MacBookPro mid2012. Installing a new SSD and keeping the old HD.

acilegnaebeirt wrote:

I still have a question that needs answering: Catalina, do I then create a volume with it (patch)? So that I can keep High Sierra on the SSD and boot separately when needed? Or do I go straight onto upgrading High Sierra and loose apps, etc?

32 bit apps will not run on Catalina .

If you wan to keep 32 bit apps to run then do not upgrade your High Sierra 10.13.6 to Catalina—

32-bit app compatibility with macOS High Sierra 10.13 ... - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208436

you can still upgrade to macOS 10.14.6 Mojave and keep it all.

macOS 10.14 Mojave - Technical Specifications:

https://support.apple.com/kb/SP777

Upgrade to macOS Mojave - Official Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/macos/mojave

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/macos-mojave/id1398502828?mt=12

MacBook (Early 2015 or newer)

MacBook Air (Mid 2012 or newer)

MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 or newer)

Mac mini (Late 2012 or newer)

iMac (Late 2012 or newer)

iMac Pro (2017)

Mac Pro (Late 2013; Mid 2010 and Mid 2012 models with recommended Metal-capable graphics cards)

acilegnaebeirt wrote:

MacBookPro mid 2010. I’m installing a new SSD and keeping the old 319.21GB HD which is almost full, running on High Sierra 10.13.6. Have done deep cleaning and made 3 copies from my HD.

I am planning to boot from new SSD, (on which I plan to install Catalina and see how it goes). Because it will be faster and is 980GB.

I can do the manual work, but understanding how it will work is beyond me. Therefore I’m asking the community for directions

Q: 1- I’d like to choose on which system I’d like to boot, be it -HighSierra or Catalina-

  2- To install and work on Catalina. Do I need to partition (and what size should the partition be) or add a volume to the newSSD?

3- Do I need to install that copy I made from my old HD on the new SSD? If not, how do I access my files, documents, applications, etc. ? Do they contact each other?

4- Shall I leave my old HD with the whole info the way it is? 

5- Regardless installing Catalina in new SSD, do I partition or create an album? and What files shall I copy to it.?

Thank you all. Stay safe.

I would clone your old hard drive to the SSD externally, then swap drives—and then upgrade the macOS to your Catalina.

Boot clone https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-10081

Is this a 2010 or a 2012? Your title says one thing and the body of the post says another and will determine which version of macOS you can use.

If you have a 13" non-Retina (mid-2012) laptop, then you should also replace the internal hard drive SATA cable since this cable has an extremely high rate of failure on this particular model especially after upgrading to an SSD. OWC sells the cable.

FYI, Catalina does not support 32bit apps so make sure your apps are updated before cloning or migrating to the new drive. If you have any software that is not compatible with Catalina, then I recommend you uninstall it by following the developer's instructions before you upgrade to Catalina.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208436

I've heard/read online that just about all of the MBPros potentially have issues with the internal hard drive SATA cable, but the only model I've personally see the issue is with the 13" non-Retina (mid-2012) model. If you have the 2010 model, then I would not be concerned unless you experience issues.

You cannot boot macOS 10.15 Catalina on a 2010 laptop.