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Upgraded to 320GB HDD in My MacBook Pro

15th August 2008 By 3 Comments

I just upgraded the disk drive in my Mac Book to 320 GB (from 160Gb) and it could not have been easier.
I can’t believe how simple this was using Mac OS X. No restore or data migration, just a simple backup and then install the drive. Boot and back in business……
Here are my tips on how to do this yourself:

Hard Disk Drive

Buy an external hard disk drive ( http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?DriveID=377), although I wish I had bought unit that was 7200RPM and thus gave me a performance boost. ( I will do that when I get the 500GB drive in a few months).

SASA Drive Cradle or Adapter

Buy an external SATA to USB hard disk cradle – something like a Scythe Kama Connect 2 USB2.0 IDE and SATA External Adapter, but this unbranded SATA Cradle is my personal choice – http://www.storagedepot.co.uk/Enclosures-and-Cases/sc884/p640popup1531.aspx?x=y. It takes both 3.5″ and 2.5″ drives of any height.

Buy SuperDuper

SuperDuper is a backup utility from Shirt Pocket Software. The best thing is that it makes the external hard disk EXACT BOOTABLE COPY of your hard disk drive. So you can perform a backup to the new drive, then simply install it into your MacBook. No restore, or any other action needed.

The cost is about GBP£16 / USD$30 from http://shirtpocket.com

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I use Super Duper as my backup software for everyday use as well, so this is not a one use software. It is an incremental image update utility and a useful tool to supplement what Time Machine does not do.

Consult the iFixit web site, buy tools and spudger

The iFixit has a number of guides on how to disassemble your Mac according to model and what you are trying to do. Here is the guide to replacing the Hard Disk Drive in a 17″ Core Duo MacBook Pro

The iFixit guide will also list the tools that you need and can sell them to you in a kit, or you can buy them on ebay with a bit of looking around.

Working tips

I printed out the iFixit guide and then sticky taped it to the table. As a I removed the screws I placed onto the picture on that page (so I knew which screw was which).

Conclusion

After performing the physical installation I simply turned on my MacBook. Unlike Windows, I did not have to do a restore or data migration.

I don’t know why I waited so long. …….

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Product Picture

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About Greg Ferro

Greg Ferro is a Network Engineer/Architect, mostly focussed on Data Centre, Security Infrastructure, and recently Virtualization. He has over 20 years in IT, in wide range of employers working as a freelance consultant including Finance, Service Providers and Online Companies. He is CCIE#6920 and has a few ideas about the world, but not enough to really count.

He is a host on the Packet Pushers Podcast, blogger at EtherealMind.com and on Twitter @etherealmind and Google Plus

  • http://scottbristowe.com Scott Bristowe

    Great article Greg, should help convince Arden to make the switch!

    I might have to use this technique when I upgrade my Macbook Air. Usually I take the opportunity of an upgrade to reinstall everything from scratch and start fresh but haven’t found it necessary since moving to OS X.

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  • http://globalconfig.net Brandon Carroll

    Will that backup utility let me take my current macbook image to a new mackbook pro? If so, I’m sold! Nice article.