How to copy SL programs from

one bootable disc to another.

I have a 500 GB HD which is making clicking sounds and has 450 GB of Data. I want to put in an 128 GB SSD. I am thinking it would be best to format the SSD, install SL, Update. Rather than going through installing all the programs I have accumulated, I was thinking it might be possible just to drag a folder from the current spinning HD to the SSD. That is, I know that Windows has file permissions that prohibit copying plus one would need to copy the Registry file. I do not know how Apple handles this kind of copy.

The other option is to simply clear all of my personal files off the current 500 GB spinning hard drive and what is left would fit onto the 128 GB SSD. Takes a lot of time. Plus, it is nice to have one more copy of my personal data.

Thanks for any replies.

Yes do a clean install from the system disc on the SSD and update or use Migration Assistant with the old drive connected by Firewire or USB in an external case. Dragging folders/files does not work too well, particularly if you use Office or Adobe suites.

Another option is to do a full backup with Time Machine then when you finish installing your new OS (and drive), the option exists to restore from a TM backup. I did it when I moved my graphics machine to SL. You even have your old HD which I put into an external just in case and then use as a scratch for Photoshop.

I failed on the grab, drag and drop

for the Applications Folder and Finder said, nope. file in use.

Since I have already backed up the 500 GB spinning hard drive, I just deleted enough of my personal stuff so it would fit onto the 128 GB SSD. Then I used CCC to clone the spinning 500 GB hard drive to the 128 SSD.

I just booted the computer from the SSD that is on USB3, wow, makes the internet faster. I guess that is proof that the spinning hard drive is going bad, as there is no way the system working through the USB would be as fast as using a healthy internal drive.

Curious though. When I tried to delete movies and downloads, if I tried to delete from inside the folders, finder said some of the files were busy and aborted off. So I tried to delete the folder of these two. Each time it would stop with a "is in use," but completed the task and left the empty folder on the hard drive. Perhaps this "in Use thing comes from Itunes using some of these files to sync with my Ipad and Ipod Nano. I bet Itunes will scream and carry on when I try to sync to them the next time. I have also some files which will not copy or be deleted individually in another folder which is a real pain.

Anyone know how to clear this, "is in use" type error.

I will let the Notebook cool off tonight and put the SSD into it tomorrow morning.

Apparently I could leave the spinning hard drive in the MBP until it went into hard fail, and then Apple would replace the spinning 500 GB hard drive. Which I could put into an external enclosure and use. I am not willing to put up with the aggravation of computer not functioning correctly for several more weeks until the HD goes into complete failure.

And now I have cloned over to the SSD any problems I do not know about.

Thank you for replying. If you know how to clear the in "in use" for files (it is an MP3 file) then please let me know.

Like everyone else, waiting to hear the Lion Roar.

Be interesting to see what happens as OWC technicians advised strongly against cloning a normal platter hard drive to an SSD as it takes a lot of the problems and slowness with it via the clone. You will know where to look if there are problems. Keep us posted?

On a Mac Pro Mercury Extreme SSD boots in about fourteen seconds with one a one half rotations of the gear wheel.

You beat me

by a country mile. Takes 37 seconds to get to PW prompt, and then about five to get from hitting PW enter key to full screen. If I am racing against a Mac Pro then I am in the wrong class of race, this is a MBP. This is a Mercury Extreme Pro SSD. Does OWC use the same name for the faster transfer rate SSD as the slower. I bought this SSD several months ago. I am also starting Virus Barrier, which might slow it down a bit. ???

Apparently OS X is forgiving of my errors and simply works.

I think I should follow your suggestion and go back and reinstall the whole thing. I was trying to avoid that because it will take hours to find all the third party programs, install them, then upgrade them.

There is another issue about that, if you know: M$ reports Trojans that can survive a complete reformat of a hard drive. I suspect that they hide in the links of the Journaled file system. I suspect I could insure that did not happen if I zeroed the drive with an erase program, then formatted the drive with FAT32, and then used a HD erase program to clear it. Format it to NTFS and use an erase program, again. Then Format it to MAC Journaled, before the install. Theory being that the trojans can not hide in the different link structures and one or the other will get it. I do not see any advice about this.

Also, I would need a stand alone erase program that is a bit different than some of the ones I see. I would only want to write over the drive once, not 8 times. I am not trying to stop the NSA from taking apart the drive and using their equipment to read a once erased sector. Know of any?

What I can not easily remember (for my 3 different browsers) how to do is; how to keep all the bookmarks. I would have write down and copy all my PW's (I never save the PW to anything related to money, like my bank or Amazon.com in case someone steals my computer).

I think I would like to put all of my Itunes data onto an external drive as it is like 58 GB, and still be able to link to the Itunes data when I plug in my Ipod or Ipad, as it becomes more complicated to use them. I am not sure where to set up the pointer telling Itunes its data file is on an external drive. Do you know how to do that? Maybe I should wait on Lion as that might change.

I see the stuff about Lion has virtualization that will allow an Mac OS to run under a Mac OS, a first. Does this mean I will be able to have Snow Leopard run under Lion? Which brings up some interesting thoughts of how to run the computer. Does this mean that Apple has just eliminated the market for VmWareFusion and Parallels? Or that those programs are just allowed to do different things.

Why does the internet seem a lot faster with an SSD rather than a spinning drive? I would think that my 4 GB of RAM would be enough that just going to a few web pages would not cause any paging to the drive. ??

If you know then please let me know.

Suggest just zeroing the drive when booted from your install disc and proceeding with the fresh install., That is the joy of a new machine, the upgrading of all your old software. For your Office problems just do a clean install from the CD and use the first activation code again.

Bookmarks personally prefer to let the new install find its own and then save rather than transfer over. As for Lion just wait and see. It will be up to the software manufacturers to decide if Parallels etc will continue on Lion.

Everything is faster with an SSD ~ that is the nature of the beast and why we paid premium bucks!

Time machine has lost data for me

in the past. I ended up with zero kb files. As I look on forums, I am not alone. One can not judge a back up program until it fails.