MBP 13" 2011, HDD to SSD without SATA to USB cable

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MBP 13" 2011, HDD to SSD without SATA to USB cable

I'd like to switch out my HDD to a Samsung SSD 850 EVO in my MBP 13" Early 2011.

I have my data backed up on an external drive, via TimeMachine. I have yet to update to the latest version of Yosemite (I'm currently on OS X 10.9.5).

I did not purchase a SATA to USB cable along with my SSD. I've also read a lot of forums for and against updating to Yosemite.

Can I do the switch to the SSD without having to clone my HDD onto the SSD first with a SATA to USB cable?

What I was thinking was that I could switch my HDD to the SSD, format the SSD once inside the MBP, install Yosemite, and then clone my HDD from my external drive via Time Machine onto the SSD.

Thanks,

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), Early 2011

Posted on Aug 30, 2015 5:34 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 30, 2015 6:29 PM in response to lmhkoh17

Can I do the switch to the SSD without having to clone my HDD onto the SSD first with a SATA to USB cable?

The new SSD will be blank. Your way that makes it too complicated and too hard to debug if something goes wrong.

If you have a rotating Hard drive now, you should replace it with an SSD in a 2.5" form factor drive. There are a lot of them and its an easy swap. You may not be able to use the Samsung 850 EVO -- I am not certain it is available in that form factor.

You should buy an external enclosure with your new SSD, but put off the "surgery" of swapping. Instead, put the new SSD drive in the external and Install Mac OS X (or clone your old drive) while the SSD is in the external. This process may be a little slow, but you only need to do it once. You can boot from it as an external as well. Once you are happy with it, THEN do the swap. This isolates the surgery problems (if any) from the 'build a new Mac OS X' problems.

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Answer 2

cabakroll

Level 3

840 points

Aug 30, 2015 7:08 PM in response to lmhkoh17

just make bootable install flash

then install your SSD, boot from the flash, install OS and restore your data from Time Machine using Migration Assistant

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