Restoring to a new hard drive?

Started the MacBook Pro with the time machine disk plugged into the USB. Held down the command key whilst powering up until the Apple logo came up.

However the Mac screen alternated between the Apple logo for some few seconds and a grey circle with a slash through it.

What’s going on? :-(

no steps.

boot pressing Option with new drive installed and TM backup drive connected

select boot from TM

restore.

only if HD is not partitioned/formatted - may be you should first (when boot from TM) go Disk Utility and partition it (GUID, HFS+ journaled).

when you'll press marked button you'll see. Partition type needed for Mac boot drive.

Hi Stephen -

I'm about to undertake a similar procedure - replacing my 250GB drive with a 1TB Seagate drive and resotring with Time machine (on 2008 imac) -- any advice? Didi Time machine work? Did you re-intall all the system discs and then download Lion? Didi the GUID selection work? So many questions... thanks so much in advance!

Put the new HDD in an enclosure and attach it to your MBP. Open Disk Utility>Erase and click on the new HDD and Format it to Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

The Open Disk Utility>Restore and select the internal HDD for 'Source' and the new HDD as 'Destination'. Click on Restore and wait. This may take an hour or two depending upon the amount of data to be transfered. You will create a clone of your internal HDD on the external one.

When the data transfer has completed, restart your MBP and start it with the OPTION key down and select the new HDD. If it boots, then you may do the physical swap.

Ciao.

Just wanted to say, that worked brilliantly for me when I had to replace the HD. So simple.

I am pleased that it worked out for you. It would be nice if all things in life were so simple.

Ciao.

Are there special conditions if your original hard drive (the one being replaced) is partitioned? I have a Mac boot partition, a BOOTCAMP partition and a shared WINMAC partition? The hd is backed up on my Time Capsule. Would it be best to update from OS10.6 to 10.8 before or after the transfer?

waynefromsavoy, greetings; Please staryt new post. I cannot fully address your query because I do not use Windows.

I do know that partitioning requires the cloning of each individual partition so in your case it would be a three step process. But I do not know what the ramifications would be in regards to bootcamp or WINMAC.

Theoretically it should make no difference when you install 10.8, before or after the cloning process. I would personally do it after since it eliminates a possible potential problem occurring in the update procedure. Downloading 10.8 does require a solid Internet connection.

Ciao.

Thanks for your quick response. It is the partitions that bother me also. I will do as you suggested and started a new post. By the way, I downloaded OS10.8 with no problem and presumably my time capsule has backerd it up. I will also burn a backup dvd.

Hello Daniel,

First check your Mac: what serial-ata connection does it have (Applications/Utilities/SystemInformation : Serial-Ata "Link Speed").

HDD and SSD's and Hybrid Drives are downwards compatible, but TWO steps down can cause crashes. Thus a sata3 (6GB/s) requires at least sata2 (3GB/s) Link Speed; It may work, it may not work on sata1 (1.5GB/s), ask a guarantee from the supplier.

Excellent on starting a new post. You should be able to get someone who can give you definitive answers on your situation. I am pleased that the 10.8 download was successful and it it hard to have too many backups.

Ciao.