Adding SSD to existing system; moving OS, Applications only -- leaving /Users.

[DigiMark]

Hello. Going for a double-dip of help, since I'm here. I'd like to add a faster boot disk to my Hack Pro (ML 10.8.3, GA-Z77X-UP5-TH, i7-3770, UniBeast/MultiBeast). I currently have a 1.5TB system disk and another 1.5TB Time Machine disk, both Samsung. I'd like to set up a faster disk as OS X and applications only, leaving /Users on the existing disk. I'm not sure of the best way to accomplish this.

For example, I've taken a 160GB Velociraptor drive and installed ML 10.8.3 on it using UniBeast/MultiBeast. It boots fine. Is there a way/procedure/plan/script for moving all the applications, stuff in /Library, etc. from the 1.5TB disk to the 160GB disk, without corrupting the new disk inadvertently, and without missing something an application will need. Then, once everything works OK, I'd delete everything except /Users from the old 1.5TB disk.

Pointers to other people who have done this, scripts, etc. will be greatly appreciated.

 

[nobodynose]

Hello. Going for a double-dip of help, since I'm here. I'd like to add a faster boot disk to my Hack Pro (ML 10.8.3, GA-Z77X-UP5-TH, i7-3770, UniBeast/MultiBeast). I currently have a 1.5TB system disk and another 1.5TB Time Machine disk, both Samsung. I'd like to set up a faster disk as OS X and applications only, leaving /Users on the existing disk. I'm not sure of the best way to accomplish this.

For example, I've taken a 160GB Velociraptor drive and installed ML 10.8.3 on it using UniBeast/MultiBeast. It boots fine. Is there a way/procedure/plan/script for moving all the applications, stuff in /Library, etc. from the 1.5TB disk to the 160GB disk, without corrupting the new disk inadvertently, and without missing something an application will need. Then, once everything works OK, I'd delete everything except /Users from the old 1.5TB disk.

Pointers to other people who have done this, scripts, etc. will be greatly appreciated.

You can use Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper to clone the drive (minus /Users) over to the SSD - I know CCC has the functionality to unselect folders you don't want to copy, and I'm pretty sure Super Duper does as well. Then you'll need to run the Chimera installer on the SSD to make it bootable - important step!

Once you've done this, you'll need to set up your system to mount /Users from your hard drive onto /Users on the SSD. I used the unique identifier (UUID) of the volume, rather than the device name, as the device to mount in /etc/fstab. To find out the UUID of a volume, first find out its device name. From a Terminal window, do a:

diskutil list

This command will list all the hard drives in your system and the partitions that are on them. Find your current boot partition on your hard drive; it should be disk0s2 (the third partition on the first disk). Assuming this is the correct device, do a:

diskutil info disk0s2

There will be a bunch of info about the drive & partition, including the Volume UUID. Copy this string of numbers and letters.

Now edit the file /etc/fstab ON YOUR SSD with the command "sudo vi /SSD_NAME/etc/fstab" (I'm assuming here that you know how to use vi; otherwise use some other text editor). The file may not exist, if not create it. You will be adding an entry to it like this:

UUID=0C038704-AB5C-3693-97D9-E590F518A00B    /Users   hfs   rw,auto 0 0

That tells your system to automatically mount the volume with the specified UUID on /Users at boot, and that the filesystem type is hfs.

Now you need to create the mount point. Use this command:

sudo mkdir /Users

Finally, shut your system down, move your SSD to SATA port 0 (swap it with the hard drive), and boot it up. If everything goes well, you'll be booting from your SSD with /Users on your other drive. If it doesn't you can always swap the drives back, boot from the hard drive again and troubleshoot.

 

[DigiMark]

Thank you nobodynose -- followed your advice and worked great! (Used SuperDuper!, created a script that copied "Backup All Files" and excluded /users, using Copy Only Different Files). Thank you for taking the time to respond with such an excellent, detailed procedure.

I strongly recommend this procedure to anyone in similar situation.

 

[emmekappa]

Hi,
I tried Nobodynose method on ML, but, as result, I got the whole HDD appears as Users folder. My workmate reaches the goal using the symbolic link: in Terminal, from HDD, code

sudo ln -s /Volumes/HDD/Users /Volumes/SSD/Users

then I shut down and reboot from SSD. All works great!

 

[nobodynose]

Hi,
I tried Nobodynose method on ML, but, as result, I got the whole HDD appears as Users folder

I thought that was your goal, based on your original post, so that's what I provided instructions for. What exactly were you trying to accomplish, if that wasn't it?