UKC

Following on from a thread a few weeks ago about improving my Mac I have a tracked down a recommended local computer shop who will do upgrades etc. 

(installing a new internal hard drive on a mac is beyond my remit! ) 

Now my whole life is basically on the computer, including lots of personal documents, tax returns, finance spreadsheets, internet banking, cc details etc. 

This makes me really worried about handing it over to someone to have free rein with. 

Am I being silly? Any advice? Thanks in advance. 

Back it up. Delete the pr0n.

Installing an internal hard drive on a Mac is pretty easy, there are lots of howto's on the web. The migration of the data is straight forward.

You can also buy an external USB hard drive, and use that for expansion or Time Machine backups. If you're not doing off line backups already, you need to do so, especially if it has your life on there.

You'd also need to trust them. They could, in theory, nick or destroy all of your personal data. Or, they could infect it by accident.

PS. If you're getting a new hard drive, make sure its a ssd drive. They are loads faster.

I would not give my personal data to anyone, but backing up all personal data and then cleanly deleting everything is a chore. No problem, though, because DIY disk change is dead easy.

1) Buy a new internal hard drive, definitely SSD, and a fitting USB case.

2) Do not faff around with a Time machine backup, but install a program like Carbon Copy Cloner able to make a 1:1 copy of our disk. The full version of CCC has many more features, but you only need the free trial version. Other programs are available, but CCC works reliably. 

3) Plug the new drive into the USB case and hook it up to your computer.

4) Make  a 1:1 copy of your disk. CCC tutorials are on youtube.

5) Remove the old hard drive. Again, tutorials are on youtube for your specific model, but it will all be unscrewing the back panel of your laptop (the special screwdrivers are useful and are available at most electronics stores), unscrewing the bracket that holds the drive, and unplugging the drive. Possibly there are one or two strips of sticky tape that you may have to lift.

6) Insert the new drive, and provisionally close the back panel.

7) Start the laptop again, everything should be as before, down to where icons are placed on your desktop.

8) Open the backpanel again, fix everything in place properly, and you are done.

9) Use the old drive for your time machine, or chuck it into a drawer as an offline, single time point full backup.

Took me about 20 mins, with another hour or so for the cloning software to do its thing.

CB

Thanks CB.

If I had a laptop I would, but unfortunately I have an old desktop. 

I like the tip about CCC though, I'll have a look.

With an old desktop it is even easier. Desktop drives are mounted in racks. Just open the case, unfasten the bracket holding the drive in its rack, and unplug the drive. If you have a free slot you do not even need the USB case. 

CB

Edit: For a desktop you will not even need special screwdrivers.

As cb294 says, swapping out a Mac hard drive isn't difficult - if it's possible at all. Some of the latest Macs are different though. Some advice here:

https://www.howtogeek.com/348398/can-you-upgrade-the-hard-drive-or-ssd-in-y...

As for local shops, if they're a reputable outfit (eg. authorised Apple repairer) they should be okay but do the research, and follow advice re backups, sensitive info etc.. I've used my local Apple repairer several times over the years without any problems. 

When I swapped my disk on a mac book pro, it was easy. Just plugged in the ssd in via a usb caddy. There are already the tools installed, to manage the boot partition. No extra software needs to be installed. A few button presses to boot of the new external disk. Then copy the data. It was painless, but I'm a geek so happy to fiddle with disks. Once the new external disk was working, then unscrew the case and swap out the internal drive. Leave it a month or so, then nuke the old drive, put it in the usb caddy and use that for off line backup. (Keep the USB backup disk unplugged and away from your mac. Just plug it in every week or so, to back up.)

I mentioned Time Machine, as the copy process uses time machine to restore data. But time machine is a decent backup prog, that comes free with osx.