New Machine

I want to replace an aging MacBook Pro Retina 15" with a 500gb solid state drive. I live in the northern part of New Hampshire, and the only Apple stores are in the south 4 hours away.

1. Can anyone recommend any hardware? I'd like to stick to a laptop because I travel to the state legislature and need the computer for work. When I'm home I also use a large monitor.

2. Is there a way to transfer all my applications and data to the new machine, so I don;t have to start from scratch?

If you like the current machine, I'd look for a similar one in the refurbished store at Apple. Or if there were things you didn't like, look for a machine that doesn't have those "features." I recommend the refurb store because they come with the same warranty and are a few hundred bucks less.

No closer Apple store in Canada to go look at the machines?

Once you have your new machine, you can use Migration Assistant to transfer from old to new. The one tricky bit is that you get offered the opportunity to do that on the very first boot and if you do it then, it's relatively painless. If you use MA later, after setting up your account on the new machine, then it gets a bit more tricky. Definitely do-able, but more steps to get it done.

I will add one more thing: In your other thread your current machine is having boot problems. If you like your current machine, it will be a lot less expensive to replace the boot drive than to buy a new machine. And the transfer can still take place, using an external enclosure for that old SSD. Check with OWC about the options. I have one of their drives in my 17" MBP and it works very well.

EDIT: OWC have videos showing how to do the drive replacement so you can see how hard it is to do. Depending on your exact model, it isn't that hard to do.

Thank you. I hadn't thought about Canada, but it certainly is possible, although there's a bit more difficulty clearing customs. You probably have seen my other thread where I'm complaining about multiple boots. It is getting severe and perhaps I should just get a rebuilt machine, but my biggest concern is reliability. My biggest problem is time, not money although money is always important. I don't have another Apple. If I got another SSD and replaced it, I would have to transfer stuff maybe via Time Machine. I'm not sure I know how to do that. Obvious, though, that I need to study this a bit

Apple guarantees their refurbished machines for exactly the same time they do new. Same support, same availability of AppleCare. I've bought refurb and probably will do so next time I need a machine. I wouldn't buy in Canada, but you could go visit and see which machine you like, then order online. No problem with Customs that way.

OWC has a video on data-transfer after installing a new SSD. I looked at the video for a mid-2012 15" (I think that's what you said you had) and it looked pretty simple. Take off the back, disconnect battery, remove old SSD, install new, connect battery, reattach back. Done. Not pushing it, just an option that is a LOT less expensive. (If money really isn't a problem, get a refurb now, then after you've transferred your data from the old, try a full reformat/reinstall to see if it works better. If it does, you can resell or use it however you want. If not, then you can decide if it's worth replacing the SSD to see if that fixes the problem and resell/repurpose.

Good luck with it!

Well, looks to me like a rerplacement SSD from OWC is the best bet. Cheaper, faster, and a longer guarantee. Is the boot drive part of the SSD? How do I transfer the system? I think I can figure out how to transfer all the stuff via time machine, but I have serious questions about the system. When I bought this thing, it had whatever was before Mavericks. I upgraded to Mavericks and then upgraded to Yosemite. I don't know how I go about that since I don't think Time Machine backs up the system, nor for that matter, if I put a new drive in it, how I even get to time machine.

Unless you set up Time Machine to back up to an external drive, it's not doing anything. That is a whole other topic! But if you decide to try replacing the SSD, the steps I would take would be:

1. Get an external drive for TimeMachine backups.
2. Turn on TM and backup the system. (That external will now be handy once we sort out the problem and you can use it for backing up the new system.)
3. Reboot to the Recovery Partition (see this article for how.)
4. Do a complete reinstall of the OS from there.
5. Reboot normally and see if the problem has been fixed. If so, no need for a new SSD at all, it was software. If it boots fine, restore your files using TM to restore the files and folders.
6. If it still has problems, you can go ahead and order the replacement SSD. Once it's arrived and you are ready to swap, do another TM backup, replace the drive, install the OS from the internet, (see the same article I linked earlier) then update to Yosemite and do the restore from the TM drive of your files.

As you said earlier, it's not a quick process to get all this done. If you need a machine quickly and have the funds, a new machine will be ready for you without as much investment in time. I'd estimate that if you do those steps, you're looking at 10 hours or more. Download and reinstall of the OS in step 4, 5 and 6 will be a couple of hours each, if not more, depending on your Internet speeds.

One more thought: If you find an Apple store is relatively convenient in Canada, you could take it there to the Genius bar to see if they can diagnose and/or repair it for you. Customs may or may not be an issue, but I've carried my laptop through Customs before with no trouble.

If you download the OS from Apple, does it give you the latest one you have installed or the one that originally came with the machine. My machine came with something (Lion? Mountain Lion?) which I quickly replaced with Mavericks and then Yosemite.

It will download the original version, then you can download any version you have previously downloaded with your Apple ID.

So even though I started with either Lion or Mountain Lion (whatever came before Mavericks) I can upgrade it to Yosemite? (Note: all upgrades came from the Apple store) I didn't realize they were still available.

rapp said:

If you download the OS from Apple, does it give you the latest one you have installed or the one that originally came with the machine. My machine came with something (Lion? Mountain Lion?) which I quickly replaced with Mavericks and then Yosemite.

Click to expand...

Which version of the OS you get depends upon how you perform the upgrade. Here's Apple's take on the matter:

If you use the Recovery System stored on your startup drive to reinstall OS X, it installs the most recent version of OS X previously installed on this computer.
If you use Internet Recovery to reinstall OS X, it installs the version of OS X that originally came with your computer. After installation is finished, use the Mac App Store to install related updates or later versions of OS X that you have previously purchased.

Click to expand...

OS X Recovery

Is the recovery partition on the SSD? Or is it separate? I ask because if I replace the SSD, then I will lose it.

It depends upon how you installed the OS onto the SSD. If you installed it onto the SSD from an App Store download or clone made with Carbon Copy Cloner then the recovery partition will be on the SSD. If you used other software it may not be there. Some cloning tools do not clone the recovery partition.

The OS came with the machine which has a 500 gig SSD. I upgraded three times, each time from the App Store. If I replace the SSD with one from OWC, how can I even get on the internet?

The Internet recovery was designed to allow you to get on the Internet and download an OS if you have to replace the HD. So, install the new HD, then do an Internet boot and you'll end up with the original version installed. Then you can upgrade to any of the systems you had on the machine. All three (if you in fact installed three) will be available for download.

rapp I think I see where you are coming from. You are thinking that if you take your old HD out and install a new one from OWC it will be blank. You're right. If you go with this option you will need to boot from another source. Time machine is not a bootable source. So you will have to create one. It can be a USB thumb drive or a bootable clone created from say Carbon Copy Cloner. Although this will cost you around $50.00 the latter is the way I would choose. If you can purchase say a 1Tb USB HD run CCC and create a Bootable clone you have a copy of your laptop you can boot from(on any Mac). You can then use it to backup, repair or restore your new HD or download a new installer from the App store to instal the OS on your new blank SSD. If you buy a non Mac external HD (which is fine) you will need to format it using Disk Utility to OS Extended Journaled, create one partition with the same format and use the option key to set Mapping to RAID. CCC will tell you this anyway and how to do it because it will not be bootable otherwise.

Rod,

Finally! Ok, so if I want to replace the SSD, I have to buy Carbon Copy Cloner and create a bootable 1TB USB HD. Fine. I have a Seagate thing that I was using to back up for a while. I switched to a 2 TB drive. The Seagate thing can be deleted (it was formatted in FAT 32, I think) and reformatted in OS-X Extended Journal. I will make sure the 2 TB thing is a good backup. Then I can boot from the 1TB after replacing the SSD, and then restore from the 2 TB. Is that right? Now I just have to find enough time to do all of that.

I just found out that there is a new Apple store in Manchester, NH just 20 minutes from the State Capitol where I am every week. I'll just check that out first. Maybe, my best bet (except for the money) would be to buy a new laptop and have them fix the old one. Thanks,

Larry

Larry, I have to correct myself on one point, where i mentioned format options it needs to be GUID mapping not RAID. My error.
Your idea of the Apple Store is perhaps a good one, after all the only difference is money. On the other hand time and convenience may outweigh that.
So it is up to you, if you need any further advice don't hesitate to post.
Rod

Rod,

Thank you. Last night I discovered something else. If you boot with the "D" key held down, there is a hardware checker which comes up. It has an "extended" checker. I ran it. It took several hours to complete, but said that all hardware was working fine. It took a lot longer than it claimed, so I surmise that either the processor itself has a hear-related failure or the problem is in software. It might also be that the "pauses" are longer then I expect and I am simply not waiting long enough. I have looked for virii with several different detectors but none are found although something keeps finding Windows virii files. (I eliminate them)

I expect I will try this Apple store. I just don't have enough time to keep playing with this, although the option of buying another MacBook Pro is expensive.

The reason no viruses are found is that none exist for OS X. All the A/V software can find is Windows viruses usually embedded in email or in documents you share with Windows users. It can't look for anything else because none exist.