Transferring data from broken Mac to new Mac

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Transferring data from broken Mac to new Mac

Hi everyone :),

My Macbook Pro (13 inch 2013) recently got a crack in the screen.

As soon as the crack happened (a pinpoint sized crack as well) it started to make the screen unusable, and today it is completely black with some light across the top.

Rather than replace the screen I figured it would be cheaper to just buy another one so am thinking of doing that.

But I notice that the Mac isn’t even charging now. Yesterday I could charge it and use it by using my iPad as an external display but it isn’t even doing that at this point.

Is it possible to transfer the data from the Mac in its current condition to the new Mac?

Many thanks :)

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Mar 4, 2021 11:23 AM

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Answer 1

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MrHoffman

Community+ 2024

Level 10

125,291 points

Mar 4, 2021 11:33 AM in response to Steele-Kendrick

Try Target Disk Mode from another Mac:

Transfer files between two Mac computers using target disk mode - Apple Support

That'll be via Thunderbolt, here.

I wouldn't bet on extracting and migrating the contents of the flash storage on the MacBook Pro 13 early 2013 or MacBook Pro 13" late 2013, though that's theoretically possible.

Busted hardware and seemingly a lack of backups is not an auspicious starting place for any data migration, unfortunately.

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Answer 2

Mar 4, 2021 1:41 PM in response to MrHoffman

Hi MrHoffman, thanks for the reply :)

I think that is my best option, I’ve ordered one which is coming next week Wednesday so I’ll try that then.

Thanks for the reply, it still didn’t come on so I may try that SSD idea.

Just to ask, if I was willing to pay for it, is Apple able to do battery and screen repairs to Macs? I have old photos on it that I really don’t want to lose - and yeah I’ll be backing everything up in the future, lesson definitely learned :(

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Answer 3

Mar 4, 2021 3:43 PM in response to Steele-Kendrick

Repairs? The 2013 models are listed as vintage, so... unlikely. And major repairs on a Mac that old are seldom worthwhile anyway.

Swaps? The flash storage in that era was socketed sticks, and not HDD or SSD-like bricks. You'll need a matching socket on another Mac to try to transfer and read the flash. And I'm not sure that a flash swap is possible; not and preserve the contents.

Backups are the usual means of avoiding data loss in these cases, whether that might be due to hardware failure or damage or fire or theft or otherwise.

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Answer 4

HWTech

Level 9

60,284 points

Mar 4, 2021 7:51 PM in response to MrHoffman

MrHoffman wrote:

Repairs? The 2013 models are listed as vintage, so... unlikely. And major repairs on a Mac that old are seldom worthwhile anyway.

FYI, The 2013 & 2014 MBPros are now "Obsolete" as of Feb. 1.

Swaps? The flash storage in that era was socketed sticks, and not HDD or SSD-like bricks. You'll need a matching socket on another Mac to try to transfer and read the flash. And I'm not sure that a flash swap is possible; not and preserve the contents.

OWC sells an Envoy Pro Enclosure which the SSD from a 2013 MBPro can be installed (assuming the SSD is an original Apple SSD):

https://eshop.macsales.com/search/?q=envoy%20pro%20enclosure&filter.catidpath=4353&filter.dimension_type_135=Bare%20Enclosure%20Only

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Answer 5

Mar 5, 2021 8:44 AM in response to HWTech

Ah, thanks; MacTracker hasn't caught up with that vintage-to-obsolete status change.

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Transferring data from broken Mac to new Mac

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