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dimsum · Jan 17, 2007, 03:51 AM

I know this topic has probably been asked to death, but I've still gotta clarify the entire process of upgrading the hard drive in a MBP--if you guys could help, that'd be great.

I recently purchased a hitachi travelstar 5k160 sata notebook drive for my MBP, and I'm having an experienced friend open it up and replace the existing hard drive. However, the process of transferring my backup into the new hard drive still troubles me.

Using superduper, I've already backed up the entire hard drive onto another external drive; does that mean I've no need to get an external enclosure for the removed hard drive in order to transfer my files over? On top of that, what's the process of reformatting the new drive? Once properly installed, am I correct in assuming that all I need is the install disc and that it has the necessary tools to properly format the new drive and migrate my old backup files?

Sorry for all these questions, I'd just like to make sure my plan is foolproof; i'm in college right now, and not having a computer for one day alone would be disastrous. Thanks!

Waragainstsleep · Jan 17, 2007, 05:07 AM

OK, the purpose of the external enclosure is so you can use Apples migration assistant. This will import all your old data and apps and the machine will have all the same settings and passwords as before. A seamless upgrade if you will. You can also then keep the external drive as backup or whatever.

Your MBP install discs have all the software you require to format and reinstall the new drive. Boot from the CD when your new drive is in, then choose disk utility from the utilities menu and erase the drive from there. Then quit DU and continue with the install.

All done.

Since you are at university, it is worth your while to see if they have their own Apple certified techs. Maybe you can persuade one of them to upgrade the drive for you. That way you won't have to put the old one back in if it needs a warranty repair.

Gossamer · Jan 17, 2007, 02:55 PM

If you have a backup of your entire hard drive on another external drive already, you have no need for your current internet drive.
Once the new drive is installed, just like Waragainstsleep said, use the restore discs that came with your computer to format the drive and then install a fresh copy of OS X. Upon the first boot, it will ask you if you want to transfer information from an old Mac. At that point you can plug in the hard drive that your data is backed up on and migrate all of your info from there.
If that doesn't work for some reason, I would suggest making a dummy admin user at first, and then using Apple's Migration Assistant (in the Utilities folder) to migrate your old user over. If you plug in the backup hard drive and mount the image that was made of your old hard drive, the Migration Assistant will be able to find your old user name. At that point it will import your entire user, so you can log in as your old user and delete the dummy admin name you made.

dimsum · Jan 17, 2007, 07:22 PM

alright guys, I've having some problems here, and it's hard for me not to freak out a little. Basically, after installing and putting back all the screws, the display doesn't seem to work, leading me to believe that it's not working. after opening the computer again, i tried booting from my old hard drive, the the same thing occurred--a blank unlighted screen. is there anything that you guys can think that would help me solve this problem?

dimsum · Jan 17, 2007, 08:14 PM

anyone?

Gossamer · Jan 18, 2007, 12:00 PM

What else happens? Can you hear the hard drive reading, startup tone, lights blinking, anything? Does it seem like everything works fine except for the monitor? Do you have an external monitor you can plug in?

hemant · Jan 18, 2007, 01:23 PM

I think you must have not seated the video cables properly.

dimsum · Jan 18, 2007, 06:59 PM

I tried to plug the computer to an external monitor, but it still doesn't work. Just this morning, I sent the thing in to my local repair center to get the thing fixed--hopefully nothing's wrong! Is it possible that I could have shorted the video card in the process of taking out the hard drive? I sure hope not.

Waragainstsleep · Jan 19, 2007, 06:37 PM

Its possible, but not massively likely. The GPU is under the board for a start. You won't have needed to undo any cables that could cause that sort of fault. Though you could have knocked one I suppose. If I had been here before you sent it for repair, I would have suggested that you reseat the RAM, and try an SMC reset. Did the sleep LED stay lit? If it lit then went out, the fault is with the GPU, if it stayed lit the problem is elsewhere in the I/O. Either way its a logic board if reseating the RAM doesn't do it.