Resolved Switching to SSD as boot and storing apps/files on Hard drive without factory resetting the device

[LongXP]

Months ago when I bought this MBP mid-2012 13". I upgraded it with a 128gb SSD and put Mojave on it intending to use it as a boot drive while my HDD will store all my apps. (This is kinda embarrassing) Little did I know, I actually also put Mojave on my hard drive and have been exclusively using that forgetting about the whole ordeal altogether.
After I started dual-booting Linux, I notice another macOS Mojave installation on rEFInd and that's when I realized I've not been using my SSD at all...

Fast forward to now. I want to use my SSD as a boot drive while putting everything else on my hard drive. Though, I've been storing a lot of important files on it so I'm not willing to start over factory reset the whole device. Is there a way I could just move my current Mojave installation to my SSD and boot using it while using my hard drive to store my files?

 

[Fishrrman]

How do you have two drives in a 2012 MacBook Pro?
Is this a NON-retina MBP, with a DVD drive, that has had the DVD drive removed and replaced with the SSD?

 

[gecko579]

I’m assuming your 128GB SSD is external (USB?) What you’re describing is exactly what I’m doing with my iMac. I have Mojave on the external SSD (shows up in Boot Drive and I have selected in Preferences) and then my machine (seemingly automatically) uses the internal (spindle HDD) on the iMac for the user (and my Home) folders. Suggest you try to select the external SSD when in preferences and reboot, see how it goes. Recall if there are any issues you can hold down the option keep while rebooting to select which drive to boot from. Hope this helps.

 

[LongXP]

How do you have two drives in a 2012 MacBook Pro?
Is this a NON-retina MBP, with a DVD drive, that has had the DVD drive removed and replaced with the SSD?

Yup that's the one

Suggest you try to select the external SSD when in preferences and reboot, see how it goes. Recall if there are any issues you can hold down the option keep while rebooting to select which drive to boot from. Hope this helps.

It's actually not external I replaced the DVD drive with a hard drive and a SSD setup instead. I tried to go to the Mojave installation on my SSD just now and there's been no problem. Except for the fact that I forgot the password I put on it. Anyhow, my main concern is how to put my current Mojave on to that SSD and use it to boot instead which I'm pretty clueless on how to do it. I have some important files and apps which would be a hassle to replace so I'd prefer not wiping my hard drive and SSD (I'm willing to wipe the SSD as there is nothing on there but not the hard drive lol)

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:
"I'm willing to wipe the SSD as there is nothing on there but not the hard drive lol"

Then things should be relatively easy.
PRINT OUT THIS MESSAGE and check it off as you go along.

Download CarbonCopyCloner from here:

Download CCC | Bombich Software

www.bombich.com

(CCC is FREE to use for 30 days. If you "do things my way", this will cost you nothing)

CCC should go on the hard drive (NOT onto the SSD).

Now...
Boot from hard drive. (you're booted from it already, right?)

Open disk utility.
Check to see if there is a view menu.
If there's a view menu, choose "show all devices".
(this is a VERY important step).

Look on the left to see the physical SSD.
Click on it and ERASE IT to APFS, GUID partition format.

Now quit disk utility.

Open CCC.
Accept the CCC defaults.
You can click "tips" to get rid of the "helper balloons".

You will see 3 "boxes" in the main area of CCC's window.
For the box "on the left" (the source) select the HDD.
For the box "in the middle" (the target) select the SSD.
IGNORE the box on the right (scheduling). You don't need it.

Now click "clone", follow through and let CCC do its thing.
The clone will take a while.

When done, open the "startup disk" preference pane.
Click the lock and enter your password.
Click on the SSD to make it "the new boot drive".

Now, REBOOT.
Do you boot up from the SSD? (should be faster).
When you get logged in, check "about this mac" to be sure.

Try this, then get back to us.

 

[LongXP]

OP:
"I'm willing to wipe the SSD as there is nothing on there but not the hard drive lol"

Then things should be relatively easy.
PRINT OUT THIS MESSAGE and check it off as you go along.

Download CarbonCopyCloner from here:

Download CCC | Bombich Software

www.bombich.com

(CCC is FREE to use for 30 days. If you "do things my way", this will cost you nothing)

CCC should go on the hard drive (NOT onto the SSD).

Now...
Boot from hard drive. (you're booted from it already, right?)

Open disk utility.
Check to see if there is a view menu.
If there's a view menu, choose "show all devices".
(this is a VERY important step).

Look on the left to see the physical SSD.
Click on it and ERASE IT to APFS, GUID partition format.

Now quit disk utility.

Open CCC.
Accept the CCC defaults.
You can click "tips" to get rid of the "helper balloons".

You will see 3 "boxes" in the main area of CCC's window.
For the box "on the left" (the source) select the HDD.
For the box "in the middle" (the target) select the SSD.
IGNORE the box on the right (scheduling). You don't need it.

Now click "clone", follow through and let CCC do its thing.
The clone will take a while.

When done, open the "startup disk" preference pane.
Click the lock and enter your password.
Click on the SSD to make it "the new boot drive".

Now, REBOOT.
Do you boot up from the SSD? (should be faster).
When you get logged in, check "about this mac" to be sure.

Try this, then get back to us.

I tried this method but since I installed only a 128gb SSD, it (obviously) couldn't clone my entire hard drive over and filled up pretty quickly. I only want to clone the bare minimum macOS Mojave over so that I could continue using existing apps that I already installed on my hard drive. Is there a way I could do that? Or do I have to start from scratch?

 

[Fishrrman]

How large is the internal HDD?

Here's a question you've never been asked before:
How large is your home folder (on the HDD)?
How large is your applications folder (as well)?

CCC can be used to "selectively clone" a drive. That is, you can "de-select" stuff you DON'T WANT cloned, and CCC will "clone the rest of it".

What we're trying to determine is WHAT is eating up your space on the HDD, and WHERE it's located...

 

[LongXP]

How large is the internal HDD?

Here's a question you've never been asked before:
How large is your home folder (on the HDD)?
How large is your applications folder (as well)?

CCC can be used to "selectively clone" a drive. That is, you can "de-select" stuff you DON'T WANT cloned, and CCC will "clone the rest of it".

What we're trying to determine is WHAT is eating up your space on the HDD, and WHERE it's located...

After my Linux partition, my hard drive is about 650gb (530gb used). Applications folder is about 44-45ish and home folder is 82gb

I see where this is going... though I am still pretty confused about what I'm doing ._.

 

[MBAir2010]

IN system preferences,
towards the bottom of options, there is start up disks
how many start up disk are shown, avaialble?

 

[LongXP]

IN system preferences,
towards the bottom of options, there is start up disks
how many start up disk are shown, avaialble?

Only one. The current hard drive that I'm using, since I wiped the SSD and there isn't anything there

 

[MBAir2010]

Only one. The current hard drive that I'm using, since I wiped the SSD and there isn't anything there

what operating system does that show?
the linux, or Mojave?

 

[LongXP]

what operating system does that show?
the linux, or Mojave?

It shows macOS Mojave with my hard drive name on it. Not sure why it doesn't show Linux but I can access it just fine using rEFInd

 

[MBAir2010]

that is good, if you want apple os Mojave to start your MacBook pro.
which makes you a certified Mojavian!
welcome!
anyways,
as far as linux, i never had any successes with my MacBook air and linux, mint loaded but never did anything.
but other might, after they put down the eggnog
I'm getting the same MacBook pro 13" (with that good stable GPUx) soon, any advice or regrets or happy thoughts?
been using  since 1990 at work and home.
and knows that 2012 was their peak for freedom and *interchangeabilty!
*a word that does not exist anymore!

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:
"Applications folder is about 44-45ish and home folder is 82gb"

Most folks (not me) store their music, pics, and perhaps even movies in their home folder, using the respective folders "movies", "music", and "pictures".

Doing this "swells up the size" of the home folder, however.

Normally, this isn't a problem.
However, for moving things to a smaller SSD, it can BECOME "a problem".

But this can be "worked around".

CarbonCopyCloner can handles this for you ... EASILY.

Here's how to do it:

First... have your SSD "ready, empty, and waiting" (formatted to APFS, GUID partition format).

Next... once you have CCC, open it.
Again (as described above), set up your "source" and "target" volumes.

NOW... we're going to "custom-configure" CCC to do what we need to do.

See the popup that normally displays "safetynet on"?
Set that to "safetynet OFF".

To the left of that popup, there's another that normally says "copy all files".
Set that to "copy SOME files".

When you do, a new window opens up.
Take a moment to examine it -- it is listing ALL the files on the drive.

Go down to the "users" folder.
Click the "disclosure arrow" that will reveal the contents.

You'll see your own home folder.
Again, click the disclosure arrow to reveal the contents.

For our example, we will use the "pictures" folder. But it could also be "documents", "movies", and "music".

When you click the disclosure arrow, you'll see all the contents inside -- files and folders.

What you need to do now is "selectively UNCHECK them".
Some of the items --- such as the Photos Library, if you use Photos -- would be very large, and you want to "leave these behind" (as they can easily be "referenced" by Photos when booted from the SSD).
So... UNCHECK this.

I can't see what's on YOUR drive... so it's really going to be UP TO YOU to decide what needs to be left behind.

One way might be to uncheck nearly EVERYTHING, and move things over "manually" later on. Tedious, but you do what you have to do.

You DO need to copy the specific folders named "documents", "Movies", "Music", and pictures, EVEN IF YOU LEAVE EVERYTHING ELSE BEHIND.
The reason has to do with permissions and ownership, so that this is properly configured on the SSD.

ALSO... if there are other folders "outside of" your home folder, that YOU created (not the OS), you'll have to ascertain whether they should go or stay.
Might be easier to leave them where they are for the moment.

Do you see where we're going here?
You are using this feature of CCC to "trim down" the clone BEFORE you clone it.

I would migrate ALL the applications if they'll fit.

Once you have all your selections made, then turn CCC loose and let it do its thing.

The worst that can happen is there will still be "too much" and CCC will warn you.

You probably want to keep around 10gb "free" on the SSD, at least, so that the OS has "breathing room".

Good luck.

WAIT !
THERE'S MORE !

Y'know, you could just buy a 500gb SSD, swap that out with the one you have now, and I'll bet things would go easier!

 

[LongXP]

Y'know, you could just buy a 500gb SSD, swap that out with the one you have now, and I'll bet things would go easier!

Yeah... Should've done that. Oh well, too late to complain now. I spent this Sunday's entire afternoon deleting unnecessary files and backing up (took me about 4 tries to get it right, oof).
It's finally done now and my mac is now pretty damn fast. Anyways, after booting up and a few small setting up steps, I notice that my Downloads, documents and other folders like applications (Yeah, some stuff just won't fit sadly, got all the essentials tho) are from my SSD (wow ground-breaking, I know). Is there a way I could just set them as my hard drive folders just for convenience?

 

[LongXP]

that is good, if you want apple os Mojave to start your MacBook pro.
which makes you a certified Mojavian!
welcome!
anyways,
as far as linux, i never had any successes with my MacBook air and linux, mint loaded but never did anything.
but other might, after they put down the eggnog
I'm getting the same MacBook pro 13" (with that good stable GPUx) soon, any advice or regrets or happy thoughts?
been using  since 1990 at work and home.
and knows that 2012 was their peak for freedom and *interchangeabilty!
*a word that does not exist anymore!

Regrets? Well not really, Just take care of the mac so that it doesn't get aluminum chippings around where your hands usually rest but that really shouldn't affect the performance itself.
Also don't be like me, use an SSD, it's a lot better than a hard drive.
Spoils the mac. 8gb of ram minimum (16 is preferable, I actually might upgrade to 16gb soon since I do some ram intensive stuff). Keep it clean, wipe it with isopropyl alcohol and clean it inside out. Keep the thermals under control too, I like to use TG Pro (macfancontrols will also work) replace the thermal paste inside if you feel like it but it's a bit of a pain to get inside.

And that's basically old macbook user guide in a nutshell. Even with this mac, I can do programming pretty well on Linux and do some light photoshop sometimes so it's no slouch at all. Oh and check this out as well for Linux.

 

[MBAir2010]

Regrets? Well not really, Just take care of the mac so that it doesn't get aluminum chippings around where your hands

And that's basically old macbook user guide in a nutshell. Even with this mac, I can do programming pretty well on Linux and do some light photoshop sometimes so it's no slouch at all. Oh and check this out as well for Linux.

my goal is to acquire a 2012 MacBook pro and built that up as much as possible.
since i can resurrect many computers, i might get one were only the screen works but in nice condition.
Mojave will run great on these MacBooks and when iCloud stops supporting this, firefox legacy would be a great alternative with a 3rd party cloud service,
and 258 GB would db the minimum spaces needed.

 

[LongXP]

my goal is to acquire a 2012 MacBook pro and built that up as much as possible.
since i can resurrect many computers, i might get one were only the screen works but in nice condition.
Mojave will run great on these MacBooks and when iCloud stops supporting this, firefox legacy would be a great alternative with a 3rd party cloud service,
and 258 GB would db the minimum spaces needed.

Good luck! To be honest, the only thing I don't really like is the bezels, bit too thick but it's 2012 standards and I can easily get used to it after a few minutes of looking at the screen. Otherwise, I still love this mac, the keyboard and trackpad are still top notch, the i7 3520M in this thing do my tasks perfectly and I'm looking into upgrading this even more with 16gb of ram.

 

[MBAir2010]

Good luck! To be honest, the only thing I don't really like is the bezels, bit too thick but it's 2012 standards and I can easily get used to it after a few minutes of looking at the screen. Otherwise, I still love this mac, the keyboard and trackpad are still top notch, the i7 3520M in this thing do my tasks perfectly and I'm looking into upgrading this even more with 16gb of ram.

since i use the 2010 MBA model, the bezels are second nature, the MBP is thinner.

why do i stubbornly prefer the 2011 model over the 2012 is bothering me.
the 2012 is much faster and has better bluetooth

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"I notice that my Downloads, documents and other folders like applications (Yeah, some stuff just won't fit sadly, got all the essentials tho) are from my SSD (wow ground-breaking, I know). Is there a way I could just set them as my hard drive folders just for convenience?"

How about creating aliases (of the folders on the HDD), and then put them in the appropriate places on the SSD...?

 

[LongXP]

How about creating aliases (of the folders on the HDD), and then put them in the appropriate places on the SSD...?

Alright, so that works, using 2 homes feels weird. Though what doesn't work is the Accessibility tab in Security and Privacy... I need to get something there so I can use it but I've been wrestling with it for a while and can't get it in there at all. Every time I tried, it won't appear, and even when I disabled SIP and macOS making everything seems like it's working... it just revert back to not accepting any apps in the Accessibility panel and it's really damn frustrating. Do you have any solution to this? App works just fine when I was on my hard drive and now Accessibility won't allow any apps, tried disabling SIP, TCC reset,... etc

 

[saudor]

Id be careful about moving home folders to the HDD (one being it will complicate things and 2) it can start defeating the purpose of SSD in the first place) Same with apps. They're much betters suited to be on the SSD

HDD should be data stuff like documents, movies, pictures, etc. I just make use of the favorites sidebar to "pin" for easy access

 

[Macyourdayy]

Yup that's the one


It's actually not external I replaced the DVD drive with a hard drive and a SSD setup instead. I tried to go to the Mojave installation on my SSD just now and there's been no problem. Except for the fact that I forgot the password I put on it. Anyhow, my main concern is how to put my current Mojave on to that SSD and use it to boot instead which I'm pretty clueless on how to do it. I have some important files and apps which would be a hassle to replace so I'd prefer not wiping my hard drive and SSD (I'm willing to wipe the SSD as there is nothing on there but not the hard drive lol)

In case there are issues with your system install on the SSD, you could just hold down option on a restart and then select the SSD rather than select it as the boot drive in prefs. If there’s a problem, it will revert to the regular system drive on the next boot. Having been caught in weird boot issues and crash loops before, I suggest caution.

 

[LongXP]

Id be careful about moving home folders to the HDD (one being it will complicate things and 2) it can start defeating the purpose of SSD in the first place) Same with apps. They're much betters suited to be on the SSD

Ah *****, seems like you're not wrong. Well, I guess I'll start moving over whatever fits/is important. Well first I need to try and fix the Accessibility first though

 

[LongXP]

Alright. After hours upon hours of trouble shooting and stuff. I finally (I hope) fixed all the issues that I had. Thanks for giving me tips and tutorials on how to do this stuff o_0 I'm still fairly new to macOS if you're comparing to my time with Windows so I appreciate all the help and tips I got