Process for transferring software when changing to SSD?

[danpass]

Every time I've changed a hard drive I've had to re-install the OS then all the other programs. (I put SSD since the change would be to that.)

This has been with Windows.


But how is it with OSX (Lion specifically) as there is no disc.

What is the process you went through?

Thanks.

 

[snaky69]

Every time I've changed a hard drive I've had to re-install the OS then all the other programs. (I put SSD since the change would be to that.)

This has been with Windows.


But how is it with OSX (Lion specifically) as there is no disc.

What is the process you went through?

Thanks.

The easiest, idiot-proof way would be to use time machine and migration assistant, with a recovery Lion disc or thumb drive.

Another way to do this would be to put your SSD in an external enclosure, format it, and use carbon copy cloner to make a bootable clone of your current hard drive. That is assuming, of course, that the amount of data you are cloning fits in the SSD you bought with some room to spare(10-15% free space is a good rule of thumb).

Once that is done you'd simply pop out the hard drive, pop in the SSD, boot and check if everything works, and call it a day.

 

[Nielsenius]

Another way to do this would be to put your SSD in an external enclosure, format it, and use carbon copy cloner to make a bootable clone of your current hard drive. That is assuming, of course, that the amount of data you are cloning fits in the SSD you bought with some room to spare(10-15% free space is a good rule of thumb).

Once that is done you'd simply pop out the hard drive, pop in the SSD, boot and check if everything works, and call it a day.

Yes, I would recommend Carbon Copy Cloner, as well. I used it once and it worked very well. It may also be the fastest way to transfer your data. Everything is copied at once. No need to do installs, reboots, etc. One word of advice: don't try to just copy and paste all of your files to the new drive. This will not work (easily, anyways).

 

[wiz329]

I find the best way to do this is to do a clean install.

1. Make a bootable DVD or USB flash drive (either with apple's recovery disk assistant, or as described here: https://www.macrumors.com/2011/07/18/make-an-os-x-lion-boot-disc/)

2. Install Lion onto your SSD (connect it to the computer with a SATA to USB adaptor, or whatever else you prefer).

3. Use the migration assistant to move all your data over.

I prefer this, as it tends to remove any fragmented/extraneous files. And its not too much harder than making a clone using CCC.