How to exchange the HDD of a MacBook Pro?

Question

I've bought an Solid State Drive (SSD) for my MacBook Pro, and now I need to exchange it somehow. Would this strategy work?

1. Create an backup with Time Machine (Snow Leopard)
2. Then replace the old HDD
3. Insert the new HDD
4. Install Snow Leopard (same version as previously used)
5. Open up Time Machine, and recover from the last backup

I'm not sure about how to do the last part. Is that hard? What are the neccessary steps?

Or is there a better way? Maybe I don't need to re-install Snow Leopard completely? Maybe the Install CD already offers an option to recover from Backup?

Answer 1

I have just done the same thing. I installed the OS and when it first boots you have to go through a few setup questions - one of those questions lets you select 'Restore from a Time Machine Backup'.

Once that is complete - everything was back exactly as it was before the upgrade.

Answer 2

• Buy an external enclosure like a cheap one from Monoprice, say this one is nice:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=103&cp_id=10315&cs_id=1031502&p_id=5332&seq=1&format=2

• Swap in the new drive, then put the old drive in the enclosure. Hop over to the iFixIt folks and they can show ya how

• Boot off the external drive by holding down the option-key and selecting the drive (technically, you shouldn't have to do this since it will appear as the only bootable device)

• Once you're up on the old drive, run a clone over to the new drive using the likes of SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner (can't remember, you may need to format the drive using Disk Utility first or these utilities will do this in the process)

• Once complete, reboot and unplug the drive...

• Have punch and pie.