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View Full Version : Well, I dropped the ball -- what's my best next move?


Wyatt
2007-06-17, 15:18
I ordered a new hard drive for my MacBook yesterday with a firewire enclosure for my current drive. Unfortunately, my order has been finalized (which means I can't change a damn thing) and I just noticed that the enclosure I bought is IDE and not SATA.

I'm really, really upset with myself (and extremely embarassed), but now I'm even more upset because I can't find a firewire enclosure for 2.5" SATA drives. I need to have a Firewire enclosure so I can boot off the external if necessary.

What's my best bet to fix this? Are there any adapters that will allow me to hook this drive up in an IDE enclosure? Is there some way to mount a 2.5" hard drive in a 3.5" enclosure?

FFL
2007-06-17, 15:59
SATA 2.5" enclosure:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MSTG800U2K/

Wyatt
2007-06-17, 18:13
SATA 2.5" enclosure:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MSTG800U2K/
Wow. Way too expensive (I only paid $95 for the drive), but it's nice to see that somebody's making one. I think I've figured out a different way to do this, anyway.

I'm going to back up all my files to my iPod, put the new drive in, do a clean install of OS X and then pull my files back onto my new drive. Would that work? I know I couldn't boot from the iPod, but I wouldn't need to. I'd just dump my home folder onto it and then pull my documents back off after doing a clean install.

rasmits
2007-06-17, 18:16
I'm going to back up all my files to my iPod, put the new drive in, do a clean install of OS X and then pull my files back onto my new drive. Would that work? I know I couldn't boot from the iPod, but I wouldn't need to. I'd just dump my home folder onto it and then pull my documents back off after doing a clean install.I see no reason why that wouldn't work. I did the same thing when I replaced the drive in my PowerBook.

Don't drop your whole Home folder though - I'd recommend just moving the files you need. (Movies, Pictures, Music, and Documents, most likely).

edit: You can probably get away with not moving your Music folder too, now that iTunes 7 will pull everything off your iPod. That is, if you've got everything on your iPod.

Wyatt
2007-06-21, 19:45
I see no reason why that wouldn't work. I did the same thing when I replaced the drive in my PowerBook.

Don't drop your whole Home folder though - I'd recommend just moving the files you need. (Movies, Pictures, Music, and Documents, most likely).

edit: You can probably get away with not moving your Music folder too, now that iTunes 7 will pull everything off your iPod. That is, if you've got everything on your iPod.
Thanks. I've got everything copied over to the new drive, and it went very smoothly.

Although, I forgot to back up my pictures the first time, so I had to re-install the old 60GB drive, copy my iPhoto library to my iPod, and switch back to the new 160 GB drive. It's nice to have some breathing room. :D

bassplayinMacFiend
2007-06-22, 09:44
Check out this product (http://www.newertech.com/products/usb2_adapt.php).

$30 bucks and will connect any kind of HDD to a USB port.

Wyatt
2007-06-22, 09:48
Check out this product (http://www.newertech.com/products/usb2_adapt.php).

$30 bucks and will connect any kind of HDD to a USB port.
That's pretty cool, actually. I'm not sure I'd buy one for long-term use, but for temporary connections, that's pretty awesome.

For now, I've decided not to buy an enclosure. It's turning out to be kind of a hassle to return the previous one (it's costing me $10 in restocking and shipping fees), so I'm going to wait to buy an enclosure until I actually need one.

Jerman
2007-06-22, 13:36
Check out this product (http://www.newertech.com/products/usb2_adapt.php).

$30 bucks and will connect any kind of HDD to a USB port.

I bought something similar on sale for 15 bucks a few months back myself... Supports IDE, SATA, and mini-IDE (whatever it is called). Works great for a 'temporary' solution, kinda like you said fcgriz.