If there's an easier way to migrate to a new hard drive than by Time Machine, I don't know it

[struggle4progress]

Do TM backup
Turn off machine and swap hard drives
Reboot with install disk and do TM restore
Reboot

It's my understanding you lose a bit of stuff, since TM doesn't quite back up absolutely everything: IIRC you lose some index files, for example, that have to be rebuilt. And the TM restore might take a bit more time than a clone, since TM does incremental backups, so some computation is required for the restore. Also, the first reboot after the restore can be somewhat slow. But it's incredibly easy to do

Just swapped the HD in an early 2009 white macbook for a bigger faster drive this way. Total time might have been 1:30, but only about 0:10 of that was work by me (click to do TM backup, swap drives, reboot and restore, reboot), and the other 1:20 was just waiting for the machine to go through its backup and restore routines

[Ezlivin]

1. You can also use SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner

Do SuperDuper BU (preference set to "Make drive bootable");
Turn off machine and swap hard drives'
Reboot with install disk (hold down the "C" key while booting);
Do SuperDuper restore;
Reboot.

Since 1985 I've been updating/upgrading Macs and swapping hard drives. Once you have a process that works for you (as you detailed) it's not hard at all!

If you are running a Mac with multiple external hard drives, I suggest using SuperDuper to create a daily, bootable backup of your main drive. Then if the main drive ever goes down it's very easy to reboot with your backup drive and keep working. Time Machine does not make bootable backups, so if your machine goes down you have to do a complete restore.

Don't forget to keep a copy of Disk Warrior. It's a real lifesaver!

[struggle4progress]

2. Yeah, I had an external drive set up to do a nightly backup with SuperDuper

Fuggin drive started clickin, though; I've got to pull it out and replace it

Meanwhile, I do the automatic time machine backups; once a week, I switch the time machine drive briefly and get a time machine backup on a second drive

[n2doc]

3. Clicking can mean a fried power brick

Try replacing that first. I've had 2 go on my external LaCie drives. Of course, if it starts clicking when you aren't around it eventually changes to a "click-boing" sound and then you are screwed.

[struggle4progress]

4. Actually, that's quite credible, so I'll check it out: Thanks!