it runs. Shake my fist at the sky over the planned obsolescence of technology paired with the seductive power of my iPhone. Grumpily upgrade the software that I actually create income with.
Please help! I am just faking it here based on a few message boards I've read. Will this actually work properly?
Thanks!

Answer 1

Howdy slowpoke43, and a warm welcome to the forums!
Please help! I am just faking it here based on a few message boards I've read. Will this actually work properly?
LOL, if your faking it you're the best!
1. Yes, absolutely... no CCC would be best in my experience/opinion.
2. Yes, the more he better... Free Space is no longer our Free Space, but OSX's.
3. Indeed, & if you have the correct version of DW, do that.
4. Yes, not long, A/C power is great.
How to format your disks...
http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/partitioningtiger.html
(To Install OSX on an IntelMac the Drive it needs the GUID Partitioning scheme mentioned at the bottom.)
Thanks to Pondini, Formatting,  Partitioning, Verifying,  and  Repairing  Disks...
http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/DU.html
6. Yes, boot off the 10.6 DVD, & no Snow Leopard does by default what we used to call an Archive & Install, saves & updates all your info, APPs, Music, etc., it may quarantine a few things or not but will tell you.
7. Absolutely, but Panic won't be needed with your great preparation & Bootable Backups!
8. Not quite sure I understand, but run SL for a few days before you do anything.
9. Yeah, but again with you doing everything right from the gitgo, I can't picture that happening.
10. Yes indeed, the hangup with yours is that it only holds 2GB of RAM... a pain in 10.5 & up IME.
Again let me say... GONGRATS, I've never ever seen anybody so well prepared & informed despite your diffidence!