Ordered new 500GB drive

There's a free program you can download online called Carbon Copy Cloner that will make an exact copy of your original hard drive's software and files or you can pay for a program called Super Duper that does the same thing. Make sure your Mac is plugged into external outlet power, because you don't want it turning off while formatting or installing software on the hard drive. Take your new 500 GB HD and install it into an external HD. Then use the "Disk Utility" program in your Mac to format the 500 GB HD in "Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. Then run Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper. The source drive is the one inside your Mac and the target drive is the 500 GB HD. Hit the start button and type in your password if you have one. The process will take a little while to replicate so go have some tea and crumpets. When the process is finished you can take the hard drive out of your Mac and replace it with the new 500 GB hard drive and power up the Mac. If everything works out right your operating system, software, and folders will all be intact on the new hard drive.