- Yes, it's possible and very reliable.
- The Recovery HD partition is cloned automatically.
- It's simpler to do than with CCC.
Clone Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion using Restore Option of Disk Utility
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu then press the Continue
button.
2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it
to the Destination entry field.
5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to
the Source entry field.
6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the SSD drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
Put the SSD into an external enclosure so you can clone your HDD to it. When you finish test to be sure the computer will boot from the SSD:
Boot Using OPTION key:
1. Restart the computer.
2. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the
"OPTION" key.
3. Release the key when the boot manager appears.
4. Select the SSD icon from which you want to boot.
5. Click on the arrow button below the icon.
If all is well, then remove the SSD from the enclosure and install it in the computer.