5. Apricorn Time Or Let The Clone Wars Begin

The next series of steps are going to be at least a bit different for every notebook model. Upgrading a notebook hard disk drive is much easier if the notebook can boot from a CD or DVD drive. Most modern notebooks can do so. Some modern notebooks, like my Toshiba Protégé 3505 Tablet PC, can't boot from a CD because for lighter weight they do not have a CD/DVD drive. Some of these, my Toshiba Tablet PC included, also can't boot from an external CD/DVD drive. So I get to perform a worst case upgrade. I hope your notebook can boot from its CD and therefore that you will be able to do the easier upgrade. I will provide instructions for both the more difficult no-CD-boot and CD-boot methods of upgrading.

Here's a picture of the contents of the Apricorn drive upgrade kit, which includes a USB drive enclosure (far right bottom), documentation and other paperwork, a USB cable, two CDs with software, screws for mounting your drive (you supply the hard disk drive) in the enclosure and a calendar for your keyboard, which just might be Mystery #3?

Here's the Apricorn USB drive enclosure from the back, showing the USB 2.0 port, a switch to tell the enclosure if you're running off power from a separate AC adapter or power from the USB port and the AC adapter jack. An AC adapter is not included with the Apricorn kit.

Why did I choose Apricorn? Well, after my drive started clacking itself to death, I bought the first kit I could find within walking distance at the local electronics store. As things turned out, even with the complications of upgrading a notebook that can't boot from a CD, the Apricorn kit was a pleasure to use and I highly recommend it. This is the kit that is frequently used around my office for people doing upgrades and drive replacements. In short, this kit allows you to clone your existing hard drive and its entire contents onto a brand new drive, while simultaneously up-sizing the partitions, if the new drive is larger.

The idea behind the Apricorn kit is really simple. It works like this.

Your brand new notebook drive is turned into a USB notebook drive by way of the included 2.5" USB drive enclosure. A special secret operating system is booted off of the included CD. The OS is there for a single purpose - supporting the software that clones your drive safely and in the best possible way. After the drive is cloned and possibly up-sized to the capacity of the new drive, you put the drive inside your notebook and boot it up.

Now here are the 5 (can boot from CD) or 7 (can't boot from CD) steps to upgrade your notebook hard disk drive using the Apricorn system.