Macbook Polycarbonate - Installing MAC OS from External CD Drive.
My little 4 year old macbook has stood the test of time but is now starting to fail on me.
My battery has 1016 cycles but still lasts 2hours. The screen is still bright.
The shell is cracked and held together with some tape, but overall the laptop works, at least as well as it can. Its taken a beating.
My slot loading CD drive is dead. And my 80gb hard drive, while it still works, I am scared that any day it might crash.
I want to buy a new SATA 500gb drive for this computer. But once I get it, I won't be able to install MAC OS on it with a dud CD drive...
If I buy a new SATA drive can I install MAC OSX via an external USB 2.0 DVD/CD Drive?
Bumping up an old thread, as I'm having the same situation with my gf's MacBook.
Doing some research it looks like the most feasible option would be to buy an enclosure for the new hard drive. Partition it correctly with disk utility, and then use a program like carbon copy to copy your old hard drive. Then install the new drive and keep the old drive as a backup with the enclosure.
Someone please chime in if there's an easier way to go about this. Ideally I would like to avoid getting the enclosure as I'll have no use for it afterwards.
gizmo, the procedure you've outlined is probably the easiest / fastest route. External SATA enclosures are cheap, man, cheap... and always nice to have one laying around. Are you not planning on making use of the current internal drive as a storage device after the upgrade?
No, I won't be able to use the enclosure as a backup as the hd in the MacBook right now is on it's way out.
That explains how to get the new drive in there working. But how to install the new osx without a working SuperDrive? Is it possible to use an external DVD drive for installing osx?
Bumping up an old thread, as I'm having the same situation with my gf's MacBook.
Doing some research it looks like the most feasible option would be to buy an enclosure for the new hard drive. Partition it correctly with disk utility, and then use a program like carbon copy to copy your old hard drive. Then install the new drive and keep the old drive as a backup with the enclosure.
Someone please chime in if there's an easier way to go about this. Ideally I would like to avoid getting the enclosure as I'll have no use for it afterwards.
See Gizmo, you're an idiot if you don't listen to Chazz. EhMac--one-stop friendly advice.
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I will simplify this a bit. You need to buy 2 drives and one enclosure. Put New Drive 1 in enclosure Correctly format New Drive 1 using Disk Utility. Clone old drive to New Drive 1. Now replace old drive with New Drive 1. Finally put New Drive 2 in the enclosure. This second drive will be used as your back-up drive.
What back-up strategy you should use is a subject for an entirely different thread.
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[QUOTE=gizmo321;1022418But how to install the new osx without a working SuperDrive? Is it possible to use an external DVD drive for installing osx?[/QUOTE]
If the machine boots, then cloning the old drive to the new will install the OS
You should be able to boot Leopard from an external USB DVD drive on a MacBook
Sure you will (have a use for the enclosure). You'll use it to house your backup drive, because only an idiot wouldn't have one.
Is it the lack of a back up drive that defines an "idiot" or is it the lack of the enclosure to fit the drive?
I find the dictionary really unclear on this one!
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