Will a Catalina HDD run if put in a 2010 Macbook Pro?

[mackatt]

Hi everyone!
My cousin gifted me his old Macbook Pro 15" - 2,88 GHz processor, 4 GB RAM, 512 MB display, 500 GB HDD, battery with only 35 cycles...
I think it is a 2010 model. Not sure, as in "about this mac" it only shows "El Capitan" but no year at all.
I was thinking of replacing its El Capitan HDD with a SSD I have lying around, and which already has Catalina pre-loaded.
Will this work?
Any suggestions?
Thanks!

 

[Slydude]

The SSD should work, assuming that it has a SATA connection, Most do so you should be good there,

The thing that I am checking on is the maximum OS that the machine will run. Unless I looked up the wrong machine it won't run Catalina without a hack but would run High Sierra. You could clone your current installation to that SSD and it should work.

4 GB of RAM will limit things even further, but machines of that era tended to have easily upgradeable memory.

 

[MacInWin]

If, in fact, that is a 2010 15" MacBook Pro, then NO is the answer. The most recent version that will run on that machine is High Sierra (10.13.6).

Now, as for the SSD, depending on the connectors and physical dimensions of the SSD, it might be possible to use it as a drive, then install HS on it from some source. You can check at ifixit.com

 

[Slydude]

If you decide to go this route, it will take some time to get the SSD shifted from Catalina to High Siera but the difference should be noticeable. If that machine has its original hard drive it's a slow 5400 rpm drive.

 

[Rod]

I would have been tempted to keep the internal drive as is. After all it only has 4GB RAM and it doesn't sound like it's had a lot of use but I'm puzzled about the "About the Mac" display not displaying the year of manufacture. I'd be tempted to just check that again because the year and model is important if seeking instructions to swap out drives.
My MBP is a little different because it's running macOS Sonoma but the basic info is and always has been the same in every model.
As you can see below;



The screen size and year is just below the Model.
Failing that you can always look it up via the Serial Number.

 

[mackatt]

Thanks to everyone for the answers.
I was also puzzled as to why this Mac does not show the year of manufacture?!
Initially, when I opened it, it showed the first line of "about this Mac" as "Unarchiver" with the specifications below it, but no year at all.
After I used it for a few days, now it shows the first line as "El Capitan" and the specifications below, but still no year.
No idea why, as I am not a tech wizard at all...

 

[MacInWin]

Thanks to everyone for the answers.
I was also puzzled too as to why this Mac does not show the year of manufacture?!
Initially, when I opened it, it showed the first line of "about this Mac" as "Unarchiver" with the specifications below it, but no year at all. After I used it for a few days, now it shows the first line as "El Capitan" and the specifications below, but still no year. No idea why, as I am not very good at these things...

Can you post a screenshot of that information, the whole window that opens with About This Mac?