Replacing Hard Drive in intel imac 20

[rlevy]

Hi,

Sorry if this is asked elsewhere, but couldn't find it on a search.

Are there instructions related to replacing/upgrading the internal HD in my intel imac 20 (aluminum)?

I already have tutorials on physically opening it up and replacing the drive. I just need to confirm that using SuperDuper, I first backup everything onto the new blank drive (750GB Western Digital internal), placed in a temp external case, then swap them out?

Will all the apple system files and everything be ready to go, same as before? Your instructions mention that certain files recommended by apple will be excluded from complete backups...

thanks,
Ron

[dnanian]

Make sure you properly partition the new drive (using GUID), and name the new drive the same as the original...

[rlevy]

Dave,

thanks for the quick response.
One add'l: external case is USB not FW -- any concerns?

Originally Posted by dnanian

Make sure you properly partition the new drive (using GUID), and name the new drive the same as the original...

[dnanian]

Not generally if you're not going to use it as a startup drive. (And USB is fine, although slower and less predictable, for Intel.)

[rlevy]

Dave,

another thought -- can I use my current FW external drive that still has enough space on it, without having to partition??

[dnanian]

Not really, no: if you're going to swap the drives, why would you do that?

[rlevy]

Because it's firewire, and it would give me another clone (already formatted) in case something goes wrong on the install. And I wouldn't have to install and remove the new one from an existing case (which I have to take from a current backup external).