Replacing the HDD with SSD and reinstalling Mountain Lion

Pondini wrote:

AMDeeb wrote:

. . .

The question is, do I have to download a newer version of Mountain Lion (say 10.8.3) from the Mac App Store knowing that I will be restoring from Time Machine?

You probably don't have to download anything.

If you have a working Recovery HD, start from it to do the restore. As long as the SSD is formatted properly, that's all you need to do.

If your backups are on an external HD with the GUID partition map scheme, you already have a copy of the Recovery HD hiding on it. See Using the Recovery HD, especially the green box.

If not, and you currently have a working Recovery HD on the HD, make a copy on a partition of an external HD (or even a flash drive), per OS X: About Recovery Disk Assistant, or if you use CarbonCopyCloner, use the Disk Center from the Window menu.

Thank you for this reply.

Yes the external HDD that I am using for Time Machine is of GUID partition map scheme, and I can see the Startup Manager.

So I have few questions:

1- From which Recovery partition I will need to restore to the SSD?

2- If I restore from the Time Machine one, will restore the OSX partition AND the recovery partition?

3- If I restore from the Time Machine one, do I have to have the SSD connected via external enclosure, OR I can restore by having it as an internal drive?

Thank you..

Pondini wrote:

AMDeeb wrote:

. . .

1- From which Recovery partition I will need to restore to the SSD?

Doesn't matter. Any one that works!

2- If I restore from the Time Machine one, will restore the OSX partition AND the recovery partition?

No; the full restore won't restore the Recovery HD, no matter which one you use. We've requested this, but so far, at least, it doesn't happen. And you can't copy the one on the TM drive (it's not really in a separate partition, but in a hidden folder). You'll have to download and install a fresh copy of OSX (that won't disturb anything else) to get one, but you can do that at your leisure.

3- If I restore from the Time Machine one, do I have to have the SSD connected via external enclosure, OR I can restore by having it as an internal drive?

Either. You get a Select a Destination prompt to select where it goes.

See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #14 for the gory details (it's not as complicated as it might look -- that covers all sorts of situations.) It's really pretty straightforward.

So. If I:

1. Replace the HDD with the SSD as the internal drive.

2. Plug in the external HDD.

3. Boot to the recorvery partition

4. Format the SSD to GUID

5. Choose the SSD as the destination to install OSX

6. Restore from Time Machine backup

7. Create a small partition (10GB or so)

8. Install OSX 10.8.0 from the bootable offline installer

9. Update OSX 10.8.3 using the Combo update (to make sure the recovery partition is updated to 10.8.3)

10. Boot to the new internal recovery partition

11. Delete the small partition and extend the size of the main OSX partition

Once all this is DONE:

I'll have:

1. OSX partition completely restored. (with all files, apps, and updates)

2. An Internal Recovery partition.

Right?

Pondini wrote:

If by chance you excluded your System or Applications folders or other important things from being backed-up, remove those exclusions and make a new backup before starting.

No, nothing is excluded.

Then split it, to make a 1 GB partition at the end for the Recovery HD (Disk Utility sometimes won't let you make a partition that small when you do a complete format).

OK I'll make sure to split it when I format.

5. Choose the SSD as the destination to install OSX

No, you're about to restore it from your backups, along with all your other stuff.

6. Restore from Time Machine backup

Yup.

So I wont need to install OSX, just restore from Time Machine and choose the big partition on the SSD as the destination.

6.1 Boot from OSX on the external HD and copy the Recovery HD from the external HD to the partition you made on the SSD, viaOS X: About Recovery Disk Assistant, or if you use CarbonCopyCloner (30-day free trial, well worth purchasing for "secondary" backups), use the Disk Center from the Window menu. You can do that while booted from OSX on either drive.

You're done. 🙂

7. Create a small partition (10GB or so)

8. Install OSX 10.8.0 from the bootable offline installer

9. Update OSX 10.8.3 using the Combo update (to make sure the recovery partition is updated to 10.8.3)

10. Boot to the new internal recovery partition

11. Delete the small partition and extend the size of the main OSX partition

None of that's needed.

I prefer Apple's approach, but I might consider CCC.

After copying the Recovery HD from the old drive, will the new Recovery HD get updated when I update OSX (whether update or major upgrades)? Or it wont be "linked" to the OSX that I have ? Or as long as I have an OSX Lion or above, OSX will recognise the Recovery HD and update it accrodingly?

Thanks again 🙂

Pondini wrote:

AMDeeb wrote:

. . .

So I wont need to install OSX, just restore from Time Machine and choose the big partition on the SSD as the destination.

Right. That's the thing with Time Machine; you can do a full restore from any backup, even if it's a different version of OSX. The installer for that is on the Recovery HD, not embedded in OSX, so you don't need OSX installed anywhere.

That's great..

After copying the Recovery HD from the old drive, will the new Recovery HD get updated when I update OSX (whether update or major upgrades)?

No need -- it's not updated when you do a "point" update (such as from 10.8.2 to 10.8.3) anyway; only if you use the full installer (the 4+ GB one).

It is updated, of course, when you upgrade, such as from 10.7 to 10.8.

Or it wont be "linked" to the OSX that I have ?

It will be fine. You might even have more than one, if you have multiple OSX partitions, like this with both a Lion and Mountain Lion installation on the internal (plus a CCC clone and TM backups on an external):

Perfect. I've ordered the SSD, and I'll follow your Time Machine steps when I get it on Monday or Tuesday.

I'm asking about every point in the process to do right, and anyway, I might not change my drive any time soon..

Thanks a lot! 😀

babowa wrote:

Perfect. I've ordered the SSD, and I'll follow your Time Machine steps when I get it on Monday or Tuesday.

Glad to hear you've decided on the method you're going to use. I don't use Time Machine, so you've got the best help available with that.

If you change your mind and decide on using CCC (you do not need TM at all with that), let me know. And, FWIW, CCC will clone the recovery partition.

Thank you. But would I have to boot from another OSX partition (say on USB or external drive) to clone the main partition and the recovery one? Or I can clone both from the main OSX partition, directly to the SSD that is enclosed and connected via USB?

Edit: I mean, can I clone the OSX partition while using it?