Best OS build strategy for upgrading to SSD??

[147798]

I purchased an SSD upgrade kit, and am putting in a 240GB SSD into my 2009 13" MBP.

I can figure out the HW end of things, but what's the best approach to migrating the OS and my apps to the SSD?

• Should I back up and restore from Time Machine?
• Should I build it from scratch (though I no longer have system disks, given it's all via the AppStore now).
• How do I remove the OS and the apps off my larger HDD?

I don't need step-by-step. I'm asking more about the best strategy/approach.

I've read about enabling "TRIM" on my SSD but I'm not sure I understand that. The references I found for that were a bit old. Is that still needed?

edit: also, my HDD has about 550GB used. The SSD is only 240GB, and I've also read not to fill up an SSD past 50%(??). So a straight up clone won't work. I should have noted that earlier.

Any other tricks/tips/traps to be aware of?

 

[Count Blah]

Excellent questions. I've searched a bit on this topic, and the info is spread out over lots of different threads, with lots of different opinions.

Looking forward to the responses.

 

[Bruno09]

If you don't wish to do a clean install, the easiest way is to clone your HDD to your SSD :

- put the SSD in an external enclosure
- use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the HDD to the SSD.
- restart holding option key in order to boot on the clone and check that all is ok
- if yes, open the Mac, remove the HDD, install the SSD

Done.

 

[147798]

Thanks Bruno. Forgot an important point. My main HDD already has 550GB. The SSD is 240GB, and I read not to fill an SSD more than 50% full (??). So straight cloning won't work.

 

[147798]

Could I build a recovery OS on a USB stick, and then build the SSD from there?

But, I also want to move over my keychain, all previous configurations, etc. Do I have to move something over to the SSD? My goal is to move all apps and OS to the SSD and leave the HDD purely for media, photos, docs, dropbox folder, etc.

 

[Bruno09]

When you clone, you can exclude what you don't want to be copied to the SSD.

For example, you can exclude your iTunes Media folder and/or your iPhoto Library, etc...

Your keychains and preferences are part of your user library (~/Library).

If your goal is : "move all apps and OS to the SSD and leave the HDD purely for media, photos, docs, dropbox folder, etc.", without doing a clean install, then cloning is the best and easiest way.

Clone all (including your user account) but exclude the big data folders such as iTunes Media, Photo libraries, Docs...

Yes you can build a USB stick to install the OS and restore your data from Time Machine, but I would choose the clone over Time Machine.

What is your OS ?

(sorry I have very poor English and thus will not be able to help more...)

 

[147798]

When you clone, you can exclude what you don't want to be copied to the SSD.

For example, you can exclude your iTunes Media folder and/or your iPhoto Library, etc...

Your keychains and preferences are part of your user library (~/Library).

If your goal is : "move all apps and OS to the SSD and leave the HDD purely for media, photos, docs, dropbox folder, etc.", without doing a clean install, then cloning is the best and easiest way.

Clone all (including your user account) but exclude the big data folders such as iTunes Media, Photo libraries, Docs...

Yes you can build a USB stick to install the OS and restore your data from Time Machine, but I would choose the clone over Time Machine.

What is your OS ?

(sorry I have very poor English and thus will not be able to help more...)

I'm running ML 10.8.5

Two other questions --

Should I put the SSD with the OS into the optical bay (assuming here it's the older data rate bay, given the age of the machine), or move the HDD data drive to the optical bay. I do a lot of photo editing on large file size photos.

I have found conflicting information as to whether to enable TRIM with an OCW drive. I hate when that happens.

 

[147798]

I've added the SSD. Meh. Not a huge improvement.

I used CCC to move the OS files over, leaving the user folders on the old drive.

My real now is that MS Office license seems to be lost, and iTunes when opened returns the error "You do not have enough access privileges for these operations."

edit: found the solution here: http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1277

 

[stiligFox]

I've added the SSD. Meh. Not a huge improvement.

I used CCC to move the OS files over, leaving the user folders on the old drive.

My real now is that MS Office license seems to be lost, and iTunes when opened returns the error "You do not have enough access privileges for these operations."

Without reading the rest of thread, have you run disk permissions repair?

Also, before enabling Trim, check to see if your drive needs it. OWC SSD's, for instance, do their own garbage collection, and TRIM actually hurts the drive.

That said, when I upgraded my 2001 G3 PowerBook to a SSD I did a clean install. It takes longer but it will fix most of your issues.

Also don't forget, your speeds are also limited by the speed of the HDD bus. Not limited too much, but still not as fast as the SSD can do...

 

[147798]

Without reading the rest of thread, have you run disk permissions repair?

Also, before enabling Trim, check to see if your drive needs it. OWC SSD's, for instance, do their own garbage collection, and TRIM actually hurts the drive.

That said, when I upgraded my 2001 G3 PowerBook to a SSD I did a clean install. It takes longer but it will fix most of your issues.

Also don't forget, your speeds are also limited by the speed of the HDD bus. Not limited too much, but still not as fast as the SSD can do...

Good point on the bus.

I'll run permissions repair.

I am running trim on OCW. An OCW tech I e-mailed said it wouldn't hurt the drive.

Thanks for the notes.

 

[stiligFox]

Good point on the bus.

I'll run permissions repair.

I am running trim on OCW. An OCW tech I e-mailed said it wouldn't hurt the drive.

Thanks for the notes.

Anytime, best of luck!

Also, since you have both the SSD and the HDD now, if you ever decide to rebuild the machine from scratch, you may want to see if you can enable Fusion Drive on your Mac; I seem to recall there being a way to do so. That would take the guess work out of which drive to keep what on.