Installing SSD

[jbyun04]

Just got my SSD today but don't have my caddy yet.
I'd like to test out this SSD though so I was thinking about pulling my hard drive out and putting the SSD in.

My questions are:

If I replace the hard drive with the SSD and install OSX, is my old hard drive with OSX screwed? (just in case I want to revert back to my 750GB)

What's the best way of doing this? My plan was to install the SSD and work off my external drive until my caddy arrives.. but I guess this leads into question three..

When said caddy arrives and I reinstall my 750GB hard drive, is there anyway to just remove OSX off that drive and keep my files as is or is that impossible?

Any suggestions or advice would be extremely appreciated. Looking to get this done tonight.

Thanks!

BTW the SSD is a Corsair Force 120GB

 

[snaky69]

Just got my SSD today but don't have my caddy yet.
I'd like to test out this SSD though so I was thinking about pulling my hard drive out and putting the SSD in.

My questions are:

If I replace the hard drive with the SSD and install OSX, is my old hard drive with OSX screwed? (just in case I want to revert back to my 750GB)

What's the best way of doing this? My plan was to install the SSD and work off my external drive until my caddy arrives.. but I guess this leads into question three..

When said caddy arrives and I reinstall my 750GB hard drive, is there anyway to just remove OSX off that drive and keep my files as is or is that impossible?

Any suggestions or advice would be extremely appreciated. Looking to get this done tonight.

Thanks!

BTW the SSD is a Corsair Force 120GB

In order:
1. No, why would you be? It still has all the information, it doesn't magically erase itself once out of a computer.

2. I'd wait until the caddy arrives, that way if anything gets messed up you can still use the computer. Using the hard drive externally for work is slow as balls.

3. The best way I can think of doing this is moving your files manually to an external hard drive, formatting the 750gb and copying them back.

 

[murdoc158]

http://lifehacker.com/5541774/how-to-install-a-solid+state-drive-in-your-macbook

Scroll down to the part about transferring your information.

Install the SSD in the caddy and use a free imaging program like CCC to copy your OSX HDD to the (external) SSD. Swap the SSD into your Macbook and put the old OSX HDD into the caddy. Your Macbook will boot into OSX from the SSD. Connect your old external OSX HDD and delete all the folders except the USERS folder. Your OSX install is intact with all settings, and you have a backup of your documents on the external.

 

[jbyun04]

Sorry, by caddy I meant the thing that replaces the Superdrive.

By external drive I mean a separate 500GB firewire drive. I've got my work backed up via DropBox as well so I can work off either without much problem as the files I deal with now aren't overly large.

What I'm trying to do is pull out the HDD now and put the SSD, do a fresh install of OSX and my apps so I can get going and start using my SSD.

That way when I get my optibay thing I can just slot my old 750GB back in place of the superdrive and use that as storage.

At the moment I don't have anything that will let me hook up my current internal (750GB) to my computer externally.

Also since my Time Machine is backing up my current drive (750GB) with OSX and all that, is it possible format my 750GB when I get Optibay and restore all of the contents EXCEPT OSX and the apps? I'm guessing no but I thought I'd ask