How to clone your old hard drive to a new hard drive / ssd

by: Bimmer 7 Series

Last modified: Sep 13, 2012 11:49 PM

1 59358 Last modified Sep 13, 2012 11:49 PM

first get yourself a USB external enclosure ($10)...install your new drive there....(a powered usb external enclosure would be much better for less issues when doing a clone)

then download Carbon Copy Cloner. if you're running Mountain Lion - Use Carbon Copy Cloner 3.5 - Trial version will work - 30 Days.

now connect your USB external drive to your macbook's USB port.

launch Disk Utility - verify your disk permissions - repair if errors are found - format/erase your new drive to Mac OS Extended Journaled with a single GUID partition.

close Disk Utility and launch Carbon Copy Cloner.

clone your old drive (source drive) - to your new drive (destination drive) - you will get a pop up saying that a recovery partition wasn't created. create one with Carbon Copy (This does NOT apply if Snow Leopard is installed in your hard drive)

proceed with the clone. once the clone is done, turn your macbook off.

test your newly cloned drive by turning your macbook back on while pressing the option key - select your external to boot and check if everything was copied when you did the clone. turn your macbook off.

install new drive in your macbook and install old drive in your USB enclosure - use it for back up purposes.

turn your macbook back on - if boot time takes longer than 45 secs (SSD ONLY) - go to system preferences - startup disk - select your new drive as the startup drive - restart your macbook.

now it should boot at 14 sec. (SSD ONLY)

tools needed: #00 Phillips Screwdriver and T6 Torx Screwdriver

attention: remember where all your screws goes. the bottom of your macbook have 10 screws - 7 short ones and 3 long ones.