early 2011 MBP SSD replacement and time machine

[sjwon322]

Hi,

Im thinking about changing the hard drive for my early 2011 MBP from a 320GB HDD to an SSD. My question is... can I simply get an SSD, replace it with the old HDD and use Time Machine to reinstall the OS? Or do I need to use the OS installation DVD and then can use time machine only after I install the original OS?

I know newer MBPs can do the former but heard that early 11's and earlier models don't support using Time Machine to reinstall the OS.

Thanks in advance

 

[JTToft]

can I simply get an SSD, replace it with the old HDD and use Time Machine to reinstall the OS?

- You can. The OS itself is included in the Time Machine backup. When you've installed the SSD, you simply boot up with your TM drive connected and holding down Alt/Option. You can then select to boot and restore from the TM backup.

 

[sjwon322]

- You can. The OS itself is included in the Time Machine backup. When you've installed the SSD, you simply boot up with your TM drive connected and holding down Alt/Option. You can then select to boot and restore from the TM backup.

Thanks! For some reason, I heard you can't do that on MBPs that came out in early 2011 and earlier models (these models had snow leopard as their default OS). But I guess you can!

 

[Mike Boreham]

- You can. The OS itself is included in the Time Machine backup. When you've installed the SSD, you simply boot up with your TM drive connected and holding down Alt/Option. You can then select to boot and restore from the TM backup.

The usual advice is to boot from the Recovery Partition (or Internet Recovery) to restore a complete TM backup. I don't think you can boot from a TM backup directly, but willing to be corrected.

My TM backup is connected to my AEBS (ac type) and it does not appear in the option+start screen.

 

[JTToft]

The usual advice is to boot from the Recovery Partition (or Internet Recovery) to restore a complete TM backup. I don't think you can boot from a TM backup directly, but willing to be corrected.

- Except with a new drive, there is no Recovery partition. Internet Recovery would work fine, but why would you use it when you have your TM drive right there?

The Recovery Partition is included in the Time Machine backup, so one would boot from that.

(Pretty sure the machine won't see your TM drive through your Extreme on the startup screen.)

 

[Mike Boreham]

- Except with a new drive, there is no Recovery partition. Internet Recovery would work fine, but why would you use it when you have your TM drive right there?

The Recovery Partition is included in the Time Machine backup, so one would boot from that.

(Pretty sure the machine won't see your TM drive through your Extreme on the startup screen.)

Thanks. That makes sense.

I just tried this...ie making a fresh TM back up to an directly connected drive and trying to boot from it. On rebooting holding the option key a new option appeared on the screen....EFI boot with the TM icon. But when I tried to proceed I got a no entry sign. Perhaps because Apple's current recommended way of booting to the RP is opt+R, not option+reboot.

My normal RP (the one on the internal) does not show up on the option+reboot screen.

So if there is a RP on both the TM drive and internal, you can't chose which it uses. But as you say, if doing this for real, onto a new internal drive, an opt+R boot would boot to the RP on the TM backup, because it would be the only one.

Would a TM restore done as above also put an RP onto the new internal?

 

[JTToft]

Thanks. That makes sense.

I just tried this...ie making a fresh TM back up to an directly connected drive and trying to boot from it. On rebooting holding the option key a new option appeared on the screen....EFI boot with the TM icon. But when I tried to proceed I got a no entry sign. Perhaps because Apple's current recommended way of booting to the RP is opt+R, not option+reboot.

My normal RP (the one on the internal) does not show up on the option+reboot screen.

So if there is a RP on both the TM drive and internal, you can't chose which it uses. But as you say, if doing this for real, onto a new internal drive, an opt+R boot would boot to the RP on the TM backup, because it would be the only one.

Would a TM restore done as above also put an RP onto the new internal?

- Interestingly, I get the stop sign when attempting to boot from the TM drive, too. My machine then rebooted automatically to my standard drive after about 30 seconds. Might be you can only boot from TM when you don't have a functioning internal Recovery partition.

The normal Recovery partition isn't supposed to show up in the menu. I believe it did at one point (perhaps before Yosemite), but it doesn't any longer. Cmd + R is the way to go now.

I should think such a TM restore would also restore the Recovery partition, yes. Can't say I've ever tried it, though.

(Please ignore the two middle partitions; they're related to my CCC backup.)