How do you move Lion from one physical drive to another?

Question

I've studied the forums & there's lots of discussion about having to install SL, then download Lion (again) then other thread says to copy the downloaded Lion (in the Apps folder) to an 8gb thumb drive, etc, etc.   I'm installing a new 512GB SSD in bay-4 so that's where I'd like to move Lion.
Is RE-INSTALL really necessary to simply move it to another drive?   If not, please list the steps to move it.
Many thanks for your thoughts and time.
Dale

Answer 1

Thank you there, Mr Linc Davis -- you're an officer and a gentleman!   I was sweating bullets there after my ORDEAL with the installation of Micro**** Windows-7.  I hate having my [blessed, holy] Mac polluted with anything Microsoft -- but unfortunately in life, sometimes you're forced to daily take a bite out of a s**t sandwich.
For those of you planning to do this (as Linc said) -- here are the specifics:
(1) Download current Lion (again -- it's free once you've paid for it).  As far as I know, there is no Lion disk (SnowLep yes).  The download will appear in your APPLICATION folder under INSTALL MAC OSX Lion.app (not your typical downloads folder).
(2) After you've installed your SSD in a vacant slot, the existing Lion will take about 5 minutes to look at it thru it's crystal ball & casting out any demons found.
(3) R-click the new target SSD and select GET INFO.   In the lower-right, click the LOCK icon to unlock the drive.  Enter admin password.  LEAVE the get-info window OPEN an active.
(4) In your APPLICATIONS folder, launch the Install Mac OSX Lion.app & it should take about 3 minutes for PRE-install, reboot, & 10 minutes for FINAL install.
(5) After installation, it will automatically reboot (again) and present you with a pane called Transfer Information to this Mac.  On the menu, select  FROM TIME MACHINE OR ANOTHER DISK.   It will present another pane showing you which checked items you want transferred (I chose all).   This took me about 40-45 minutes.  My highest regards to the Appple software enginners for their INTELLIGENT design of this simple-to-use transition tool.   Alternatively, the competition works on another planet (like I had to tell you Windows vetrans, eh?)
(6) Post install (suggestions):  Delete your 4GB Lion install app in your APPLICATIONS folder (yep, it copied it over).  Rename your old folders (Applications, Library, System, Users)  and keep them around for a couple of weeks.  I plan to trash them later.
This project was far more beneficial than I expected.  First, I read this Apple forum about SSD and installing operating systems.  Second,  I learned about something called TRIM.   I discovered that Lion would only activate TRIM if the SSD was a genuine APPLE SSD (not purchased out of your local bubble gum machine). So what the heck is TRIM anyway?   Here goes--
When I got on the blower and talked with the Apple sales rep (his name actually pronouncable by humans -- even speaks English), I wound up breaking my piggy bank for $1500.   I asked him about TRIM.   He put me on hold to talk with one of the engineers.  5 minutes later he hit me with this:  "like old CRTs that used to burn a spot on the screen, the same concept applies to files stored on a SSD.  Since some files remain PERMANENT, performance degradation may occur if they remain in the same spot.  So TRIM technology seems to move things around a little", unquote.   Now some of you engineer nerds can probably elaborate better than I -- but that's not the scope of this note.
I Bootcamped my 500GB SSD down the middle.   Windows-7 (64-bit) on one side, Lion on the other.  BOTTOM
LINE: shock-your-finger response time.  I BLINK and iTunes or Safari are in my face.
Best money I ever spent!
Thanks guys for all your input, thoughts and TIME