Friday, October 6, 2017

Upgrade SSD on Mac with BootCamp Portion

About 4 years ago, I got a Mac Pro 15 , Model Number ( MacBookPro11,3).  due to budget constant, I did not upgrade SSD storage from 512GB to 1TB, at that time, it would cost one thousand Dollar more on top of $2600 price tag on it.

As I was a Microsoft guy and newly formed apple fan, I decided to cut the 512GB storage into half-half and use Bootcamp to setup Windows OS inside my Mac box.

well, 4 yeas has come and gone, I enjoy my dual boot Mac Pro box.  however, since last year, I found I am run short of storage in both Mac OS and Windows OS.  and I started looking for ways to enlarge my storage. I first got a 256GB SSD card plug to the extension slot, which lasted me for a while and started looking into upgrade the internal SSD. 

after talking to friends, and people in Apple Stores, I figured that OWC ( Other Wold Computing) is my answer,   if you want to take up this adventure, please pay attention on the model number of your Mac Book. it must be match, otherwise you would run into trouble you do not want to.

The price of the 1TB SSD for MacBookPro11,3 is $677.5 with Upgrade Kit, $627.5 for SSD only, I strongly encourage you spend $50 extra to get the upgrade kit,  you will need it to migrate the system over, unless you want to have a fresh install of the OS.

The OWC web site has the video showing you how to open your MacBook and replace the SSD and put it back, but do not do it just yet. because you have a Bootcamp portion to take care first.

after much research, I found a piece of software named WinClone, at the time of writing, the latest version is 6. there are 3 editions, Basic, Standard Professional.  the prices are $20, $40 and  $250. for the purpose of migration, I could get a Basic edition,  but consider I own 3 mac Book and 2 of them with Bootcamp, I decided to get standard edition. with the discount, I only paid $28. 

I have gone through the process back and forth. that is the main purpose I writing this up so that you do not need to go through the trouble.


Step 1: install WinClone6 on your Mac OS

Step 2,   create a WinClone Image for your BootCamp portion, save the image in external device.  ( note: you do not need to backup your MacOS portion, you can direct copy it from the original SSD to the new SSD).

step 3: showdown your Mac Book and replace the SSD, put your original SSD into a upgrade Kit to make a external USB drive.

Step 4:  get to Internet Recovery Mode by holding down the Command () – Option () – R combination immediately upon hearing the startup chime. Holding the keys until the animated globe appears on the screen.

Step 5: select Disk Utility

step 6: copy your MacOS portion of your original SSD from the USB drive into your new SSD.

Step 7: reboot your Mac into MacOS
Step 8: run BookCamp to install a version of Windows OS ( I was told you could just use disk utility to create the portion without install Windows OS, but I did that before I read  WinClone manual)

Step 9. rebook the MacBook into MacOS.

Step 10: use WinClone to restore the image you made into the Bootcamp portion


step 11: reboot  the MacBook while holding <Option> key, you will see boot option of both Windows and Mac showing up. select Window,  after a while, you will see a familiar face of your original windows OS image in original bootcamp portion.  you can repeat the similar process to boot up your original MacOS portion. they look exactly the same as they were before, the only difference is the storage is doubled.