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Upgrading to SSD in late 09 iMac questions

tonyy

tonyy

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 8, 2011
683
97
Dallas
Been doing a lot of research and getting ready to upgrade to SSD.

However, I couldn't find an exact answer to my situation.

I do not have the ML OS discs nor did I purchase it off of the Apple store.

I do have ML currently installed on the imac HDD because I purchased it that way. Also, I have Microsoft Office, etc.

Do I need to purchase ML for my new SSD to boot from and install? How do I keep my Microsoft Office as well?
 
toddzrx

toddzrx

macrumors 6502a
Nov 20, 2012
725
263
Congrats on the SSD upgrade; well worth the cash and effort.

Use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone your current hard drive onto another external drive (hopefully you have one for backups). Then, before removing the current hard drive, go into System Preferences and change the boot drive to the external. Restart the machine and make sure it boots up off the external drive you just cloned. Your whole OS should be there, with settings and all. Do the drive swap, and then do another clone to the SSD off the external drive.

It sounds a little daunting, but it's not that hard; just takes time.

----------

Also, hopefully for Office you still have the product key. The first time you start one of the Office apps (after installing the SSD and cloning to it), it might ask you for the key.
 
tonyy

tonyy

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 8, 2011
683
97
Dallas
toddzrx said:
Congrats on the SSD upgrade; well worth the cash and effort.

Use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone your current hard drive onto another external drive (hopefully you have one for backups). Then, before removing the current hard drive, go into System Preferences and change the boot drive to the external. Restart the machine and make sure it boots up off the external drive you just cloned. Your whole OS should be there, with settings and all. Do the drive swap, and then do another clone to the SSD off the external drive.

It sounds a little daunting, but it's not that hard; just takes time.

----------

Also, hopefully for Office you still have the product key. The first time you start one of the Office apps (after installing the SSD and cloning to it), it might ask you for the key.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the reply. I will be going about it in that manner. I've heard mixed opinions on cloning from an HDD to SSD. This way isn't a clean install is it?
 
aross99

aross99

macrumors 68000
Dec 17, 2006
1,540
1
East Lansing, MI
Thanks for the reply. I will be going about it in that manner. I've heard mixed opinions on cloning from an HDD to SSD. This way isn't a clean install is it?
Click to expand...

It's not a clean install, but it works just fine. I did that with my machine when I got an SSD, and it works great. In your case, it is the best way to keep all of your current software, especially if you don't have the original CD's...
 
tonyy

tonyy

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 8, 2011
683
97
Dallas
Edit

----------
aross99 said:
It's not a clean install, but it works just fine. I did that with my machine when I got an SSD, and it works great. In your case, it is the best way to keep all of your current software, especially if you don't have the original CD's...
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'm glad it worked just fine. It will save me some money!

Also, this whole time I've been planning on replacing the original HDD with the SSD and didn't think of replacing the SuperDrive. I read up on the fan issues and was ready to purchase the fan controlling software everyone suggests.

Does the fan issues come into play when replacing the SuperDrive with the SSD? Or is it simply buying the appropriate bracket for the optical drive and call it a day?

I'd then buy an external enclosure for the SuperDrive on the days I need to use a CD/DVD.
 
aross99

aross99

macrumors 68000
Dec 17, 2006
1,540
1
East Lansing, MI
I didn't replace the SuperDrive, only the hard drive. I don't have any fan issues, so I suspect that must have to do with replacing the super drive.
 
tonyy

tonyy

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 8, 2011
683
97
Dallas
aross99 said:
I didn't replace the SuperDrive, only the hard drive. I don't have any fan issues, so I suspect that must have to do with replacing the super drive.
Click to expand...

Gotcha. I'll probably go with my original choice and swap out the original HDD and keep the optical.

I don't need much storage anyway and would rather have faster speeds. That's what external HD's are for right?

Did you do anything with the original temp sensor on the HD?
 
toddzrx

toddzrx

macrumors 6502a
Nov 20, 2012
725
263
As far as the temp sensor on the original hard drive is concerned, I didn't do anything. There's an extra wire and plug coming from the hard drive; you unplug it and remove the drive, and just don't worry about it after that. But because the hard drive temp sensor is now unplugged, the OS will cause the fan to run at full RPM (it's a default to ensure the hard drive isn't over heating). I installed HDD Fan Control (just Google it) for $30 to fix the fan speed. It worked like a charm.

Oh, don't forget that you can also add TRIM support for the SSD:

http://www.downloadcrew.com/article/21037-trim_support_enabler
 
tonyy

tonyy

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 8, 2011
683
97
Dallas
toddzrx said:
As far as the temp sensor on the original hard drive is concerned, I didn't do anything. There's an extra wire and plug coming from the hard drive; you unplug it and remove the drive, and just don't worry about it after that. But because the hard drive temp sensor is now unplugged, the OS will cause the fan to run at full RPM (it's a default to ensure the hard drive isn't over heating). I installed HDD Fan Control (just Google it) for $30 to fix the fan speed. It worked like a charm.

Oh, don't forget that you can also add TRIM support for the SSD:

http://www.downloadcrew.com/article/21037-trim_support_enabler
Click to expand...

I've heard different opinions on whether to enable TRIM or not. I bought a Sammy 830 and read it has TRIM enabled and garbage collection installed.

So many things to read up on! Thanks man.
 
aross99

aross99

macrumors 68000
Dec 17, 2006
1,540
1
East Lansing, MI
tonyy said:
Did you do anything with the original temp sensor on the HD?
Click to expand...

My 2011 MBP doesn't have a separate sensor on the HD, so there wasn't anything to move.

As far as Trim goes, I purchased my SSD from OWC, and they don't' recommend using a trim enabler with their drives. Supposedly this is hand;ed in their firmware...
 
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