Crosswalks to Nowhere

Here's another MacBook hard drive replacement story for the Apple fans out there:

My MacBook came from the factory with an 80 GB drive (Fujitsu MHV2080BHPL, on the left in the photo above), and I decided to take the plunge and upgrade to a larger drive because of our podcasting work and the fact that I've become a Parallels junkie :-).

I decided to go the simple route and get the same model drive in a larger capacity: newegg.com has the Fujitsu MHV2120BH 120 GB drive (on the right in the photo) in stock, so I ordered that one. It arrived quickly, as newegg orders usually do (unsolicited plug :-).

The steps I took were as follows:

1) I backed up my existing hard drive to an external firewire enclosure using SuperDuper. (I've been using this application for a long time, and I'm a huge fan-- it's what I use for regular backups.) My drive had about 55 GB used on it, and the backup took under an hour.

2) I shut down and rebooted, holding the "Option" key to see my boot device choices: I chose the external drive and booted from that, just to make sure everything on the backup worked okay. It did. I shut down the MacBook and disconnected the external drive.

3) I laid out a clean cloth, turned the MacBook over and removed the battery. Then I used a small (jeweler's) Phillips-head screwdriver to loosen the three screws on the memory/hard drive bracket in the battery compartment. Then I removed the bracket.

4) The hard drive is in the left end of the case inside the battery compartment. I untucked the plastic tab and gently pulled: the hard drive slipped right out.

5) The hard drive is mounted on a thin metal caddy: you will need a #9 Torx screwdriver to remove the drive from the caddy. I removed the four screws from the caddy and removed it from the old hard drive. Then I put the caddy on the new drive.

6) I slid the new drive into its slot and tucked the plastic tab underneath the drive as the old one originally was.

7) I replaced the memory/hard drive bracket and battery, and put the unit upright again.

8) I connected the firewire drive and powered up the MacBook holding the Option key. I selected the external drive (as I did in Step 2) and booted up.

9) Once running, the MacBook gave an error message that I connected an "invalid device." A dialog box asked if I wanted to initialize the disk, and when I clicked "yes" it brought up Disk Utility.

10) In Disk Utility, I selected the new drive and chose "Erase." After a minute the drive was ready and MacOS mounted it: I could see it on my desktop and in the Finder.

11) I fired up SuperDuper again, this time making the external drive the source and the new internal drive the target. The restore took about an hour.

12) Once completed, I shut down the MacBook, disconnected the firewire drive, and pushed the Power button. The MacBook booted perfectly with the new drive. Success!

13) Once I was up and running, I ran a "Repair Permissions" just to make sure everything was copacetic. It's all good.

There are instructions on Apple's site in this PDF document. The one thing they don't tell you (as I've found in other instructions online) is the bit about the drive caddy and the Torx screws, which I imagine would have been extremely frustrating had I attempted this at 11:00 at night and found myself without the appropriate tool.

I'd like to acknowledge Andy Biggs at The Global Photographer weblog for his excellent description on how he performed this operation.

Hope someone finds this helpful!

It seems everyone is on the bandwagon to rag about Microsoft's new Zune player. (For those of you who haven't heard of it: (a) I'm not too surprised; and (b) think "iPod competitor.")

I've been thinking about this and I've come up with a theory. Microsoft is not out to succeed in the space that Apple clearly owns with the iPod: Microsoft is in it to own the content and the protection of that content.

Bill Gates is not stupid. I'm sure he knows that going head-to-head with one of the most successful consumer electronics devices in history is a huge task. Why would he think that Microsoft could succeed where Creative and marketplace juggernaut Sony have pretty much failed? Yes, there's some iPod backlash out there from people who have been burned by the iPod's short battery life and some models' tendency to fail, but that's certainly not enough to keep a whole new player and supporting (God forgive me for using this term) ecosystem afloat.

Much has been said about how Microsoft is paying Universal Music $1 for every Zune sold. I doubt they're doing this out of the goodness of their heart. Put this together with the fact that the Zune environment is heavily protected with a new DRM that's not even compatible with the existing Microsoft Media Player and the fact that the much-touted "sharing" feature restricts the number of times you can play a song you receive from a friend and you've got a brand-new model for how to buy music electronically. And I think that is what Microsoft is after.

Much has been written about Apple's desire to keep per-song downloads at 99 cents each; so why wouldn't Microsoft start at the content-provider end and work their way backwards to the hardware? And when it's time for Universal to re-negotiate their deal with Apple, they can point to the Microsoft Zune deal as an example of a hardware company that wants to play ball with them.

If the Zune fails, Microsoft can write it off. If it succeeds, they can open up the platform so the Sonys and Creatives of the world will start making the hardware. Hmmm. Sound familiar?

Microsoft already owns lots of content: they own the Bettman Archive, and its Encarta product is the successor to the Funk and Wagnalls, Collier, and New Merit Scholar encyclopedias. Getting cozy with the music industry is a logical next step.

If Microsoft owns the content, they'll become a much more formidable opponent, even with an inferior hardware and operating platform. (Indulge me again:) Hmmm. Sound familiar?

So the next time you hear Leo LaPorte and his TWiT buddies beefing about how lousy the Zune is, keep in mind that there may be something bigger in the works.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, as I've said many times before. So Happy Turkey Day to all of you!

This morning I was up at my usual weekday time (don't ask), and once the sun came up, around 7:00, I made a Starbucks run.

This is always my favorite time of day: most people are still asleep, and especially on a holiday like today it feels like you have the run of the place, no matter where you are.

It's also very eerie: the photos above show our local Wal-Mart (not that I'm a fan) and some of the stores at the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg. Here it is, a bright morning and less than 24 hours away from shopping mayhem, and the parking lots are completely empty.

The calm before the storm, indeed.

Tags: Christmas, shopping, 60005, 60173

It was a quiet Thanksgiving this year, just my parents and Lisa and me. We talked about the plans for next year and all that kind of thing.

Lisa made the cranberries (above) and I made the Magic Pumpkin Pie. Mmmmmm.

We went to Arlington Heights' Tree Lighting tonight, an annual tradition. :-)

It was the shortest ceremony they've ever held: the speeches started at 4:45 pm and the lights were on by 5:15. There were no chants of "Light The Tree!" coming from the crowd, probably because the temperature was in the upper 40s.

This followed a day downtown at my office with the girls. Becka decorated a little tree (Lisa's former Chick Pad tree) for my office, and Emma diligently finished her homework before surfing the net.

We finished decorating our tree tonight, so now we're all set for the holidays.

Almost.

Tags: Christmas, tree, 60005, 60004