advanced SSD upgrade help

If you have an external SATA dock, you can plug your HDD into that and hold 'Alt' on startup, then boot into the Recovery OS on the external drive. From there you can format the SSD in Disk Utility and do 'Install OS X' to the SSD. That way you've got a fresh copy of OS X and you still have everything on your old HDD.

If you want to copy specific apps as well, you can then use Migration Assistant within the OS to copy from your old hard-drive.

Iif you're looking to just use CCC, I'm sorry this didn't really answer your question.

 

CCC is very "customizable", insofar as creating a backup clone is concerned.

What I would try if I was in your position:
Be aware that you will want to copy your applications to the SSD, as well.

It's probably best to do this BEFORE you actually install the SSD. Use either an external USB enclosure or a USB3/SATA docking station to "prep" the drive externally. If you do it this way, you can then do a "test boot" to see if everything has come through as you wish. If you're not satisfied with the results, you can re-intialize and start over in a different direction.

I'd put the SSD into an enclosure or dock and connect it to the Mac.

Then, I'd initialize it using Disk Utility.

Then, I'd launch CCC.

You will need to make a decision: do you wish to clone the recovery partition onto the SSD as well? CCC is capable of doing this.

Next, I'd arrange CCC so that my source drive is the internal, and my target is the SSD in the external enclosure.

Then, BEFORE I initiated the clone, I would go through the entire "checklist" of what CCC is going to copy. You can see this by clicking the "disclosure arrow" next to the source drive icon.

This will show you EVERYTHING, INCLUDING the normally-invisible files on the drive, so extra care is required when you start UN-checking items.

I would probably copy everything with the following exceptions:

- In my account folder, I would manually go into the following folders
Desktop
Documents
Downloads
Movies
Music
Pictures

...and -- inside of EACH ONE -- carefully UNCHECK just about everything.

It's important to realize that for a proper "clone of your account", the symbolic-linked sub-folders (as named above) should "come along with you".

The idea here is that you want to copy the "symbolic-linked" folders (such as "Pictures", "Movies", "Music", etc.) BUT -- you also want to "leave behind" the CONTENTS of those folders.
NOTE: You can "re-link" to the old libraries later on.

Special note:
I would be VERY careful about UN-checking items in my (user account) "Library" folder. Applications store essential files here, and may not function if such files are missing.

Also, If you have created any free-standing folders on your drive or in your account that contain a lot of data, you would probably want to UNcheck these as well. What you bring with you, and what you leave behind will be specific to your own personal situation and your own methods of file storage.

Yes, this will take some time and a little thought.
Again, best to attempt this BEFORE you install the SSD, to "work out the bugs" beforehand.

Sorry for the long post.
But that's how I'd do it using CCC.