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Install lion to ssd (externally) then swap drives

D

djpuma

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 13, 2010
139
33
As the title says, is this possible.
I have an ssd and I want to install lion first (via fw800) using the internet recorvery so I can have the recovery partition and once it's set I will swap the drives (ssd into main slot) and old hard drive into external.

I just want to be able to get the ssd up and running as much as possible before I swap them.

Thanks.
2011 15" MBP (already running lion)
 
I was going to clone the drive, but this drive has gone from snow leopard, to lion and from two different macs 2010 mbp to my new 2011.

I still have the windows mentality of needing to do a fresh install, but if there won't be any problems to just clone this drive to the SSD with CCC I'll go that route.
 
Ok quick question again

I plugged the SSD via firewire, formatted with disk utility (guid)

HERE IS Where i have a question.

Say my original drive is named Machd
and my new drive is named Osx

Will I have a problem after using migration assistant with any programs etc.
Will it cause problems with itunes?

Should I just go back and name it the same thing as the original drive?
 
djpuma said:
Ok quick question again

I plugged the SSD via firewire, formatted with disk utility (guid)

HERE IS Where i have a question.

Say my original drive is named Machd
and my new drive is named Osx

Will I have a problem after using migration assistant with any programs etc.
Will it cause problems with itunes?

Should I just go back and name it the same thing as the original drive?
Click to expand...
You can always Get Info on a drive and change its name.
 
Thanks,

I wasn't sure if it was that simple.
I remember one time I had tried to change my profile name and that caused all kinds of headaches.
This time I'm letting migration assistant do all the work for me.

I'll rename it after I swap the hdd/ssd and see how it goes.
 
Yeah I found that out the hard way. I had already created a user profile with that name so I don't think it would let me migrate.

Now the first thing I do before creating a user name is use migration assistant.
 
djpuma said:
I was going to clone the drive, but this drive has gone from snow leopard, to lion and from two different macs 2010 mbp to my new 2011.

I still have the windows mentality of needing to do a fresh install, but if there won't be any problems to just clone this drive to the SSD with CCC I'll go that route.
Click to expand...

I have a Time Machine backup of the HDD and made a USB Lion installer.

I put the new SSD in the MBP and then booted from the USB Lion installer to partition the new SSD and install Lion.

I then migrated my apps and settings from the Time Machine backup.
 
@GGJstudios,

You have been a great help with all of this and I have a few more questions, if you're so inclined to answer.

I've done a search on ssd's and tweaks/optimizations and came up with a lot of conflicting stuff (and outdated)

I'm running a crucial m4 drive and wonder if I need trim enabled?
Should I disable spotlight?
Will the mac sleep if I close the lid or do I need some app for that.
What is noatime (do I need it)

Any other tweaks etc that I might need to do to keep the ssd read/write optimal and prolong the lifespan of it?

Also it's a 2011 mbp Sata III SSD and I have it in the main bay with a 7200rpm drive in an optibay. SSD has 6GB's link speed (negotiated)

Thanks
 
djpuma said:
I'm running a crucial m4 drive and wonder if I need trim enabled?
Click to expand...
djpuma said:
Any other tweaks etc that I might need to do to keep the ssd read/write optimal and prolong the lifespan of it?

Also it's a 2011 mbp Sata III SSD and I have it in the main bay with a 7200rpm drive in an optibay. SSD has 6GB's link speed (negotiated)
Click to expand...
djpuma said:
What is noatime (do I need it)
Click to expand...
You may want to search the forums for the many existing threads on SSDs, TRIM and noatime. They'll have much more info than I can give you.
djpuma said:
Should I disable spotlight?
Click to expand...
No, Spotlight is used by your system to locate files/folders when you search. You don't want to disable that, even if you could.
djpuma said:
Will the mac sleep if I close the lid or do I need some app for that.
Click to expand...
By default, it will sleep if you close the lid. No app needed.
 
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