Sprucing up an old Macbook

[Mark Wintour]

I have an three/four-year-old Macbook (60GB Core Duo 2Ghz with 1.25GB RAM running OS X 1.4 Tiger) which is starting to run a bit funny, the core temp is up in the mid-60s and the fan seems to be working a lot more than it used to.

So I've decided I want to get it back to 'stock' to prolong its life - I really can't afford a new one at the moment Obviously I'm keen to keep my old files however.

What I've done is upgrade the RAM from 1.25 to 2GB. Then bought a 250GB external hard drive that I'm currently reformatting it to the Mac standard (journal).

What I'd ideally like to do is back up the Macbook to the external HD (using Superduper for instance) and reformat the Macbook. Then upgrade to Leopard which by that stage will also be stored on the external HD, and slowly add back the files and applications that I need from the old Tiger system. And hopefully: Voila! 'New' clean system with new OS and my old apps/bookmarks/etc a click or two away.

Does this sound feasible? And would I need to partition the external HD in order to boot from and install Leopard, or of course revert to the old Tiger system if all goes to pot.

Thanks!

[fryke]

1.) Use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the internal drive to the external.
2.) Install Leopard on the internal, deleting the whole internal harddrive (disconnect the external for this purpose).
3.) When asked for transporting an old Mac's data to Leopard, connect the external harddrive and choose it as the source.
4.) Done.

[Mark Wintour]

Thanks Fryke. Not to be ungrateful but would Superduper not work just as well? And could I not load Leopard up from the Drive if I partition it (DVD drive's bust)?

And mainly will it work in speeding things up, resetting the clock on the Macbook's life (the built-in obsolescence of the internal components aside)?

[Mark Wintour]

No-one?

[nixgeek]

I believe that either SuperDuper or CCC will do the job. But backup just in case.