I thought I would offer this up as the method laid out in the OWC video may not be the best for everyone, depending on their needs.

1) Format SSD
2) Prune large/unneeded/forgotten files from HDD (use a utility like DiskInventoryX* to help spot them)
3) Fire up Carbon Copy Cloner*. Select HDD as source and SSD as destination. Go into youreverydayuser folder (i.e. should have the "home" icon) and deselect everything but the library and desktop folder.
If you keep anything at the root level of the HDD that's not part of the stock install, deselect that too.
4) Clone
5) Create aliases of all the folders that were deselected. Copy them (the aliases) to their respective location on the SSD. Rename to strip the "alias" from the name. Delete the alias folders on the HDD.
6) Boot from SSD. Check for wonkiness, make minor fixes as needed.
7) If you're an iTunes user, try a few playlists. If you're getting "files not found" pick one, select to "fix", navigate to and select the original file, and then elect to let iTunes fix others when offered. May be up to 5 minutes of spinning beachball while it does so.

Once it's all running smoothly you can decide on a backup scheme for the SSD, and decide whether to strip the files that were copied to the SSD from the HDD (I personally like knowing I can go back to pre-SSD life just by booting from the HDD if I need to.)

*I just like these apps-- your preferred utility should be fine although I've never used Time Machine so don't know how it will do this job.)

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/2012 10:40PM by Black.

but will it blend?


///

And the advantage of all this effort is? The benefit?

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guitarist
And the advantage of all this effort is? The benefit?

I dont know if I'd paint the above as a lot of "effort." Compared to the "OWC technique" it takes a fraction of the time-- have you watched that video?
The advantage is that your get SSD speeds for most of your computing experience. Much faster internet use, faster application launch, and most importantly no more of the lagging I was getting. I haven't had much time to do things like file conversions in the past few days but the little I have done seemed subjectively faster. There was a minor hesitation in scrolling windows, Firefox took forever to quit . . all better. .RAM usage also seems to be less although I dont know how the SSD could account for that.
And the above is with the SSD boot drive in an external Firewire case.
I'm guessing if you haven't had daily use of an SSD-based mac (on an MBA right now) you might not know what your're missing.

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MR/F Guestmap: [www.mapservices.org]

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Black
I thought I would offer this up as the method laid out in the OWC video may not be the best for everyone, depending on their needs.

...

(I personally like knowing I can go back to pre-SSD life just by booting from the HDD if I need to.)

Except it's not quite that easy to go back to your HDD, because you've put your user/library folder on the SSD. This means the user library on the HDD will be out of date and will likely be the source of some confusion if you go back and forth between boot drives.

I find it odd that you are posting a guide, and yet you are still posting questions about fixing broken paths...

[forums.macresource.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/2012 07:53AM by bik.

I find it odd that you are posting a guide, and yet you are still posting questions about fixing broken paths...

indeed.

The best way to do this IMO is to do a clean install of OS and apps on the SSD. Boot from SSD. Point to old user folder. Move OS/applications on HDD to a folder on HDD called Old.

That way you boot and have apps launch from Ssd. You have the space of the hdd for user documents/data. And you have your old install in case you forgot to install something, or you need an old version. When you're confident with new setup, delete the "old" folder.

No muss, no fuss, no broken links. Don't mess with that stuff you'll never get it back to "right".

Good description, I was curious. Whether the benefits were marginal, to what degree, if the subjective experience is a powerful improvement, a strong enough incentive to do a highly customized OS install, and managing it, troubleshooting or updating it.

Also, the law of unintended consequences. When one changes something so fundamental about their system, to achieve one goal (a little more speed and efficiency) what other effects, seen or unseen, develop along the way. Backups, for example.

As a hobbyist, I'd be the kind of guy inclined to do stuff like this. Especially if I've got multiple computers to experiment with, which I do. I don't, however, have an SSD. My newest Mac is a Mini, with one of those nifty hybrid drives in it. (good bang for the buck, decent performance boost, minimal investment, when I got the Mini, I updated the HD, and maxed out the RAM) My other Macs aren't new enough to be worth investing in. But an SSD is likely in my future, with my next Mac. But then, my next Mac will likely be a laptop.

Hasn't Barefeats or someone like that done some comparative analysis yet? That would be instructive. A breakdown on performance gains.

Thanks again for the description!

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Black

Quote
guitarist
And the advantage of all this effort is? The benefit?

I dont know if I'd paint the above as a lot of "effort." Compared to the "OWC technique" it takes a fraction of the time-- have you watched that video?
The advantage is that your get SSD speeds for most of your computing experience. Much faster internet use, faster application launch, and most importantly no more of the lagging I was getting. I haven't had much time to do things like file conversions in the past few days but the little I have done seemed subjectively faster. There was a minor hesitation in scrolling windows, Firefox took forever to quit . . all better. .RAM usage also seems to be less although I dont know how the SSD could account for that.
And the above is with the SSD boot drive in an external Firewire case.
I'm guessing if you haven't had daily use of an SSD-based mac (on an MBA right now) you might not know what your're missing.

Quote
DRR
The best way to do this IMO is to do a clean install of OS and apps on the SSD. Boot from SSD. Point to old user folder.

Sure, perhaps the *best* way, but re-installing all applications can take hours and hours. When factoring in hassle, this way seems pretty good.

I did a variation that seems part OWC method, part Black. Seemed damn simple, no links at all.

-Made a dummy user
-deselected my real user folder in CCC
- cloned to SSD
- boot from SSD logged in as dummy user
- right click my real user in Accounts preference pane and point to the old HDD user folder

The downside here is that you will have old HDD speed for anything that needs to access the user folder. I haven't figured that part out yet, but so far everything is snappy.

As an aside, I tried a test moving the User>Library>Mail folder and replacing it with an alias. Didn't work.

Quote
guitarist
Good description, I was curious. Whether the benefits were marginal, to what degree, if the subjective experience is a powerful improvement, a strong enough incentive to do a highly customized OS install, and managing it, troubleshooting or updating it.

Also, the law of unintended consequences. When one changes something so fundamental about their system, to achieve one goal (a little more speed and efficiency) what other effects, seen or unseen, develop along the way. Backups, for example.

My subjective experience is a major improvement with the SSD. Speeding up Lightroom was one of my main objectives and it is a world different. They've now lowered the price of LR, but when it was $300 seemed like adding the cost of an SSD to make it fly was pretty reasonable.

As far as the time to do a custom install, I've been pondering myself if its worth it. Depends a lot on an individual's time vs. money trade off. Buy a 512gb ssd and don't worry about the custom. Keep your pr0n on an external drive and everything else will fit...

Quote
thermarest

Quote
DRR
The best way to do this IMO is to do a clean install of OS and apps on the SSD. Boot from SSD. Point to old user folder.

Sure, perhaps the *best* way, but re-installing all applications can take hours and hours. When factoring in hassle, this way seems pretty good.

Whatever works for you. I'd rather spend hours reinstalling OS and applications knowing that it will work perfectly when I'm done, rather then futzing with aliases and broken links, which could easily suck up the same amount of hours, or more, troubleshooting and managing workarounds. That's just me.

Quote
bik

Quote
Black
I thought I would offer this up as the method laid out in the OWC video may not be the best for everyone, depending on their needs.

...

(I personally like knowing I can go back to pre-SSD life just by booting from the HDD if I need to.)

Except it's not quite that easy to go back to your HDD, because you've put your user/library folder on the SSD. This means the user library on the HDD will be out of date and will likely be the source of some confusion if you go back and forth between boot drives.

Was not talking about "going back and forth", and not sure why you think this would be news to me.

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MR/F Guestmap: [www.mapservices.org]

Quote
thermarest

Quote
DRR
The best way to do this IMO is to do a clean install of OS and apps on the SSD. Boot from SSD. Point to old user folder.

Sure, perhaps the *best* way, but re-installing all applications can take hours and hours. When factoring in hassle, this way seems pretty good.

I did a variation that seems part OWC method, part Black. Seemed damn simple, no links at all.

-Made a dummy user
-deselected my real user folder in CCC
- cloned to SSD
- boot from SSD logged in as dummy user
- right click my real user in Accounts preference pane and point to the old HDD user folder

The downside here is that you will have old HDD speed for anything that needs to access the user folder. I haven't figured that part out yet, but so far everything is snappy.

As an aside, I tried a test moving the User>Library>Mail folder and replacing it with an alias. Didn't work.

Interesting. So you must have less than 30 GB of data on the SSD then? How big is the SSD?

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MR/F Guestmap: [www.mapservices.org]

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space-time
I find it odd that you are posting a guide, and yet you are still posting questions about fixing broken paths...

indeed.

So if I'm entering an extra space in a file path it means the OWC video is the only way to set up an SSD/HDD combo?

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MR/F Guestmap: [www.mapservices.org]

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Black

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Black
(I personally like knowing I can go back to pre-SSD life just by booting from the HDD if I need to.)

Quote
bik
Except it's not quite that easy to go back to your HDD, because you've put your user/library folder on the SSD. This means the user library on the HDD will be out of date and will likely be the source of some confusion if you go back and forth between boot drives.

Quote
Black
Was not talking about "going back and forth", and not sure why you think this would be news to me.

I honestly did not give a second of thought about whether this would be news to you or not.
Clearly, you have some knowledge and experience, and you are not timid about experimenting with your setup. Good for you.

But your original post seemed like you were presenting a guide for others who might want to try it. That's good of you. It's terrific when people share knowledge.

When you tell people about how easy it is, some less experienced users might be encouraged to try it. It is for those less experienced that I wanted to fill in the gaps, whether it was news to you or not.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/2012 05:47PM by bik.

Oh, Jeez...

Me:
(I personally like knowing I can go back to pre-SSD life just by booting from the HDD if I need to.)

You:

Except it's not quite that easy to go back to your HDD, because you've put your user/library folder on the SSD. This means the user library on the HDD will be out of date and will likely be the source of some confusion if you go back and forth between boot drives.


OK, try this: "Pre-SSD life" means I boot, and everything is as I left it before embarking on the SSD "experiment." No claim whatsoever that it would be anything but a step back to the state I left it before installing the SSD. Was not presenting this as a permanent solution-- but I think it better than plunging ahead with large scale erasing as recommended in the OWC video. I don't think there's anyone using any method has experienced such a seamless transition that it would not be a good idea to keep the old install on hand for at least a few days to make sure the bugs are ironed out, and at least make sure the SSD is functioning properly.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/2012 05:54PM by Black.

Now, see, that's pretty clear!

Sorry for pushing you to be clear.

Well, truth be told, I have a hard time throwing stuff away . . . maybe I can get OWC Vince to come over and delete stuff for me next time he's on his way to a Sox game.

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MR/F Guestmap: [www.mapservices.org]

Quote
Black
Interesting. So you must have less than 30 GB of data on the SSD then? How big is the SSD?

I moved my Lightroom catalog and recent images to the ssd, which total 70gb. So about 100 of 128 is full.

I just went ahead and cut my user folder down to almost nothing except my fairly small iTunes library (16Gb) and iPhoto library (smaller than that). Everything else just went on another drive and I didn't bother with links. I know where they are if I need those files.

Quote
thermarest

My subjective experience is a major improvement with the SSD. Speeding up Lightroom was one of my main objectives and it is a world different. They've now lowered the price of LR, but when it was $300 seemed like adding the cost of an SSD to make it fly was pretty reasonable.

As far as the time to do a custom install, I've been pondering myself if its worth it. Depends a lot on an individual's time vs. money trade off. Buy a 512gb ssd and don't worry about the custom. Keep your pr0n on an external drive and everything else will fit...

Good to know. I already use a second drive for storing data that doesn't need to be on my boot drive. An informal segregation. Partly to keep the boot drive cleaner and faster, and partly because my backups are designed to account for this formatting. The simpler my boot drive, the easier it is to manage, troubleshoot, and rewrite, on the off chance something goes wrong and it needs to be installed from backup.

I'd totally do it if I'm using processor intensive workflow regularly. My main computer has turned into a light use system. If my career picks up! It'd get heavier use!

Quote
Black

Quote
space-time
I find it odd that you are posting a guide, and yet you are still posting questions about fixing broken paths...

indeed.

So if I'm entering an extra space in a file path it means the OWC video is the only way to set up an SSD/HDD combo?

certainly not. Who implied that?

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space-time

Quote
Black

Quote
space-time
I find it odd that you are posting a guide, and yet you are still posting questions about fixing broken paths...

indeed.

So if I'm entering an extra space in a file path it means the OWC video is the only way to set up an SSD/HDD combo?

certainly not. Who implied that?

Are you channeling Dr. Smith from Lost in Space now?

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