Why should I perform a fresh install on new SSD?

ycl1688 said:

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

Click to expand...

I used CCC

clean install = OS only, or reinstall each individual app as well?

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.

chemist said:

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.

Click to expand...

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.

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

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.

ycl1688 said:

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,

Click to expand...

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?

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.

ycl1688 said:

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.

Click to expand...

Many many thanks @ycl1688

Opps, I somehow lost this thread

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

Thanks again!

Click to expand...

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

McYukon said:

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

Click to expand...

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!

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.
Thats right. I installed a new HDD (Because I needed a bigger one, and the SSD all at the same time. Then I booted off a external firewire dock that now has my old, OS X installed HDD in it and formatted internal drives.
You can (reading below that you want to just move the HDD to the Data Doubler) just move it to the Data Doubler. Install the SSD, boot of the HDD in the DataDoubler and reformat.


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?
Yeah, so if application registrations are important for you you will need to transfer the entire Library folder over to the SSD user. HOWEVER, do this this way.
Boot from the SSD, setup the user. Then boot back into the HDD and start copying the folders in the Library folder to the SSD user.
If you try and do it from the SSD you will run into "This file is currently being used and cannot be replaced. etc" errors.

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?
I see absolutely no problem at all in that, make sure you set the boot drive in the System Prefs though so that OS X boots from the SSD and not the HDD.You will then have 2 complete OS's in your Mac.

Lastly, would the performance of programs on Bootcamp on the secondary HDD be affected, or just their boot time?
Depends, if the application has data on the HDD that it needs to access time after time while it is open then it will slow down. Lets say you are using Windows Adobe Lightroom, and your Photo catalogue is also on the HDD, it will as slow as the HDD is
Now games, browsers, anything that loads it's data once and then doesn't need to reload it
until it's quite and reopened. Those you will just see a slower boot time.

Thanks again!

McYukon said:

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.
Thats right. I installed a new HDD (Because I needed a bigger one, and the SSD all at the same time. Then I booted off a external firewire dock that now has my old, OS X installed HDD in it and formatted internal drives.
You can (reading below that you want to just move the HDD to the Data Doubler) just move it to the Data Doubler. Install the SSD, boot of the HDD in the DataDoubler and reformat.


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?
Yeah, so if application registrations are important for you you will need to transfer the entire Library folder over to the SSD user

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?
I see absolutely no problem at all in that, make sure you set the boot drive in the System Prefs though so that OS X boots from the SSD and not the HDD.You will then have 2 complete OS's in your Mac.

Lastly, would the performance of programs on Bootcamp on the secondary HDD be affected, or just their boot time?
Depends, if the application has data on the HDD that it needs to access time after time while it is open then it will slow down. Lets say you are using Windows Adobe Lightroom, and your Photo catalogue is also on the HDD, it will as slow as the HDD is
Now games, browsers, anything that loads it's data once and then doesn't need to reload it
until it's quite and reopened. Those you will just see a slower boot time.

Thanks again!

Click to expand...

That sounds great! I really only want to use Bootcamp for games, so I don't mind the wait for the game to boot up.

As for the User settings and such, when I am installing OS X on my SSD, will I just make a new account? Can I keep the same name? Once that is completed, do I literally just drag and drop the Library folder?

Will I need to replace the other Library folders? There are three that I can see:

Macintosh HD/Library
Macintosh HD/System/Library
Macintosh HD/Users/XX/Library

I believe the application data is stored in Users/XX/Library, but I want to double check.

Is it even possible to replace the Macintosh HD/Library folder?

And about the software registration. If I am indeed dragging and dropping the folders to the freshly installed OS, will the software still be registered, or will there be errors? If this was the case, wouldn't it be possible to just share the corresponding file to get software for free?

Thanks again!

That sounds great! I really only want to use Bootcamp for games, so I don't mind the wait for the game to boot up.

As for the User settings and such, when I am installing OS X on my SSD, will I just make a new account? Can I keep the same name? Once that is completed, do I literally just drag and drop the Library folder?
Boot from the SSD, setup the user can be the same name! I even suggest you use the same name. Then boot back into the HDD and start copying the folders in the Library folder to the SSD user. (You can try the entire Library folder if you want)
If you try and do it from the SSD logged into the user you are trying to replace files in you will run into "This file is currently being used and cannot be replaced. etc" errors.

So to repeat myself, copy the Library folder from the HDD (While being booted into the HDD) to the SSD. And then boot into the SSD and run a permissions repair to make everything have the right perms. Some might have a problem with this approach, but hey it worked for me

Will I need to replace the other Library folders? There are three that I can see:

Macintosh HD/Library
Macintosh HD/System/Library
Macintosh HD/Users/XX/Library

I believe the application data is stored in Users/XX/Library, but I want to double check.
Most application registration data is stored in your User Library folder, leave the others alone unless you want trouble ;p


Is it even possible to replace the Macintosh HD/Library folder?
Yes, but it's not advisable to muck about in there.

And about the software registration. If I am indeed dragging and dropping the folders to the freshly installed OS, will the software still be registered, or will there be errors? If this was the case, wouldn't it be possible to just share the corresponding file to get software for free?
Most of it will be registered, maybe even all of it. Now if it isn't it's not that hard to search up the email with the registration info and re-register.

Thanks again!

McYukon said:

That sounds great! I really only want to use Bootcamp for games, so I don't mind the wait for the game to boot up.

As for the User settings and such, when I am installing OS X on my SSD, will I just make a new account? Can I keep the same name? Once that is completed, do I literally just drag and drop the Library folder?
Boot from the SSD, setup the user can be the same name! I even suggest you use the same name. Then boot back into the HDD and start copying the folders in the Library folder to the SSD user. (You can try the entire Library folder if you want)
If you try and do it from the SSD logged into the user you are trying to replace files in you will run into "This file is currently being used and cannot be replaced. etc" errors.

So to repeat myself, copy the Library folder from the HDD (While being booted into the HDD) to the SSD. And then boot into the SSD and run a permissions repair to make everything have the right perms. Some might have a problem with this approach, but hey it worked for me

Will I need to replace the other Library folders? There are three that I can see:

Macintosh HD/Library
Macintosh HD/System/Library
Macintosh HD/Users/XX/Library

I believe the application data is stored in Users/XX/Library, but I want to double check.
Most application registration data is stored in your User Library folder, leave the others alone unless you want trouble ;p


Is it even possible to replace the Macintosh HD/Library folder?
Yes, but it's not advisable to muck about in there.

And about the software registration. If I am indeed dragging and dropping the folders to the freshly installed OS, will the software still be registered, or will there be errors? If this was the case, wouldn't it be possible to just share the corresponding file to get software for free?
Most of it will be registered, maybe even all of it. Now if it isn't it's not that hard to search up the email with the registration info and re-register.

Thanks again!

Click to expand...

Again, you were very clear. Thank you very much for all the help! I figure, if I don't just go ahead and do it, I never will. I will probably start the OS X installation tomorrow.

If I run into any errors, hopefully you won't mind answering them

Thanks again for all the help!