FWIW, I did it! I realized that I had an appropriate drive to clone the SSD from…

[GeneL]

Very true, Buzz.

Thanks!

[Chakravartin]

GeneL wrote:
What concerns me are the several inferences that it's more complicated than it appears to create the linkage between the SSD and the files on the old drive. It seems that if I don't do it the"right" way, it will create problems.

I'm in the dark about this, so please, someone enlighten me.

Aliases work fine for most purposes.

If a program squawks that it can't find a file or support file when you KNOW that you've got the aliases set up correctly then we'll talk about making links in the Terminal. But there's no need to complicate things with that discussion right now.

[Black]

bazookaman wrote:
If this were me. And it was last year sometime. I would do a fresh install of the OS on the SSD. Then I would install all the apps I KNOW I will need immediately. Keeping in mind, I will be installing them in the future as needed. Keeps unnecessary cruft from transferring from the old drive. Then I would tell iTunes to use my larger HDD as the repository of all my music and make sure it "moves" everything there. In addition to the iTunes folder, I would have a photos folder as well as my "projects" folder.

That's it. The only thing extra required is a blank HDD to transfer the larger files to from the original HDD.

Was it instant gratification? No. It took a good bit to make sure I had reinstalled all the apps I needed. But it was also nice to know that I didn't move a bunch of apps (and their support files) that I hadn't used in years over to my current drive.

Furthermore, I kept my original backup (the source from which all this sprang) for a while so I could refer back to it if I needed some pref files or some Application Support files.

I'm not shouting above the din here with detailed instructions-- you know you won't even try to read anything longer than a short paragraph.
I did post my solution prior to your response in brief-- 40 minutes before your response. Did you read it?

[GeneL]

Black wrote: I'm not shouting above the din here with detailed instructions-- you know you won't even try to read anything longer than a short paragraph.
I did post my solution prior to your response in brief-- 40 minutes before your response. Did you read it?

I'm afraid that it got lost among the many responses on the several threads that I started.

As they say, "My bad!!"

My main takeaway is that I now have a lot of useful information that I didn't know before.

Thank you for letting me have your input. It's always welcome, my friend.

[Black]

Gene,
Is your i TB internal (main boot drive) still intact? Or have you deleted things?

[GeneL]

I haven't done anything to it, as far as I can tell.

When I tried using the Migration Assistant it didn't work out, but I don't think that any changes were made.

I do have the clean backup on the other 1TB drive, as well.

What is your thought about it?

[Black]

I think you should wipe the SSD and try again to clone directly from the 1 TB internal. As far as what not to bring over, keep it very simple.
You said in another thread that your cloing app (which I've never heard of) has the option to uncheck files or folders.

Here is your stuff per a previous thread:

Applications=90GB
Desktop=126GB
Documents (which includes the very necessary Microsoft Identity file) =126GB
Downloads=9GB
Dropbox=531MB
Installers Folder=685MB
Movies, Music & Pictures Folders=156GB
Public (seems to only hold Dropbox) =0GB
Stored Desktop Files saved from previous backup (I don't know that this has to be in the Home folder?)=84GB

Question-- where is all this? Does the above describe exactly what you see when you open your "home" folder?

[Black]

Also-- is there anything on the desktop that you may be able to 'put away' into your documents or media folder somewhere?

[GeneL]

Black wrote:
I think you should wipe the SSD and try again to clone directly from the 1 TB internal. As far as what not to bring over, keep it very simple.
You said in another thread that your cloing app (which I've never heard of) has the option to uncheck files or folders.

Here is your stuff per a previous thread:

Applications=90GB
Desktop=126GB
Documents (which includes the very necessary Microsoft Identity file) =126GB
Downloads=9GB
Dropbox=531MB
Installers Folder=685MB
Movies, Music & Pictures Folders=156GB
Public (seems to only hold Dropbox) =0GB
Stored Desktop Files saved from previous backup (I don't know that this has to be in the Home folder?)=84GB

Question-- where is all this? Does the above describe exactly what you see when you open your "home" folder?

Yes, everything I listed was in my Home Folder.

Black wrote:
Also-- is there anything on the desktop that you may be able to 'put away' into your documents or media folder somewhere?

I'm sure that I could do that. I mainly leave things on my Desktop, so that I won't forget about them. (76 years old and not enough sleep)

Once I bury something, I'll probably never see it again.

I do my best to keep the number of items on my Desktop to a minimum by putting as much as I can in dedicated folders.

I can see that I have an issue that will exist until I am able to link my apps back to the 1TB drive.

I just wanted to check some info that I had put on a Sticky. I couldn't access the saved Stickies back on the 1TB drive.

I opened the 1TB drive in the Finder and made an alias for the Sticky app, but that didn't work.

Is there a simple way for me to access that info from the SSD? If there is, I should be able to use that information with other applications, as well. shouldn't I?

Thanks!

[Black]

Not willing to help clean up this mess piece by piece, sorry.
I am willing to help you do it again and get it right.