I have my old 2007 Mac book pro, which I'm trying to retire. I've bought a used 2011 Mac book pro and a tb sshd to be put into it. Can I clone my snow leopard old 2007 - place it onto the 1tb sshd, then put it in the used 2011 Mac & update it?
Depends. If it's a Late 2011 model, then it cannot be booted by a Snow Leopard system. If it's prior to Late 2011, then it can be booted from Snow Leopard 10.6.8 or from the original installer DVD that came with it new. You would need to put the old disk into an external enclosure in order to clone it to the newer disk or be able to connect the two using a Firewire cable. Cloning would then be done using Target Disk Mode.
Otherwise, don't clone anything. Install the original OS onto the newer disk in the newer computer. Then simply transfer the user account with the Migration Assistant.
How to use Migration Assistant to transfer files from another Mac
Your right. It's a late 2011.... Ok - I'm looking into down grade the o's system on the newer (used 2011). To lion which is the base it can go at then migrate files over. Then update to El Capitan. ? Is that the best procedure? Will I lose any info in that big of a change? At what stage is it best to add / switch out the hard drive to the new 1 tb?
Thank you!
If the OSX is 10.6.8, it will boot the late 2011 MBP. Test it first by connecting the HDD externally via USB. I know, I have done it on a late 2011 MBP.
Ciao.
Changing Old to New
