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Switching HDD's without losing files?

R

ramzhh

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 21, 2010
173
0
Hey guys,

I just wanna know, for example, if I replace my MBP's hard drive with SSD, what do I do to keep the files, OS's, and everything still in place? I mean, to transfer like 200 GB isn't very easy without an External HDD, so I wanna know how you do it. I thought about putting everything, including the OS, in an external drive but it seems to me that the computer will probably not recognize the OS, or something.

I hope you understand what I mean.

Thanks :apple:
 
Buy an external HD and use Time Machine to backup your Mac. Then install the SSD and OS X and it'll ask if you want to migrate from TM backup, select yes and plug in the external
 
Hellhammer said:
Buy an external HD and use Time Machine to backup your Mac. Then install the SSD and OS X and it'll ask if you want to migrate from TM backup, select yes and plug in the external
Click to expand...

Back up with TM, to the external HD? If I do that, why the hell would I need to install OS X again? I just don't get it. Call me a Mac noob, I appreciate it :p :apple:
 
Noob,

how big is your SSD? If you just wanted to clone over from one hard drive from another, you'd need an enclosure. After that you'd boot your machine from the current drive, load up superduper!, clone over to the SSD and do a straight swap.
 
Eddyisgreat said:
Noob,

how big is your SSD? If you just wanted to clone over from one hard drive from another, you'd need an enclosure. After that you'd boot your machine from the current drive, load up superduper!, clone over to the SSD and do a straight swap.
Click to expand...

Lol.

So everything will be in place, and the SSD recognized... nice.

Well, thanks :)
 
Eddyisgreat said:
Noob,

how big is your SSD? If you just wanted to clone over from one hard drive from another, you'd need an enclosure. After that you'd boot your machine from the current drive, load up superduper!, clone over to the SSD and do a straight swap.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't copy OS. I've driven into problems when doing that multiple times on Windows. Installers are there for a reason. Sure, people have done it without problems but it's still not recommended
 
Could always pop the superdrive out, put the old HDD where the optical drive goes and the SSD into the HDD bay. Use disk utility to copy everything over, then put your superdrive back in place. Believe this would work without requiring you to buy an external enclosure.
 
Hellhammer said:
I wouldn't copy OS. I've driven into problems when doing that multiple times on Windows. Installers are there for a reason. Sure, people have done it without problems but it's still not recommended
Click to expand...

I understand what you're saying but OP just wants a straight shoot. It would be a different ball game if OP was porting his installation to another machine (diff gpu/architecture/hardware) which I wholly do not recommened such a straight swap. I also wouldn't do it on Windows just because that's the way it is (and the activation assistant would flip out).

When I swap my own drives no matter the OS I always deactivate high $ wares (solidworks/adobe apps) and uninstall the rest and finally wipe the drive clean. But not everyone needs that level of complexity.

Besides, this is OS X we're talking about, not NT ;)
 
Eddyisgreat said:
I understand what you're saying but OP just wants a straight shoot. It would be a different ball game if OP was porting his installation to another machine (diff gpu/architecture/hardware) which I wholly do not recommened such a straight swap. I also wouldn't do it on Windows just because that's the way it is (and the activation assistant would flip out).

When I swap my own drives no matter the OS I always deactivate high $ wares (solidworks/adobe apps) and uninstall the rest and finally wipe the drive clean. But not everyone needs that level of complexity.

Besides, this is OS X we're talking about, not NT ;)
Click to expand...

So have we a final decision on a simple, fast way to transfer everything to a new drive?

Also, it seems to me that if I have to reinstall OS X, I'll have to...buy it?
 
Yes just clone it over with superduper.

No you don't have to buy OS X. Simply use the disks that came with your machine (the first disk).
 
Eddyisgreat said:
I understand what you're saying but OP just wants a straight shoot. It would be a different ball game if OP was porting his installation to another machine (diff gpu/architecture/hardware) which I wholly do not recommened such a straight swap. I also wouldn't do it on Windows just because that's the way it is (and the activation assistant would flip out).

When I swap my own drives no matter the OS I always deactivate high $ wares (solidworks/adobe apps) and uninstall the rest and finally wipe the drive clean. But not everyone needs that level of complexity.

Besides, this is OS X we're talking about, not NT ;)
Click to expand...

mm, you have a point there. I have externals and multiple backups so I just do it with the secure way ;)

I had no issues with my Adobe wares when I migrated from Leopard to Snow Leo (clean install, used TM backup), only had to update Little Snitch and everything was working :cool:
 
Eddyisgreat said:
Yes just clone it over with superduper.

No you don't have to buy OS X. Simply use the disks that came with your machine (the first disk).
Click to expand...

Alright... Thanks, if I ever have a problem I'll let you guys know.
 
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