Transferring data to new hard drive

i plan on getting a bigger hard drive, is it okay to use a flash drive or pen drive to save data on and to transfer the data onto the new hard drive, and also what do you guys think about seagate or hitachi hard drives. thanks for the reply fellow mac lovers

 

If you have a 250GB hard drive that's halfway full, imagine the kind of work you have to do using a 1GB flash drive. That's insane!

You might try burning DVD's (if it is only your data that needs backing up) or better yet, just get an enclosure and transfer your data through USB after installing you new hard drive. Do both, and you can be secure because of the redundancy.

 

A flash drive would not be worth your time. Go pick up an external hard drive enclosure. I'm guessing this is a laptop hard drive, so it will be 2.5". An enclosure can be had for under $50 for a nice one at any electronic store, and will let you have that space for later as well, worth the money and time save imo.

 

Yeah, try using an external enclosure (if you have one).
Or if you're hooking the hard drive up to say, another machine, just transfer the data over the network.
If you have a gigabit ethernet router and your machines support it, it'll be the fastest way to transfer data.

 

I used the Apricorn EZ Upgrade kit, about $45 on Amazon, to swap out my 40gb notebook hard drive with a 120gb Seagate hard drive, on sale at Circuit City for $149. The Apricorn kit is an excellent straightforward tool for duplicating the new drive, and readying it for the swap out. It includes free phone support, which I used when I had them walk me through the crucial section of the transfer. It went very smoothly, and took about 30 minutes. I did upgrade to a 5400 rpm drive which is considerably faster than the 4200 rpm drive it replaced, but it does use a little more of the battery. One great thing about the Apricorn kit is that the included drive case turns your old drive into a portable USB drive, that you can use as a back-up, or erase it all once you are satisfied that your new drive took, and now you have an empty portable USB drive.
One note: there are 2 different versions of the Apricorn kit, PATA and SATA. Make sure you get the one that matches up with drive that you are replacing, otherwise the connectors will not fit (as I learned).
From what I know and have experienced, the Seagate drive is outstanding.
Hope this helps,
Joe

 

thanks for the reply guys, i was looking at owc website, those external enclosure drives would suffice i take it, my question is if i got one of those is it easy and quick to save and transfer data using one of the enclosure drives, and what brand do you recommend for a hard drive.

 

I prefer WD I think. I really have to look. I have about 8 HDD's between my computers, and I've had a few fail this past year. They are all WD or Maxtor, so I have to figure out which ones have been the best.
Yeah, it's easy to use the external enclosuers. It acts very similar to a thumb/flash drive.

I should also note that HD preferences are sort of like car preferences. Some people love Ford and never have a problem with them. Others can't stand them and have nothing but problems with them. So it's kind of hard to really say one company is better than another.
Though, on occasion, a company does release a hard drive line that is very error prone, such as IBM's Deskstar line. Those used to fail terribly. I'm sure they're much better now... but just an example. I often look at the reviews of specific hard drives on newegg.com to help decide on the reliability of certian units.

 

thanks all for the replies, do you guys prefer the 5400 rpm or the 7200 rpm drives, does anyone know if it is true that 7200 drives make the macbook run hotter, and also is there a big difference between the speeds that makes a real big difference. thanks in advance

 

There is a bigger performance difference between 4200 and 5400. I want all the performance I can get out of a HDD so I always get 7200 in my laptop. I doubt the heat difference is really noticable. Hard drives get hot. Very, very hot.
Really, though, if you're not into doing audio and video work, or using programs that have to access the HDD a lot, then I would probably just get a 5400 rpm drive. The cost difference, plus the less amount of storage may not be worth it unless you really need that bit of juice from the hard drive.

 

thanks hollownail for your input, i was wondering if you just swap out a new hard drive and put in another all you do is install the os x right, i have a 2 month macbook , so i dont have alot of stuff on it, just the reg stuff it came with and songs on my itunes, do you think i should just save some cash and just buy a new hard drive and install os x and just reinstall my songs on itune or you think it would be good to invest in a external hard drive enclosure?

 

I think i'ts a good idea to get an external enclosure. Otherwise you're just wasting the old HDD. Might as well have it available for use. I'd use it as a backup drive.

 

thanks hollownail, do you have any good recommendations on which one you think would be good, i have no idea of which one is compatible or reliable any info would be appreciated thanks in advance