swapping internal HDs MacBook Pro 17"

I am getting a 2011 i7 2.5GH MBP 17" (used of course) to gain a bit of speed on my existing 2009 core2duo 2.8GH MBP 17".

The one I am getting only has a 500GB drive/10.7.5, whereas my older one has a 1TB drive/10.8.5, which I myself installed (wow, so easy!). I also have an external 1TB drive which I use as a SuperDuper bootable back up.

Can I just swap the internal drives over? If its more complicated perhaps one of you amazing experts would be kind enough to list a procedure?

The 1TB external is partitioned 800 used + 200 free & I also have another 300GB external backing up another computer, but which could be used temporarily

I will be selling the older machine on afterwards.
MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5), 17 inch 2.8Hz June 2009

crisscross said:

Can I just swap the internal drives over? If its more complicated perhaps one of you amazing experts would be kind enough to list a procedure?

Click to expand...

If you're asking is it complicated to install the 1 terabyte internal HD from your old 17" MBP computer to your newer 17" MBP. Just go to iFixit.com...look up a 2011 17" MBP...then check out the install/remove HD.

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

If you're asking is it complicated to install the 1 terabyte internal HD from your old 17" MBP computer to your newer 17" MBP. Just go to iFixit.com...look up a 2011 17" MBP...then check out the install/remove HD.

- Nick

Click to expand...

No Nick - I am familiar with the mechanics, having installed the current 1TB into my 2009 MBP. I imagine having them both upside down and open and changing over the HDs...if thats OK

Its whether the System is going to be any different for the i7 chip rather than Core2duo

The newer MBP I have bought has all kinds of junk on it which I suppose is the standard way small dealers do it & I don't want. I just want to carry on with my own set up and be able to sell on the older one with something on it.......but if necessary I can just erase the older one using Snow Leopard disc

crisscross said:

No Nick - I am familiar with the mechanics, having installed the current 1TB into my 2009 MBP. I imagine having them both upside down and open and changing over the HDs...if thats OK

Its whether the System is going to be any different for the i7 chip rather than Core2duo

The newer MBP I have bought has all kinds of junk on it which I suppose is the standard way small dealers do it & I don't want. I just want to carry on with my own set up and be able to sell on the older one with something on it.......but if necessary I can just erase the older one using Snow Leopard disc

Click to expand...

Ok...thanks for clarifying.

Normally I would prefer to do a fresh OS install on a "new to me" computer...just in case something "extra" needs to be installed on a 2011 MBP that wasn't needed on a 2009 MBP. In the older days...the OS installs used to be "tailored" to the computer that the OS was being installed on...so extra stuff that wasn't needed on a specific model wasn't installed (taking up extra space). I'm not 100% sure if OS installs still work this way.

But I think that swapping the larger HD with 10.8.5 on it from your 2009 MBP...and putting it into this newer 2011 MBP should work ok. 10.8.5 will certainly run fine on a 2011 MBP. I do this sort of thing often.

I would run "Software Update" after the HD swap...just in case something needs installing/updating.

- Nick

Thank you Nick - just completing SupeDuper back-up on new machine, then go find silly screwdriver

OK its half worked; I now have the 500GB drive in the 2009 machine operating on 10.7.5

The other half didn't. In the 2011 machine, the 1TB drive is not recognised. Most available avenues from the restore Disc Utility lead nowhere, but as a last resort have tried Start-up from the SuperDuper minor partition on my external 1TB to which I backed-up the the 10.7.5 stuff. Disc Utility is now doing a Restore of the major partition of the 1TB external to the internal 1TB disc

At least I hope it is as the internal 1TB disappeared from the Destination panel when I pressed restore.

Another 3 hours will tell!! I suppose at least if it isn't backing up to the internal 1TB, that will still have my last 20 years info still on it

I know that it would have been great & easy to just do an HD swap from your 2009 MBP to the 2011 MBP...but maybe there's something about the 2011 MBP that doesn't like this. I know that it may be more of a pain in the butt. But it may be better to:

- backup your 1 terabyte drive (I think you're doing that)
- reformat the 1 tb drive in the 2011 MBP
- do a fresh install of the OS version you want on your 2011 MBP
- use Migration Assistant to migrate your apps & files from the 1 terabyte backup (the former info from your 2009 MBP)...to the 2011 MBP's HD.

Like I mentioned...I've had success doing this (HD swap). I occasionally need to boot my "Early 2011" 17" MacBook Pro with a hard drive that I used to have in my 2007 17" MacBook Pro (OS 10.6 on it).

I think that your newer 17" MacBook Pro is a "Late 2011" model. So maybe there's something different between an "Early 2011" 17" MBP and a "Late 2011" 17" MacBook Pro.

HTH,

- Nick