Moving applications and OS to SSD

[Cbdboz]

I have installed a new SSD into my Maci mini, and I want to move the applications, including the OS from its old 1TB HDD (which I will keep in there) to the SSD to make the best use of its speed. I would then want to use the existing 1TB Hard drive for storage.

1) do I just copy the applications folder to the New SSD, change start up disc to SSD in system preferences..and then all apps will load from the SSD from reboot and thereafter?? would this be drag and drop..or do I use CCC and just tick the Applications folder to copy over??

2) do I then need to go into the preferences of each app to point it to read and write from the HDD

3) Does it make any sense to Partition My SSD before transferring the application over...so that perhaps 1 partition for Applications and OS..and others for anything else I may need on the SSD

4) i believe 1 advantage of a separate partition would be that I can keep different OS...i.e. keep mavericks in one partition, and then yosemite in another, and El capitan on another still.....would I also need to duplicate all applications to each partition as well??

5) If I go done the partitioning route...can i add further partitions at a later stage...or would I have to erase the whole disk each time??

6)...and is disc partitioning a simple process in disc utility??


appreciate any guidance. My aim is to have the mac mini as a HT Hub and computer, with all OS and applications on the SSD, with my family working files stored in the internal HDD, and I would then have all Music and movies probably on an external HDD, and would use Plex on the SSD to then access the media on an external HDD as the Plex server.

thanks

 

[dangerfish]

Honestly, I think you are making it way more difficult than it needs to be. While you can manually manage the location of files (OS and Apps on the SSD and everything else on the HDD) and there are certainly some people that do, I don't think its worth the hassle. Create a fusion drive and let the OS manage everything. I doubt you personally are going to be more efficient at manually managing the file system than a modern OS.

 

[Cbdboz]

Honestly, I think you are making it way more difficult than it needs to be. While you can manually manage the location of files (OS and Apps on the SSD and everything else on the HDD) and there are certainly some people that do, I don't think its worth the hassle. Create a fusion drive and let the OS manage everything. I doubt you personally are going to be more efficient at manually managing the file system than a modern OS.

even tho I have a fusion drive on my iMac...Im not sure I would comfortable about setting up a new fusion drive on my own on the maci mini...also, I am not sure this answers my questions on Partitioning (tho maybe that in itself is over thinking things...dont know??)

also..not sure how a fusion drive would work with an external HDD as well, which I would want all my Media on so that I can make avalaible via plea server.


so If I don't go the Fusion route (tho will look into it) can you help on the questions asked??

cheers

 

[dangerfish]

Creating a fusion drive isn't difficult. Tons of tutorials around the web. It may be intimidating but its not difficult. In fact, I would say what you are proposing to do is much more difficult that creating a fusion drive. However, I will say that I thought you were putting both the SSD and the HDD in the mac mini. It sounds like you are not reinstalling the HDD in the Mac but instead intend to use it externally. I don't know if that will work for a fusion drive. It would probably work but if the external drive gets disconnected, the whole thing will stop working.
I'll try and answer your questions specifically.
1. No, I don't think so. You can't just drag your system folders to new locations. I would think that you would need to clone your HDD to the SSD with CCC.
2. Yes, you can move your libraries for the apps (Photos, iTunes, etc) to different locations like the HDD. On my MBA, my iTunes library lives on an SD card.
3. I don't know why you'd need/want to partition your SSD. Whats the advantage?
4. Why do you want to have 3 different versions of Mac OS? If you're concerned with space, that is going to take up a huge amount of space on your SSD. And if you really did want/need to be able to run different versions of the OS, virtualization may be a better way to go.
5. Yes, Disk Utility will let you make a new partition on the fly. Always make sure yo have a full system backup before you start partitioning your drives.
6. Yes. Point and click.

 

[Fishrrman]

Whether you want a fusion drive is up to you.

Do you mind "managing" more than one drive icon on your desktop?
Or in the case of a partitioned HDD, perhaps three, four icons, each representing a different volume?

Or do you want it "all in one" (volume)?

Some folks seem to have trouble with multiple volumes.
Others have no trouble at all.
This is a decision ONLY YOU can make.
(I prefer multiple volumes, each with its own purpose.)

Having said that...

If all you want to do is to move everything from the HDD to the SSD, use a disk cloning app.
Either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper will do this job quickly and easily.
Don't "overthink" this.
Cloning an entire volume is as easy as copying a file or folder, IF you use the right tool for the job. Just takes a little more time.

I like CCC because it will also create a clone of the recovery partition onto the SSD, as well.

I would recommend that you keep the OS, apps, and user accounts on ONE partition. This is fine for the SSD.

IF you have LARGE libraries of music, movies, or photos, you might want to consider keeping these on the HDD.
These are the kinds of files that are usually not accessed that often. Storing them on a platter-based HDD makes little difference, because great "speed" isn't necessary to access them.

I keep my Mini's internal HDD set up like this, with no less than FIVE partitions:
1. Boot (backup of SSD)
2. Main (main files, banking, frequently-accessed files, etc.)
3. Music (mp3's, etc.)
4. Media (books, a few mp4's)
5. General (copies of OS's, copies of apps, other stuff that isn't really "important", but of which I'd like a copy)

This works for me, even though it might confuse others...

 

[coghlan]

I have installed a new SSD into my Maci mini, and I want to move the applications, including the OS from its old 1TB HDD (which I will keep in there) to the SSD to make the best use of its speed. I would then want to use the existing 1TB Hard drive for storage.

1) do I just copy the applications folder to the New SSD, change start up disc to SSD in system preferences..and then all apps will load from the SSD from reboot and thereafter?? would this be drag and drop..or do I use CCC and just tick the Applications folder to copy over??

2) do I then need to go into the preferences of each app to point it to read and write from the HDD

3) Does it make any sense to Partition My SSD before transferring the application over...so that perhaps 1 partition for Applications and OS..and others for anything else I may need on the SSD

4) i believe 1 advantage of a separate partition would be that I can keep different OS...i.e. keep mavericks in one partition, and then yosemite in another, and El capitan on another still.....would I also need to duplicate all applications to each partition as well??

5) If I go done the partitioning route...can i add further partitions at a later stage...or would I have to erase the whole disk each time??

6)...and is disc partitioning a simple process in disc utility??


appreciate any guidance. My aim is to have the mac mini as a HT Hub and computer, with all OS and applications on the SSD, with my family working files stored in the internal HDD, and I would then have all Music and movies probably on an external HDD, and would use Plex on the SSD to then access the media on an external HDD as the Plex server.

thanks

I just tried to use CCC with my daughter's MBP, but apparently it doesn't transfer over the boot loader, so when the SSD is installed internally, powering up displays a flashing folder icon with "?", meaning it's not bootable.

What's the point of having CCC then?

 

[glenthompson]

I just tried to use CCC with my daughter's MBP, but apparently it doesn't transfer over the boot loader, so when the SSD is installed internally, powering up displays a flashing folder icon with "?", meaning it's not bootable.

What's the point of having CCC then?

Every clone I've made with CCC has been bootable. Mine included the recovery partition also. Are you sure you had the options set correctly?