Microsoft's Opinionated Misfit Geek - Upgrading my MacBook Pro

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

So last year I got a 17" Macbook Pro. I got it solely for the purpose of testing my team's web properties (www.asp.net. www.silverlight.net, www.windowsclient.net, www.iis.net)

Since I do allot of PHP programming and more and more PHP Developers are using MacBooks, I've started doing some Coding on the Mac and cross platform testing of PHP on the Mac and then on Windows.

It's funny, though I use my MacBook daily, I seldom use OSX. I've found the MacBook Pro to be a fine host for Virtual Machines.

I spend several hours every day answering customer email and more and more I'm asked questions about versions that I don't have installed on my machine due to limited disk space or compatibility issues. So, I've finally gotten to a place when I need to get virtualized so that I can support older versions of Visual Studio, etc.

So, I've decided to do this with my Mac.

For about $230 I got a 320 Gig 7200 RPM SATA Hards Drive and 4 Gig of RAM from NewEgg and a screw driver kit with the NECESSARY T6 screw driver.

I've upgraded Mac Desktop hardware before. G3s were easy, iMacs were less easy but my MacBook Pro was a pain in the ass on the hardware side.

I like my MacBook Pro hardware. It's "sleek". But not at all designed for end user hardware updates.

My Lenovo, Toshiba, and Compaq Laptops let me change hard drives in under a minute.

The MacBook pro is a MAJOR disassembly. Something like 25 screws. Disassemble the entire case, remove the keyboard, etc.

20 minutes minimum.

Having said that, you don't know how much Time Machine ROCKS until you install a new hard drive.

After I installed the new drive and the new memory (anybody want to buy 2 gig for their MBP ?), I fired it up and held my breath.

After booting from the OSX DVD, I provisioned the new drive and selected restore from backup.

Selected the Time Machine backup I made yesterday, and BAM! 90 minutes later I have my machine just as it was yesterday except faster and 200 gig of extra disk space.

No reinstalling the OS, no reinstalling (and finding the serial numbers) for all my software!

It "just works".

Note to Windows Visa Team, need that for Vista !!!

No question it's faster. Eclipse loads in just a few seconds.

Now - building VPCs !

Very cool !

Tuesday, October 07, 2008 8:55:51 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [4] - Trackback
Tips & Tricks

Thursday, October 09, 2008 7:16:35 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)

"Note to Windows Visa Team, need that for Vista !!!"

What!?! You are a misfit! That's what WHS is for! 90 Minutes?! Windows Home Server loads a backup in under 30 minutes. I'll tell you my Mac/Vista story:

I had Vista running on my Mac Pro - only, no Boot Camp, straight install. But I'm developing an iPhone app so, I need OSX. Here are my steps. This took < 2 hours:

1 - Shrink Vista partition (small as possible, WHS lets you restore to bigger drive, but not smaller)
2 - Format, Install OSX
3 - Install Boot Camp, Prepeare Windows Partition
4 - Restore Vista (from WHS) onto OSX partition

That's it. I've only booted up OSX twice since I havent started the iPhone app :)

BTW = ULtimate users also have an image backup/restore option that's awesome. That's what I use for my semi-annual Windows Renewal program. I have two images: Completely updated, no software and a completely updated with all my main software. I update the images with every renewal - keeps the updates from being 2 hours long!

Tony Basallo

Sunday, October 12, 2008 11:52:59 AM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)

Yes, but I don't wanted it on a DIFFERENT OS (Duh!) I want it on the one I already USE ~!!~

Joe Stagner

Monday, October 13, 2008 12:04:02 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)

I realize that.

That's what the Vista backup/restore option is for. Although it doesn't get enough attention and it's only on the Ultimate and Business SKU. It does exactly what you asked for: 100% image based backup to CD, DVD or USB.

Tony Basallo

Monday, October 13, 2008 3:27:08 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)

Wow - Thanks Tony, It never occured to me that "Repair" also meant restore.

As luck would have it - I have a machine that I need to swap drives on so I'll give this a try and blog the results.

AAAA

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