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anonthymous

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 28, 2014
16
2
Hey Guys/(Experts),

Farfetched question but I'd like know if it's possible to access TDM (via holding the "T" key upon startup) if I'm booting from a blank HDD/SDD?

Absurd as it may sound, I want to clone my HDD into a SSD using the nifty TDM trick and a thunderbolt cable.

Here's my thought process:

I brought a new SSD and was thinking about placing that in a surrogate Macbook pro and afterwards, launching into TDM. From there, I'd connect the thunderbird cable to another Macbook pro (let's call this one the host) run CCC (Carbon Copy Cloner) and clone my hdd onto the surrogate MBP to the blank SSD.

Before undertaking this, I'd made sure the new SSD I brought is formatted accordingly and both Macbook Pros are compatible.

Would this (technically speaking) work? Hopefully I explained it in a way that makes some sense ...
 

yjchua95

macrumors 604
Apr 23, 2011
6,725
233
GVA, KUL, MEL (current), ZQN
Hey Guys/(Experts),

Farfetched question but I'd like know if it's possible to access TDM (via holding the "T" key upon startup) if I'm booting from a blank HDD/SDD?

Absurd as it may sound, I want to clone my HDD into a SSD using the nifty TDM trick and a thunderbolt cable.

Here's my thought process:

I brought a new SSD and was thinking about placing that in a surrogate Macbook pro and afterwards, launching into TDM. From there, I'd connect the thunderbird cable to another Macbook pro (let's call this one the host) run CCC (Carbon Copy Cloner) and clone my hdd onto the surrogate MBP to the blank SSD.

Before undertaking this, I'd made sure the new SSD I brought is formatted accordingly and both Macbook Pros are compatible.

Would this (technically speaking) work? Hopefully I explained it in a way that makes some sense ...

Technically speaking it should work. The target Mac would appear as a blank external hard drive.
 

rigormortis

macrumors 68000
Jun 11, 2009
1,813
229
it is my understanding that target disk mode will work even if the hard disk has been completely erased.

i am not about to test this though!!!

target disk mode is in the mac's firmware
 

anonthymous

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 28, 2014
16
2
Just verified this and it is possible! Upon starting up the blank SSD I installed in my Macbook pro, I was able to access TDM (Target Disk Mode) pressing "T".
 

Altemose

macrumors G3
Mar 26, 2013
9,189
487
Elkton, Maryland
Target Disk Mode turns a Mac into a power hungry disk enclosure with a FireWire/Thunderbolt port interface. Any drives inside will appear regardless of formatting.
 

rigormortis

macrumors 68000
Jun 11, 2009
1,813
229
i used target disk mode once to install os x from a working cd drive on another mac by holding down the C key!!!! it made a very expensive external cd drive!!
 
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