Before I install SSD, a couple of questions...

[ProMod]

I'm finally getting around to installing an SSD in my MacBook Pro (see signature). I went with the OCZ Agility 3 120GB, Nimitz caddy, and MaxUpgrades external enclosure for the Superdrive. $180 GB total for everything, shipped. I opted to go the cheap route since this is an older machine and I plan on getting a new iMac soon.

I have a few questions and concerns before I get started. I searched around, but couldn't find any cohesive answers to these specific questions.

1. I'm running 10.6.8. I will get Lion when I get my new iMac, but for now this is good. Should I do a fresh install on the SSD, or use Migration Assistant to move everything over, minus photos, music, movies, etc.? I've been migrating and migrating for years now, and would feel better with a fresh system if it's feasible.

2. If I do the fresh install, would it be the best practice to create an image of the install disc on my HDD, install the new SSD, then use the image to install 10.6 to the SSD? Faster than running the disc through the external USB enclosure I would imagine. Then of course I would run Software Update and get everything up to date before moving any further.

3. Instead of re-installing all of my apps (Adobe suite, etc), would it be possible to then clone all of my apps and app preferences from an external backup? I really don't mind losing the system preferences, but don't want to have to re-install all of these apps and reset all of their preferences.

4. Will I have any sleep/wake issues by installing the SSD in the optical bay?

5. I currently have a 1TB Firewire 800 external drive that is divided into two partitions: one for Time Machine, one for a complete CCC clone that happens every morning. How will I go about backing everything up once I have two drives in my MBP? I want to keep the routine as similar as possible to what I have now.

Sorry for the long post. Thanks for any help!

 

[RedneckBob]

I'm in the same boat - just ordered the OZC Agility 3 for a mid 2010 Macbook Pro running Lion. I have migrated from Leopard->Snow Leopard->Lion and encountered some weird hiccups and slowdowns with Lion. I'm going to use this as an opportunity to do a clean install of Lion in hopes that'll fix some of the nagging issues.

Fortunately I have a older Core2Duo Macbook Pro that I can experiment on.

- If you do a fresh install and then want to use Migration Assistant, I don't see a way to migrate just part of a user's data. For instance, I don't want to migrate the Movies or Documents folders because they are HUGE and won't fit on my SSD. Don't know how to do this with Migration Assistant, it appears to be all or nothing.

- I used Migration Assistant to migrate all my applications, but since the machine's UUID changed, apparently they have to be reauthenticated. MS Office is requesting a key as well as Little Snitch, iStat, Adobe Creative Suite. A real pain this is. I noticed in Migration Assistant there is a Settings->Computer option, maybe that transfers the keys as well.

-RB

 

[ProMod]

That doesn't sound very appealing! Maybe Migration Assistant is all or nothing, but that can probably be easily circumvented by using Carbon Copy Cloner. I know for a fact that it will let you selectively choose what to copy over, as other users have stated.

I guess I'm still torn on what to do. I think I'm just going to take the plunge tonight and reinstall a fresh copy of 10.6, then try to copy the home folder (minus photos, movies, music, etc) and apps using CCC.

 

[Agent-P]

It might not address every concern in you OP, but Carbon Copy Cloner allows you to choose which stuff to clone to the new drive. You'll just have to figure out what you want to move and what you don't. When I cloned my stuff from my stock hard drive to my 80gb Intel SSD, I unchecked my home folder because that has over 100gb of stuff in it. But otherwise everything else copied over exactly the same.

http://www.bombich.com/