My new Hard Drive Plan

Hello All,
I was hoping to get a little input on the best stategy for my system.
I currently have an old cluttered emac with a 160 G internal HD and an 160 external seagate FW HD. My current back up plan is to periodically clone my internal to the external. And occasionally burn DVD's of my photos.
My problem has become TOO MUCH STUFF. Darn those bigger digital cameras and to hades with podcasts.
Okay jokes aside I have now accumulated over 56 Gigs in my iTunes (more than half of which is podcasts) and 45 Gigs in my iPhoto library.
I periodically have to cut out stuff (like DVD projects) to make room. After just having done so I am back up to just over 8 Gigs available. I honestly don't know where the remaining 50 Gigs went, but thats not why I'm writing.
I just bought a Seagate FW 750 Gig drive on sale. Now what to do with it.
What is most important to me are my photos. I could lose all of the itunes except for a Gig or two that are purchased from iTunes itself. And would only be out the work of ripping. But my family photos . . .
And of course I have to make room on the internal drive so that I can do things again.
So . . . I plan to:
1) partition the new 750 Gig drive in two (maybe in half?)
2) move all iTunes off on to one side or the other of the 750 drive.
3) use back-up for the iPhoto library to the new 750 drive.
4) clone the now smaller and happier internal drive to the old external drive, and set this up to be a regular (nightly?) thing.
5) with the huge remaining space on the 750 drive I will fill it with my Digi-Cam home movies, so that I can once again start to transfer them to DVD.
I have not had the space to do that in a long time.
Sorry for the long meandering post, but the final point for this is . . . well does it sound like a good plan??? Is there some other approach I should take?? Do I need to partition the large drive??
I think I wont really feel safe until I have my new iMac with the HD DVD (or Blu-Ray, I forget which) so that I can make 50 Gig back-up DVDs.
As I said my goals are to free up space, save my photo library for ever, and clone my internal drive for quick and easy recovery.
Thanks
Bear
emac Mac OS X (10.3.9) Ext FWHD 160 Ext FW HD 750 (soon)

Yes . . . YES!! Another 750 G drive Ha ha. My wife will understand
But seriously, you are absolutely correct. The reason to go so large (aside from the very small amount of money saved when going from 300 G to 750 G is that I intend to load a alot of Digital Video tape home movies on.
It's been awhile, but I think they take somewheres of 15-20 Gigs each (although I have not done it in a couple of years). I think that I have 8 or 9 of these stacked in the closet, most have not been played since they were recorded. Then I can think about putting them on DVD. Shoot maybe even edit them into something watchable.
Of course I have the tapes still, so this definately is data that can be lost from a bad drive.
Which brings me back to cleaning up my internal drive (what can be moved). So I have decided to put my iTunes library on the edge. I have a couple of Gs of stuff purchased from the iTunes store, and that is backed up to optical. Actually the whole library is backed up to my 80G iPod. If it is possible to upload the music back to my mac.
I suppose the only question in this long rant is whether or not I should partition my new drive. I seem to recall from my past in windows that the machine benefitted from several smaller drives instead of one big one.
How about this. I make one partition about 160 G (same as my internal and my old external). I make this my regular back up clone of the internal drive. At this time my internal drive will no longer carry my itunes, but will of course carry my iPhoto library.
The remainder of the big drive (some 590 G) will be my movie space and iTunes.
My old external drive will still be used as a back up clone, but I wont use it as often. After each and every back up, it gets unplugged and moved to the cabinet. Now it is lighting and virus proof.
Is that a good plan??
Bear

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Moving Data from old hard drive to new hard drive

I'm posting this question in this category , I hope it's the right place. Here's my situation and general information. I have a Toshiba L35 S2161 laptop, it's about 5 yrs old, running WinXP Service Pack 3. just got the blue screen, wouldn't boot, tried everything and I only have the factory provided "recovery" disc that will wipe my drive and lose all my data if I use it. I hadn't been doing regular backups, so I want to save as much if not all of my data as I can. I don't want to spend time here going over everything I've tried (boot disc like Knoppix, etc) which didn't work, just need to get to the bottom line and make sure I'm doing the next steps correctly.
Here's my plan:
l. Remove old hard drive from laptop
2. purchase new hard drive - I've been told any drive will work, it doesn't have to be designed for a Toshiba. I've been looking at best prices, etc. mainly Western Digital. I may purchase a larger drive to at least get more memory , although I really didn't have that much on my old drive, but had a lot of apparent memory-related problems, freezes, etc.
3. Install new blank drive into laptop, using the Toshiba factory recovery disc to reformat the disc and get it ready to receive the data.
4. Insert the recovery disc into the drive, turn on the computer and HOPE that it boots it up and installs a fresh install on the new drive. Not sure what the screen willl show at this point - I've never installed a new drive in a laptop, so will be somewhat nervous at this point to see what happens.
5. Assuming the new drive is recognized by the recovery disc and installs a clean version of WIN XP (I'm assuming that's what's on the recovery disc that came with my computer, because it had WIN XP pre-installed), I will now be ready to transfer data from the old drive.
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I need further help and information about this last step...the critical data transfer method. There are cloning kits that are plug and play and would transfer my entire system as it was before the blue screen, but again, I'm concerned about transferring everything onto a clean install and finding myself with a computer that won't boot again because it transferred a bad file. Also, would it overwrite or interfere with the clean install on the new drive? I'm stuck at this point....hopefully someone out there can walk me through this final step with the best option for transfer. I'm trying to avoid purchasing pricey software like Acronis (which I looked at online and it seemed difficult to use, to figure out what to transfer).
My laptop is obviously out of warranty, being five years old, and I am not interested in taking it in to repair tech, I want to do this myself and I think I can with a few helpful tips. Thanks for any help asap...

Hi!
The error message I received on the blue screen was "unmountable boot volume" which leads me to believe i have a corrupted MBR. This fiasco happened when I turned off my computer when it was running a program (I know, bad thing to do).
I'm waiting on a new hard drive with a 120 GB (my old drive was 80GB). I was told not to go above 120 or I'd have partition problems.
The SATA drive enclosure powers up the old drive (I can hear the disc spinning) so the disc isn't dead. If I''d have the full retail vesion of WinXP I would of course have used the recovery console, but I only had the toshiba recovery disc that came with my system. Also, I couldn't burn a CD boot disc...didn't have access to another computer nor would a tech friend do it for me as he apparently made a disc for someone and their system crashed so I had no choice but to buy a new drive and try to transfer the data via the SATA external drive/usb cable.
My big question now is: Will the Toshiba recovery disc actually reformat my new drive? Someone on another forum with a Toshiba laptop had purchased a new drive, used the recovery disc and the cd just went into a constant loop and never went into a full install. I'm thinking that maybe on a new drive there isn't enough knowledge base there for the recovery disc to install and reformat a new disc. That would be a bummer because then I'd have no choice but to purchase a retail version of WinXP which I was hoping not to have to do. Thats' getting into some $$ when added to all the other thing I've tried to get this laptop up and running . (A Knoppix live CD boot disc didn't work either).
I don't know what service pack was on the old disc...possibly SP2, but if it was only SP1, I fear it's not going to have the ability to format a new disc. The disc does have drivers, etc. but the question is, are they able to install the OS. I was running XP3 when it crashed, so I know i would have to download that again. I just want to get the darned system back up and running with my new drive and restore disc. IF I can do that, then I'll try to transfer the data from the old drive via the external drive enclosure.
I also decided against the clone....I was afraid I'd be cloning a bad disc or errors onto a new drive, and didnt' want to stress a possibly wonky drive even more than it possibly is.
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How to install Windows 7 on new hard drive?

I have changed the old hard drive (500 gb) with a new hard dirve (1 Tera), and now I have two problems: -
1. How do I install Windows 7 on new hard drive?
2. My laptop was pre-installed Windows 7 Pro, but all the DVD kit (Application & Drives Recivery Disc + Operating System Revocer), which was provided (by Lenovo) for the laptop is in the Windows 8 Pro. So how do I install Windows 7 Pro, in my laptop while all DVD kits are in Windows 8 Pro?
by the way this is my laptop spec (for reference) ; -
* Note *
I plan to install Windows 7 Pro in my new hard drive using another Windows 7 DVD (Not DVD provided by Lenovo), but how do I get all the Leveno program which found within the 'Application & Drives Recivery' disc (such as ; - Lenovo System Health and Diagnostics, Lenovo Power Control,Lenovo's Fingerprint Reader) to install in that hard drive? (as I tell you before, all the DVD kit is in or only for Windows 8 Pro)
I hope somebody will help me answer my question,
Thank You
Solved!
Go to Solution.

I got the solution;
Answer to question 1 ; using a backup & recovery software to clone my current OS, then transfer to my new hard drive.
Answer to question 2 ; download all the Drivers and software ( all the application that located on the DVD kit that I have) on Lenovo Official Website.
or other solution, send it to a computer service shop and let the experts ( the workers) install it for me ( the most simple and safe way).

How to get songs from my old ipod to my new hard drive then to my new ipod?

Recently my computer crash and in order to fix it I had to get a new hard drive which means all my songs' files is gone! I had over 2,000! So I was wondering if there is a way in which I can take all the songs from my ipod and transfer it back to my computer now that it is fixed?? Also, my situation is a bit more complex because I am planning to get a newer ipod.
My old one is a ipod photo (I believe it is the 4th generation) and I am getting the 5th generation ipod video. Is there a way where I can transfer my songs from my old ipod back to my computer or itunes first then plug in my new one so it can update my old songs from my old ipod and my new songs' files in my computer all into my new ipod.
I reinstall itunes because I still use the program to listen to new songs that I have on my computer so I don't know if this information is useful or make things more confusing. I don't know if I should delete this version itune and reinstall the disk that comes with the ipod video? Or is it the same itunes version?
I really need help here I'm so confused on what to do and I am afraid of plugging my ipod in because it would update to my new song on my computer and delete all my old 2,000 songs from my ipod that I do not have backup files too because my old hard drive crash!
Any suggestions, advises, or comments are appreciate!

Connect your iPod to your computer. If it is set to update automatically you'll get a message that it is linked to a different library and asking if you want to link to this one and replace all your songs etc, press "Cancel". Pressing "Erase and Sync" will irretrievably remove all the songs from your iPod. When your iPod appears in the iTunes source list change the update setting to manual, that will let you use our iPod without the risk of accidentally erasing it. Check the "manually manage music and videos" box in Summary then press the Apply button. Also when using most of the utilities listed below your iPod needs to be enabled for disc use, changing to manual update will do this by default: Managing content manually on iPod
Once you are safely connected there are a few things you can do to restore your iTunes from the iPod.
The transfer of content sources such as songs imported from CD is designed by default to be one way from iTunes to iPod. However there are a number of third party utilities that you can use to retrieve the music files and playlists from your iPod. You'll find that they have varying degrees of functionality and some will transfer movies, videos, photos, podcasts and games as well. Have a look at the web pages and documentation, this is just a small selection of what's available, they are generally quite straightforward. You can read reviews and comparisons of some of them here:
Wired News - Rescue Your Stranded Tunes
Comparison of iPod managers
TuneJack Windows Only
iPod2PC Windows Only
iGadget Windows Only
iDump Windows Only
SharePod Windows Only
iPodRip Mac & Windows
YamiPod Mac and Windows
Music Rescue Mac & Windows
iPodCopy Mac and Windows
iRepo Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod Access Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
If you have any iTunes Music Store purchases the transfer of purchased content from the iPod to authorised computers was introduced with iTunes 7. You'll find details in this article: Copying iTunes Store purchases from your iPod to a computer
There's also a manual method of copying songs from your iPod to a Mac or PC. The procedure is a bit involved and won't recover playlists but if you're interested it's available on page 2 at this link: Copying Content from your iPod to your Computer - The Definitive Guide
Whichever of these retrieval methods you choose, keep your iPod in manual mode until you have reloaded your iTunes and you are happy with your playlists etc then it will be safe to return it auto-sync. I would also advise that you get yourself an external hard drive and back your stuff up, relying on an iPod as your sole backup is not a good idea and external drives are comparatively inexpensive these days, you can get loads of storage for a reasonable outlay.

MacBook Pro 2009 new hard drive install results in very slow function and freezing

I just wanted to post my resolution to a problem that I had trouble finding an answer to on these forums.
Short version:
I replaced the hard drive in my 2009 MacBook Pro because the computer froze and upon reboot the Disk Utility said it was corrupted, but with the new hard drive the computer ran very slowly and often showed the spinning rainbow wheel. I replaced the SATA cable that connects the hard drive to the motherboard and it works perfectly once again.
Long version:
Recently my MacBook Pro (2009 running Snow Leopard) froze up and I performed a hard reset by holding down the power button. When I turned the computer back on it would not boot OS so I ran disk utility from the Snow Leopard install DVD. The test said the hard drive was corrupted, and since the computer is way past warranty I decided to change the drive out myself. I bought a 500GB Seagate Momentus 5400 Drive from Amazon, opened the computer and replaced the existing hard drive with the new one. When I first booted from the OS install DVD, my computer was not recognizing that any hard drive was present. I read somewhere on these forums that sometimes the formatting on new Seagate drives can't be read by MacBooks and they need to be reformatted using another computer, but I tried simply taking the hard drive out and putting it back in a couple of times thinking maybe I had just not plugged it in correctly. After the 4th attempt the hard drive magically showed up, and I was able to reformat the drive and install OS and even Windows XP on bootcamp.
Everything seemed to be okay but applications were running slowly considering this was a fresh drive and OS install. Over time, the computer started to hang more and more. In OS I would get the spinning rainbow wheel even when doing something as simple as opening a browser window in Chrome or trying to type into a text field. When I tried to use Windows it would simply freeze after only a short time and I'd have to do a hard reset.
I went to the Genius Bar at the Apple store which was unhelpful, so I continued searching through these forums to try to figure out the problem. I noticed a lot of people had trouble with the SATA cable that came with the computer because it's quite thin and delicate, and would get damaged when changing out the hard drive. However most of these people seemed to experience a question mark when starting up the computer, whereas mine would fully boot and be functional for a time. I thought it unlikely that a damaged cable could possibly leave the computer partially functional. Finally though I gave in a dropped the $26 for a new SATA cable on Amazon. As soon as I installed it the problem was fixed, and the computer runs as fast as when I first bought it. I don't know if I damaged the cable changing the hard drive (I was extremely careful) or if my original hard drive was not actually corrupted and the cable was already damaged. I mentioned the possibility of the cable being damaged at the Apple store and the representative said that often times they fail because people carry the laptop with one hand, and because of the way this model was designed this puts a lot of pressure right on that thin cable. Regardless, if you do plan on changing out your hard drive in your MacBook keep in mind that the SATA cable is sensitive, and that if you experience problems with a fresh hard drive and OS install the SATA cable is a likely culprit.

If you think you have either a hard drive or a cable problem, to the best of my knowledge the only product that can help isolate both of them is Scannerz. You can check it out at:
http://scsc-online.com/Scannerz.html
I think that's the correct link. If it isn't and you're interested and that's wrong, just google it. I'd also check out their downloads section, especially the sort of short document on using path isolation to detect and isolate problems.
Scannerz can detect both errors and irregularities. It uses the surface scan progress as a reference. Cable problems never show up at the same location because they're typically intermittent. Surface problems always show up at the exact same place. That's the only product (at least commercially available) that can do that.
I don't know if this information is of any value to you because it sort of sounds like you've already solved the problem, but it might be of use if you have problems in the future.
In any case, I've seen several posts on several different sites where people were reporting insulation break down on some of the SATA cables. Apparently the insulation breaks down and the cable starts shorting to the case.

Old data to new hard drive ...

I am about to upgrade both the RAM and hard drive in my early 2008 (black) macbook.
YIKES! I've never even changed the battery in a computer! Actually, though, I'm not so worried about the physical aspect but about the intelligence aspect.
I've purchased an enclosure for the current (old) HD and plan to do the restore from there. That was the suggestion of the very helpful people at Other World. However, just in case...
I have done a Time Machine backup to my WD MyBook. At least I hope I have. So, one question is:
How do I know that I've got a complete clone on my external drive?
When I look at "restore files" I don't see all of the applications, etc. But it doesn't really seem to give me the option to see that. I'm using WD SmartWare. (This may be a question for the WD boards but I'll ask it here too.)
Second question is - I know that when I turn on the computer again with its new HD I need to reinstall OSX. 10.5.8 is what I have but I'm assuming all that's on the disc is 10.5. Will I be able to just get the updates by going to software update? I am assuming that, like most things Apple, I will insert the disc and it will walk me through it? And then I plug in the old drive and manually just pull it all over to the computer again?
Third question is - while I'm doing this, does it make sense to go up to 10.6? and, if I do - when do I do it? Do I go to the store and buy a disc ($30?) and use that instead of the one that came with my computer? Or do I start off with the 10.5 and then go on line and update to 10.6?
Any advice appreciated.

Hello again Shadow,
The way I do this is to:
1) Install your new hard drive into your iBook
2) Get your iBook reassembeled
3) Place your old hard drive in your firewire enclosure
4) Insert your install DVD into your iBook and restart with the C key held down. When the installer launches, select your language in the first pane, click 'continue' and in the upper dropdown menu in the next page select Utilities > Disk Utility. After DU is open, select your hard drive from the list of volumes on the left (the very top one), and then click the 'Partition' tab to the right. Then select 1 partition (normal) and make sure that you have 'Mac OS Extended (journled)' selected in the lower section. Then click 'partition'
5)Quit disc utility, which brings you back to the installer. continue with your installation of OS X. In one of the first steps you will see a button on the lower left which says 'options' click on that and make sure that the option 'Installs OS X for the first time' is selected. It will normally be selected by default with a new drive.
6) After the installation, the Migration Assistant will ask if you would like to transfer your information from another mac. click yes then follow the instructions. but instead of using another mac, connect a firewire cable from your enclosure with your old hard drive installed. The installer will think that this is another mac and will transfer all of your account information and user files (everything!)from your old drive to your iBook's new drive. Just diconnect when it says to and complete the installation sequence.
You're done!
Check back again if anything is unclear.
Randy
Message was edited by: DesertSage

I want to install a new hard drive on my 2008 MacBook but do not have the instillation discs that came with my computer. Can I use instillation discs from a 2009 or 2010 MacBook?

I want to install a new hard drive on my 2008 MacBook but do not have the instillation discs that came with my computer. Can I use instillation discs from a 2009 or 2010 MacBook? The hard drive I am planning to install is a WD Scorpio Black 500GB SATA 2.5'' internal hard drive.

Sometimes they do work - i've done it before. I have a late 2008 Macbook Uni and used the install dvd of my 2009 Macbook White and it worked.
Why not just clone your hard drive? It'll save you a lot of time doing a clone rather than doing a clean install.
Unless you're having issues with your old set up or your old hard drive is dead.
You can download Carbon Copy Cloner - install your new hard drive in a external usb enclosure (around $10) and clone fromt here then test it before you install it in your Macbook.
Once you've done the swap, you can install your old hard drive in the USB enclosure and use it as a backup drive.
Good luck

How to set up a new hard drive?

I've just gotten my mom's old MacBook Pro from her after she's bought a new one (this one is 15-inch, mid-2010), and I want to swap out the 500g hard drive in it for a 750g, 7200 RPM one that I bought from Seagate. I plan on taking it to a computer repair store and just have them swap the drives, nothing else. My question is: if my new Seagate drive is completely blank, how do I install OSX on it? Just to be clear, I have a backup of my old computer with the exact same drive, which was running 10.8.2, so I do have a time machine backup ready to go. When the new hard drive is inserted, does anyone know what I can do? Could I just plug in the hard drive and time machine automatically does its thing? Do I have to install Mountain Lion on the drive in a different way first? I just wanna know what's going to happen.
Cheers!

You have to format the drive before you do anything. And there's really no reason to take it to a computer repair shop - you can do it yourself.
Simply get an enclosure and put your 'old' drive it in. Install the 'new' hard drive into the hard drive bay. Boot from the old disk in the enclosure and use Disk Utility to format the new drive ("Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" with a single GUID partition. Then use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone your old drive to your new internal.
A good enclosure can be found for as little as $20 - OWC has them but so should a computer shop in your area.
Quite easy to do - here's a user tip on cloning - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4122.
Good luck,
Clinton

Upgrade itunes install new hard drive

Hi there.
Long long time iTunes user here. A while back I switched off automatic upgrades and have been sitting on version 9.1.1.12 for some time. I've been meaning to update it ... and now I'd like to do that and more: upgrade my C hard drive and convert to 64 bit Windows 7 (currently on 32bit Win7).
As such, my objective is to add the new C hard drive, install Windows 7 64 bit, then download & install iTunes 10.6.1 while keeping my library intact (playlists, ratings, play counts, etc).
I understand the difference between the Media folder (where the songs are) and the Music folder (where the library is). Currently my Media folder is on a separate hard drive (G-Drive) while the Music folder is on the C-Drive. My choices are to continue using the G-Drive as the Media folder location, or I can move all songs over to a network share located on Windows Home Server (where the music folder can be backed up). I understand how to change the iTunes Media folder location in the advanced menu, and how to select "Consolidate Library" to complete the copying process.
Once I select which option is best for the Media folder, here's what I am planning to do:
1. Copy of the iTunes Music folder and all subfolders (C:\Users\Master\Music\iTunes) onto a zip drive or network share
2. Install the new hard drive
3. Install Windows 7 64 bit
4. Install iTunes 10.6.1.
5. Replace the iTunes Music folder with the copy I made
6. Change the Media folder to the correct location (either G-Drive or network share on WHS)
Does that sound correct?
Once I install iTunes, should I replace the iTunes Music folder with the copy I made *before* I actually start (open and run) iTunes?
Once I start iTunes, can I simply change the default Media folder location so that it's pointed to the current location of the songs (either G-Drive or network share on WHS)?
Lastly, is it better (less complex, lower risk, etc) to simply keep my Media folder on the G-Drive, or does it matter?
Thanks a million for your guidance ... usually I try to figure everything out myself and not ask for help, but after having dealt with broken links in the past I want to be sure I don't mess up the library/media structure (not to mention lose playlists and ratings). Again, a big THANK YOU.

Can anyone help? Not sure who else to ask. Really appreciate it.

HELP!!! CAN'T RESTORE OLD CATALOG TO NEW HARD DRIVE

July 12, 2010
Hello,
Thank you for any help you can give with this rather desperate problem.
I have installed a replacement hard drive in my Dell Windows Vista laptop and reloaded Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0. I am unable to reconnect Elements with my old photo organizer catalog.
Thus the system says I have Elements installed, with a catalog with zero photos in it. When in fact I have 12,000 fotos all captioned, dated and tagged for the Elements organizer.
Elements HELP has nothing about reconnecting to an old photo catalog.
Is it possible (???) that Elements does not keep the catalog separate from the program itself – so that when the program itself is lost in the switch to a new hard drive, the catalog is also lost (unless the user made a backup somewhere)?
Anyway, here’s what happened:
I had made a fairly recent backup of the catalog to an external hard drive, so I copied that backup onto my new hard drive. Then in the Elements Organizer, I clicked on File; Restore Catalog from CD, DVD or Hard Drive. In the window that popped up, I directed it to the backup file (Backup.tly) and specified a location for restoring files and catalog. Then I clicked on Restore.
Up came a window that named one of my 12,000 fotos and said these approximate words “File already exists, do you want to overwrite it?”. I finally said Yes, and then it went on to another of my 12,000 fotos and asked the same question. I assume it planned to go through all 12,000 fotos, but I can’t imagine why.
But instead of continuing, I then got a window that said, “Error encountered while restoring catalog. It is recommended that you contact your disc drive manufacturer and upgrade to the latest available firmware for your specific disc drive before trying again.” (By the way, all my other programs are working fine on the new hard drive.)
I sure hope someone out there can tell me what’s going on. Thank you so much.
Don

You copied the backup onto your new hard drive? Yes or no? Where was it before?
Then did you try to restore to the exact same location where you placed the copy?
HEre is the proper way to restore a catalog: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/402/kb402894.html
By the way ... you say: "Elements HELP has nothing about reconnecting to an old photo catalog." I disagree.
You say: "Is it possible (???) that Elements does not keep the catalog separate from the program itself" not only is it possible, but Elements does indeed keep the catalog separate from the program itself.

MBP 15" (late 2008) new Hard drive issues in 10.6.8 but not in 10.8.5

I have a 15" Macbook Pro (Late 2008) with an up to date EFI firmware (ver 2.8).
When I went to replace the hard drive (Hitachi 320GB hard wired at 1.5Gb/s) with a new hard drive (Seagate 1TB SSHD).
This new HD runs at 3gb/s or 6gb/s and my MBP which will only do 3GB/s (link speed) DOES select this speed.
Now I've read over 1000 posts (no, really) about this topic of SATA drives in older MBP's but problem is a bit more nuanced.
I partitioned the new HD as follows (disk1-250GB, disk2-250GB, disk3-500GB). I have to do this because I run two versions of OSX.
I run OSX 10.6.8 for mobile audio recording and some post-production video editing and my software runs GREAT in Snow leopard.
Of course, there are some good reasons to have a newer OSX and so I put 10.8.5 on disk2.
On my old HD I had two partitions (disk1-150GB, disk2-170GB) and then used disk utility to copy the old drive to the new.
Here's where my problem is more nuanced. The new drive works AWESOME when running 10.8.5 at 3GB/s.
In 10.6.8, however, I get pinwheels, beachballs, hiccups, etc when running the hard drive at 3Gb/s.
I'll play an aif audio file in Quicktime player and it will stop producing audio, BUT it keeps track of the time. I swap back in my old HD and everything runs fine.
I'm planning in getting a different drive (one that works at 1.5 and 3.0GB/s) but I'd like to keep this drive as it boots up 10.8.5 FAST! In about 15 secs or so. OR, I could just swap out hard drives when I need to use 10.6.8 (which is really easy on my MBP but not preferable) and dedicate the old one for 10.6.8 only.
QUESTION:::::
Does anyone have any idea why the same physical HD would work fine in 10.8.5 but have constant (every 15-20secs) read/write errors in 10.6.8??
The fact that it works great in 10.8.5 has me a bit puzzled of whether or not there's an inherent hardware incompatibility.
Sorry for the long post, just trying to give as much info as possible.

Melophage-
I did try booting from the external SATA enclosure and all was fine; no hiccups. I used disk utility to restore my Snow Leopard partition to a newly purchased HD; a Western Digital 1TB(Mainstream) drive that operates at 1.5 or 3.0 GB/s. I noticed it's power requirement is about 3/4 of the factory drive which is also good.
Amazingly this drive actually works with a link speed of 3GB/s with 10.6.8. And no pinwheels/beachballs.
Possible Conclusions:
My MBP SATA onboard controller is OK with a HD that's 1.5/3.0 GB/s but NOT quite OK with 3.0/6.0GB/s. Although both drives had a link speed of 3.0Gb/s, only the newly purchased "slower" drive worked flawlessly. I'm fine with this being that my Apple factory drive was hard wired at 1.5Gb/sec and its speed was adequate for the audio/video recording I do in 10.6.8. Hopefully it works fine with 10.8.5. Still restoring that partition to the Western Digital drive.
In the end, I have a HD with over 3X the capacity as before and a link speed of 3GB/s.
I may not have the 15sec boot-up time as I did with the hybrid drive, but I won't miss it.

How to Replace existing Hard Drive with new Hard Drive, while keeping old files

Hi All,
I have recently replaced my hard drive on my Macbook Pro, with a new hard drive. The old Hard Drive was 160 GB, while the new one is 320 GB.
What I did before replacing it was clone my hard drive using "SuperDuper". I cloned it to the new hard drive and then simply removed my old hard drive and installed the new one with the clone on it. Then I booted it up and began running it. In fact I am using it right now.
My questions are:
Is this a good practice?
Will this work, without problems, indefinitely?
Is this the prescribed way to upgrade ones laptop hard drive?
The reason I did it this way was because I upgraded to Mountain Lion via the apple store download and I do not have the CD for the OS. So I figured if I could make a bootable copy, that might work. So far everything seems fine, but I really just want to know if this will last for a long time. I plan on also making a partition with Windows on it also, so I was wondering if anyone can comment on that too.
If anyone can comment or give any advice on this topic I would really appreciate it.
Thank you very much!
Cheers.

Every thing is fine except Super Duper does not clone the recovery partition. If you start your MBP holding the OPTION key, you should see the internal HDD and the ML recovery partition.
You can reinstall ML or reclone using Disk Utility>restore.
Ciao,.

What are the steps to follow after you install a new Hard Drive on a 17in Macbook Pro mid 2009

I plan on installing a larger Hard Drive..the physical part is simple..but what are the steps after you close it up and hit the power button? Is there softwre on the mother board that will start the unit running??

A new Hard drive will not be Mac-formatted, so you will have to do that first. A copy of Disk Utility to do the job is also on the 10.6 Installer/Utilities DVD.
Boot to the installer DVD, but do not Install. Answer only the "what language" question, and wait a quarter minute for the menuBar to be drawn. Choose Disk Utility from the Utilities menu that appears.
Select the Hardware_name of the new Drive. Partition, one partition, ( Options ), GUID partition table. Name the partition: MacIntosh HD and choose Format: Mac OS X Extended (journaled). It will complete in a minute or two, as it only rewrite the Directory area.
If you wish to shake out your drive, you can erase it and Security Erase, Zero all data, one pass. But this takes HOURS.

IMac taking long time to boot after new hard drive installed. Help?

I recently had a new hard drive installed on my iMac (running Snow Leopard). After the intall all was well, but I couldn't get my screensaver to work. Erroneously thinking it was missing, I reinstalled it and ended up with two screen saver folders in the system files. Now when I turn on the Mac, I get a white screen for several seconds (close to a minute) before the system shows me the Apple logo and then boots. I'm concerned about this. Did my copying the screen saver cause the problem? Should I reinstall my system software? I was planning to upgrade to Mountain Lion anyway. Will that fix the problem? Any suggestions appreciated.

Restart in Safe Boot Mode (hold the left Shift key as soon as you restart your computer and hold it until the Apple logo appears). Once it gets to the desktop you can restart normally. Safe Mode serves a number of purposes and one of them is to delete/trim temporary files that might be causing boot problems. There's no guarantee this will improve your startup time but it will do no harm and I have seen computers restart more quickly after a Safe Boot.

Install OS X on new Hard Drive

I am planning to upgrade my macbook's 60gb hard drive to 120gb.
My question is, How do I install OS X on the new hard drive?
Please advise.
Thanks.

wow, your way seems a lot more simple compared to this one...
http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=276354
it looked a little complicated and i was just wondering if these steps are alright to follow. if not, then how do i go through this process without messing everything up? i haven't done anything yet, and i'm trying to figure out the right way to switch my almost filled hard drive with my new one.
i just ordered a 160GB seagate drive for my macbook and an external enclosure from OWC.
sorry, i'm new to this stuff.
-jan
Macbook Core Duo, Mac OSX (10.4.8), 2.0Ghz, 2GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.8)

My new Hard Drive Plan

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