bobgoldstein

Q: Best way to use a non-Apple SSD

I have an external SSD drive with 250GB.  It is more than ample for installing El Capitan (I am already on El Capitan, booting from my 1TB internal Macintosh HD.)

 

My user folder, however, has 450GB, so it won't fit on the SSD.  It is so large, mainly because my Pictures folder has 300GB. I am asking about a safe and efficient way to install El Capitan on my SSD, along with everything in my user folder EXCEPT the Pictures folder. I would install El Capitan using the recovery function, and would like to know what to expect from the migration aspect of that installation and whether it will allow me to have most of my user folder on the SSD, but leave the Pictures folder on the internal HD.

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11), 27" iMac 24 GB memory

Posted on Oct 8, 2015 9:00 AM

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Q: Best way to use a non-Apple SSD

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  • by norm123,Helpful

    norm123 norm123 Oct 8, 2015 4:35 PM in response to bobgoldstein
    Community Specialists
    Oct 8, 2015 4:35 PM in response to bobgoldstein

    Hi Bob,

    I understand that you are wanting to upgrade to an SSD but do not have enough space for your entire hard drive to move over. That is something that I can help you out with.

    First I want to say that you are on the right track in terms of installing OS X El Capitan and migrating the data over. You will install using Recovery HD and choose the SSD as the destination. Once El Capitan is installed, you will restart and startup using the SSD and go through the prompts to use Migration Assistant. You will select the option From a Mac, Time Machine backup, or startup disk​. You should see an option to migrate your data and can even select only certain items to move. This will give you the option to exclude your Pictures folder.

    Move your content to a new Mac
    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204350


    Once you have that done, you are going have to tell iPhoto or Photos where the library is located. To do that, hold the Option key and it will bring up the option to find select that specific library. This works the same in Photos and iPhoto. 

    Designate a System Photo Library in Photos
    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204414


    If you still have an operating system on your original drive, you might need to set the permissions to be ignored to elimate those types of issues. Take a look at the article below for more details. 

    iPhoto: Sharing libraries among multiple users
    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201517


    Take care

  • by bobgoldstein,

    bobgoldstein bobgoldstein Oct 8, 2015 4:42 PM in response to norm123
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 8, 2015 4:42 PM in response to norm123

    I feel sure that your answer is the correct one, except that my system is behaving as you describe. 

     

    Once the restore installation was complete, with the SSD as the destination volume, the restart took me back to booting from the Macintosh HD, not the SSD.  So I used the Startup Disk preference to specify my SSD.  But when it started up, I got no prompts to use the Migration Assistant.

     

    So To get another crack at it, I tried restarting while holding the Option key down.  That got me to the screen for choosing a startup disk, but the choices didn't include my SSD!  But I had been able to boot from there using the Startup Disk pref panel.

     

    I am puzzled by this, and am reluctant to try any more ideas until I get some help with understanding why the steps I have described got me these results.

  • by bobgoldstein,

    bobgoldstein bobgoldstein Oct 9, 2015 9:11 PM in response to bobgoldstein
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 9, 2015 9:11 PM in response to bobgoldstein

    Here's the solution: My SSD was attached to the iMac via a USB3 hub, not directly.  When I moved it to a direct connection everything worked as it should.