Need to replace hard drive on 2012 Macbook Pro and move data from drive to iMac

So, my husband has had a 2012 MacBook Pro that was never backed up. His hard drive failed and the individual at the Mac Store said that he could get a 3.0USB to Sata and move everything to either my iMac or external drive. So - I have a few questions because I haven't done anything IT related and in fact just got back on the grid with Internet connection after almost 3 years so I am out of touch with how to do anything anymore.

First things first: To transfer the data I was thinking this may work:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01E4VHSYG/?tag=macforums0e4-20

The hard drive was a hitachi 500GB 2.5 (HDD: SK750-500 5400 RPM) So, I'm thinking the above would serve to connect to the external drive off my iMac and I could transfer the data directly from the hard drive.

Second: The model of the MacBook is A1286 so need to find a hard drive that will work with that - would like to cost less than $150.00 (he only uses this computer now for surfing the Internet and photos) but if I can put one of those new solid state ones than I might go higher.

Third: Can I install the operating system on the new hard drive once installed from the Mac OS X Install Discs? Though - I believe these discs might be from my iMac - not sure. It says Mac OS X

Thanks for all the help. I asked my husband if he'd learned his lesson about backing up his computer...he said yes - but I'm sure I'll be the one doing it, lol. Thanks again. All advice is appreciated.

Depending on how the drive has failed, you might not be able to get the data off of it. While the connector is correct for a SATA drive, if the drive isn't spinning or has crashed in a way that it's data can't be read by the MBP to get itself going, you're likely not going to have more luck with it plugged into the iMac as an external drive. The connector is cheap enough so there's no harm in trying to see if it might work..

If, when you do get the connector and plug it into the iMac, if the iMac reports that it can't read the hard drive and it needs to be initialized or ANYTHING like that, DO NOT DO IT. If the data on the drive is important to be recovered, you can try some software data recovery tool or might have to employ professional help in getting the data off of it..

For the replacement, you can try this Sandisk SSD for less than $150. I have a Sandisk SSD in my iMac and that's been working great.

If your installation disc came with your iMac, it will only work on that specific iMac, and it was likely the older version of macOS. Recent versions of macOS are all digital downloads and the latest (Sierra 10.12) will work on the 2012 MBP. So go to the Mac App Store and grab the installer and create a USB installer using DiskMakerX and do a fresh install on the SSD once it is installed..

Thanks for the info. The guy at the Apple Store said we would be able to access the data. He wasn't sure at first and then did something and showed me how it should look when I connect the the adaptor so for 8 bucks I'll give it a shot. I'll take a look at the replacement drive. Sounds like I should be able to do this.

Unless he was showing you how to get the data on YOUR hard drive, he was just showing you how it would work normally and on a good working drive, this is a quite simple. You plug in the drive using the cable and open up Finder and you'll see a new external drive sitting there (likely named Macintosh HD), you browse it like you normally would to see all the files/folders and can drag whatever you want off of it to your local hard drive.

However, on a failed drive, when you plug in the drive, you might get nothing at all or the message I indicated in my last post which says that while the drive was seen, what was on it couldn't been seen..

He actually used my husband's drive to test to see if it would work so it showed everything on the drive and he ran me through how it would look when connected. If we had brought a back up drive with us he said it could be transferred but we didn't and the soonest time I'll have to run back an hour to the mac store is....I don't know since I work a crazy schedule...hence why I'd rather spend a few bucks on the adaptor.

One other question if you don't mind - is it possible that when we get the new drive up and running to just transfer the folders from the failed drive to the new hard drive? Would that make more sense than to just transfer them to a back up? I'm also thinking of buying an external back up drive just for his lap top - any suggestions on that? And not to mention, my Lacie back ups for my iMac are going on 9 years which is disconcerting (however they haven't been used for a few years because I wasn't on the the computer and they weren't hooked up during that time either). Is it possible to use a back up drive for 2 different computers or should I just get two separate back up drives? Thanks again.

That's excellent that the data was available, the dongle will do what you need then..

Once you install the new drive and install macOS on it, you can definitely use the dongle and transfer over any of the needed applications/documents to it. As far as backup goes, you can grab any drive (spinning or not) and I would suggest enabling Time Machine with that external drive so that macOS will automatically backup all the data on the hour and every hour so that you have a rolling backup should you want to recover anything..

If you installed a aftermarket SSD, don't forget to enable trim:

https://www.howtogeek.com/222077/how-to-enable-trim-for-third-party-ssds-on-mac-os-x/

That's very good to know! Thank you.

Also, do I need any kind of spacer or anything? Any special tools? I haven't ordered the drive yet since it won't even be available til July but I will here in a couple days.

Please provide all the details about your 2012 MBP. You can get this information from clicking on the Apple icon on top left and choosing About This Mac..

Can I do that even with no hard drive in it?

No, sorry you can't..is it a 13 or 15 2012 MBP? Is it a Retina MBP?

It's a 15" 2012 MBP. No retina.

OK, here is the guide to replacing the hard drive on your Unibody MBP. You don't need any special adapters, just a hard drive that is the same size (2.5") as your current one.

You're awesome! Thank you.

Raz0rEdge - I probably should post this question under software but wanted to let you know before I did since you've been answering my questions. Right now, I was able to put in the new Sandisk hard drive recommended. I turned on the computer - got it to a globe that said Internet Recovery This May Take Awhile (or something to that affect). So, it let me connect to my network and now I'm sitting here just watching the globe spin. Now the globe has stopped spinning with a big exclamation point saying apple.com/support 2002F

I have a usb drive that I'm trying to get disk maker to but it isn't appearing on my desktop when I plug it into the port on my iMac. Maybe I need a new usb thumb drive? And should I post in the other software forum? Thanks.

Sounds like a Internet connection/DNS issue..you might want to go to your Router and change it to use Google's DNS of 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 to see if that will help..

The USB drive is the best way of getting the installation going, but if the inserted USB drive isn't detected when plugged in, it either has failed or is formatted in a way that the iMac can't understand. I had one of my USB drives fail this way recently and had to grab a new one..

Feel free to post additional questions in the OS X forum since you seem to be past the hardware stuff with the MBP..

Thank you.