2008 MBP SSD install / cloning issue

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I wanted to install an SSD in my MBP 15". I see with istat that I have only used 75 gbs of my available 250. I assumed that a 120 gb SSD would be enough to clone my old drive.Bought a crucial BX100 120 gb SSD. Disk Utility says that the 120 gb drive is not big enough to perform the cloning process. Any ideas why my math didn't work out or is there perhaps something else I may have missed.
 

RavingMac

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I wanted to install an SSD in my MBP 15". I see with istat that I have only used 75 gbs of my available 250. I assumed that a 120 gb SSD would be enough to clone my old drive.Bought a crucial BX100 120 gb SSD. Disk Utility says that the 120 gb drive is not big enough to perform the cloning process. Any ideas why my math didn't work out or is there perhaps something else I may have missed.

No idea, unless potentially you haven't emptied your trash and that space (deleted files) is being counted against you
 
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Thanks for your reply. I just read a step by step on cloning on the Crucial site. Apparently because I bought an SSD that is smaller than my original drive I have to reduce the partition size on my original drive to match. Looks fairly simple with Disk Utility. I'll give it a try.
 
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Most cloning software requires a matching size drive. By partitioning your old drive you force all the blocks of data into the partition of a size that matches your new drive.

When a drive writes information it does not just neatly stack it up in consecutive sections. Because data gets erased and new gets written, the data gets spread around the entire drive. The older the drive and the more use, the more spread out the data. So when you try to clone a larger drive to a smaller drive the software in effect says there is not enough room. Cloning means make an exact copy - free space and all.

Glad you found a solution.

Lisa
 

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Superduper! does not require a matching partition size. Don't believe CCC does either. Those are the 2 most often recommended here. What cloning software are you using?

Only block for block cloning requires matching partitions. SuperDuper! definitely does not do that, but is actually a pretty darn good defrag tool duing an initial clone.
 

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Superduper! does not require a matching partition size. Don't believe CCC does either. Those are the 2 most often recommended here. What cloning software are you using?

Only block for block cloning requires matching partitions. SuperDuper! definitely does not do that, but is actually a pretty darn good defrag tool duing an initial clone.

Never had a problem with CCC in cloning to a smaller drive either.
 
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Superduper! does not require a matching partition size. Don't believe CCC does either. Those are the 2 most often recommended here. What cloning software are you using?

Only block for block cloning requires matching partitions. SuperDuper! definitely does not do that, but is actually a pretty darn good defrag tool duing an initial clone.


+1!!!

And to confirm that goes for CCC as well — for normal cloning.

Size doesn't matter as long as enough empty space is available to accept the data for a clone.
 
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As above, no problems with CCC as long as the contents of the source drive are smaller than the destination drive. If you are using a caddy with dual data ports that supports disk to disk cloning, the the destination drive has to be the same or larger than the source. Then if the destination drive is, as is usually the case, larger, then after cloning expand the drive via the disk utility partition function.

More info required on the cloning process.
 

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