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I recently replaced my optical drive with an SSD and now I want to load the OSX onto it without cloning or wiping the original HDD

I have a 120 gb ssd installed and Im fine wiping that but my HDD is 500gb and about half full. I just want to load the OS onto my SSD without losing any files on the HDD and without cloning it to the SSD.

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on Mar 4, 2015 11:57 AM

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2 replies

Mar 4, 2015 12:06 PM in response to dirty tube socks

Two points:


  1. The SSD should be installed in the location where the HDD was located, while the HDD goes into the area of the optical drive. This connects the SSD to the fastest disk interface in the computer.
  2. You should install a fresh copy of OS X onto the SSD. You cannot install just the OS from the HDD.


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.


Erase the hard drive:


1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.


2. After DU loads select your SSD from the left side list. Click on the Partition

tab in the DU main window. Select the number of partitions from the

Partition Scheme dropdown menu to one (1).


3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on

the Apply button and wait until the process has completed.


4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.


Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Install button. Be sure the installation is directed to the SSD.


Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible

because it is three times faster than wireless.


This should install the version of OS X that you had installed.


How to use an SSD with your HDD



If you are going to use an SSD as a boot drive together with your existing HDD as the "data" drive, here's what you can do.



After installing the SSD you will need to partition and format the SSD using Disk Utility. Then, install OS X on the SSD. After OS X has been installed boot from the SSD. Use Startup Disk preferences to set the SSD as the startup volume.




Open Users & Groups preferences. Click on the lock icon and authenticate. CTRL- or RIGHT-click on your user account listing in the sidebar and select Advanced Options from the context menu. You will see a field labeled "Home dir:" At the right end you will see a Change button. Click on it. In the file dialog locate the Home folder now located on the HDD (HDD/Users/account_name/.) Select the folder, click on Open button. Restart the computer as directed. When the computer boots up it will now be using the Home folder located on the HDD.




Another more technical method involving the Terminal and aliases is discussed in depth here: Using OS X with an SSD plus HDD setup - Matt Gemmell. This is my preferred approach because I can select which of the Home's folders I want on the HDD and which I don't want. For example, I like to keep the Documents and Library folders on the SSD because I access their content frequently.




Be sure you retain the fully bootable system on your HDD in case you ever need it.

I recently replaced my optical drive with an SSD and now I want to load the OSX onto it without cloning or wiping the original HDD

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