Easiest way to setup new SSD as boot drive?

[Cassady]

Hoping for some quick confirmation.

Plan on installing a second drive, a SSD, into my Mac Mini.

Have all the necessary tools and info on how to do the actual hardware side of things, but just want to confirm the software side.

Assuming I don't want to purchase Cloning software for what will (hopefully) be a once-off (have a single license CCC version on my MBP), what will be the easiest method to eventually end up with the OS on the SSD, and have the HDD simply act as a secondary, storage drive?

Read somewhere that I can install the SSD, then do a fresh install of macOS onto it, then use Migration Assistant to transfer everything over from the HDD onto the SSD?

After I am done, wipe the HDD, and move back what I want onto the HDD, leaving the SSD as the OS drive?

Can that work?

Any other suggestions?

 

[albert123]

Hoping for some quick confirmation.

Plan on installing a second drive, a SSD, into my Mac Mini.

Have all the necessary tools and info on how to do the actual hardware side of things, but just want to confirm the software side.

Assuming I don't want to purchase Cloning software for what will (hopefully) be a once-off (have a single license CCC version on my MBP), what will be the easiest method to eventually end up with the OS on the SSD, and have the HDD simply act as a secondary, storage drive?

Read somewhere that I can install the SSD, then do a fresh install of macOS onto it, then use Migration Assistant to transfer everything over from the HDD onto the SSD?

After I am done, wipe the HDD, and move back what I want onto the HDD, leaving the SSD as the OS drive?

Can that work?

Any other suggestions?

Yes that will work. Its crazy simple to move macos over. Just instll the bew ssd. Even if you plug it in ti usb with external enclosure for the first part. Download high sierra from app store. Run installer. Select ssd as destination. It will check that you have same version of macos on both drives and update the one that is “behnd” if needed by itself, Once its complete run migration assistant to moce everything over. Hrddrives will be virtually identical. You can then put ssd inside or just run it off usb3.0. You will be amazed at how fast it will run even off the usb3 port compared to the normal harddrive inside.

 

[Cassady]

Yes that will work.

Thanks for the explanation - would not have occurred to me to first do it when the SSD is still 'outside' – far simpler!

Have an external enclosure, so that should be easy enough – will get everything set up like this, then install the SSD, and set it up to boot from the SSD.
Once everything is running as expected, will then wipe the HDD, and then copy the 'data' I want back over to the HDD.

 

[FaustGS]

I agree with albert123, macos is really makes things easy.

 

[Cassady]

Right - the journey into innards of the Mac Mini was not too bad in the end.

All up and running - really enjoying the SSD speedblast!

Everything is fine except for my inability to wipe the original HDD... It simply won't die! :crylaugh:

Cannot boot into Recovery mode on the new SSD, it keeps launching into the HDD - which means I cannot erase the disk, since I'm "on" it...
Joy.

Any suggestions?


EDIT: The above appears to be a red-herring. The actual issue is tied to the fact that I cannot get the HDD to unmount, which is why it will not/cannot erase... This is also why I couldn't get the upgrade to HS to take...

Will do some searching to try and sort this out.