[noob alert!] Fit an SSD to my 2011 iMac-What about the OS?

Make a Lion Recovery Disk and use that to format the SSD properly and do a clean install of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.
OS X Lion: About Lion Recovery
Lion Recovery Disk Assistant

 

Yep. Have you already looked at similar threads about 2011 iMacs, as Apple made replacing the HDD a bit more complicated, which might not apply for SSDs though.

 

But what does that guide have to do with an iMac and an SSD replacement?

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Maybe have a look at Advanced Search to find similar threads:

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Scratch all the above - Use Carbon Copy Cloner to copy your existing install to the SSD. Install the SSD in the iMac as per the guide and then boot your Mac it will load into Lion and you can then download CCC and whizz pop bang it's done. Select your startup disk in sys preferences, restart, use disk utility to format the 1TB drive and thats it.

 

Word on the street is, a fresh OS install is the way to go with an SSD. Carbon Copy cloner is great for a platter drive, but it appears there is an odd performance drop on the SSD if you clone to it.

Do the fresh install on the SSD, and use migration assistant to move your apps over.

I'll try to find the article about the performance drop.

**** found it ****

"Testing boot speed on our PC is easy. We simply clone a boot drive using Acronis True Home Image. We've already done the comparison with a native Windows 7 DVD-based install and know the results are the same. So, cloning is a real time-saver.

The MacBook Pro isn't as easy, though. At first, we tried cloning with Carbon Copy Cloner. The results weren't good, though. When we cloned our hard drive onto SSDs, boot times actually increased, so we scratched that approach. It's also not possible to swap drives between the MacBook Pro 8,1 and MacBook Pro 7,1 without incurring a performance penalty. As a result, we had to perform native installations of OS X 10.7.2 from our Lion USB Key on each MacBook Pro."


(Side note: IF you are not using a Sandforce based SSD, you may be able to disregard this post)

 

I've done clones on all machines with ssd swaps. No performance hit at all. You need to use a app called TRIM enabler on all non-apple ssd's but other than that it's the same as cloning to a traditional platter drive.

You find issues if you clone a Macbook Air system for instance and use that cloned disk in a iMac.

 

If a fairly reputable benchmarking site said they found a performance hit doing it, I'd be willing to avoid it by doing a fresh install. To each their own I suppose.

 

That is in fact a Sandforce based drive. I have one in my machine now too, pretty snazzy.

 

Perfect

 

Yup, works fine in either a PC or Mac, the article i was referencing indicates there is a performance loss if you CLONE your OS to the drive on the mac.

If it were me, i would do a fresh install of Lion on the SSD when you install it.
But you could clone it if thats easier for you.

 

Here's a guide on how to install an SSD into an iMac. I strongly recommend reading the whole thing before you even touch iMac.

Good luck.

http://www.twam.info/hardware/apple/installing-additional-ssd-in-mid-2010-27-imac

 

http://osxdaily.com/2011/07/08/make-a-bootable-mac-os-x-10-7-lion-installer-from-a-usb-flash-drive/

 

I prefer using the iFixIt guides when taking apart my Apple electronics. These guides are specifically for the 2011 models:

21.5" - http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing-iMac-Intel-21-5-Inch-EMC-2428-Dual-Hard-Drive-Kit/6434/1

27" - http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing-iMac-Intel-27-Inch-EMC-2429-Dual-Hard-Drive-Kit/7575/1

Good luck.