Get a tool-free, bus-powered USB 3.0 notebook drive case. I have a 1TB external drive that I use for Time Machine backups. Note: You can bypass the selected boot disk (one-shot) by using Startup Manager. You can keep it as a 'backup as of the time of the upgrade', or use it going forward, depending on what is more convenient for you. Tell the MBP to boot from the external SSD and reboot, as a quick check that things worked.Īfter you have installed the SSD in the MBP, take the old HDD and put it into the tool-free case. Put the SSD into it, and use software to clone the internal HDD to the external SSD. Make sure you have at least one up-to-date external backup of your current internal HDD before doing anything. How do I ensure that the machine will boot up from the new drive? A cloning software product like Carbon Copy Cloner to make the actual backup. In particular, should I use a cloning software product like Carbon Copy Cloner or should I use the Apple Disk Utility?ĭisk Utility to do formatting.