Apricorn has released a dual interface version of its popular EZ Upgrade Notebook Hard Drive Upgrade Kit, a solution that facilitates the transfer data from an old PATA/IDE or SATA notebook hard drive to a new hard drive in three easy steps.

Compatible with both PC and Mac notebooks and featuring a high quality metal enclosure, the EZ Upgrade's dual SATA/PATA interface connects with any 9.5mm (the most common size configuration) PATA/IDE or SATA notebook hard drive. Slide the easy-open switch to release the hard drive tray, attach your notebook hard drive to the appropriate SATA or PATA connector, slide the tray closed and connect to your computer's USB port. Once connected the EZ Upgrade enables you to transfer your OS, settings, applications and all of your data to your new drive using Apricorn's Upgrade Suite, which features Apricorn's EZ Gig cloning software for Windows and Shirt Pocket's SuperDuper! for Mac.

To use EZ Upgrade, connect the hardware; run the cloning software; and install the new hard drive into the notebook (this latter which involves widely variant degrees of difficulty depending on the computer model, ranging in Macs from dirt-simple with the MacBook, pretty easy with a PowerBook G3 Series machine, considerably more challenging with a MacBook Pro or metal PowerBook 15" or 17", and daunting with the 12" PowerBook). After the upgrade is complete, the pulled older drive can be re-used in the EZ Upgrade enclosure as a portable Hi-Speed USB 2.0 backup hard drive.

The EZ Upgrade Notebook Upgrade Kit includes: Hi-Speed USB 2.0 hard drive enclosure (USB 1.1 compatible), USB cable and Apricorn's Upgrade Suite containing cloning software for PC and Mac.

The unit is bus Powered from some systems, but an optional AC Adapter sold separately if required (likely with MacBooks and later PowerBooks).

Can You Do the Job Yourself?

Increasingly, notebook manufacturers are making it easier to remove and replace an internal hard drive. Physically, the entire process may take just a few minutes, requiring not much more than removing a screw, sliding the old drive out, and popping in the new one. Before you attempt this, though, check your notebook's documentation to get a sense of what's involved. If you don't feel comfortable following the instructions in the manual, you might want to hire someone for the job.

Of course, just physically swapping the drive isn't all there is to it. You'll need to move your OS, apps, and data over to the replacement. If you're not an upgrade sophisticate (or even if you are), consider using a product designed to facilitate the process, such as one of Apricorn's hard-drive upgrade kits, which vary in price from $39 to $289, depending on what's included and the interface you want to use for the transfer. (Apricorn also offers PC Card-based solutions.)

Here's how it works if you buy a complete hard-drive upgrade package: The new notebook hard drive arrives housed in an external drive enclosure. You attach the new drive to your notebook via a USB 2.0 port (for optimal performance) and install the data transfer software on your notebook. The software turns the external hard drive into a mirror image of your notebook's existing internal drive, transferring all your files, applications, and settings, according to Apricorn.

When the transfer is complete, remove the old drive from your notebook and the new drive from the external enclosure. Then you swap the two drives, popping the new drive into your notebook and inserting the old drive into the external enclosure. The end result is that you'll have a new hard drive in your notebook with all the settings, files, data, and applications intact from your old drive. And you can now use your old drive as an external drive for archiving or other purposes.

You may want to do yourself a favor and stop by Apricorn's online hard drive configurator first; you'll find offerings of compatible hard drives for popular notebook models.

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Upgrading and transferring data from a notebook's internal hard drive to a second drive is child's play with Apricorn's EZ Upgrade hard-drive upgrade kit.

The kit ships with all the tools you need to successfully install a notebook hard drive: a USB 2.0 enclosure, a USB cable, a PS/2 auxiliary power cable for backup power, and proprietary upgrade and recovery software.

The kit lets you upgrade a notebook hard drive in three steps, according to Apricorn. First, slide the new hard drive into an EZ Upgrade enclosure, and connect the cable to the notebook's USB port (which accommodates the old hard drive). Then boot the machine with Apricorn's EZ Gig Upgrade Software, which begins the drive-cloning process. Finally, remove the old drive from the notebook and replace it with the new, cloned drive. Voila--the fresh drive is installed and ready to work.

Afterward you can use the old drive as a backup device.