[joec]

I have just bought the Western Digital 160GB 2.5-inch Passport USB Portable Hard Drive. I plan to take it out of the case and use it to replace the 80GB hard drive in my MacBook. What is the easiest way to copy or clone my 80GB to the new 160GB so the new drive will have the O/S, all the applications I have installed and files I have created?

Thanks in advance.

Joe

[frdmfghtr]

When I upgraded my drive, I installed the new drive (unformatted) in the MacBook, and the old drive in a USB enclosure.

Booting from the OS X DVD, I ran Disk Utility to restore the internal drive. I set the source drive to the 80 GB drive (in the USB enclosure), the destination drive to the 160 GB internal drive, and started the restoration.

The next step was the easiest; go watch a movie or make a sandwich, because the restoration will take an hour or two, depending on how much data you have to restore. (Great, I mentioned "sandwich" now have a craving for a sandwich!)

When the restoration was done, I ejected the DVD and rebooted. Viola, the MacBook booted from the new drive.

The only hitches I ran into were some programs that stored registration keys somewhere where Disk Utility couldn't go, but there I just re-entered the registration keys and all was well.

If you have Leopard and use Time Machine to back up the entire drive, there's an option to restore form there too, although I've never used it.

[Cold Warrior]

Good tip. I'll just link to something below to add another option.

There was a decent discussion in Alt OS about cloning. It includes discussion about cloning the Windows partition as well (for those that have gone the Boot Camp route), but I think it's also applicable to you if you're looking for a whole-disk clone.

http://forums.macnn.com/104/alternat...ok-pro-will-i/

Please feel free to post back here if it's not what you're looking for.

[mduell]

Plug the new drive in, use CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to copy your entire disk, then swap the drives.

How did you determine ahead of time that the WD Passport has a SATA disk instead of an ATA disk?

[Simon]

When it comes to a simple clone forget third-party apps like SD or CCC. In the past they have given people problems they shouldn't have to deal with - after all it's just a simple clone you want.

Instead, use the built-in Apple Software Restore to make the clone. Disk Utility > Restore is all you need. Built in and free. No problems. Clone the old drive onto the new drive (check the 'Erase Destination' option), boot from the new drive. Done.

[joec]

Originally Posted by mduell 

Plug the new drive in, use CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to copy your entire disk, then swap the drives.

How did you determine ahead of time that the WD Passport has a SATA disk instead of an ATA disk?

That's a good point. Looking at what I have bought, I think it may not have a SATA interface. The WD web site said the Scorpio has a SATA interface but didn't say anything about the Passport. How do I find out?

Thanks for pointing this out so I don't go do the 'upgrade' and find out it does not work.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by joec 

That's a good point. Looking at what I have bought, I think it may not have a SATA interface. The WD web site said the Scorpio has a SATA interface but didn't say anything about the Passport. How do I find out?

Thanks for pointing this out so I don't go do the 'upgrade' and find out it does not work.

You can call and ask (and maybe believe their first tier support folks), or Google around to see if you can find someone else who bought the same model (and hope they haven't changed it on you)... but buying (and then dismantling) a preassembled external hard drive isn't a terribly good idea all around: crapshoot for interfaces, void the warranty on the drive and the case as soon as you crack it open, sometimes difficult to reassemble, etc.

I'd return it and buy an internal drive and external enclosure; you'll probably end up saving some money (160GB drives are about $85, USB2 enclosures are about $20).

[joec]

Originally Posted by mduell 

You can call and ask (and maybe believe their first tier support folks), or Google around to see if you can find someone else who bought the same model (and hope they haven't changed it on you)... but buying (and then dismantling) a preassembled external hard drive isn't a terribly good idea all around: crapshoot for interfaces, void the warranty on the drive and the case as soon as you crack it open, sometimes difficult to reassemble, etc.

I'd return it and buy an internal drive and external enclosure; you'll probably end up saving some money (160GB drives are about $85, USB2 enclosures are about $20).

Thanks for your advice. I will look around. What brand internal SATA drive would you recommend?

[kerosen]

I've just bought a WD Passport of 250Gb and, like the other macfan, I don't know if it is SATA or not. For me it is not a problem if it isn't because I'll use it as it is, as an external hdd.
How can I open up the Passport box? There are no obvious screws. Is it somewhere a step by step instructions on how to do that?
tx.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by joec 

Thanks for your advice. I will look around. What brand internal SATA drive would you recommend?

Seagate for $110, although it's currently sold out so the Hitachi for $85 is a close second.

[bmwparamedic]

Just remember when you format the drive it will be at least 10-15 GB smaller, that what I've always noticed and forgot when I bought my new HD bought a 160 and it was 142 when I was done.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by bmwparamedic 

Just remember when you format the drive it will be at least 10-15 GB smaller, that what I've always noticed and forgot when I bought my new HD bought a 160 and it was 142 when I was done.

The difference between the way the hard drive manufacturers (and the SI system) define gigabytes (10^9) and the way computer OS makers define gigabytes (2^30, which should be called gibibytes) is about 7%; so for every 100GB of listed drive capacity, you actually get 93. A "1000GB" drive is only 931GiB, while a "1TB" drive is a mere 0.909TiB.

[bmwparamedic]

Originally Posted by mduell 

The difference between the way the hard drive manufacturers (and the SI system) define gigabytes (10^9) and the way computer OS makers define gigabytes (2^30, which should be called gibibytes) is about 7%; so for every 100GB of listed drive capacity, you actually get 93. A "1000GB" drive is only 931GiB, while a "1TB" drive is a mere 0.909TiB.

Wow that is great information.

[DCJ001]

I recommend the Hitachi 200GB 7200 RPM for $169.99 after $30.00 rebate. It's a performace boost due to the higher RPM, it's fairly large, and it's the lowest price that I've ever seen:

200GB 2.5" Hitachi Travelstar 7K200 7200RPM 16... (0A50940) at OWC

I also recommend the below enclosure for the drive that you're replacing. It's $11.99 with free shipping, it's made well and it works:

- Free Shipping: 2.5" Serial ATA (SATA) Notebook Hard Drive to USB 2.0 Aluminum External Enclosure : EMST25 (Retail, Silver)

[mduell]

Originally Posted by DCJ001 

I recommend the Hitachi 200GB 7200 RPM for $169.99 after $30.00 rebate. It's a performace boost due to the higher RPM, it's fairly large, and it's the lowest price that I've ever seen:

200GB 2.5" Hitachi Travelstar 7K200 7200RPM 16... (0A50940) at OWC

Same drive for $179 at NewEgg, and you can still use the rebate the OWC links to bringing the total down to $149.

[bob-nine]

Not to make this a Hard Drive price thread, but I got a 320GB Hitachi from SoftChoice for $200. That is my regular vendor for parts at the office.

I followed the process mentioned by frdmfghtr above. It worked perfectly, THE FIRST TIME. The results were like GHOST, but it is built into the OS.

Boy do I LOVE the MAC.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by bob-nine 

Not to make this a Hard Drive price thread, but I got a 320GB Hitachi from SoftChoice for $200. That is my regular vendor for parts at the office.

HGST doesn't list a 320GB drive, only 250/400/500. Are you sure it's not WD or Samsung? Newegg has both brands 320GB for under $200.

[kerosen]

Finally I opened the WD 250Gb Passport and I found a WD2500BEAS SATA drive. I am thinking now to replace the 120Gb from my MB C2D with this one. The issue I have is that the WD is having 2Mb cache whilst the Hitachi has 8Mb cache.
Is that a big differance in performance ?

[kerosen]

YES, it is a difference. I've cloned the WD 250GB after the original Hitachi 120GB with the procedure from the begining of this post. Then I changed the disks. Everything worked ok, booting up nicely, wifi connected and everything.
Except that I felt that it was a bit slow. So I measured the exact time from pressing the power button until the time appeared in the upper right corner.
Surprise...
- with the original Hitachi 120Gb booting time 41 seconds
- with the WD 250GB from the Passport booting time 78 seconds

These measurments were done after several shut down - boot up cycles.

Finally I've installed the Hitachi back in the MB and the WD in its passport box.

Was it because of the cache difference?

[mfbernstein]

TomsHardware has a roundup of some of the newer drives. Another negative of getting a drive with an enclosure and removing the drive is that you probably void the warranty.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by kerosen 

YES, it is a difference. I've cloned the WD 250GB after the original Hitachi 120GB with the procedure from the begining of this post. Then I changed the disks. Everything worked ok, booting up nicely, wifi connected and everything.
Except that I felt that it was a bit slow. So I measured the exact time from pressing the power button until the time appeared in the upper right corner.
Surprise...
- with the original Hitachi 120Gb booting time 41 seconds
- with the WD 250GB from the Passport booting time 78 seconds

These measurments were done after several shut down - boot up cycles.

Finally I've installed the Hitachi back in the MB and the WD in its passport box.

Was it because of the cache difference?

No, that's not due to cache. Cache is pretty much only useful for small writes.

[kerosen]

Here are the specs of the two hdd:

Hitachi HTS542512K9SA00 --- Passport Scorpio WD2500BEAS

Capacity--------------120Gb (5400rpm)------------250Gb (5400rpm)
Cache-----------------8Mb------------------------2Mb
Average Latency-------5.5ms----------------------5.5ms
Average Read Seek-----11ms-----------------------12ms
Track-to-track seek---1ms------------------------2ms
Transfer rate max-----665 Mb/s-------------------600 Mb/s
Power
Startup----------------5W-------------------------5W
Read/Write-------------1.8W-----------------------2.5W
Performance idle-------1.7W-----------------------2W
Standby----------------0.2W-----------------------0.25W
Sleep------------------0.1W-----------------------0.15W

No big differences between the two, so why the bootup time with WD is almost twice as Hitachi?

[mduell]

WD sucks? Change in data location, logically and physically? Lots of possibilities. Delete everything from the WD and try a fresh install to rule out a few.

[Cadaver]

The WD Passport 160GB drive uses an SATA drive inside the case - or at least mine does. I opened the case of mine and dropped it into my MacBook. Works great.

[SierraDragon]

A very good 320 GB replacement hard drive from MCE, a vendor I have had good success with: MCE 320GB/5400RPM MobileStor Performance Hard Drive Solution for MacBook Pro, MacBook: MCE Technologies Online Store

-Allen Wicks

[mduell]

Newegg has the same drives for half the price, but without the enclosure ($50 or so separately) or software (free).

[legacyb4]

Did note that the Scorpio has smaller cache; wonder if that will significantly impair performance?

[mduell]

No, unless you make a lot of small (we're talking tens or hundreds of kilobytes) writes.

[Guy Kuo]

Originally Posted by kerosen 

YES, it is a difference.
- with the original Hitachi 120Gb booting time 41 seconds
- with the WD 250GB from the Passport booting time 78 seconds

My MacBook boots to the Leopard desktop in 40 seconds with the WD 320GB Scorpio drive, 8 MB cache, 5400 RPM (a WDC WD3200BEVT removed from a passport case).

The 250 GB WD drive should also be 8 MB Cache, 5400 RPM. I don't understand why yours is so slow.

BTW, I use SuperDuper to clone the drives. So, my files are more likely to be contiguous.