Upgrade to a new hard drive on your MacBook Pro and clone OSX and BootCamp

***DISCLAIMER...Its your fault if you screw up your system.  Read through the entire post before attempting.

I purchased a new larger capacity hard disk drive (hdd) to upgrade an existing smaller solid state drive (ssd) because I started running out of room.  I liked the speed of the ssd, dont get me wrong, but a weighed the options and more storage space was a priority.  So I compromised and picked up a Seagate hybrid sshd.  Got one while they were on sale $100 through newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178340.

This one took a while to rap my fingers around and I'll say most of it was dumb luck.  I know there is WinClone available on OSX and probably would have made this easier.  Think WinClone is about $30 and honestly probably would have saved me a bunch of time, but being the stubborn ba$T@rd I am, I decide to stick through it on principle.

What I had...
OSX was 10.8
Windows was 8 with media center

Things you'll need:

• hdd enclosure; this is to connect your existing hdd to copy data over to your new hdd
• windows 8 installation DVD (or Win7); needed to allow bootcamp creation
• OSX installation USB or SD drive to boot from; might be able to use the recovery instead
• windows 7 repair CD; needed to run specific commands to fix the boot (the version of win7 repair CD I used was modified because getting the timing right to engage the CD boot process made me pull more hair out than I care to discuss.  I renamed the bootfix.bin file from the boot directory.  This causes the CD to boot instead of waiting for prompted.  The MacBook keyboard didn't work and the screen picture were out of sync to enable to proper timely to engage the CD.  You can create your own using UltraISO and renaming bootfix.bin under the boot directory.  https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/92763248/Repair%20disc%20Windows%207%2064-bit.iso
• GPART CD  http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
• Remove encryption.

Pre Steps:

1. With your existing OSX installation, install the gdisk program http://sourceforge.net/projects/gptfdisk/.  We will use that to modify our soon to be screwed up hybrid MBR.  In the mean time lets take a look at a none screwed up hybrid MBR.

Issue the following commands on your old OSX operating system (OS):

sudo fdisk /dev/disk0
sudo gpt -r -vv show disk0
diskutil list 

That will give us a bearing on what your disk use to look like.  Might be handy for later on to have this printed (Command + Shift + 4 than spacebar will get you to screenshot the window).

Steps:

1. Turn off the system and remove the existing hdd and install your new one (Ifixit.com is a pretty great place for these how tos).

2. Attached your old hdd to a USB enclosure and attached to your macbook.  I had purchased a simple USB3 sata link from newegg.com.

3. I made an SD OSX installation media disk. I think you could probably use the recovery hd to do the same thing.  I attached the SD to its slot.

4. I then booted the macbook holding the option key down.

5. It should boot and look like the following.  If the new hdd has no bootable partition you will not see your new drive.  The orange in color USB symbol enclosures are your old OS.  The mountain lion emblem is the OSX installation SD.  This is whether I think its possible to boot from your old OS recovery hd to perform this next action.  I haven't tried that.  The next action will be to copy your old OSX to the new hdd.  I decided to use my OSX SD and booted from that.

6. Select Disk Utility.

7. Your new hdd should be at the top.  Select it on the left pane.

8. Now select the partition drop down.  This is where we are going to partition and format your new drive.  Select 1 partition.

9. Title the new volume "new mac".  Ensure it is Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format.  Then Select options.

10. It needs to be set to GUID Partition Table.  Select OK.  Apply.

11. Partition.

12. Once completed your "new mac" partition should show on the left.  Select the Restore tab.

13. This is were we can copy our existing OSX OS to the new hdd.  Left click on your old OSX partition and hold the mouse button down as you drag it to the Source.  Notice the orange color enclosure icon.  This indicates an external device.  Now drag your newly created "new mac" partition to the Destination.  Should look just like mine. Restore.

14. Erase.

15. Should begin copying the data over.  This processes should take a while.  After that is complete reboot your macbook while holding the option key on boot.  Now boot to your new macbook OS.  I removed the old hdd and installation SD before booting.

16.  Lets see what has changed in our partitions on the new hdd.  Here is an example with the above three commands issued again.  This was on a 1TB HDD.  Notice the size in the fdisk command takes up the entire hdd.

17. We now need to partition the bootcamp slice.  Find the bootcamp icon inside the Utilities directory.

18. Start bootcamp assistant. Continue.

19. If you have a Windows 8 or 7 installation DVD remove the "Create a Windows 7..." check mark.  More than likely since this is about cloning your bootcamp Win8/7 installation you already have bootcamp installed on your Windows OS so remove the check mark.  Install your Win8/7 installation DVD and make sure the "Install Windows 7 or later version" is checked.  Continue.

 

20. I decide to divide my partitions equally.  You do what you want.  Install.  It is required to have the Win8/7 installation dvd installed to get this step rolling.

 21. You system will automatically reboot to DVD.  ***HOLD THE OPTION KEY DOWN WHEN THE SYSTEM AUTO REBOOTS.*** Now I have done this two different ways.  I've booted to the Windows DVD and formatted the bootcamp partition and not installed a new OS which formats it NTFS.  I've also skipped this step and booted straight to GPART CD as well.  I suspect its not necessary to format because when we use GPART to copy the old Windows OS to our new bootcamp partition it takes on the format of the copied partition anyway so why bother. I ejected the Windows installation DVD and swapped for the GPART CD and continued the boot of the CD.  With GPART booted it should show your new hdd and old hdd so long as both are still attached to your system.  If you forgot just connect and under Gparted select rescan.  Notice the far upper right drop down to select drives.  Now to distinguish which drive is which the /dev/sda is your onboard hdd and /dev/sdb should be your external.  Another way is your new hdd will say BOOTCAMP (FAT32).  Your external or old hdd should say either BOOTCAMP (NTFS) or what ever name you modified the volume name to.  Mine was Win8Pro.

22. Select your external or old hdd.

23. Select your bootcamp partition than the copy button.

24. Now change back to your new hdd and select the FAT32 BOOTCAMP partition.  The paste button should become available and select.

25. It should warn you about this action.  It should be on /dev/sda4. OK.

26. Select Apply.

27. Another warning. Apply.

28. Working.  Could take some time.

29. Once completed, reboot holding the option key and boot to OSX.  The Windows partition shouldn't appear here.  We need to modify the hybrid MBR.  You should see after booting into OSX the Windows drive and its contents though.

30. Now a decided to look at my partitions.  #1 is the EFI boot.  #2 is my OSX.  #3 is my Recovery.  #4 is Windows bootcamp.  Notice the differences in size.  The other thing I noticed was the * was on the OSX #2 and not on the Windows #4 under the fdisk command.  This is where printing out the old hdd setting is nice to see the difference.

new hdd

old hdd

 31. Time to install rEFIt. http://refit.sourceforge.net/  To install right click on the rEFIt.mpkg and open.  You might have to reboot twice for rEFIt to show.  You will notice the Windows boot icon starts to show. 

32. If you try to boot Windows right now you'll get the Recovery blue screen.

33. Reboot into OSX.  Time to make the hybrid MBR right again.  Open terminal.  Enter the following commands and see the images below.  We need to get the hybrid MBR like our old hdd.  This is how to do this.

sudo gdisk /dev/disk0
r
h
2 3 4
y
<enter>
n
<enter>
n
<enter>
y
o
w
y
sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

gdisk = allows us to modify the GUID partition.  Since Windows requires an MBR which GPTs dont use and only have them for legacy purposes we have to fix it.
r = recovery and transformation options
h = make hybrid MBR
2 3 4 (Thats the number 2 space 3 space 4 <enter>) = modifying those three partitions
y = EFI needs to be first
<enter> = select the default because thats the way our original partition was
n = the bootable flag was not set in our original
<enter> = select the default because thats the way our original partition was
n = the bootable flag was not set in our original
<enter> = select the default because thats the way our original partition was
y = because the bootable flag was set in our original
o = print protective MBR data
w = write table to disk and exit
y = confirm

34. Now your systems hybrid MBR is fixed.  Oh but wait there's more. This is where the Win7 Repair CD comes into play.  Again the only thing I modified using UltraISO was the name of the bootfix.bin file.  I renamed it "autoboot_bootfix.bin".  Insert the CD in your MAC and reboot.  Hold option and select the CD to boot from.

35. Windows repair CD should load.  It should also prompt that your Windows install is corrupt.  If you select details it will let you know what its changing.  Select Repair and reboot.  This will be quick so be fast with the option key and attempt to boot Windows now.

36. Thats it.  After booting it might ask to reboot.

37. If your not a fan of rEFIt you can always remove.  http://refit.sourceforge.net/doc/c1s3_remove.html

Hope this works for you...

Windows Media Center Personal Video Recorder (PVR) How To

Windows Media Center PVR How To

This how to is for the person that has multiple or only one TV within a house, apartment, or wherever and is tired of paying the monthly high cost for proprietary set-top boxes.  My situation entailed 5 TV sets throughout my house each having a Verizion FIOS set-top box attached.  This was incredibly costly at $20 per month for the HD DVR set-top boxes and $10 per month for the HD set-top boxes totaling $60 per month in set-top box rental fees.  Over the life of the 2 year contract that was $1440.  Ouch!

So I decide to do some research and see why this is.  Well, money plain and simple.  The provider companies provide this equipment for a fee because they know they can get it.  Most people just go with the flow and know this process as the price of doing business.  Well I take it because your reading this that you are not an individual that likes to do this because you're looking for alternatives.  Hence the reason the FCC made it mandatory for providers to allow third party intervention. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CableCARD for additional information.

I will now attempt to go into detail on how to set this up and provide links to areas of information throughout this how to that have already been established.

Required:

1. CableCARD or MCard tuner from your provider.  My provider was Verizon FIOS and I ordered the MCard from their website and waited the week for it to arrive at my house.  You only need one per CableCARD device. Other cable companies also provide this MCard.  Cox and Comcast.
2. CableCARD tuner.  I purchased a Ceton InfiniTV PCIe device for my computer through newegg.com for about $199 (they should be on sale now as the PCIe 6 device [$299] just came out).  The PCIe 4 device was fine for me in recording 4 separate channels at one time.  You can use the USB device as I tried but had issues and switched to the PCIe device.
3. Personal Computer (PC) with the minimum requirements as stated by Ceton.  I also added a 2TB hard drive for recording space.
4. Windows 7 or 8 operating system (OS) with Media Center (MC).  I purchased Win7 OS and upgraded to Win8 and got the free upgrade to MC before 30 Jan 2013 cut off.  If you do not already have MC then purchase through Microsoft.  Believe its still $60.
5. HD TV service from your service provider.

Optional (Additional Rooms require TV):

1. To provide service to other rooms throughout the house you will need a Windows Media Center Extender (WMCE).  If you already have an XBOX360 you have a WMCE.  If you need to purchase one Ceton makes one that is cheaper than buying a new XBOX360 called the Echo.  You could also purchase used XBOX360's from GameStop, Newegg.com, etc.  Think of this device as your new set-top box.  You'll own it and wont pay rent on it.
2. A router and this is were it gets iffy.  The industry tots that a WiFi "N" router can handle media streaming.  This might be the case in testing but in my experience hasn't panned out for me.  I had to go to an all wired architecture.  By all wired I also mean power line networks.  I have my main 60" LCD LED mounted over my fireplace with no access to a hard wired CAT 5/6 cable.  I do however have access to a home power plug.  I plugged the network homeplug (network power line) into the power outlet and the other end of the power line adapter close to my router and finished network connectivity.  I purchased the Belkin AV500 and it works great.  They do have a new Powerline Gigabit HD version out now and for a little extra doe might be worth it.  Refer to the owners manual for proper setup.  Recommend not using surge / multi-plugs power strips as they do not work well with these devices.  You'll know because the bandwidth speed is crap.  Also ensure the two plugs you decide to connect are on the same circuit.  Security reasons, I would recommend encryption because even the plugs on the outside of your house could be used to tap into the network.    Everywhere else I ran hard line CAT 5/6 cable linking to other WMCE's.
3. You might require a swtich if you run out of CAT5/6 plugs on your router from overcrowding.  I went gigabit 10/100/1000.  Not necessary as 10/100 switches will have more than plenty of bandwidth to stream.  I wanted to ability to transfer file from one computer to another with greater speed is why I went gigabit.

 Once you have the above items your ready to setup.

-Turn off your computer.
-Connect your Ceton InfiniTV Tuner to your computer.  See the installation instructions.
-Install the CableCARD to the Ceton InfiniTV Tuner.
-Turn on your computer.
-Download the Ceton software.  Downloading ensure you have the latest and greatest drivers and software.
-Ensure the device is working properly.  Start the Ceton Diagnostics.

-The device should be recognized.

-Follow the detailed installation instructions to get the tuners up and running.  This will require you to contact your service provider and advise them of your CableCARD serial number found under the diagnostics.  You more than likely will not have green check marks if the CableCARD has not been activated.  The service provider must send the correct signal to the CableCARD to ensure the encrypted signals are decrypted by the card.  Do not hang up with your service provider until you see the green check marks.  They will dynamically update so keep watching.
 

-The WMC should download the program guide and your ready to watch TV and record.

Ceton also has an Android app and iPhone app to control your WMC remotely also.  Be advise that it wont let you watch the shows from that device only manage.

Now to extend your WMC to another device like an XBOX360 to Ceton Echo follow these instructions.  The devices have to be connected to your network.

Now play with your new WMC PVR for a while to make sure things are working before returning your set-top boxes.

After becoming familiar with you WMC you might later get into converting your recorded show.  Programs like MCE Buddy and MC-TV Converter automatically convert the proprietary WMC codec format to .avi or .mp4 and remove commercials.

Even further you could be interested in serving out your record TV to your mobile devices like phone or tablet.  You would likely use Remote Potato to stream your converted TV without commercials to these devices from your WMC computer.  The phone or tablet would used the Remote Media Center program to link to that server.

Happy Recording...

EnCase v7 Exported MD5 Values Meets Hash.Cymru.Com

The script helps me detect selected files within EnCase v7 and compare them to the hash.cymru.com hash database.

Download Here

I select the files I wish to compare within Encase v7.

Right click --> Entries --> Hash\Sig Selected...

MD5 --> OK

Sometimes there is a refresh issue with EnCase v7 and the hash value are not displayed after completion.  Refresh your view by selecting Viewing --> Evidence --> then switch back to Entry.
The MD5s should show.

Show-All

Save As from the far right drop down arrow.

MD5 only --> tab delimited --> output file --> OK

Extract the 7z file Hash_Comparison.7z to your desktop or where ever.

Start the start.cmd file by double clicking on it.

Enter the path to your export.txt file and select enter.

The export.txt file will be parsed the way hash.cymru.com like it.

It will compare all the MD5 and eventually depending on how many you sent will display the positive results under detection.txt.

See cymru.com for an explanation of what your looking at.