Replacing HDD (with OS on SSD)

[schiarelli]

OK so I have a 13" early 2011 MBP with 128GB SSD (OS and all apps installed on the SSD) and 320GB HDD for file storage. I just got a 1TB drive to replace my 320GB drive. Heres now I attempted and failed:

- Replaced 320GB HDD with 1TB drive
- Put 320GB drive in usb enclosure
- Booted the computer and cloned the 320GB drive to the 1TB drive (using Carbon Copy Cloner)

I thought this would work but it didnt, the computer wont boot without the original 320GB drive attached.

Please help!

Thanks,
Sal

 

[niteflyr]

Check your startup disk settings in system preferences. Make sure it is set to the SSD.

 

[yusukeaoki]

Ok first lets get things clear...
Correct me if Im wrong on anything

1. You have the OS on the SSD
2. Your SSD is in the main bay
3. You want to transfer all the data from 320GB HDD to 1TB HDD.

 

[schiarelli]

The SSD is in the optical bay

I already transferred the files to the 1TB drive

The computer boots without the USB drive attached but I can't see any files on the 1TB and I can't log into my account, only the guest account

 

[niteflyr]

Sounds like the clone didn't work and your user account data (home folder) is on the 320 not the SSD.

Unrelated to account issue, if your SSD is sata III 6 Gbps, I would move it to the main bay and the HDD in the optical bay. The optical bay in early 2011 MBPs doesn't support sata III and the main bay does. You will get better performance from the SSD.

 

[w00t951]

You're going to cap your SSD's speeds if you leave it in the optical bay. The Early 2011 model Macs have SATAII for the optical bay bus and SATA III for the main bay bus. Put the HDD in the ODD bay and the SSD in the main bay.

 

[schiarelli]

Ok I'll swap my drives

The clone worked fine, I think I just need to tell my computer where my new home directory is. Does that make sense?

 

[niteflyr]

The clone worked fine, I think I just need to tell my computer where my new home directory is. Does that make sense?

You are confusing me. I thought you said you couldn't read any files on the 1 tb drive after cloning.

 

[schiarelli]

You are confusing me. I thought you said you couldn't read any files on the 1 tb drive after cloning.

Sorry I was mistaken, I can read them, I just can't log into my account without the external attached

 

[schiarelli]

I just found a solution on google, here it is for future searchers:


Click on ‘Macintosh HD’ in the Finder and open the ‘Users’ folder. In here you will find a folder named after your shortname. This is your home folder. As it is currently your active home folder it will have a ‘house’ icon assigned to it. Copy this folder to the 2nd hardrive by simply dragging it (moving files / folders to a 2nd volume in OS X only copies the content, it doesn’t remove it from its original location). Note: The copied folder will not have the ‘house’ icon as it is not yet recognized as you active home folder. We will change this in the following steps.
Open the ‘System Preferences’ application from either the Dock, the Applications folder or from the Apple menu.
Click on the ‘Accounts’ icon in the ‘System’ section.
After entering your password to unlock the padlock, CTL-Click (or right click if you have this enabled for your mouse) on the active admin account (from the list of user accounts in the left pane) to reveal an ‘Advanced Options’ contextual menu. Select this item.
You will be presented with a pane full of advanced settings (and also a warning about how you should only change these settings if you know what you are doing!). Ignore all of these settings except for the ‘Home Directory’ option. This is the path that OS X uses to locate your home folder when you login. It should say: /Users/shortname
Click on the ‘Choose’ button, and browse to the home folder in the new location (this will be the folder you moved in Step 1 which will be named after your shortname). After you select the new location, the ‘Home directory’ path should change to something like: /Volumes/shortname.
OS X will continue to use the original home folder until you restart. So restart the computer and login as normal. To confirm that the new home folder is now active, browse to the folder you copied to the 2nd hardrive and check it has the ‘house’ icon assigned to it. Now that your home folder is successfully located on your 2nd drive, you can delete the original home folder in the Users folder. It should now have a generic folder icon as it is no longer the active home folder.

this is where i found it
http://chris.pirillo.com/how-to-move-the-home-folder-in-os-x-and-why/