Broken MacBook's HDD: Can I put Mavericks on it from new MacBook?

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Broken MacBook's HDD: Can I put Mavericks on it from new MacBook?

I spilled liquid on my old MacBook and everything had pretty much fried except for my hard drive, which was a miracle. I recently bought a new MacBook Pro, and I'm currently trying to sell my water damaged one. I have a potential buyer and he is asking if I have the old installation CD since I am not selling it with the hard drive (security purposes.) I don't have it anymore, but I think if I were to know that I've completely erased everything without having the risk of a recovery software finding my old info, I will sell the hard drive along with my old broken laptop. I guess what I'm asking is can I connect my old hard drive with my Apricorn cable to my new laptop and somehow recover it from there with Mavericks, so I can sell it without needing an installation CD? Thank you.

I'm just not sure if even though I erased/partitioned it, if it still has the old OS X on there (Mountain Lion.)

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4), mid-2009

Posted on Mar 12, 2014 8:21 PM

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Answer 1

AussieDJ

Level 4

1,445 points

Mar 12, 2014 9:04 PM in response to khunter122

Just tell him no Installation disks.

It's not really going to affect the price since it's water damaged. If it does, only by about $10 which is not worth all your time.

He can buy / re-order copies from Apple if he needs to. He would only be using it for parts anyway.

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Answer 2

Mar 12, 2014 9:06 PM in response to khunter122

If you run Disk Utility Security erase, write Zeroes, one pass (one click off the default which is "don't overwrite anything") you will eliminate "ordinary folks" ability to recover any personal files off your MacBook drive. It can take an hour or two.

Those willing to disassemble the drive in a clean room and map the magnetic regions with special equipment may still be able to recover some information, so this is not good enough for nuclear secrets.

If you install a copy of [your] Mavericks on the drive, the new owner will be able to use it for a while, but you should remind them that they will need to "buy" their own copy. Any copies of your software are personalized to your Apple-ID. The buyers will probably not be able to re-download [your copy of] Mavericks.

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Answer 3

khunter122 Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 12, 2014 9:47 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thank you! I think I'll just stick with doing a zero erase and leave it at that.

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