I am looking to upgrade the tiny 320GB HD in my 2011 Macbook Pro. I want to install a Momentus XT 750GB as an upgrade. I want to know the best way to transfer my old date and OS to the new drive. I have a copy of Lion on a thumb drive but my external enclosure uses two USB ports so I can't attach Lion and external at the same time. I know I could just use CCC to make copy of what I have now but I read a fresh install of Lion and then replace data is a better route to follow. Can someone explain the best procedure to get this accomplished?

thanks,

Pat.

Install lion on the new drive in the machine then run the migration assistant and import your data. Lions migration assistant will work from a USB drive and will import your apps and files etc

Thanks for the response that is sort of what I did but I am curious why when I installed a fresh copy of Lion I burned to DVD from my USB stick copy the installer still had to access the Apple servers and took over two hours to install. What is the 4GB of stuff on the DVD for? I thought I didn't need internet access if I made a copy before I installed it. Overall though it went smooth, Macbook seems quicker with 8GB of RAM and new 750GB Momentus Hybrid Drive.

Pat