Home Theater Forum - View Single Post - Upgrading Macbook Pro HD, cloning advice sought

Carlo Medina · 01-22-2008, 12:24 PM

I just pulled the trigger on a new 200GB 7200RPM Hitachi HD, upgrading my 120GB 5400 RPM HD which is over 94% full and has recently started frequently giving me the spinning beach ball due to being so full.

I also bought the OWC firewire external enclosure, FW800 and FW400, to help me out since I will be doing the swap and install myself.

Here's my dilemma:

SuperDuper is not yet Leopard compliant so I can't use that. What also worried me was when I did a test copy of my old Tiger HD (when I thought I was going to upgrade the HD back then) it came up a couple of GBs smaller in the SuperDuper clone than the original drive, despite me choosing the "copy everything" option.

I could use Carbon Copy Cloner and use the "bit for bit" copy. One thing that worries me is that I really don't want a true bit for bit copy because I'm sure my HD is terribly fragmented. Not only is it at 94% filled, but I handle a lot of small audio and video files, constantly adding and deleting them, all the while also installing and upgrading various programs. So I'm positive my HD is fragmented.

I am interested in Apple's own Migration Assistant, but I understand that you may have to reinstall some programs which I'd like to avoid, especially since I have quite a few programs with limited install authorizations and don't want to be dinged twice against it (like Adobe CS3, Moviemagic Screenwriter).

Additionally someone mentioned Disk Utility after booting from the Leopard disc, but I'm not sure if that will avoid having to reinstall/authorize programs or defragment my files.

I have until the weekend to figure this out (that's when the stuff should arrive) and any help would be appreciated!

What I'd ideally like:

An nearly identical, but defragged, version of my current HD. I will have an external means to clone/copy the disc and am open to any suggestions.

01-22-2008, 12:24 PM	#1 of 19
Carlo Medina Member Location: Land of the Passion Bucket Join Date: Nov 1997 Local Time: 09:35 AM Local Date: 09-06-2008 Posts: 10,526	Upgrading Macbook Pro HD, cloning advice sought I just pulled the trigger on a new 200GB 7200RPM Hitachi HD, upgrading my 120GB 5400 RPM HD which is over 94% full and has recently started frequently giving me the spinning beach ball due to being so full. I also bought the OWC firewire external enclosure, FW800 and FW400, to help me out since I will be doing the swap and install myself. Here's my dilemma: SuperDuper is not yet Leopard compliant so I can't use that. What also worried me was when I did a test copy of my old Tiger HD (when I thought I was going to upgrade the HD back then) it came up a couple of GBs smaller in the SuperDuper clone than the original drive, despite me choosing the "copy everything" option. I could use Carbon Copy Cloner and use the "bit for bit" copy. One thing that worries me is that I really don't want a true bit for bit copy because I'm sure my HD is terribly fragmented. Not only is it at 94% filled, but I handle a lot of small audio and video files, constantly adding and deleting them, all the while also installing and upgrading various programs. So I'm positive my HD is fragmented. I am interested in Apple's own Migration Assistant, but I understand that you may have to reinstall some programs which I'd like to avoid, especially since I have quite a few programs with limited install authorizations and don't want to be dinged twice against it (like Adobe CS3, Moviemagic Screenwriter). Additionally someone mentioned Disk Utility after booting from the Leopard disc, but I'm not sure if that will avoid having to reinstall/authorize programs or defragment my files. I have until the weekend to figure this out (that's when the stuff should arrive) and any help would be appreciated! What I'd ideally like: An nearly identical, but defragged, version of my current HD. I will have an external means to clone/copy the disc and am open to any suggestions.