If I don't back up my MBP before installing a new hard drive...

Question

Level 1

4 points

If I don't back up my MBP before installing a new hard drive...

Really fast question:

If I don't back up my hard drive before installing a new SSD hard drive, will the MBP (early 2011) "know" how to download all the appropriate OS X software, and that kind of thing? I guess my question is: Is the recovery portion of the hard drive part of the same hard drive? Or on a separate physical disk.

I do not have a time machine, and it would probably just be easier to start from scratch.

Thanks!

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)

Posted on Feb 6, 2016 2:41 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Niel

Level 10

726,935 points

Feb 6, 2016 2:50 PM in response to mynameisreno

If your computer shipped with 10.6.8 or earlier and didn't have its firmware upgraded to use Apple's Internet Recovery system, it's only on the internal drive. Otherwise, separate recovery methods are in the firmware and internal drive.

(139248)

Reply

Answer 2

mynameisreno Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 6, 2016 2:50 PM in response to Niel

Great, so if I can follow these steps, I should be able to use internet recovery?

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201518

Reply

Answer 3

Niel

Level 10

726,935 points

Feb 6, 2016 2:52 PM in response to mynameisreno

Yes.

(139250)

Reply

Answer 4

mynameisreno Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 6, 2016 2:55 PM in response to Niel

Thank you for your reply, I am using ElCapitan and apparently this OS is not supported. I am given the error "This update requires OS X version 10.8.5 or 10.9.5."

What do you think the best course of action could be?

Reply