[Zanth]

I am going to need to expand my Mac's HD very soon. I have a 100 gb 7200 and I'm upgrading to a 320 drive. If I use Time Machine to back up my current drive to the new 320, and then swap them, will it work? Is the backup like ghosting, or can it be configured to work this way?

I don't want to have to reinstall if I can avoid it.

 

[alxwang]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zanth /img/forum/go_quote.gif I am going to need to expand my Mac's HD very soon. I have a 100 gb 7200 and I'm upgrading to a 320 drive. If I use Time Machine to back up my current drive to the new 320, and then swap them, will it work? Is the backup like ghosting, or can it be configured to work this way? I don't want to have to reinstall if I can avoid it.

I think you need to use disk utility to create a image and save it(I mean backup so the org. data in that HD will be erase completed) somewhere like USB HD then install new HD then boot from USB HD then restore the image into the new HD. My suggestion will be buy a 2.5 inch sata->usb Drive Enclosures and put the new HD in first then swap after all done. You will have a 100G USB HD then.
I did that before and it cost me around 2 hours to finished.

 

[devin_mm]

You do not need to make an image, you can restore your computer by booting from a 10.5 DVD. Further info can be found here: Backup Utilities: Restore Your Data with Time Machine

I love time machine

 

[juniperlater]

Nope. It won't just swap. However, if you backup drive a -> drive b, then use the install dvd with the time machine utility, then you can create a perfect mirror on drive c.

Although the above method would probably be easier.

 

[dvessel]

It's not like ghosting so it takes a considerable amount of time. Lots of overhead copying tons of small system files but that's a small price to pay for automatic hourly backups that don't get in your face.

Do as Devin says, restore from the utility inside the install disk.

 

[Uncle Erik]

What they said. Just wanted to add that I ran out of space last week, dropped a 750GB Seagate onto the Airport and set up Time Machine. Everything is backed up and I offloaded a lot of stuff onto it as a network drive. It's been great.

 

[Zanth]

Thanks guys! I also found this while following the link from Devin: Bombich Software: Carbon Copy Cloner

This might be even easier and more robust as it is a true clone.

 

[dvessel]

Yeah, that's a good choice if all you want is a clone but have no need for the hourly backups. Time Machine can be picky about what it backs up and some programs can set metadata telling TM not to backup so it runs more efficiently. In most cases, it's nothing to worry about like indexing mail messages since it can be recreated.

There's also Super Duper. It's the same idea as CCC but it's shareware.

When you use CCC, make sure the backup drive is formatted properly. Intel Macs need the GUID partition table formatted in Mac OS Extended journaled *NOT* case sensitive.

 

[saint.panda]

Super Duper works great. When I had my MBP stolen, I could boot from my backup hard drive using any Mac I could find.

 

[Bones13]

I have used the Time Machine to restore my iMac when I messed up the boot system trying to install XP on boot camp (its a bit picky on which version of XP Pro it will install, my IT folks gave me a non SP2 install disk)

You do need your Leopard install disk, and it goes smoothly to just use the Time Machine system to reconstruct your system.

 

[Random Access]

I use Carbon Copy Cloner to move a system from computer to computer or from drive to drive. It is similar to Ghost or Drive Image for PC. You can even do it without booting from a DVD.

Time Machine is more like System Restore on XP.

So I would clone the old drive to the new drive and then just swap the drives.

Done.