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Rlx

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 3, 2012
7
0
Hello, i have a 13" MBP and i want to replace the current HDD with an SSD, how can i do this without losing all my data?
Also i want to dualboot Win7 on it after i install the SSD, how can i do that?

Thanks!
 
Buy the SSD* and a cheap USB 2.0/3.0 enclosure for 2.5" S-ATA drives, they cost 10 to 20 € nowadays.
Put the SSD into it and format it properly**.
Then either download CarbonCopyCloner (version 3.4.7 is still free and available for download 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! and clone the HDD to the SSD.
Then restart your Mac and hold down the OPTION/Alt key to select the external SSD to boot from, to see, if everything worked alright.
Then switch the HDD with the SSD and put the HDD in the enclosure for backup or storage purposes via formatting it via Disk Utility again, if you want to.




MacBook, MacBook Pro: Replacing the Hard Disk Drive, transferring data to the new HDD

the guide includes:
  • 0. Identify your MacBook or MacBook Pro
  • 1. Getting a new HDD
  • 2. Guides to replace the internal HDD with a newer one
  • 3. Transferring data from the old HDD to the new HDD
  • 4. Using the optical disk drive (ODD) slot for placing an SSD or HDD inside the MB/P (OPTIBAY)
 
Buy the SSD* and a cheap USB 2.0/3.0 enclosure for 2.5" S-ATA drives, they cost 10 to 20 € nowadays.
Put the SSD into it and format it properly**.
Then either download CarbonCopyCloner (version 3.4.7 is still free and available for download 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! and clone the HDD to the SSD.
Then restart your Mac and hold down the OPTION/Alt key to select the external SSD to boot from, to see, if everything worked alright.
Then switch the HDD with the SSD and put the HDD in the enclosure for backup or storage purposes via formatting it via Disk Utility again, if you want to.




MacBook, MacBook Pro: Replacing the Hard Disk Drive, transferring data to the new HDD

the guide includes:
  • 0. Identify your MacBook or MacBook Pro
  • 1. Getting a new HDD
  • 2. Guides to replace the internal HDD with a newer one
  • 3. Transferring data from the old HDD to the new HDD
  • 4. Using the optical disk drive (ODD) slot for placing an SSD or HDD inside the MB/P (OPTIBAY)
Thanks, i already have the SSD, though i don't have the Enclosure thing..
Is it possible to do it without it?
Is it possible to back it up to an external HDD and then transfering the backup to the SSD?
 
Thanks, i already have the SSD, though i don't have the Enclosure thing..
Is it possible to do it without it?
Is it possible to back it up to an external HDD and then transfering the backup to the SSD?

It is possible to do so without, it involves an installer of whatever OS you have, Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard probably, since you bought your MBP in early 2011, and then use Setup or Migration Assistant from a Time Machine backup or the HDD cloned to the other external HDD.
If you can clone to the external HDD, then you could boot from it and clone back to the SSD.

Migration Assistant / Setup Assistant information:
 
It is possible to do so without, it involves an installer of whatever OS you have, Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard probably, since you bought your MBP in early 2011, and then use Setup or Migration Assistant from a Time Machine backup or the HDD cloned to the other external HDD.
If you can clone to the external HDD, then you could boot from it and clone back to the SSD.

Migration Assistant / Setup Assistant information:

Sorry, i didn't quite understand how am i supposed to do this,
i currently have my macbook pro running 10.8.2 on a 500GB HDD,
i have a 512GB SSD that i want to replace the current HDD with, how can i replace it so i will still have the OS and all my other files?

I have another 500GB external HDD that connects via USB if needed.
 
Sorry, i didn't quite understand how am i supposed to do this,
i currently have my macbook pro running 10.8.2 on a 500GB HDD,
i have a 512GB SSD that i want to replace the current HDD with, how can i replace it so i will still have the OS and all my other files?

I have another 500GB external HDD that connects via USB if needed.

Get that enclosure I talked about. Or if that external USB HDD has enough storage capacity and is already properly formatted*, you could clone the old HDD to the USB 2.0 HDD, then put the SSD inside the MBP and then boot from the USB 2.0 HDD and format the SSD and clone the USB 2.0 HDD to the SSD (minus the folders already on there before the first clone).

But again, get that enclosure, every electronics retail outlet should have such for 10 €. It is the easiest solution.


 
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