Upgrading Macbook Harddrive While Keeping Lion (late 2008 - aluminum)

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Level 1

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Upgrading Macbook Harddrive While Keeping Lion (late 2008 - aluminum)

I've been thinking about upgrading the hardrive inside my macbook to a larger one (1 or 2TB) and while the actual installation shouldn't be an issue, I do have some concerns that have me nervous about doing this:

1. My macbook came with Leopard, which is what would be reinstalled through the recovery disks (that's how you boot from the new hardrive isn't it?). The problem is that I upgraded Leopard to Snow Leopard and then to Lion. If I upgrade the hardrive, how do I get back to Lion from Leopard. I still have the disk and packaging from when I got Snow Leopard but I believe that only had one license on it. So, how would upgrade back to Lion without having to pay for everything again?

2. I'm going to back up evrything on my MacHD to a seperate external before switching out the old hardrive. When I put in the new one, I should just be able to copy everything over and it'll all work (applications specifically) right? And I wouldn't have to update any of them right?

3. I have one of these laying around (http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Elements-Portable-External/dp/B003B8PPEY/r ef=sr_1_14?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1311707352&sr=1-14), if I remove the drive from the casing would it be the right size and specs to work in my computer?

4. If that hardrive doesn't work, what's the biggest size (storage) I could fit in my computer?

Thanks for the help!

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Jul 26, 2011 12:28 PM

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Answer 1

Asatoran

Level 4

2,532 points

Jul 26, 2011 4:14 PM in response to micitz

1...The problem is that I upgraded Leopard to Snow Leopard and then to Lion. If I upgrade the hardrive, how do I get back to Lion from Leopard.

How did you get to Snow Leopard in the first place? You'd install SL, just like you did before, then upgrade that to Lion, just like you did now. (IOW, use your own copy of the Snow Leopard installer disk. If you borrowed a Snow Leopard disk from someone, then you have a pirated copy of Snow Leopard, which shows why one should always have their own legal copy of the installers.)

2...I should just be able to copy everything over and it'll all work (applications specifically) right?

Some apps need to be installed, some can be copied. (e.g.: Microsoft Office needs to be installed. OpenOffice can be copied.)

3. I have one of these laying around (http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Elements-Portable-External/dp/B003B8PPEY/r ef=sr_1_14?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1311707352&sr=1-14), if I remove the drive from the casing would it be the right size and specs to work in my computer?

4. If that hardrive doesn't work, what's the biggest size (storage) I could fit in my computer?

You probably can't open those types of drives without significant damage. They're usually glued together.

Better if you get a drive and external case from a reputable company like Other World Computing. Buy a separate drive and external case. That is what they're designed for. OWC's pricing is very competitive to a pre-built external drive. And worth the small price difference just so you don't damage a perfectly working (glued together) external hard drive.

And OWC's website will tell you exactly what kinds of drives you can install in your specific model of Mac.

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Answer 2

Knifedge

Level 4

1,605 points

Jul 26, 2011 8:02 PM in response to micitz

Easiest thing is to clone the hard drive to the external, and then remove the hard drive from it. Those cases aren't meant to be opened but directions can be found on the internet. Then swap the drives. Use Carbon Copy Cloner or a similar application. Dragging the folders over won't work.

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