04-18-2012, 11:35 AM

it does not hurt to clone, it is not going to blow up in your macbook not a chance, then make sure you
boot up from external drive. then install osx in your ssd after installing in your macbook.
How To Install an SSD in a Unibody MacBook Pro | Mac|Life

04-19-2012, 12:25 AM

Originally Posted by ycl1688

it does not hurt to clone, it is not going to blow up in your macbook not a chance, then make sure you
boot up from external drive. then install osx in your ssd after installing in your macbook.
How To Install an SSD in a Unibody MacBook Pro | Mac|Life

Last question. Although it won't "blow up", how much performance and stability decrease are we talking? I understand it isn't a hefty bunch, but considering I got an SSD to maximize my speed and performance, it would be a shame to take the easy way out and lose that.

Have your personally cloned any of your drives? How did they perform in comparison to what was expected?

I apologize, but thanks again!

04-19-2012, 09:56 AM

consider the owc, intel and samsung ssd I installed in my macbook pro.
owc way of installing osx first and then migrate the data to ssd, does not beat the other ssd with cloning. same stability and speed.
life is matter of making choices and there is always a first time.

04-20-2012, 07:20 AM

I cloned my SL install from the original HD onto an OWC SSD (SATAII) over a year ago, and have had no stability problems or performance degradation - it still benchmarks at 270MB/sec read, 250MB/sec write and boots to the login window in 14 seconds.

Cloning is easier - try that first, if it doesn't work, then do a fresh install.

04-20-2012, 08:48 AM

Originally Posted by northrnchimp

I cloned my SL install from the original HD onto an OWC SSD (SATAII) over a year ago, and have had no stability problems or performance degradation - it still benchmarks at 270MB/sec read, 250MB/sec write and boots to the login window in 14 seconds.

Cloning is easier - try that first, if it doesn't work, then do a fresh install.

Which cloning software did you use super duper or ccc ? thanks.

04-20-2012, 12:56 PM

Originally Posted by ycl1688

Which cloning software did you use super duper or ccc ? thanks.

I used CCC

04-22-2012, 05:25 AM

I'm doing a clean install of OSX onto a new 256GB Samsung 830 SSD. This will be the internal drive for my MacBook Pro 8,2. Given that I'm staying with the same OS version (10.6.8), is there any reason to also do fresh installations of each of the numerous individual applications (about two days' work, including license reactivation, etc.), as opposed to just copying over the Application and Library folders from my old drive?

Also, McYukon wrote you should do a clean install (at least of the OS) because "the SSD has a controller board that decides where the data is best located, on a normal HD data is written from one end to the other. Hence if you clone, you will have the HD's data arrangement which is not optimal for the SSD arrangement." But I don't fully understand this since, regardless of whether you clone or do a fresh install, the data that is deposited on the SSD still has to go through that same controller -- i.e., just because it is present on the HD in a certain arrangement, that doesn't mean the controller, during a clone, has to deposit it on the SSD in the same arrangement.

04-22-2012, 08:27 AM

Originally Posted by chemist

I'm doing a clean install of OSX onto a new 256GB Samsung 530 SSD. This will be the internal drive for my MacBook Pro 8,2. Given that I'm staying with the same OS version (10.6.8), is there any reason to also do fresh installations of each of the numerous individual applications (about two days' work, including license reactivation, etc.), as opposed to just copying over the Application and Library folders from my old drive?

Also, McYukon wrote you should do a clean install (at least of the OS) because "the SSD has a controller board that decides where the data is best located, on a normal HD data is written from one end to the other. Hence if you clone, you will have the HD's data arrangement which is not optimal for the SSD arrangement." But I don't fully understand this since, regardless of whether you clone or do a fresh install, the data that is deposited on the SSD still has to go through that same controller -- i.e., just because it is present on the HD in a certain arrangement, that doesn't mean the controller, during a clone, has to deposit it on the SSD in the same arrangement.

Clean install osx for samsung ssd is a sure way, yet doing individual you can leave it alone. if you feel it is necessary, you can do migration assistant in utilities to get the job done by transferring over all the good stuff not individually except osx.

04-27-2012, 12:29 AM

Hi guys. recent switcher here...

i just want to clarify something about cloning mentioned in this thread.

WHY do you need to install the OS on the newly cloned SSD or HD after cloning it with the internal HD? I thought they will become identical twins. After mounting the new cloned SSD or HD to you notebook, this should boot up like the old one right? Then why should we install the OS again?


Pls enlighten me guys. Many Thanks

CebuCity

04-27-2012, 09:00 AM

cebucity,
about osx clean install, it is not necessary, if your clone works just as expected, such as boot up fast and surfing fast than your ssd works.
if not, you have to clean install.
to test your disk speed, from mac store you can get a free app, Blackmagic disk speed to test.

04-28-2012, 01:02 AM

Originally Posted by ycl1688

what I meant is when you copied internal to external ssd drive using ccc, you are at this point getting both drives are identical twins. You have to boot up from from external drive (ssd) make sure your cloning and ssd drive is working.
step 1, I assume you are using external enclosure with ssd in it. after cloning with ccc.
step 2, boot up with chime sounds, press 'option' key. then the ssd drive image shows.
step 3 using this ssd to boot up your mac at his point make sure your external ssd is working.
step 4 swap drives out with old in with new.
step 5. boot up your mac, then install osx into your ssd drive,

Thank you for the reply @ycl1688. That's a great input for me.

By the way I'm still a bit confused about point (5.). Why do you need to install OSX when it is already cloned (it has already OS inside), so installation should not be necessary right?

04-28-2012, 08:14 AM

cebucity,
this is a catch 22 situation, it is not necessary for item #5, if you feel the boot up time for ssd is around 15-17 seconds, browsing and surfing on your mbp is fast . Then everything is fine. forget about clean install of osx.
if you have OWC ssd drive they recommend to clean install and using migration assistant to get your ssd working to its full potential. Yet northrnchimp (who tries just using ccc).
if you have other than owc ssd drives such as intel, samsung, crucial or others take a chance without osx clean install.
The bottom line is does not hurt if you clean install osx, the drawback is osx lion from 10.7 to 10.7.3 is a pita, I mean when you do a software update via apple menu. Unless you can go to an apple store, they will do it in no time.

04-28-2012, 05:55 PM

Originally Posted by ycl1688

cebucity,
this is a catch 22 situation, it is not necessary for item #5, if you feel the boot up time for ssd is around 15-17 seconds, browsing and surfing on your mbp is fast . Then everything is fine. forget about clean install of osx.
if you have OWC ssd drive they recommend to clean install and using migration assistant to get your ssd working to its full potential. Yet northrnchimp (who tries just using ccc).
if you have other than owc ssd drives such as intel, samsung, crucial or others take a chance without osx clean install.
The bottom line is does not hurt if you clean install osx, the drawback is osx lion from 10.7 to 10.7.3 is a pita, I mean when you do a software update via apple menu. Unless you can go to an apple store, they will do it in no time.

Many many thanks @ycl1688

04-29-2012, 09:54 PM

Opps, I somehow lost this thread

One final thing. Do you have OS X installed on your 500 GB HDD?

Thanks again!

Mac OS X is on the SSD, because otherwise you will not see any speed increase at all.
Files that I rarely use get put on the slow HDD

04-30-2012, 09:51 PM

Originally Posted by McYukon

Opps, I somehow lost this thread



Mac OS X is on the SSD, because otherwise you will not see any speed increase at all.
Files that I rarely use get put on the slow HDD

Whoops. I didn't mean OS X. My apologies. However, at this point, I forgot what I wanted to ask

Anyway, I am still waiting to order my HDD caddy, so I haven't done anything yet.

Just for reassurance, let me run by this once more:

I should do all the fancy stuff to the SSD, then will do a fresh install.

Then, when you told me you brought your User folder over to the SSD as well, which folders are the essential ones?

For example, I don't need to bring my downloads folder over. I do not think I need to bring my Documents folder over either. The only folders I would need to bring over would be the Library and Application ones?

Then, in the future when I have my HDD installed as well, can I leave it just the way it is, and access folders accordingly?

Lastly, would the performance of programs on Bootcamp on the secondary HDD be affected, or just their boot time?

Thanks again!