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[Advice] Switching Windows to HDD and MacOS to SSD

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Mar 29, 2020
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Motherboard
Dell Inspiron 5480 Intel ID3E34
CPU
i7-8565U
Graphics
Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620
Hi,

Can someone give an insight on how to do this? my device got 2 drives (1 ssd and 1 HDD). However, i want to switch MacOS to SSD (which currently, Windows was installed) and vice versa.
 
Hi,

Can someone give an insight on how to do this? my device got 2 drives (1 ssd and 1 HDD). However, i want to switch MacOS to SSD (which currently, Windows was installed) and vice versa.
get a third drive to clone an OS to

then clone a drive over the other one and then clone your backup drive to the other
 
get a third drive to clone an OS to

then clone a drive over the other one and then clone your backup drive to the other

hi thanks for the reply. i just read your message. now i think a made a terrible mistake. i cloned the windows os to the other drive (default attached to the laptop where the macos was installed). now i cannot boot as it was asking me to boot from bootable drive/disk something. how can i boot normally? thanks
 
hi thanks for the reply. i just read your message. now i think a made a terrible mistake. i cloned the windows os to the other drive (default attached to the laptop where the macos was installed). now i cannot boot as it was asking me to boot from bootable drive/disk something. how can i boot normally? thanks
start again, from fresh with your macOS usb installer :)
 
rcpag1103 - what did you use to "clone" your windows drive?

Windows does not play well with copy/paste, as boot records will most probably be wiped. You should use Carbon Copy cloner from within macOS, or use special software that will clone bit-for-bit (such as EaseUS Partition manager).

I would advise you, if you can afford it, to buy another SSD and ditch the hard drive in an external case.
 
start again, from fresh with your macOS usb installer :)
thank you. yes i did install the catalina into the ssd drive. just waiting for the new wifi card so that wireless connection will start to work.
 
rcpag1103 - what did you use to "clone" your windows drive?

Windows does not play well with copy/paste, as boot records will most probably be wiped. You should use Carbon Copy cloner from within macOS, or use special software that will clone bit-for-bit (such as EaseUS Partition manager).

I would advise you, if you can afford it, to buy another SSD and ditch the hard drive in an external case.
i used macrium software to clone the windows drive. unfortunately, i think, bootloader has messed up due to 2 windows os in 1 motherboard. do you know any fix for this? i did not erase yet the cloned windows drive as i am hoping i can fix it by using a bootable windows usb drive. my original plan is to have dual boot in my device but since i want catalina runs under ssd, i cloned the windows under it to the other hdd.
 
Hi rcpag1103,

Apologies for the late response! I haven't been on a computer in a while...

I am not familiar with macrium software, however, what I would advise is this:

1. Use EaseUS partition manager to clone your Windows install onto the hard drive.
2. Check if the hard drive is booting (i.e. disconnect everything else).
3. Disconnect your hard drive and connect your SSD
4. Install macOS on your SSD, then install Clover to the SSD
5. Set your motherboard to only boot from the SSD.

That way you will have Windows entries in Clover, effectively giving you a dual-boot solution.
Best of luck!

happy hacking
littlegreen
 
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