Adding 1TB HDD to 2009 Mac Mini

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Adding 1TB HDD to 2009 Mac Mini

I have a 2009 Mac Mini that I want to install a new internal 1 TB HDD. The unit has an original 125GB HDD and an external 1 TB drive, on which all of my iTunes library and playlists reside. Everything on both disks is backed up on a Time Machine.

I need to go to a larger internal HDD so that I can upgrade the OS to Snow Leopard and then to the current Maverick. This Mini is my entertainment computer, and will support house-wide music and my Apple TV.

The mechanics of changing the hard drive are not an issue. I have opened the Mini before to increase the memory.

For the sake of simplicity, ideally I'd like to swap out the HDD in the Mini, then use a start-up disk to a) clean the new hard drive; and b) restore the data for that Mini from the Time Machine onto the new hard drive.

I've never done this before. Is there a way to start the system using a DVD or CD start-up disk, then proceed with cleaning the new HDD and transferring everything to it via a back-up restore from the Time Machine?

Posted on Nov 6, 2013 9:33 AM

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Answer 1

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den.thed

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77,038 points

Nov 6, 2013 4:59 PM in response to iinsic

Although Time Machine works, your best bet is to Clone your existing internal hard drive to the new hard drive using Disk Utility, CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper. This can easily be done either before or after installing the new hard drive, if you have an external hard drive, an empty SATA drive enclosure or universal drive adapter.

Also keep in mind that off the shelf bare drives will need to be Partitioned (GUID Partition Table) and Formatted (Mac OS Extended (Journaled) before you can use it as a boot disk in your Mac.

1. Boot from your install DVD or Bootable Clone and open Disk Utility.

2. Highlight the new HD in the list of drives and select the Partition tab.

3. Under Volume Scheme select 1 Partition and click on the Options... button.

4. Select GUID Partition Table in the drop down window and click OK.

5. Set the Format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and click the Apply button.

6. Once thats done then you can do a clean Install, Restore from TM or a Bootable Clone.

For instructions on changing out the drive, see > Mac Mini Repair - iFixit, select your model and then go to the Hard Drive section.

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Answer 2

iinsic Author

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Nov 6, 2013 5:08 PM in response to den.thed

The reason I want to do a TM restore is to consolidate the main drive and the external drive on a single 1TB internal drive. I have extensive playlists created in iTunes and these don't copy to other drives ... only the actual songs. But a TM restore brings everything, which is why I want to go this route.

My main concern was whether I could start up the Mini with a blank HDD, and you answered that - with the install DVD that came with the system. Then I can clean/partition the new drive and restore everything to that single drive from TM.

Thanks!

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Answer 3

den.thed

Level 9

77,038 points

Nov 6, 2013 7:34 PM in response to iinsic

You are welcome!

Sorry for sounding skeptical, but I don't have as much faith in Time Machine as I do in cloning/restoring the original drive to the new drive and then importing iTunes library from the external drive.

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