How would I install an SSD and move current HD to Optical drive on a macbook pro?

Donnie

Donnie

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Paul
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Im a numpty when it comes to this kinda thing though I understand the benefits of it.

After seeing 128gb ssds for sale for as little as £50 Im now intrigued about the logistics of doing this to my Macbook Pro.

But my biggest concern isn't the fitting of the ssd, or replacing the optical drive with the current hard drive.

My biggest concern is how on earth do you get mavericks from the current drive onto the ssd?

Thats a stupid question I know, for you that know, but I have no idea whatsoever on how this is achieved so if there's an idiots guide I'd love to know??
 
Most SSDs come with the migration/cloning software with them, you attache the SSD via a usb cable and the software clones your hard disk.
 
I went through a similar exercise, which I detailed here:-

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/th...d-drive-to-a-macbook-pro.463313/#post-5329244

I backed up (via time machine) to an external hard drive, installed OS X to new laptop SSD and then restored everything (apps/settings etc) from the external Hard drive to the new SSD.

After everything was up and running OK, I then formatted the original hard drive (which now sits where the optical drive sat) and use it as my time machine back up.
 
Donnie said:
It's the installing osx to the ssd that's getting me as I never had a disc?
Click to expand...

If your MacBook Pro shipped with Mavericks pressing command R when booting brings up internet recovery. You then have access to disk utility to initialise your SSD, then the option to reinstall Mavericks.

If you upgraded to Mavericks and didn't keep a copy of the installer (it deletes itself from the applications folder after installing) simply download it again from the app store onto your existing drive. You may have to press command to allow it to be downloaded as the app store see's Mavericks already installed. Once downloaded do not proceed with the installation. You can then make a usb installer with a 8gb usb stick, or boot from your original hd and install onto the ssd. One installed migrate in from your original hd.
 
Paul

Some people recommend a clean install of the OS andthen reinstall the software/apps that you want. I did it htis way and was relatively simple albeit a bit more time consuming than a simpler clone and reinstall.

Before you start, back up and then back up again onto a separate hard drive so you have two copies should one be faulty/fail.

Once you have the SSD installed you'll be annoyed you didn't do it sooner - it makes a real difference on the system start up and also makes for a quieter machine :D
 
Cheers Buck, I've been looking on crucial.co.uk and they seem to have some good drives the recommend but wondered if anyone here has any particular favourites, I was only thinking of a 120gb for apps and os plus ps6 and lr3 everything else can go on the standard hd and backed up externally
 
I know this is a couple of weeks old, but did you manage to do what you wanted? I have just bought a Seagate 1TB hybrid SSD drive for my Macbook Pro. I placed the SSD drive in an external dock then I cloned my original drive to it using carbon copy cloner ( free trial for 30 days)...
Swapped the drives over and it works perfectly. I have done this loads of times, never had a problem and no need to do a clean install.
Allan
 
I recently did similar to my MacBook Pro and upgraded the ram w/o any problems. Be aware that new(er) macbooks have ram soldered in and I am not sure about the hard drives. Depends on age. Mine is 2010.
 
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