Gedfromgbr
Level 1 (8 points)
Desktops

Q: Swaping my hard drive to another MacBook Pro

Hi Folks

I got another MacBook pro of my friend, as he upgraded. he Had sold his hard drive to someone. so it came without a HDD. However this was good for me as I upgraded my other MacBook to 1TB/SSD.

I was then left with my old 500GB Yosemite HDD. The question is do I have to wipe this drive/erase, to mac extended journal, before I can install? I have got backups on my external hard drive of this one as well.

I have done this before with my mac mini, but I cant remember, got a mind like a sieve

Any tips will be very helpful.

Regards

Cap

Posted on Dec 30, 2015 12:46 AM

by my ginger,Solvedanswer
my ginger my ginger
Level 4 (2,472 points)
A:

So. You have a hard drive that can have the operating system reinstalled on it as long as it is in a hard drive caddy and connected to the computer. And you can even boot to it that way and go to screen. But once you install it , it will not boot. Anything tried with the hard drive installed will not work. The hard drive is setup correctly With the main hard drive set to GUID and the indented  drive set to mac os extended journaled. That makes me think that the internal hard drive cable is faulty.  Could even have a pin on it that is bent or broken.

Posted on Jan 6, 2016 12:39 PM

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Q: Swaping my hard drive to another MacBook Pro

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  • by my ginger,

    my ginger my ginger Jan 3, 2016 11:20 AM in response to Gedfromgbr
    Level 4 (2,472 points)
    Jan 3, 2016 11:20 AM in response to Gedfromgbr

    If you are booted from the drive as an external drive, you cannot erase it because it is the drive you are booted too. You would have to be in recovery or booted to some other drive. the diskmakerx4bg.dmg and if under it slightly indented the ESD dmg. could be your usb flash drive if connected. If it is not connected then, it was from when you created the usb flash drive and can be ejected. If you have booted and mounted the drive externally and went to desktop and find that in the applications folder there is a drive with and arrow next to it, that is an alias to the drive and should be deleted. Deleting an alias will not delete the original. If you are having a problem deleting an alias, here is some tips.  https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201583

  • by Gedfromgbr,

    Gedfromgbr Gedfromgbr Jan 3, 2016 11:41 AM in response to my ginger
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Jan 3, 2016 11:41 AM in response to my ginger

    Hi there

    I still couldn't boot to my MBP, I got rid of the alias files, it shows the apple sign but only boots half way on the progress bar. My friend told me this was a 2011 MBP, but when I was checking it out in the about this mac section, I found out it is Mid 2009. Therefore I might need to buy a new hard drive cable I think, but the 500gb HDD I am using just now is from a late 2011, early 2012 version. this should be ok when I change the cable do you think? Or will I have to get a 2009 hdd? Saying that I am still going to try a fire wire target mode boot tomorrow.

  • by my ginger,

    my ginger my ginger Jan 3, 2016 12:17 PM in response to Gedfromgbr
    Level 4 (2,472 points)
    Jan 3, 2016 12:17 PM in response to Gedfromgbr

    The year or age of the hard drive doesn't matter. The operating system between your computer and his may vary as to hardware configuration. When changing a drive from one computer to another, if they are not the same, sometimes it will not work as it should. Usually a reinstall fixes that. It is possible that the hard drive cable is damaged in some way.  Since it boots externally but not when installed. Since it is trying to boot,try an SMC reset and then maybe a pram reset, with the drive installed.  https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295   https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

  • by Gedfromgbr,

    Gedfromgbr Gedfromgbr Jan 3, 2016 12:36 PM in response to my ginger
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Jan 3, 2016 12:36 PM in response to my ginger

    Hi there mate

     

    Thanks for the links appreciated. I have tried a pram reset, but not the smc, so will try that. Yes it is trying to boot, I can get into the files through recovery, and see what's on the disc, when the disc is in the MBP, on the help section. So something's happening. But it might be something to do with the efi and smc updates, Firmware. Just a guess, who knows, I will try that reset though. Didn't think it would be this hard, I have swapped drives before from mac mini to MBP with no problems at all, they were already loaded, and went straight through. like this one was but would not boot, so that's why I had to try and erase. I have still got everything on backup external got quite a few Yosemite backups. Oh I tried them disks just for the sake of it, but they only loaded so far, and told me to install a time machine backup, but that didn't work. Anyway thought I would try them.

  • by my ginger,

    my ginger my ginger Jan 3, 2016 12:47 PM in response to Gedfromgbr
    Level 4 (2,472 points)
    Jan 3, 2016 12:47 PM in response to Gedfromgbr

    With it internally mounted , you could try a safe boot. Shift key at startup to see if it will complete a startup. Let me know what you find. Firmware updates are applied to the internal chips on the logic board. Links to it can reside in the operating system. But the reinstall usually changes that.

  • by Gedfromgbr,

    Gedfromgbr Gedfromgbr Jan 3, 2016 12:54 PM in response to my ginger
    Level 1 (8 points)
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    Jan 3, 2016 12:54 PM in response to my ginger

    I am going to try a safe boot mode, been meaning to do one, I will keep you posted.

     

    Cap

  • by Gedfromgbr,

    Gedfromgbr Gedfromgbr Jan 4, 2016 11:28 AM in response to my ginger
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Jan 4, 2016 11:28 AM in response to my ginger


    Hi there mate

     

    I tried safe mode no good, came up with some black highlighted codes going down the left hand side and booted itself back to normal mode where the bar would just go half way.

     

    Right how do I do this target mode transfer? I take it i will have to delete the disk again, and once hooked up, do i turn both computers on, and which computer am i using to press T? Not to clued up about this never done it. Do i drag the disk from my good mac, or vice versa?

     

    Thanks

     

    Cap

  • by my ginger,

    my ginger my ginger Jan 4, 2016 11:49 AM in response to Gedfromgbr
    Level 4 (2,472 points)
    Jan 4, 2016 11:49 AM in response to Gedfromgbr

    Have the hard drive installed in the computer you wish to reinstall on.  Boot the computer that you want to install the operating system on by holding down the T key. Boot the other computer using command R. You are going to use the recovery of the one to install the operating system to the other. You will need to use disk utilities in recovery to erase the hard drive of the mac you are installing to. If you have already set that the main drive up as GUID you will not have partition. Just erase the drive. Go back to main recovery menu and select reinstall. You should get to a window to pick the drive to install too. If they are named the same, you will need to go by the size to select.

  • by Gedfromgbr,

    Gedfromgbr Gedfromgbr Jan 4, 2016 12:12 PM in response to my ginger
    Level 1 (8 points)
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    Jan 4, 2016 12:12 PM in response to my ginger


    OK thanks Bro

     

    Going top do it in a few minutes, I will get back to you fingers Xed.

     

    Cheers

     

    Cap

  • by my ginger,

    my ginger my ginger Jan 4, 2016 1:01 PM in response to Gedfromgbr
    Level 4 (2,472 points)
    Jan 4, 2016 1:01 PM in response to Gedfromgbr

    Your description of the safe boot sounds more like what happens when you startup in single user. If the last thing you saw was fsck -yf. That is single user. That means you used the S key and not the Shift key. On your internal hard drive did you ever have FileVault enabled?

  • by Gedfromgbr,

    Gedfromgbr Gedfromgbr Jan 4, 2016 1:41 PM in response to my ginger
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Jan 4, 2016 1:41 PM in response to my ginger

    Not working mate,  I tried to erase again with the disk in the machine, but didn't work so I done it externally.

     

    I got into recovery but it wont reinstall, bar moves a tine bit then says something went wrong, makes me sign into App store as well, but doesn't reinstall.

     

      I have tried by holding alt/option key I then seen the drive, so I clicked on it. it brought my other mac up on screen with both HDDS, one of them was orange which is my target machine, the one that works. I tried dragging this to my other hard drive but came up with code 50. I am not sure what to do now?

  • by Gedfromgbr,

    Gedfromgbr Gedfromgbr Jan 4, 2016 1:47 PM in response to my ginger
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Jan 4, 2016 1:47 PM in response to my ginger

    No never had file vault?? No It was shift key I tried both of them the small one and the big one

  • by Gedfromgbr,

    Gedfromgbr Gedfromgbr Jan 4, 2016 2:09 PM in response to Gedfromgbr
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Jan 4, 2016 2:09 PM in response to Gedfromgbr

    I only have 4 folders in my hard drive when checking it through the fire wire they look a bit greyed out, but I might be able to delete them? They are fseventsd, mobile backups which has a red circle with a white line on the right hand corner. Spotlight-V100 and Trashes.

     

    Do you think these are stoping me from doing anything or are these a necessity?

     

    Cap

  • by my ginger,Solvedanswer

    my ginger my ginger Jan 6, 2016 12:39 PM in response to Gedfromgbr
    Level 4 (2,472 points)
    Jan 6, 2016 12:39 PM in response to Gedfromgbr

    So. You have a hard drive that can have the operating system reinstalled on it as long as it is in a hard drive caddy and connected to the computer. And you can even boot to it that way and go to screen. But once you install it , it will not boot. Anything tried with the hard drive installed will not work. The hard drive is setup correctly With the main hard drive set to GUID and the indented  drive set to mac os extended journaled. That makes me think that the internal hard drive cable is faulty.  Could even have a pin on it that is bent or broken.

  • by Gedfromgbr,

    Gedfromgbr Gedfromgbr Jan 4, 2016 2:31 PM in response to my ginger
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Jan 4, 2016 2:31 PM in response to my ginger

    yes that's what im thinking, everything is set as it should be. GUID, mac extended journal etc. I tried to drag and copy the folder, and I get this error.

     

    the operation cannot be completed because an unexpected error occurred (error code -50)

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