People who have upgraded their MBP to SSD

Raymond Lin · 13 Jan 2013 at 21:47

I have a 13" mid 2010 MBP which isn't used for much apart from album design and web, there is no music or much stuff on it and he HDD is only 250G.

I want to give it some more life and make it last longer by putting in a SSD and upgrade the ram to 8G. The actual physical aspect seems easy enough as there are plenty of guides online with YouTube videos. But what I a concerned about is the OS and installed programs. Because there isn't much installed the system is not cluttered so I have no problem cloning the stuff to SSD. Which brings me to the question.

How should I go about it?

Do I get the crucial data transfer kit for a few quid more?

Or

Do I use time machine back up to restore? (Not sure that this is going to work)

Or

Reinstall the OS from scratch from disc.

P.s. I am thinking about the Crucial M4 SSD, 256 or even 512G for even more future proof. Will be keeping the DVD drive as I like it.

Matd80 · 13 Jan 2013 at 21:53

I recently put an ssd into a 2008mb 4.1 made it much faster. I did a fresh install from disc. Took forever to install, longer than windows 7 but best to do a fresh install I always think.

Disco Boy · 13 Jan 2013 at 22:00

Just do a fresh install.

Raymond Lin · 13 Jan 2013 at 22:09

Actually, thinking about it, I need to keep the data, there are some ongoing jobs that is not done yet.

Elric · 13 Jan 2013 at 22:16

I upgraded my 2011 MBP from the 750GB HDD to a M4 512GB SSD a while ago. Fresh install and restored the data I needed.

I bought the Crucial Kit with the USB-> Sata connector, and used that for the data restore. It's a pretty useful item to have for future use also.

Raymond Lin · 13 Jan 2013 at 22:21

How did you do a partial restore for your data?

bloodiedathame · 13 Jan 2013 at 22:23

Get an old version of Carbon Copy Cloner (I can send you it if you want, PM in trust), put the SSD in a portable drive enclosure (if you've got one), clone your hard drive inc recovery partition to the SSD, swap HDD for SSD. Boom done.

shine · 13 Jan 2013 at 22:27

bloodiedathame said:
Get an old version of Carbon Copy Cloner (I can send you it if you want, PM in trust), put the SSD in a portable drive enclosure (if you've got one), clone your hard drive inc recovery partition to the SSD, swap HDD for SSD. Boom done.

This is what I did when I replaced my HDD with SSD in my MBP. It was quick and simple and I didn't have to worry about forgetting to copy something over.

Raymond Lin · 13 Jan 2013 at 22:31

Doesn't the crucial data transfer kit do the same thing? (I don't have a 2.5" enclosure)

bloodiedathame · 13 Jan 2013 at 22:44

I've not used it but probably. I know CCC works though as it's something I've done a number of times.

Elric · 13 Jan 2013 at 22:56

I just told Time Machine to restore the data folders I wanted returned, rather than the option at installation to bring back the whole system.

shine · 13 Jan 2013 at 22:59

Raymond Lin said:
Doesn't the crucial data transfer kit do the same thing? (I don't have a 2.5" enclosure)

I bought a USB external docking station that can take both 2.5" and 3.5" drives. It means I can transfer data really easy when needed. When I got mine (April 2011) the cost of the docking station was less than the data transfer kit. I don't know if that is still the case today.

Caged · 13 Jan 2013 at 23:19

I got the Corsair Force 3 for my 13" 2009 MBP, and I'm very happy with the results. Went Corsair after hearing about the firmware issues and general not-caring attitude of Crucial towards fixing them. Also it's a Sandforce unit so you don't need to worry about TRIM enabling the Mac since the SSD handles it for you.

Raymond Lin · 13 Jan 2013 at 23:49

Caged said:
I got the Corsair Force 3 for my 13" 2009 MBP, and I'm very happy with the results. Went Corsair after hearing about the firmware issues and general not-caring attitude of Crucial towards fixing them. Also it's a Sandforce unit so you don't need to worry about TRIM enabling the Mac since the SSD handles it for you.

Doesn't Mountain lion handle that? I don't get this TRIM business.

shine said:
I bought a USB external docking station that can take both 2.5" and 3.5" drives. It means I can transfer data really easy when needed. When I got mine (April 2011) the cost of the docking station was less than the data transfer kit. I don't know if that is still the case today.

Well, the price difference with or without the data transfer kit, which essentially is a cable and a disc, is £4.50.

Elric · 14 Jan 2013 at 00:40

I contacted Crucial support about firmware version for OSX and they told me for my ssd's firmware, (000F) it was just plug and play. It's been running for 6 months now without any issues.

Raymond Lin · 14 Jan 2013 at 07:22

wazza300 said:
Your current install is probably in IDE mode you will need to do the reg tweak first to enable ahci then clone your install to your new ssd

If you don't do this it will bsod at start up

There's nothing wrong with cloning it saves a lot of time and hassle esp if you have your pc just how you like it

Ahci is essential for ssd's as it gives the best read/write speeds

Just read the above in another thread, does it apply to macs?

shine · 14 Jan 2013 at 08:57

Raymond Lin said:
Just read the above in another thread, does it apply to macs?

No it doesn't all your disks should already be running using AHCI. You can check by clicking on the ATA section under About This Mac.

ps3ud0 · 14 Jan 2013 at 20:19

Let me know how it goes Raymond, looking to do the same, even got the SSD and everything just not had the time or a spare 2.5" caddy to get it all backed up and moved over. Ive never wiped my MBP before so things I know in Windows just dont apply so trying to work out the safest way to do this without just plumping for cloning.

Like to have a fresh install (IM still on SL so need to move to ML too) and just my data back obviously...

ps3ud0 :cool:

Doug · 14 Jan 2013 at 21:20

1. Plug SSD in via USB (data transfer kit, caddy, or drive dock - whichever you prefer).
2. Run Disk Utility and format the SSD.
3. Run Carbon Copy Cloner (trial mode works fine) and clone boot drive to SSD.
4. Install SSD.

Easy as pie

And if you screw it up you've still got all your data on the old HDD.

ps3ud0 · 14 Jan 2013 at 21:28

The main question I have is regards my data - as Im moving onto a new OS, I normally just fresh install it and manually add my data back which is obviously simple enough, but its things like iTunes and where it holds purchased media etc that confuse me.

I might sound stupid but always been a person that prefer to start from scratch than just redump the old image when moving to a newer OS - I know OSX isnt as bad as older version of Windows when it comes to upgrading versions so maybe Im just mistaken?

ps3ud0 :cool: