Migrating system from HDD to SSD+HDD setup

Step 3: That won't be possible because you are using an after market SSD that did not come with a recovery partition to install Lion. I suggest you create a bootable lion install USB . Then just plug it in and hold down option on boot and you can format the SSD through disk utility and then install Lion. No need to plug it via a USB and do it in step 2.

I am not too familiar with the rest of the process, especially concerning moving applications and user files.

 

You may want to place the SSD into the ODD slot. I have read the HDD slot has better vibration reduction.

 

I did the same process with my 2011, pretty much the same machine. Here are some general thoughts.

- Make the USB recovery thumb drive first.
- Make a Time Machine backup.
- Get the correct tools, you'll need a 00 Phillips & T6 Torx driver. I bought a little kit at the hardware store.

Here's how I would do it without getting into too much detail.

1. Remove the HDD and install the SSD. This is simple. Boot off of the recovery USB thumb drive and restore the OS to the SSD. Now you have a clean installation. Make sure everything works before you do the Optical swap. Do one thing at a time.

2. Now swap the Optical drive with the internal HDD. This is a little more complicated than the HDD, but follow the directions and you'll be fine. I found that a pair of tweezers came in handy.

3. My preference for data migration is:
#1 - Clean install. Re-install the apps from scratch if you can. This is better for apps like Office, but not iTunes or iPhoto where a migration assistant is much better so you don't lose historical data.
#2 - Use a migration assistant wherever possible.
#3 - Do drag n' drop migration as a last resort only.

You should be fine because you have two intact copies of everything - on the original HDD and in Time Machine. But still be careful.

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Oh, also - turn off sudden vibration detection on the SSD. I had conflicting advice about TRIM. I left TRIM disabled and have had no issues, but it's only been a week.

 

I'm not a big fan of doing full restores from Time Machine. I have what I think is a better approach, but it requires another HDD. Since drives are almost free these days, it may be a good solution for you. Use a new drive to move everything of your existing drive you don't want on the SSD. This will end up being your working HDD. Then use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone your existing HDD, including the recovery partition, over to the new SSD. I'd then use the original HDD as an archival clone by resizing the boot partition down to the size of the SSD and adding a new partition for the /Users/ data.

I ALWAYS keep an external drive around with a clone of my boot OS on it. This greatly speeds disaster recovery. Last fall, thieves broke into my rental car at a restaurant in Dallas and got away with three computers, one of which was my 17" MBP. Having a clone of my OS boot partition made Time Machine recovery of my /User data a snap. (I always keep data, including my user account data, separate from the boot partition.)