al4629740

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If you don't have Time Machine Backups, it's easier to just install a new OS on the new SSD, then run Migration Assistant and transfer everything over.<br />
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With some licensed applications, especially if you lost the license code or key, it would be easier to just use Carbon Copy Cloner to make a exact duplicate.
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If you don't have Time Machine Backups, it's easier to just install a new OS on the new SSD, then run Migration Assistant and transfer everything over.

With some licensed applications, especially if you lost the license code or key, it would be easier to just use Carbon Copy Cloner to make a exact duplicate.

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I have an older Mac that I'm trying to refresh. &nbsp;I'd like to buy a solid state drive and then install the OS again. &nbsp;Is it like installing a new hard drive and OS on a PC? &nbsp;What do I need to do and where do I get the OS? &nbsp;Can I just keep the license from the previous OS somehow and install again?
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I have an older Mac that I'm trying to refresh.  I'd like to buy a solid state drive and then install the OS again.  Is it like installing a new hard drive and OS on a PC?  What do I need to do and where do I get the OS?  Can I just keep the license from the previous OS somehow and install again?

New hard drive and OS for Mac

Operating systems perform basic tasks, such as recognizing input from the keyboard, sending output to the display screen, keeping track of files and directories on the disk, and controlling peripheral devices such as disk drives and printers. For large systems, the operating system makes sure that different programs and users running at the same time do not interfere with each other. The operating system is also responsible for security, ensuring that unauthorized users do not access the system. Operating systems provide a software platform on top of which other programs, called application programs, can run.

Operating Systems

Installation is the act of making a computer program program ready for execution. Because the process varies programs often come with a specialized program responsible for doing whatever is needed for their installation. Installation may be part of a larger software deployment process. Cross platform installer builders that produce installers for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux include InstallAnywhere, InstallBuilder and Install4J. Installers for Microsoft Windows include Windows Installer, InstallShield, and Wise Installation Studio; free installer-authoring tools include NSIS, IzPack, Clickteam, InnoSetup, InstallSimple and WiX. Mac OS X includes Installer, and also includes a separate software updating application.

Installation

Storage devices include any device used for storing and retrieving digital information. Hard disk drives (HDDs) use one or more rigid ("hard") rapidly rotating disks (platters) coated with magnetic material. Data is accessed in a random-access manner, meaning that individual blocks of data can be stored or retrieved in any order and not only sequentially. The primary competing technology for secondary storage is flash memory in the form of solid-state drives (SSDs), but HDDs remain the dominant medium for secondary storage due to advantages in price per bit and per-device recording capacity. CD-RW (Compact Disc-ReWritable) is a digital optical disc storage format that allows information to be stored outside the mechanical HDD.

Storage Hardware

Mac OS X is the desktop operating system from Apple Inc., found on Macintosh computers. OS X consists of a Mach/BSD-based kernel, operating system interfaces primarily based on FreeBSD and additional frameworks (written in C, C++ and Objective-C providing user interface and application-level services.