Transfer SSD from early '08 MacBook Pro > late '08 MacBook Pro

Question

Level 1

4 points

Transfer SSD from early '08 MacBook Pro > late '08 MacBook Pro

Hello,

I have an early '08 PBP 15 - 2.4 processor (?) pre-unibody with a SSD drive that I installed years ago. The machine suffered damage to the charging port and it's a PITA to keep charged. So I removed the SSD which contains years of data. I picked up a pristine late '08 unibody PBP 2.8 15 inch machine, removed its hard disk and installed my SSD. Here's what happens:

The machine takes a very long time to boot and when it finally does, I can point to files on the desktop or to items in the dock but there is no trackpad function at all other than pointer movement. I cannot click anything, nor can I command-O open any programs.

Any thoughts on this issue? Any other info I can provide?

Thanks in advance.

MacBook Pro

Posted on Jul 17, 2019 9:12 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Jul 17, 2019 11:33 AM in response to profe51

If you have an external enclosure —boot that SSD on the troublesome machine externally and see if the issue returns.

Then try a safe boot of the external SSD —this may be insightful. ( from the start up manager preselect the external to make this happen.)

SafeBoot https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262

Reply

Answer 2

profe51 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 17, 2019 11:28 AM in response to leroydouglas

Yes. I went thru it pretty well. It had a very light use history and all systems appeared normal. I have the original drive back in it now and am digging further but don't see anything out of the ordinary. I doubled the RAM thinking that might make a difference, it booted much faster but I still had the same issues once it finished. Now, with the original drive back in, it's working fine.

Reply

Answer 3

y_p_w

Level 6

17,642 points

Jul 17, 2019 12:09 PM in response to profe51

You may have issues with the OSX "build". I thought that they might have specific drivers for those components. I've certainly heard of users trying to swap drives with slightly different models where it boots but operates erratically.

With the cost of SATA SSDs I would think it might make more sense to just get a new one, get an external enclosure, and use Setup/Migration Assistant to transfer over the data and settings.

Reply

Answer 4

y_p_w

Level 6

17,642 points

Jul 17, 2019 1:28 PM in response to profe51

profe51 wrote:

Can't restart in safe mode because I can't get to the startup manager. This is a pain in the ***, I'm going to order another SSD. I had no idea how cheap they'd become! thanks!

As a practical matter, it was never really designed for the kind of swap you're attempting. I heard of someone who tried swapping drives in supposedly the same models and it didn't work. When you get the new SSD, I'd recommend doing an Internet Recovery clean install of MacOS and then use Setup Assistant to transfer over the data from your old SSD in an external enclosure.

Also - what version of OSX/MacOS are you trying to boot?

Reply

Answer 5

profe51 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 21, 2019 1:25 PM in response to y_p_w

Both machines were using 10.11.6, the last iteration they'll run. Here's an update so far

So I bought a new Crucial 240gb 2.5 inch SSD and put it into an external drive enclosure, USB.

Erased and set it up as Mac journaled and initialized it.

Downloaded a fresh OS X.11 installer and targeted the install to the external drive.

The machine restarted and got to the set up portion welcome page where you pick your country

I can highlight U.S. but the arrow to proceed is not functional. I let it sit a long time. Saw activity on the external's drive light, but it would never finish. Restarted several times and each time it would return to that portion of the install and not go further.

So I thought, "maybe the drive needs to be IN the laptop, the USB's too slow or something"

Put the SSD in the machine and it did exactly the same thing. Can't get past that region setup page.

I'm stumped.

I just found the Internet recovery page, had no idea about that. What I had done is download a 10.11 installer out of my App store purchases. I am going to erase the SSD in the drive enclosure and try the internet recovery page.

Reply

Answer 6

profe51 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 17, 2019 1:21 PM in response to profe51

Can't restart in safe mode because I can't get to the startup manager. This is a pain in the ***, I'm going to order another SSD. I had no idea how cheap they'd become! thanks!

Reply