Migrating data from HDD to SSD

You may use these instructions which do not require anything but Disk Utility:

INSTALLING A NEW HDD IN A MBP.

1. Make certain that you have backed up all of your important data.

2. You will need a HDD enclosure. One with a USB connection will do. A 9 pin Firewire is better.

3. Install your new drive in the enclosure and connect it to your MBP.

4. Open DISK UTILITY>ERASE. From the left hand column drag the new drive into the 'Name' field. Make sure that the format is 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)'. Click on the 'Erase' button.

5. Click on the 'Restore' button (on top). Drag the old drive into the 'Source' field and the new drive into the 'Destination' field. Click on the 'Restore' button on the bottom right hand corner.

Depending upon the amount of data you are transferring, this may take a couple hours or more. A Firewire will speed up the transfer. This will result in both drives having identical information on them.

6. After the data transfer has completed, you may test the new HDD by starting your MBP with the OPTION key pressed down. Select the new HDD and see if it working to your satisfaction. If so, swap the drives. Start the MBP and you have finished the installation. The initial boot may take a bit longer than you are accustomed to, but that is normal.

7. When you are satisfied that the new hard drive if functioning properly, you can erase the old drive and use it for any needs that you may have.

I am assuming that the current 500 GB Seagate is using less than the capacity of the new Crucial SSD.

Ciao.

I do not believe that you have to do anything with the SMS. If I am incorrect, a command can be entered in Terminal to disable it.

I know nothing about TRIM (I do not use SSDs). I would contact the vendor or manufacturer for specific details.

Time Machine information can be found here (from the Pondini website):

http://pondini.org/OSX/Setup.html

Ciao.

OK, since you already have a Time Machine back-up via your Time Capsule, I'd use that (see below).]

But to question #2. You can use a utility such as TRIM Enabler (found here) to enable TRIM on your Crucial drive (I have the same Crucial m4 512GB drive as you're ordering). You can also do it manually - there are various methods to do it on the Internet, but TRIM Enabler works just fine.

Now - here's what I did.

1. Make certain that you have a bootable DVD or flash drive. Your profile doesn't show what OSX version you're running. If you use Lion, download both the "Install Mac OS X Lion.app" from the App Store and Lion DiskMaker. Using Lion DiskMaker, create a bootable install USB flash drive or DVD (the flash drive is much, much faster). If you're using a different OSX version, just use the disc that came with your system.
2. Make certain that you have an up-to-the-minute Time Machine back-up.
3. Remove all screws and your hard drive. There are instructional videos all over YouTube - watch a couple of them to make sure you're prepared. Also, make sure you have the right screwdrivers. This $18 toolkit from OWC has everything you'll need.
4. Install the new drive. If you have one of the newer MBP's, you'll remove the ten screws on the back, two screws that hold the drive in place, and the four Torx screws that keep the drive seated.
5. Boot from USB drive or DVD.
6. Using Disk Utility, format the SSD. Create one GUID partition (unless you have a reason to create more) and format using "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)".
7. Reboot and boot from the flash drive or DVD again. Install your OSX of choice.
8. Reboot and boot from the flash drive or DVD again. Begin your Time Machine restore (if using Time Capsule, make certain that you're on a wired connection).
9. After restore, boot from your new SSD. You'll be surprised at how fast it boots.

You could probably eliminate some of the reboots that I did. I was just playing it safe. I restored over Firewire 800, so your restore time may vary. Also, if you're not installing Lion, there may be no reason to install an OS on your SSD - I just did it so that I could make certain that I had my Recovery partition intact.

I'm sure that you could use Carbon Copy Cloner but as you're already using a Time Machine back-up scheme, there's no reason not to use it. Other's may come up with different methods, but this is what worked for me.

Be sure to see the Time Machine FAQ pages noted above. I don't have a Time Capsule and I'm just assuming you can use wired Ethernet with it.

Regards,

Clinton

I'm going to be doing basically the same thing (replacing the hard drive on my Macbook Pro with a Samsung SSD). I also plan on using disk utility to transfer all the data to my new drive. In the video Samsung posted on YouTube, they just connect the new SSD to the Macbook Pro via a SATA USB connector. I don't see any enclosure in the video. Do I really need an enclosure, and what are they for? I can't find any information about this anywhere...

UPDATE: I checked around some more, and it appears that the Samsung 830 doesn't need an enclosure when doing the cloning (or transferring)

Crucial has a similar USB>SATA cable kit that can be ordered with the m4 series, so I guess that it's pretty much the same thing. I didn't go that route nor the enclosure route - I just installed Lion on the SSD via a USB flash drive (see LionDiskMaker) and then restored from a Time Machine back-up. Bimmer 7 Series used Carbon Copy Cloner, I believe.

The thing is, in my opinion, it's better to have some sort of back-up to restore from - whether it's Time Machine or CCC. I would imagine that the USB>SATA solution would work, although it would be painfully slow. I'm also not sure what software Samung provides to make the transfer (I believe that Crucial has some sort of Mac transfer - you could probably find a Samsung kit to Mac transfer on YouTube somewhere).

BTW - if you want/need to buy an enclosure, get one from OWC.

Do you have an external for back-ups? What software do you use to make your back-up?

Clinton

jonpais wrote:

UPDATE: I checked around some more, and it appears that the Samsung 830 doesn't need an enclosure when doing the cloning (or transferring)

No, I think it's a simple USB>SATA cable - look on YouTube to see if you can find someone who has documented this method - I never used it.

Clinton

if you bought the Samsung 830 with the upgrade kit, then you don't need an external enclosure.

the cable provided is just a simple usb to sata.

to do the transfer,

turn on your macbook, plug your samsung ssd to your usb.

open disk utility and format/erase your SSD to mac os extended journaled.

open carbon copy - a free download if you don't have it.

select your source and destination drive. click clone. if you have a late 2011 macbook or 2012, a pop up will come up to create a recovery partition. do it with carbon copy and follow the instructions. once that's done, proceed with the clone.

once the clone is done, turn your macbook off, install your new ssd and turn your macbook back on and you're back in business.

note: sometimes, not all the time, when you first boot up and your boot time is slow, once you're in your desktop, open system preferences and click on startup disk. Select your new SSD as your startup. Restart and your boot time to desktop should be around 14 to 16 secs.

good luck.

Here's a video from YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf2Z0XWvuc4 - but they use a dock (available at OWC) to do the cloning. I personally don't know of anyone who has used the USB>SATA kit. If you look at the Samsung 830 kit on Amazon you might find a Mac user who has reviewed it.

Clinton

clintonfrombirmingham wrote:

I personally don't know of anyone who has used the USB>SATA kit.

Clinton

Clinton, those Kingston V200 I purchased came with USB external enclosure and the OCZ Petrol I purchased years ago came with a USB to SATA cable.

Quite handy actually.

Yeah, you're right, I believe it could take overnight for the transfer, but I'm in no particular hurry^^

In fact, I live in Korea, and I only purchased my Macbook back in February, so I don't have a backup yet. A friend who is on vacation in the States is going to bring me back a WD external hard drive and I'm going to place my order for the Samsung 830 256GB on Friday (payday^^) and have it sent to his house before he returns to Korea. I'll back up my stuff on the WD using Time Machine before I hook up the new SSD, just in case.

I think I read someone over at B&H or Amazon who said they used the Samsung kit and disk utility,

but not sure. There are no meaningul comments to the YouTube video, just angry messages asking why Samsung hasn't enabled TRIM or something (actually, I've read that the garbage collection works just fine, so I don't think TRIM will be an issue).

Trim is not an issue with your Samsung. Only enable it if you find that your write speed is 50% slower than the advertise write speed.

And once you've done your clone with no issues, send some bibimbap and kimchi our way.

I really appreciate all the quick responses! I've downloaded carbon copy cloner too. Still not sure if I'll need to use it, though...

Bimmer 7 Series wrote:

And once you've done your clone with no issues, send some bibimbap and kimchi our way.

Me, too!

Clinton