Installing 512GB SSD - Will cloning hard drive preserve my Boot Camp partition?

[wilywampa]

I am going to replace my 2011 MacBook Pro's 500GB hard drive with a 512GB Crucial M4 SSD. It looks like a simple process to clone the existing hard drive onto the SSD, especially since I have a USB hard drive enclosure at my disposal. However, none of the guides I've seen have mentioned Boot Camp. When I clone my existing drive onto the SSD, then install the SSD, will I still be able to choose between booting Windows or OS X?

 

[Intell]

The cloning process will only clone the Mac half. To clone the Windows half, use Winclone.

 

[wilywampa]

That makes sense. So I use one tool (what tool is best?) to clone the OS X partition onto the SSD, and Winclone to clone the Windows partition onto the SSD. Does the MacBook automatically figure out that there are two partitions, or will have I have to do something in Disk Utility or something to repair the boot options?

 

[Intell]

You'll have to make a second partition in Disk Utility for Winclone to put Windows back on. It can be of any format, it just needs a second partition.

I use Carbon Copy Cloner. Another product that some people use is SuperDuper.

 

[wilywampa]

According to this guide, Winclone requires NTFSProgs. Will that conflict with Paragon NTFS?

 

[Intell]

According to this guide, Winclone requires NTFSProgs. Will that conflict with Paragon NTFS?

NTFSProgs is just a small set of command line utilities that Winclone will offer to install for you. They do not conflict with third party NTFS read/write drivers. But just to be safe, I usually disable any third part NTFS read/write drivers when using Winclone to restore or backup a Boot Camp partition.

 

[wilywampa]

Great, thank you very much. Now I just have to decide if I really want to drop $722.99 for a faster hard drive