cloning my hardrive to SSD connected via Firewire

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I apologies if this discussion has already been opened but i have searched with no answers - basically i want to clone my current 2tb platter drive to the ssd however as the ssd is only 250 gb this is not possible - The OS, spps and plugin installs certainly amount to less than 250gb so is there a way to pick and choose which items i clone to the ssd using CCC or superduper etc? i basically want to have the ssd as a bottable clone with all of my apps and plugins whilst keeping the sample libraries and large files on the internal platter drive.
any feedback as massively appreciated
cheers
 
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is there a way to pick and choose which items i clone to the ssd using CCC or superduper etc?
Certainly in CCC(which I use) you can, and more than likely in Superduper, but as I've never used that, I can't say for sure.
 
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thanks for the reply - any suggestions on which folders i would have to clone/transfer? also would i install mac OSX onto the drive before cloning or would it be installed during the initial clone from the original drive?
My initial thought were to clone the 'application', 'library' and 'system' folders from the original drive as the 'users' folder seems to only contain downloads, documents music samples etc which would not be essential for a bootable drive.
thanks again.
 
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I apologies if this discussion has already been opened but i have searched with no answers - basically i want to clone my current 2tb platter drive to the ssd however as the ssd is only 250 gb this is not possible - ...........

Hi Boston - personally, I'm using CCC (I clone my MBPro & iMac to a 1 TB external HD w/ two partitions) - if you want a 'bootable' clone using one of the two programs mentioned, I would strongly suggest doing a complete clone, then if you have an internal drive failure you can boot into your exact configuration and/or use the cloned drive to load & duplicated a replacement one.

In general multiple levels of backups are desirable; for starters, do you use TM (Time Machine) backing to an external drive (however, TM will not boot)? If not, this would be the first suggestion. Then a 'cloned' bootable drive a next recommendation. Finally, for myself, I keep my 'personal files' (docs/music/pics) on an external SSD for my laptop & on Carbonite for my wife's iMac.

Hopefully others will 'chime in' w/ thoughts for what you might want to do w/ the SSD - good luck. Dave :)
 
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Hi Dave, I keep full clones on other external sources so no worries there - im using CCC now and have everything checked to clone aside from the 'Users' folder which contains my 'personal files'. do you beleive that i will be able to boot from this source then access my personal files from the internal drive?
cheers
Jack
 
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Hi Dave, I keep full clones on other external sources so no worries there - im using CCC now and have everything checked to clone aside from the 'Users' folder which contains my 'personal files'. do you beleive that i will be able to boot from this source then access my personal files from the internal drive?

Hi Jack - OK, so you have the 'complete' bootable clone covered - great! Unfortunately, I've not given your request a try w/ CCC, so have no experience to help answer that question.

Hopefully, some of the other members w/ more knowledge of this app can help. And if not already done, visit the CCC Support Page - I've been there several times, myself - some good information, plus their contact response has helped me. Good luck & sorry that I cannot add much to your query. Dave :)
 
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Thanks for all your insight Dave! i'm currently cloning the drive and will report back upon trying to boot it.
thanks
Jack
 

Slydude

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What you are proposing should work though I have never tried it exactly that way. Remember though if you are on 10.7 and higher your user folder contains a normally hidden Library folder. It contains preferences and application support files. I just checked and Carbon Copy Cloner "sees" that Library folder. If you exclude the remainder of your user folder try including the Library folder in your backup. That should make restoring some apps easier.
 
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Some SSD manufacturers recommend using their own cloning software and OWC technicians did once advise against cloning platter drives to OWC SSDs.
 

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