[t3rockhall]

OK Dave, I know this has been answered before, but just make me feel good.

I have a new 320 gig internal HD coming next week. I'm going to put it in my 17" G5 iMac (and replace the 80 that it came with).

I'm fully backed up to a smaller (than 320) partition on my external (a 250, in 2 partitions).

SO, after it's in,
1. I boot from the external
2. I name the new internal the same as the backup.
3. I run Disk Utility on the new drive and use Mac OS Extended (Journaled) to format.
4. Then, I run an erase-and-replace from the external to the new internal.
5. Finally, when I'm happy the new drive is working right, I reboot from the new and erase the TWO partitions on my backup to make a new 250 1-partition backup. If I eventually get close to 200 gig of use, of course I'll buy a new external for my backups, you betcha.


Is there any issue if the backup is smaller than the internal? I'm only using about 60 gigs now. (I guess not, because I've done full restores from the backup to the smaller internal several times already with no problem.)

Remember, I'll still have the old boot volume set aside, so I WILL have a backup set aside if need be, even though I'd have to reinstall it in the iMac.

After I format the new drive, is it necessary to "zero the drive (both the data and free space under Tiger): this tests the drive surface, remaps any bad or weak spots"? I assume that I'll find that option in Disk Utility when I run it.

I am running Leopard10.5.6.


Well, thanks for your help.