Need help with converting to a new Harddrive (SSD)

[SharkRaptor]

So, I've been looking around, and I cant seem to find out how to do this.

I bought a new SSD (As well as a mount) and have put it into my computer. I have formatted it to Mac OS Extended (Journaled), so I know it works.

So, what I want to do.

What I want to do is make my SSD my primary harddrive, and have Macintosh HD on that (If I can)

I'm sure this is a really simple thing to do, but I've always been more of a PC person, just recently getting into Macs.

Thank you so much in advance!

 

[omvs]

You can either do a fresh install to the SSD, or use something like SuperDuper to clone your existing hard drive to the SSD, or even restore a time machine backup to the drive.

In any case, once you have a bootable OS on it, just use the Startup Disk in system preferences to tell it to boot off the SSD instead. Or hold down Option key after poweron and you can select which drive you wan to boot to.

 

[SharkRaptor]

You can either do a fresh install to the SSD, or use something like SuperDuper to clone your existing hard drive to the SSD, or even restore a time machine backup to the drive.

In any case, once you have a bootable OS on it, just use the Startup Disk in system preferences to tell it to boot off the SSD instead. Or hold down Option key after poweron and you can select which drive you wan to boot to.

Thanks for the response!

I actually do have a TimeMachine backup on a separate, external harddrive. How can I restore to the new SSD? I'm looking around, and I can onlt seem to figure out how to back up using TimeMachine -- not Restore to a new point.

 

[SharkRaptor]

Just downloaded Super Duper, and am using that.

Thank you so much for the help!

 

[omvs]

Looks like you're set, but if you do want to restore a time machine backup, boot the machine holding down Command-R - this should take you into recovery mode. From there you can do a time machine restore, or fresh install.

NOTE: This does requires a recovery partition, or a mac capable of doing internet recovery. It sounds like you've got the classic mac pro which didn't have internet recovery, so one of your drives has to have a recovery partition to do this. I don't think super-duper copies the recovery partition, though doing a fresh install of 10.7 or later should make one.

If you have a install CD, you can boot off that instead (hold down Command-C I think), and it should have a time machine restore option there...

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

My tried and true (and easier method, for me) is to install the blank SSD in the Mac, and boot off a USB bootable OSX flash drive with the same OSX as you are running. Run Disk Utility from the first screen, and do a "restore", choosing Macintosh HD as the source and your SSD as the destination and click GO. You wind up with a clone of your Macintosh HD on your SSD.

No other software needed.

Good luck whichever method you use.

 

[IowaLynn]

You probably want to have a Recovery Partition.

I switched from DU to SuperDuper and back to Carbon Copy Cloner (started using in 2002). CCC let's you chose to skip folders, so you can have

/Users/my-home-account/Library

but then not copy all the larger media files and libraries and folders

Definitely keep the OS installer around - and you can do the same thing you did with flash drive but on a (faster) partition on one of the hard drives (I put it on more than one, including a small 20GB on a TimeMachine drive).

And always keep system image clone or backup - disk volume or sparse disk image (both).

One thing that tends to help maintain performance of your SSD, install or enable TRIM on the boot device before cloning, it will help with the SSD and then will be installed also. Of course Yosemite users need to decide just what to do for themselves. Apple has voted for closed (signed) kernel and no support for SSDs except their own after six plus years SSDs in use. Very proprietary closed ecosystem.

 

[lexR]

I use carbon copy cloner and can't rate it enough I reg do back ups of my raid HDD and raid SSD and it's got me out of a pickle many'r time