volume name issue

[camner]

I'm trying to upgrade my main hard drive ("Mac HD") to a new drive. So, I have used SD! to clone Mac HD to an external drive, just in case everything gets screwy.

I then install the new drive, and name it "new Mac HD" (so I don't have 2 drives named exactly the same thing mounted at the same time).

Then I clone Mac HD to "new Mac HD" with SD, all going well, and boot off of "new Mac HD". Finally, I rename "Mac HD" to "old Mac HD" and "new Mac HD" to "Mac HD" all in the finder.

When I go to boot off of (the new) "Mac HD" by holding down the option key during a restart, the name of the drive is still "new Mac HD." Hmmm. Disk Utility and Finder don't think so, but there it is.

I decide to start over and reclone the original Mac HD to the new drive again, this time by renaming the ORIGINAL Mac HD to "old Mac HD" and then repartition/erase the new drive. BUT, now the new drive (currently named "Mac HD" in the finder but "new Mac HD" on startup) won't dismount because something is apparently using it (though no apps besides Disk Utility are open).

Obviously, I'm not doing this right, and making things worse every time I try something.

Is there a straightforward way of using SD to clone my main drive to a new physical drive and keep the volume names straight? Any thoughts about what to do now given that things are heading in the direction of FUBAR?

[dnanian]

It sounds like the PRAM hasn't updated itself. I don't think you need to worry about it as long as the drive is starting up as expected -- re-select it in the Startup Disk Preference Pane and see if that fixes it. Don't keep erasing, though, and disconnect the drive that isn't the boot drive before you start from the new one.

[camner]

Well, no explaining (at least not by me, anyway) the inner reflections of a computer, but after several restarts (including at least one complete shut down) that changed nothing, I turned my computer off, headed off to run errands, came back, and everything was good. Volume name was as I had specified it, and the volume would eject.

So, as so often happens, the computer "fixed itself."

Thanks very much for your reply, though. I've always admired the prompt support here.

One final (for this topic, anyway ;)) question: is the methodology I used for this escapade (renaming the way I did) a reasonable way go to about upgrading a drive?

[dnanian]

Sure, that works fine -- although there's no problem having two volumes with the same name. :)

[camner]

Sure, that works fine -- although there's no problem having two volumes with the same name. :)

OK, then, here's a dumb question. When I choose the volumes in SD, how do I know which "Mac HD" to make the source and which to make the target? And, upon booting or selecting the startup disk, how do I know which one I'm specifying?

[dnanian]

You can't select the drive you're running from as the destination, and you'll see the drive's icon, too.