Install Mac OS X on a new SSD

I am looking at getting an SSD installed on my iMac. If I get the SSD installed, it will have no OS it will be blank. How would I get Mac OS X back on the hard drive? If I were to purchase a hard drive inclosure and put my old hard drive in the enclosure, could I bootup from my old hard drive and install Mac OS X on the new SSD? Would that work?

If your comtpuer came with lion or moutnian lion when you install the new SSD drive make sure you boot into the internet recovery.
Options + CMND + R
and when you do go into disk utiltyi adn partiotion the drive.
As GUID 1 partition formated mac os extended jorunaled.
Then when you close disk utility youll see and option to reinstall > choose reinstall and conenct tot he itnernet adn let it go.
If you put the external into and encloser your should be able to boot to it using the startup manager.
Option while turningthe comptuer on.
If your lucky you might be able to use thast drive recovery Partition > May show up int he start up manger.but thats a iffy part

Similar Messages

How do I install mac os x onto a new SSD from my PC

I've researched the threads and could not find an answer to a situation as specific as mine, so I do apollogize if this thread has already been beat to death
Heres my situation:
I have a 2,1 Macbook (late 2006) and the internal harddrive is completely dead. I purchased a new SSD from New egg. Normally I would just pop in the new hard drive and install mac os x from my optical drive, however my optical drive does not work anymore.
I have an external HDD enclosure I can use but heres the kicker, I need to do everything from a PC.
Any help or insight is appreciated!
Thanks

You will not be able to utilize a PC to get this taken care of unfortunatly.
One workaround would be to get another mac involved.
1. Connect your Macbook via Firewire to another Intel based mac.
2. Boot your Macbook holting the letter "T" until you see the Firewire symbol on the screen.
3. Insert the OS disc into the other Mac, and then boot it while holding down the "C" key, this will trigger it to boot to the disc.
4. Once booted you will proceed through the install as normal but make sure you direct the installer to install to the Macbooks internal drive (it should show a Firewire symbol on it.)
Best of luck!
EE

Can't install mac os x after placing new ssd

Hello,
i have an original macbook air (13 inch). I was working properly untill it got stuck on the white screen with apple logo while booting. It did restart in recovery but i wanted to fix the problem so i went to my local apple authorized reseller and asked them for help. they told me that my hard disc / ssd was probably broken and if i would, they could replace it. I decided to not let them replace/repair it because for a 5 year old laptop is wasnt worth the money. But
now the macbook is just laying around so i ordered a new ssd, replaced it with the old one after watching some howto-videos. The ssd works.
So with the new ssd installed, i connect my superdrive, put in my mountain lion cd and try to boot. I takes a very long time to boot up, but after 15/20 minutes i am able to choose my language and continue. after that, i am able to open disc utility and format the new ssd the right way. then i go back to the installer, i choose where to install mac os x and then it starts loading, this takes another 5 minutes or so, and after that it starts installing. it says 29 minutes remaining, for about a minute. after that it says Mac os x installation failed, cant install mac os x.
i tought, after replacing the ssd, my macbook would be working again. How is it possible that i cant install mac os x?
Can anyone please help?
thanks in advance!

Hello,
i have an original macbook air (13 inch). I was working properly untill it got stuck on the white screen with apple logo while booting. It did restart in recovery but i wanted to fix the problem so i went to my local apple authorized reseller and asked them for help. they told me that my hard disc / ssd was probably broken and if i would, they could replace it. I decided to not let them replace/repair it because for a 5 year old laptop is wasnt worth the money. But
now the macbook is just laying around so i ordered a new ssd, replaced it with the old one after watching some howto-videos. The ssd works.
So with the new ssd installed, i connect my superdrive, put in my mountain lion cd and try to boot. I takes a very long time to boot up, but after 15/20 minutes i am able to choose my language and continue. after that, i am able to open disc utility and format the new ssd the right way. then i go back to the installer, i choose where to install mac os x and then it starts loading, this takes another 5 minutes or so, and after that it starts installing. it says 29 minutes remaining, for about a minute. after that it says Mac os x installation failed, cant install mac os x.
i tought, after replacing the ssd, my macbook would be working again. How is it possible that i cant install mac os x?
Can anyone please help?
thanks in advance!

I have a MAC Pro from 2011 currently running MAC OS 10.9.5. This weekend I cloned the MAC HD drive to a new SSD drive for improved performance. The clone was completed successfully with no errors. After the clone completed I successfull restarted my sy

I have a MAC Pro from 2011 currently running MAC OS 10.9.5. This weekend I cloned the MAC HD drive to a new SSD drive for improved performance. The clone was completed successfully with no errors. After the clone completed I successfully restarted my system using the SSD as the boot device. I then successfully tested all of my products, including Photoshop CS6 and all of its plug-ins. I successfully tested the key features that I frequently use. Today while attempting to launch Photoshop CS6 a message is being displayed indicating that a scratch disk cannot be found. All drives are available on the system via the Finder and Disk Utility. I can access all drives including the old MAC HD which is no longer the boot device. I've even attempted to launch Photoshop from the old device yet the same error persist. Is there a way to review/edit/change Photoshop preferences if Photoshop doesn't launch? I've even restarted my system several times to see if that would resolve the issues. Does anyone have any recommendations for this issue? Have you previously address this issue?
Thank you Gregg Williams

Boilerplate text:
Reset Preferences
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/375776
1) Close the program and press Ctrl+Alt+Shift/Cmd+Option+Shift during startup (not reversible)
or
2) Move the Folder. See:
http://www.bugge.com/Family-and-friends/Illy/illy.html
--OB

My late 2012 mac mini boots slow with new ssd drive

So here is the situation. I purchased a 128gb ssd drive, installed it a usb enclosure, formatted it to Mac OS Extended (Journaled), cloned it with carbon copy cloner 3, used the option key during boot up and selected the ssd drive and it booted my mac mini and it functioned perfectly. I than tested it for dozens of reboots and it worked fine. I then took apart my mac mini and removed the original hard drive and installed the new ssd drive. When I boot to the ssd drive it still takes 47 to 53 seconds just like the old drive. Aren't ssd drives supposed to be a lot faster?
My solution or tip is as follows; The reason it takes so long to boot is because the mac mini doesn't know you replaced the old drive and it is looking for it during the boot process. Finally it can't find the drive so it boots to the ssd drive. All you have to do to correct this is click on "system preferences", select and click on "startup disk" and select your ssd drive and click on "restart". After these steps your mac mini will now boot in about 17 seconds. Issues solved.

Yes, my solution fixed the issue. I went from a 47 to 53 second boot time to a 17 second boot time. The ssd drive is significantly faster than the original drive that came with my late 2012 mac-mini. This is my first post and I wasn't sure how to post this as a tip. I have another tip regarding usb 3.0 hubs.

Best way to (re)install Mountain Lion fresh on a new ssd

Hi, I've been running Mountain Lion on my 2010 Mac Pro 3.2ghz but it's got incredibly slow with only 120 GB on a 1 TB HDD.. I've used every utility to try to clean my old drive and speed things up (DiskWarrior, defragmentation, etc) without much help I don't want to carry over all the stuff to a new SSD. I'd like to start clean with an entirely new OS install of Mountain Lion on a Samsung 512GB SSD. I've got all the software and once it's upgraded I'll figure out which files to carry forward or keep all the data files on another drive with links. I'll figure that out eventually.
Mty present system was built starting with Leopard, Snow Leopard, Lion and Mountain Lion. I purchased licenes for each of the OSes and still have all the software. I may even have Lion on a bootable thumb drive. Do I have to start with Leopard and then move to Snow Leopard before moving to Mountain Lion?
I did try just reinstalling a new OS by booting Mountain Lion and using Time Machine. Still slow...like 75 seconds to boot and spinning wheels.. I haven't tried moving the files and then reinstalling Mountain Lion with a clone then to the SSD. I'd like to start with a new system install direct to the SSD.
Any ideas. Again, I do have all the licenses and could start with Leopard but that seems tedious.

FatMac\>MacPro wrote:
You don't need to upgrade anything, as I believe you suspect. A straight install of ML will get you there. I did the same thing on a Crucial M500 last week and it's working like a charm. And that was on a 2010 Mac Pro.
If you haven't installed your Samsung in a Mac Pro bay yet, I'd recommend this which fits perfectly.
Are you saying I can do a standalone install of Mountain Lion by itself with NO previous system? I just checked Apple/s minimum requirements for Mountain Lion =
"Your Mac needs:
OS X v10.6.8 or OS X Lion already installed
2 GB or more of memory
8 GB or more of available space"
This suggests that Mountain Lion is NOT a standalone install, but an upgrade

All device mappings lost, including DVD, trying to install Windows 8.1 on a new SSD disk containing no OS

I have a catch-22 situation. When I installed a new SSD disk on my desktop (does not contain an OS), Windows 8.1 would not install. The error stated that there was no partition to install on. I saw a Forum describing initializing the drive with DISKPART
using the advanced tools and a command prompt I got through the windows 8.1 installation disk, which I did successfully.
I did what it described, created an active partition, an all my drive mappings were lost. Now I can't access the Windows installation disk because the mapping was lost on my DVD reader. The error says to press any key to boot from DVD, when I do this the
message just comes up again. It is clear my DVD is not spinning or being accessed. So, every solution I have read on these forums seems to depend on being able to read the DVD, which I cannot do. I have unplugged all hard drives but the new SSD and DVD
reader.
When I try to get a listing from the shell, my only option, it says nothing is mapped. My BIOS settings boot first from DVD, then from disk. It doesn't matter, the DVD cannot be accessed.
How do I map my DVD with no OS so the Windows installation disk can be accessed?

Hello LBLivnat,
With no operating system, the DVD recognization is not from Windows.
Please go to bios and check if the DVD rom is recognized in the BIOS.
Please contact the manufacturer and check if the issue is from the BIOS.
Best regards,
Fangzhou CHEN
Fangzhou CHEN
TechNet Community Support

Can Install Mac OS X on my new Hard drive

Hi. I cant install MAC OS X 10.4 on my new Hard drive. I turn on the laptop holding the C key but it ejects the DVD after a while the it apears a flder with a question mark. If I do these with the MAC OS X Leopard DVD it takes me to the install page but it says i can be install because I should have MAX OS X 10.5 later install so nothing happend. Can some one help me

Are you using the discs that came with your computer?
Have you formatted the hard drive?
~Lyssa

Emergency time.. Mac wont boot using my new SSD

I recently aquired a new Crucial SSD and installed it in my Macbook late 2008. I had cloned it from origonal hard drive, and everything worked like a dream!
Tonight, i replaced my optical drive with my old HDD using the HDD optical drive Caddy. That all went relativley smooth, everything going back where it should, except one thing, i broke the four prong sub woofer plug, while spurging it out. This isnt my emergency though.
After everything was put back in its rightful place, and i powered up. My screen started flashing the folder with a question mark... so i powered off and booted pressing option key for Startup Disk. Now the problem came.
My new SSD was no longer anywhere to be seen! The only disk bootable was my old hard drive named 'Funks Brain' and a recovery disk.
I have rebooted a few times now, and i cannot seem to locate my SSD drive, which is installed in the origonal hard drive section of my computer!
Please help me. I am at a loss.

Trouble shooting hardware issues from a distance is iffy at the best of times. It is a process of elimination. My first thought would be to reinstall the SSD physically. Go through the whole process of installing the SSD once again. The idea here is something might have come loose. (Obviously the software installation on the SSD worked since you were able to boot from it.)
If that does not get you anywhere, I would reomve the SSD and put it an external enclosure and see if you can boot from it that way. That will tell you if the SSD suddenly decided to go belly up - doubtful, but worth checking.

Can I use applications installed on HDD after booting from new SSD?

Hi! I am a little uninformed and require some MacKnowledge.
Relevant hard/software:
MacBook Pro 17" early '11. Lots of RAM. Slow but large HDD (5400rpm, 750Gb, I think.)
OS 10.7.4
128 Wintec Expresscard SSD.
I recently aquired a 128Gb ExpressCard34 SSD and installed 10.7.4 on it just to see how it "felt."
Wow*.
Now I want to boot on that drive exclusively, but have no idea the best way to migrate over my applications.
I could reinstall all applications fresh (as a 20yr PC vet, this is my natural inclination,) but I have a gut sense this is not needed.
I havent tried it yet, but I am willing to bet that most programs for mac will just start if you click on them. Again, need some knowledge and I dont know whwere to get it.
I really want to run migration assistant so I can just port over all my odd settings; however, I have no idea what control I will have over the actual import.
I actually dont want to physically move any programs just yet. In fact, I want to use most of my non-Apple, personally-installel applications from the HDD. The only program that might be VERY useful to migrate to the SSD would be parallels and the windows VM I keep for VPN and PC-only programs as it is very slow. MAYBE MSoffice as those programs are slow to start up. Also, maybe aperature if it needs to be installed on the ssd to have it's swapfile on that drive. On second thought, that is fine where it is.
I am willing to just get in there and try it out, but I dont want to screw up my HDD install. I would like the separate OS instances to play nice with each other and I am not sure that will happen if i start calling applications from either one (though, obviously, not at the same time.)
So where could I discover what my bounderies are with this situation? Any "best practices?"
*I do want to keep the discussion off the topic of use of expresscard ssd for boot drives, but I felt I should comment further. They have thier pros and cons. I would not be surprised if my new drive fails (also not surprised if it lasts 10xexpected RW cycles.) Nevertheless, the speed is just absolutely amazing. Night and day difference on the "feel" of boot and program load. You can look up the benchmarks if you are inclined.

Thank you for the fast response.
Regarding use of the applications, is it your opinion that simply opening most applications by double-clicking should be sufficient to use them with their current settings. i.e., internal references to ~library/application support/relevant program.plist?
If so, is this universally true, i.e., any and all programs will work?
Regarding migrating settings, are you saying that I can import all my settings WITHOUT importing the programs?
Sorry for my being dense, and supplying a wall of text in the OP.

Installing Mountain Lion on a brand new SSD

So I'm going to be installing a new internal drive into my MBP 15" 2012 and I'm not sure how you get it all set up since its a brand new drive. I have the mountain lion thumb drive installer so a tutorial on how to set up osx with the thumb drive on a new internal drive would be great. Also I'm assuming I'll have to format the drive so how do I do that when its installed ect.
Thanks

Hi I did exactly the same yesterday! Bough an SSD from Crucial.
Basically, replace the HDD with an SSD and insert the USB Install.
Turn on your Mac and hold the option key (alt) you should see the USB Pen as an option to boot from, click this and you will be presented with a menu.
Click on disk utility, then click on your SSD on the left hand column, format it to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) - this should be the default option! These are the setup options I chose:
Then go back to the main screen and click 'install OS X'.
Hope this helps!

Problem installing Mac OSX 10.5 on new HDDc

Hello, I needed to replace my HDD and I'm trying to install Leopard on my new blank HDD. I have the install disk that came with my macbook, but it's not working. I insert the install disc and restart the macbook holding down the C key. It starts from the CD. So I choose the language and it gives me message "Mac OS X cannot be installed on this computer. This software annot be installed on this computer" with two options OK, that does nothing, and Restart. My old HDD was the original one, that came with the mac and is broken. The new one is a Samsung SATA 320gb model HM320II/SRA. Reading about the problem in the Apple Support website I found something about updating the firmware, but I'm not sure if it applies to me.
Thanks so much for the help!
Message was edited by: Lucivaldo

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Your 10.5 must look like * unless it was prebundled with your Mac, when you bought it from an Authorized Apple Dealer. You can't use a 10.5 disc that came with another Mac.
Also your machine must be older than the 10.5 disc if it has the image pictured above.
Once you make sure you have the correct disc, be sure to format your new hard disk GUID with the Utilities menu -> Disk Utility -> Partition -> Options button in the installer program. The default format won't allow installation of Mac operating systems.
- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

Clean Install of Windows 8.1 on new SSD

Hello - I'm installing an SSD drive on my new T440s today. First use, and no data needed. I'd rather a fresh install of Windows 8.1 (pre-installed), and do not wish to use the recovery partition. Is there any way I can install Windows 8.1 from scratch and have it activated? Thank you!

Hi Jim,
1st of all: an OEM-DVD needs an OEM-Key, a Retail-DVD a Retail-Key.
The main difference is explained by Microsoft, its a file called ei.cfg: a 5 or 6 lines Text-File.
(ask Google/Bing...)
Get an ISO of an Windows 8.1 Installer and Create a USB-Boot-Key of it.
forget about DVDs: too slow and too difficult to edit the ei.cfg - File
In my tests it did not automatically recognize the Windows-8-Key inside the BIOS.
I wonder if there are tools out there, that can read the key from the BIOS..? ;-)
Remember: you payed for that key but its only to be used on the Notebook its stored in.
Dont use it on another Notebook - that illegal.
Kind regards
Fritz

Installing Mac OS X on a new hard drive

Hi,
My hard disk got corrupted which had OS X Yosemite installed on it. I have purchased a new internal hard drive 500GB. I am stuck on how to install the Mac OS X again on the new drive. Any help on this will be much appreciated.
I don't have any backups to clone the disk neither I have a OS disc that came with the original. Please help!
Thanks in advance

Internet Recovery is cmd-Opt-R, but if your Mac was built before 2011, it may not be capable of Internet Recovery.
If it can't do Internet Recovery, you'll need to find the original installation disks that came with the Mac. There may be other options, but that would be the simplest at this point.

Failure to install 10.8.4 on Brand new SSD???

Hey
So I recently decided to upgrade to an Intel 160GB SSD drive in my 2011 MacBook Pro i7 and reinstall Mountain Lion from scratch. I'm able to install my 10.8 Mountain Lion which I downloaded from the App store and created a bootable USB version to run the install. Everything works fine and I'm able to setup a user account without any issues. No problems there.
As soon as I run software update and try to update to the latest 10.8.4 combo update from both the App Store and Apple's Support/Download area it will go through the entire installation and restart but when booting up all I get is a grey circle with a line through it? I've tried this 3 times and all 3 times it's the same thing. I've even tried updating to the previous 10.8.3 assuming the latest update was buggy but alas the same result. I know it's not the drive causing failures since it will install 10.8 without issue everytime after running disk utility and re-initializing and the drive was purchased brand new and sealed so I don't assume it's DOA equipment. Any suggestions why this is happening??? Does 10.8.3 or 10.8.4 not support SSD drives? Am I stuck using 10.8 for the rest of my years?
Any help would be gladly appreciated as I'd really like to stick with the SSD option rather than throw back the 500GB drive inside, which in turn runs 10.8.4 perfectly, go figure?
Here are the makes and models of both items if that makes a difference.
Apple MacBook Pro "Core i7" 2.0 15" Early 2011
Intel Core i7 2.0 GHz
4 GB 1333 DDR3 MHz
500 GB SATA
Intel® SSD 320 Series
(160GB, 2.5in SATA 3Gb/s, 25nm, MLC)

Hey Walser,
Thanks so much, that definitely did the trick!!! I had to pop the SSD in a Windows Laptop and run the firmware from the CD but all is well now. I should have figured it was a firmware issue but didn't think twice assuming since it was brand new out of the box that it would be running the latest revision anyways.
Thanks alot for your support, I wish I had asked a day earlier it would have saved me 3 hours of re-installs and cursing.
Appreciate it.
SK

Install Mac OS X on a new SSD

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