Clone New Hard Drive?

[nim6us]

I just ordered a SSD for my MBP and while I'm very excited to install it I don't know the best method. My current HD is the standard 500GB drive it came with. As mentioned the new drive is different in that its a SSD and its only 256GB. I only have only used roughly 175GB worth of space.

I understand the physical install just fine. However I want to just "clone" the data to my new drive. I don't want to have to install all the progs and copy all the files. I just want everything as it is now but on my new HD. I'm new to Apple, whats the best way to do this, some function of Time Machine or perhaps Disc Utility? Can someone assist?

 

[GGJstudios]

1. Buy an external enclosure and put your old drive in it.
2. Install your new drive in your Mac.
3. Boot from your old (external) drive by holding the Option key on startup.
4. Use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the old (external) drive to the new (internal) drive.
5. Boot from the new internal drive.
6. Your now running on your new internal drive and your old drive is now an external drive, useful for backups or additional storage.

Some have encountered problems cloning from the internal to the external, then swapping them, which is why I recommend you swap them first, then clone from the external to the new internal. For more info on this: Can't Boot From Cloned External SSD

 

[simsaladimbamba]

• Put the SSD into a USB 3.0 enclosure for 2.5" S-ATA disk drives and connect it to your Mac.
• Format the SSD like this: How to format a new HDD to install Mac OS X onto (or make a bootable copy onto)
• Use CarbonCopyCloner (version 3.4.7 is still free and available for download here and works with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion) or SuperDuper! to clone the internal HDD to the external SSD.
• When the cloning is done, go to System Preferences > Startup Disk* and choose the SSD to startup from.
• 
• Shut down the Mac.
• Replace the HDD with the SSD.
• You can put the HDD in the USB enclosure if you want.
• Start the Mac.
• Enjoy.

 

[had0ukenn]

• Put the SSD into a USB 3.0 enclosure for 2.5" S-ATA disk drives and connect it to your Mac.
• Format the SSD like this: How to format a new HDD to install Mac OS X onto (or make a bootable copy onto)
• Use CarbonCopyCloner (version 3.4.7 is still free and available for download here and works with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion) or SuperDuper! to clone the internal HDD to the external SSD.
• When the cloning is done, go to System Preferences > Startup Disk* and choose the SSD to startup from.
• Image​
• Shut down the Mac.
• Replace the HDD with the SSD.
• You can put the HDD in the USB enclosure if you want.
• Start the Mac.
• Enjoy.

Don't mean to hijack this thread but i am needing the same advice. I went about cloning the SSD in a different way.

All i did was attatch the SATA USB to my SSD >initialize unrecognized plug in > erase > then cloned with super duper.

My goal is just to switch my HDD with my SSD with everything fully functional. Do i have to restart because i never did the GUID part.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Don't mean to hijack this thread but i am needing the same advice. I went about cloning the SSD in a different way.

All i did was attatch the SATA USB to my SSD >initialize unrecognized plug in > erase > then cloned with super duper.

My goal is just to switch my HDD with my SSD with everything fully functional. Do i have to restart because i never did the GUID part.

Yes, since the GUID part is essential, unless the SSD is already set to GUID.

For that to find out, open Disk Utility and click the SSD on the left (with the volume being the indented one), and look at the bottom of the Disk Utility window for Partition Map Scheme.

 

[nim6us]

Thanks for all the great suggestions! Actually I just tried to run Time Machine with my NAS just to experiment. Apparently you have to have an official Time Capsule to make work? Aside from my frustration at again being cock blocked by Apple with yet another proprietary hardware issue. Who's coming up with these naming conventions? On premise if I had a time machine why the hell would I want a time capsule? Time capsules were created as a way to experience the past because we don't have time machines! I understand Apple is trying to sell us an "experience" by making you use their "Time Capsule" and not letting you use your NAS, but the experience they're creating these days is less utopian and more Orwellian.

Rant aside I'll let you know how it turns out when my new drive arrives.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Actually I just tried to run Time Machine with my NAS and it was a no go. Apparently you have to have an official Time Capsule to make work? Aside from my frustration at again being cock blocked by Apple with yet another proprietary hardware issue. Who's coming up with these naming conventions? On premise if I had a time machine why the hell would I want a time capsule. Time capsules were created as a way to experience the past because we don't have time machines. I understand Apple is trying to sell you an "experience" by making you use their "Time Capsule" and not letting you use your NAS, but the experience they're creating is less utopian and more Orwellian.

Rant aside, can anyone help with my backup issue?

Many have had more than good success using non Apple hardware with creating a networked Time Machine backup system, though the NAS has to support it somehow.

Advanced Search or MRoogle can help you find those threads, where people where successful in using non Apple hardware for Time Machine purposes.

 

[had0ukenn]

Yes, since the GUID part is essential, unless the SSD is already set to GUID.

For that to find out, open Disk Utility and click the SSD on the left (with the volume being the indented one), and look at the bottom of the Disk Utility window for Partition Map Scheme.

I followed this method and was able to boot up the SSD fine, im actually using it now. Seems like it made a complete copy. Is it because i used super duper? One of the last steps of the super duper cloning process was to make the SSD bootable.

EDIT: im using a samsung 840 pro 512GB SSD

 

[nim6us]

1. Buy an external enclosure and put your old drive in it.
2. Install your new drive in your Mac.
3. Boot from your old (external) drive by holding the Option key on startup.
4. Use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the old (external) drive to the new (internal) drive.
5. Boot from the new internal drive.
6. Your now running on your new internal drive and your old drive is now an external drive, useful for backups or additional storage.

Some have encountered problems cloning from the internal to the external, then swapping them, which is why I recommend you swap them first, then clone from the external to the new internal. For more info on this: Can't Boot From Cloned External SSD

Is there any advantage to using Copy Cloner vs SuperDuper, or is it basically the same thing?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Is there any advantage to using Copy Cloner vs SuperDuper, or is it basically the same thing?

It is the same thing, some prefer CCC, some prefer SD.

 

[GGJstudios]

Is there any advantage to using Copy Cloner vs SuperDuper, or is it basically the same thing?

Unlike SuperDuper!, CCC also clones the OS X Recovery partition.

 

[libertysat]

Last weekend I put a 256 gig Samsung 840 PRO in my '09 MBP
I used CCC and this adapter that cost just under $20 at my door:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0064VP73E/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Start to finish was <4 hours - walked away from it for 3.5 hrs while it copied over
Few minutes to open up
Few more to r&r the drives
Few more to close up
Done
I had the #6 torx driver you need to move 4 screws from old drive to new one

Man did it make things snappier

 

[nim6us]

Well it's done! For those wondering when you download the trial of Carbon Copy Cloner, you get 30 days of the full product, so don't let the sticker price put you off or think you get a trial product that's limited somehow. In fact, since everyone was so helpful, let me step you through in more detail what I did:

1. Replaced the old drive with the new SSD
2. Plugged the old drive into a SATA to USB adapter like this and connected it to my laptop
3. Booted up my MacBook while holding down the "Option" key
4. Selected my old drive to boot up from
5. Went into the OSX Disk Utility to create a partition on the new SSD and formatted it
6. Ran Carbon Copy Cloner and cloned my old drive

The whole backup took about 4 hours, I unplugged everything and it restarted just fine! The only two caveats worth mentioning are the Torx head screws that you need to remove from the old drive and put on the new drive. If you don't have Torx tools you can use pliers and just unscrew them that way. Also when running the Carbon Copy Cloner if it mentions a Rescue Disk, do save/create one. They take up less than 1GB of space and can truly save your ass

Other than that, the drive is in and working like a champ! I wanted to run VMWare Fusion so I could have my Windows OS and Mac OS up at the same comfortably. I'd upgraded to 8GB Corsair Vengeance memory, and it still found the performance was more sluggish than I'd prefer. However with the new Samsung 840 PRO 256GB SSD in there, man this thing is quick! The machine is flawless, it perfectly suits my needs.

Thanks to everyone who offered help and advice, that's what a truly great forum is all about. And to entice anyone on the fence about taking on the project themselves I've posted a screen cap with my numbers below.