IMAC dual boot transfer to new SSD

[rj-dual-boot]

I have a 27 inch Imac 2011 and just purchased a Samsung 1 terbyte SSD. I want to place all that is on my current drive exactly as it is onto the SSD drive. Both partitions are 500 and both are 80% populated with audio workstation apps and the resulting files. I can clone the OS X partition to the SSD while hooked up with USB - no problem -
The tricky part is the bootcamp drive. My plan is to add the SSD internally on the secondary drive port - not the optical port. Then use winclone to create an image of the existing bootcamp partition on another external firewire drive. Next step create a bootcamp partition on the SSD, and restore the winclone image to that partition.
Question 1 - Can I do this while the SSD is on an external USB port?
Question 2 - Once I palce the drive in the IMAC on the secondary sata port it is considered aninternal drive. CAn two bootcamp partitions exist in the same IMAC until testing is complete? It is very difficult to plug and unplug a drive cable when you have to disassmble and re- assemble each time just to see it it is working.
Question 3. Does anyone know if an IMAC will work with the screen out but everything else assembled properly using an external screen attached to the thunderbolt port?
I am using Mavericks 10.9.3 as of yesterday.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
rj-dual-boot

 

[hfg]

The best way I know of to transfer your Windows BootCamp installation is using WinClone. It creates a backup image of your existing install, then moves it to the new disk partition, all under OS X so nothing gets screwed up. Works every time ... and it makes a good backup program to keep a current image of your Windows environment in case you need to restore it. Much easier and faster than trying to re-install Windows with the endless updates and reboots!

https://twocanoes.com/winclone/

 

[rj-dual-boot]

Thanks HFG for your insight
Would you happen to know if, after doing what you propose, the IMAC can boot off of both MAC partitions (Original drive - primary port and SSD drive - secondary port) and both bootcamp partitions? I really need to get the bootcamp up and running on the SSD drive.
Will I need to delete the bootcamp partition on the original drive? I am concerned about removing it before I actually see the SSD bootcamp working. AND since it is an IMAC it needs to be disassembled and re assembled each time you pull a hard drive cable to test one at a time.

 

[hfg]

Thanks HFG for your insight
Would you happen to know if, after doing what you propose, the IMAC can boot off of both MAC partitions (Original drive - primary port and SSD drive - secondary port) and both bootcamp partitions? I really need to get the bootcamp up and running on the SSD drive.
Will I need to delete the bootcamp partition on the original drive? I am concerned about removing it before I actually see the SSD bootcamp working. AND since it is an IMAC it needs to be disassembled and re assembled each time you pull a hard drive cable to test one at a time.

You will be able to select the OS X boot device with the "option key" boot manager. However, Windows doesn't seem to like having 2 instances available, and even though you can select the external SSD installation from the boot manager, you will end up running from the internal installation.

Once you save the WinClone image of the internal Windows installation, you will then create the external SSD installation, but you will have to delete the internal one prior to running the external. However, you will still have the WinClone image safely saved on your OS X disk, so you can easily restore the internal installation if desired. Yeah, you don't want to have to disassemble the iMac if you don't need to!

I always use Thunderbolt external enclosures so that "trim" can be used on the SSD. I know Windows will boot externally on a Mac using the LaCie "Rugged" Thunderbolt enclosure and the Seagate Thunderbolt Adapter (both bus powered and AC desktop versions). Be sure to attach the Thunderbolt enclosure to your iMac while running the original internal Windows so that it can detect the new hardware and install the drivers ... then create your WinClone image with the drivers imbedded within.

Search around on this forum and you will find many threads for doing what you want with step by step procedures, but I think the WinClone is the easiest and safest ... plus you can use WinClone as a periodic backup process for your Windows environment.

 

[rj-dual-boot]

HFG - I was planning to run the SSD on the secondary port on the motherboard and install it behind the optical drive. But your external thunder bolt solution may allow me to test once I create the winclone image. I currently save my win-clone images on an external fire-wire 2 terabyte drive.
Planned process
1. Ensure that I can boot to both partitions onthe original drive after clearing the bootcamp partition of data and restoring from the saved image. Then remove the boot camp partition again. I have never needed to restore yet so i need to check this.
2. Create the whole dual boot SSD drive with carbon copy and winclone restore and using a thunderbolt adapter to test before opening the IMAC up.
3. If it works on thunderbolt interface then it will surely work inside on the secondary sata port. Now it is time to disassemble ( very carefully)
4. Use the original drive for storage and backup the SSD to the 2 terabyte - using both winclone and time machine.

Does this sound like a good plan?

Thanks for the tip on the thunderbolt interface. I will post if it works

 

[rj-dual-boot]

Imac upgrade completed

I finally completed the SSD drive installation.
Steps
1. Using a SEAGATE desktop thunderbolt dock with the Samsung 1 terabayte 840EVO SSD drive attached I booted up in Mavericks on the internal drive.
(the desktop dock was much more expensive than the bus driven Seagate dock designed for 2 1/2" drives but other forum posts recommended it for higher capacity SSD drives. The power supply assists with powering the higher capacity drives)
2. Using Carbon Copy I cloned Mavericks to the SSD with as a 1 terabyte partition.
3. While in the original Mavericks I purchased and used the newest Two Canoes WinClone that supports Mavericks to create an image of my Bootcamp partion on another external firewire drive. My bootcamp image was too large to place on the SSD drive and still have enough room left on the drive for the final bootcamp partition.
4. Holding down the option key I booted up in the SSD Mavericks partition.
5. I made a new partition on the SSD to accommodate the size I wanted my new bootcamp partition to be and formatted as a MS Dos Partition. (see the Winclone walk through video for details on the Two Canoes support site)
6. I restored the previously created image to the new partition. The windows partition overwrote the original dos partition to the new format.
7. I attempted to boot into this new partition just to see if it would work - it did not - always ended up in the original bootcamp.
8 Shutdown and Finally opened up the IMAC just enough to disconnect the internal drive to see if the Thunderbolt drive's bootcamp partition worked. (the cable on the top left was all I needed to rwmove to accomplish this (See OWC videos at their website for guidance) ). I reconnected the cable and it booted and worked fine as a standalone but with only an external thunderbolt drive running I had to use the start-up/option key combination to get back to the Mavericks drive, The system preference startup disk selection did,however, get me back to bootcamp. The MAC drive icon in Mavericks still showed as an external partition.
9. Opened up the MAC again and pulled the monitor out completely to replace the internal drive with the SSD drive.
10 Closed up the Imac and all worked fine (Maverick partition was now represented by an internal drive icon on the desktop). The only issue was that the fan working at full speed all the time.
11. I tried the OWC thermal cable and it worked at first but within a few hours after opening and closing the MAC to check on the thermal connector it began to fail, The cable, at one end or the other was making an intermittent connection. This could have been my fault in assembling and disassembling. I removed the thermal cable and hooked up normally again
12. I found 2 fan apps on the web (MACSFANCONTROL for OS X and Win 7) that can set the fan to a constant speed and settled for that. I am currently set to 2250 rpms and it is quiet enough
13 ALL IS NOW WORKING FINE and my Imac now runs as fast as the new ones with SSD drives.

 

[hfg]

Glad you got it all running as you desired.

I don't know what to think about the temp monitor cable. Have you asked OWC about the issue?

Thanks for posting a detailed tutorial for others ... this questions comes up a lot from new users and I am sure they will fine your experience valuable.

Be sure to use WinClone occasionally to keep a backup of your Windows installation in case you have to repair/replace it.


-howard