[HyperX]

My Mac Pro came with a 250 gig drive. What is the easiest way to upgrade to a new hard drive (as the primary one). Is there a step by step guide?

In windows, I used Acronis to image it and reburned the image.

I saw that there is this carbon copy utility - but the help or anything else that came with it gave me a step by step guide. I am coming from a windows world, so please bear with me.

[kick52]

this should be in the mac pro forum, as it has nothing to do with os x(unless you are looking for backup utils)

-anyway-

the mac pro is super easy to upgrade. open the cover, undo a screw, pullout a few wires. put new drive in, screw up, connect. reboot

[HyperX]

sorry for posting it here... ok after reboot I need to re-install the OS right? then I just drag all the apps across??

[kick52]

Originally Posted by HyperX 

sorry for posting it here... ok after reboot I need to re-install the OS right? then I just drag all the apps across??

you could do... but some of the apps might be broken.

what you should do is put in the new hard drive and boot from the old one. then you can restore our old hd to the new one using disk utility.

then, you can take out the old one and keep the new one, or have both in at once.

[rjt1000]

Carbon copy cloner (CCC) does the job easily.

• open CCC
• choose source and target disk
• check preference to make bootable
• click on lock to authenticate
• click on clone
• boot from new drive

[TETENAL]

CCC might be a neat app, but I'm pretty sure Disk Utility can get it done in less steps. Although I only glanced over what you posted. And you don't really need an external case for the hard disk (which is hard to find for S-ATA drives) since the Mac Pro can hold four drives internally.

[Simon]

• Install new drive
• /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility > Restore
• Drag old disk onto source field
• Drag new disk onto destination field
• Hit restore
• Boot from new disk, done.

[tooki]

Originally Posted by kick52 

this should be in the mac pro forum, as it has nothing to do with os x(unless you are looking for backup utils)

Nope, it's in the right place, since this question applies essentially equally to all Mac models, and is not specific to a Mac Pro.

And since it can be done without any third-party apps, as Simon describes perfectly, it belongs here. (Well, with the added step of using the Startup Disk preference pane to select the boot volume.)

tooki

[HyperX]

Originally Posted by Simon 

• Install new drive
• /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility > Restore
• Drag old disk onto source field
• Drag new disk onto destination field
• Hit restore
• Boot from new disk, done.

Aha! That's wonderful!! Truly appreciate this. Wow. Easy!!

[HyperX]

Originally Posted by Simon 

• Install new drive
• /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility > Restore
• Drag old disk onto source field
• Drag new disk onto destination field
• Hit restore
• Boot from new disk, done.

OK this worked. I am actually on my mac on the new 750 gig hard drive. I did notice something. On the old hard drive, a lot of the folders were hidden. When I completed this operation (stated in the quote) my new hard drive is now displaying all the hidden folders and files. Is this normal?

[kick52]

Originally Posted by tooki 

Nope, it's in the right place, since this question applies essentially equally to all Mac models, and is not specific to a Mac Pro.

And since it can be done without any third-party apps, as Simon describes perfectly, it belongs here. (Well, with the added step of using the Startup Disk preference pane to select the boot volume.)

tooki

well i came across the idea that he didnt know how to actually install the drive.

[Simon]

Glad it worked for you.

The hidden folders should remain hidden. Did you play with a tool like TinkerTool?

Do a permissions check just to be sure. You can use TinkerTool to force the Finder to not display hidden items. There's probably also a defaults write command to do that in a shell.

[rjt1000]

Originally Posted by HyperX 

OK this worked. I am actually on my mac on the new 750 gig hard drive. I did notice something. On the old hard drive, a lot of the folders were hidden. When I completed this operation (stated in the quote) my new hard drive is now displaying all the hidden folders and files. Is this normal?

I have found CCC to be more reliable than disk utility at giving you a perfect clone of the original. Your experience is a good example.

[mitchell_pgh]

I would never clone my system to a new HD. Call me old fashioned, but I would simply reinstall.

REASON: I always find a few updates along the way... (yes, I realize it's a pain, and takes longer)

[HyperX]

Originally Posted by mitchell_pgh 

I would never clone my system to a new HD. Call me old fashioned, but I would simply reinstall.

REASON: I always find a few updates along the way... (yes, I realize it's a pain, and takes longer)

Mitchell - when you say you find updates along the way, what does that mean? Will my cloned hard drive no longer download updates from apple? or is there something else?

So far, everything is working well.

[Big Mac]

I'm not sure what Mitchell means, but I think he's saying he just finds it more convenient to do a clean install of everything. A clone of a drive is a clone of a drive, no more and no less. Everything will work as it did on the other drive.

[TETENAL]

Originally Posted by HyperX 

OK this worked. I am actually on my mac on the new 750 gig hard drive. I did notice something. On the old hard drive, a lot of the folders were hidden. When I completed this operation (stated in the quote) my new hard drive is now displaying all the hidden folders and files. Is this normal?

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301677

[Simon]

Nice find there.