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Brian Live · Oct 10, 2007, 10:38 AM

Today I'll be receiving my new Western Digital 500 GB SATA hardrive. I'll be replacing the original 250GB drive the PowerMac G5 came with.

I would like to use the new 500GB drive as the main HD and the 250GB drive as the secondary drive. Could someone tell me the correct way to transfer all of the data (OS, files, etc.) on the old drive to the new one. How do the two drives show up? Two Mac HDs on the desktop and within Finder?

Thanks for your help in advance!

Big Mac · Oct 10, 2007, 10:42 AM

First you format the drive using Disk Utility (at which time you name it, obviously something different from the first drive). Then you can clone drive A to new drive B using Disk Utility's Restore tab. It's a very simple process - don't worry.

Brian Live · Oct 10, 2007, 10:47 AM

Anyone have a link to a nice little walk-through?

Big Mac · Oct 10, 2007, 12:07 PM

Well, there are hardware installation instructions, but I don't know if there are instructions on the cloning process. Trust me, it's about the easiest upgrade you can perform.

Brian Live · Oct 10, 2007, 01:45 PM

Ok, cool. Thanks BM.

If anyone stumbles upon this topic in search, I did find these directions written by a poster in the Apple Discussion forums:

Kappy's Steps to Produce a bootable clone
Prep external FW drive:
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (journaled, if available) and click on the Erase button. This step can be skipped if the destination has already been freshly erased.
4. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
5. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Select the startup or 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.
8. Select the destination drive on the Desktop and press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. At the bottom in the Ownership and Permissions section be sure the box labeled "Ignore Permissions on this Volume" is unchecked. Verify the settings for Ownership and Permissions as follows: Owner=system with read/write; Group=admin with read/write; Other with read-only. If they are not correct then reset them.

For added precaution you can boot into safe mode before doing the clone.

Brian Live · Oct 12, 2007, 08:52 AM

Ok, new hardrive is in and working great. However, on the new hardrive are some files (.var, .tmp, etc.) I'd like to get rid of these, but I've read that you shouldn't. Is there a way to swap these over to the other drive leaving everything working properly? Thanks!

Big Mac · Oct 12, 2007, 09:11 AM

No. They have to be made invisible again.

Brian Live · Oct 12, 2007, 09:24 AM

Where as they already begin with "." shouldn't they already be invisible? Which brings me to; How would I go about making them invisible again?