Unreleased Leopard Build on New Macbooks?

[ThomasJL]

Two questions:

1) True or False: Do the new 13" aluminum MacBooks come with an unreleased build of Leopard?

2) The 200GB 7200 RPM Hitachi hard drive on my white plastic Santa Rosa 2.2 GHz MacBook is running the latest version of Leopard (10.5.5). When I originally installed Leopard when it came out, I did a clean install (aka "erase and install") which was a full install of literally everything that could possibly be installed. I run Software Update regularly, and have always downloaded everything that Software Update listed (regardless of whether I needed it or not). So here's my question: If I buy a new 13" aluminum MacBook, can I just take my old hard drive out of my previous generation MacBook and pop it into the new aluminum MacBook, and just start using it without having to reinstall anything or installing anything new?

 

[neiltc13]

1) True
2) I am not sure but I think there is some software in this new Leopard build that enables 4 finger gestures and other features. I'd format just to be safe.

 

[Hugh]

Two questions:

1) True or False: Do the new 13" aluminum MacBooks come with an unreleased build of Leopard?

2) The 200GB 7200 RPM Hitachi hard drive on my white plastic Santa Rosa 2.2 GHz MacBook is running the latest version of Leopard (10.5.5). When I originally installed Leopard when it came out, I did a clean install (aka "erase and install") which was a full install of literally everything that could possibly be installed. I run Software Update regularly, and have always downloaded everything that Software Update listed (regardless of whether I needed it or not). So here's my question: If I buy a new 13" aluminum MacBook, can I just take my old hard drive out of my previous generation MacBook and pop it into the new aluminum MacBook, and just start using it without having to reinstall anything or installing anything new?

Most likely you will have to use the Mac OS X that comes with the computer. The older build wouldn't know what that machine is. Now I could be wrong, but this has been mostly the case for Apple in the past.

Hugh

 

[ThomasJL]

In regards to question #2, if Apple releases 10.5.6 through Software Update, and I use my white MacBook to download and install this update, after that, will I be able to just pop in my white Macbook's hard drive into a new aluminum MacBook and have everything already working?

 

[piano08man]

You could be okay. Okay or not, putting your drive in will not hurt anything. Boot it, try it out. If it doesn't work correctly, just archive and install (while preserving settings) the system with the restore discs from the aluminum macbook. That way all of your information stays intact on your larger/better hard drive. When you get done and everything checks out, toss your "Previous Systems" folder from the root directory of your hard drive and it'll be like you never messed with it in the first place.

Normally I charge people for this info.

edit: even with the 10.5.6 update, you could run into issues. best follow the advice above.

 

[WPB2]

You could be okay. Okay or not, putting your drive in will not hurt anything. Boot it, try it out. If it doesn't work correctly, just archive and install (while preserving settings) the system with the restore discs from the aluminum macbook. That way all of your information stays intact on your larger/better hard drive. When you get done and everything checks out, toss your "Previous Systems" folder from the root directory of your hard drive and it'll be like you never messed with it in the first place.

Normally I charge people for this info.

edit: even with the 10.5.6 update, you could run into issues. best follow the advice above.

Just run Migration utility. I did it and it only took 4 hours, hahah. seriously.

 

[qwikrex]

No such thing as 10.5.6 yet. Still in testing. The version of osx on the new aluminum macbooks is different, but it's still 10.5.5.

 

[ThomasJL]

In another thread, many have posted that the 10.5.5 Leopard Build on their new 13" aluminum MacBook is Build 9F2114.

In the OP on this thread, in question #2, the 10.5.5 Leopard Build that I have on my white plastic MacBook is Build 9F33. Do you think Build 9F33 will contain drivers for the new Nvidia integrated graphics, DisplayPort, etc?

Thoughts?

BTW, thanks to everyone who replied to this thread. And thanks for any future replies to this thread!

 

[mrklaw]

surely you can't simply swap the drives, as they are different machines? Completely new Nvidia chipset and graphics card. Drivers would be different.

 

[Cozmo85]

surely you can't simply swap the drives, as they are different machines? Completely new Nvidia chipset and graphics card. Drivers would be different.

My ALU macbook drive worked fine in my white macbook. My macbook drive did not work in the ALU macbook without a reload.

swapped em cause i had a 7200rpm drive in the white macbook

 

[DSchwartz88]

surely you can't simply swap the drives, as they are different machines? Completely new Nvidia chipset and graphics card. Drivers would be different.

Usually this would be true in a windows world where microsoft has not much control of what hardware you are booting up since there hundreds of manufacturers and thousands upon thousands drivers. On the other hand in a Mac world, since Apple has complete control over their software and hardware, they can provide the exact drivers needed, ive swapped drives from TiBooks to ALU Books all working fine.

My ALU macbook drive worked fine in my white macbook. My macbook drive did not work in the ALU macbook without a reload.

swapped em cause i had a 7200rpm drive in the white macbook

That seems like that would be the new drivers included in your previously mentioned build difference. Obviously I cannot say for sure (you can look for the drivers if you'd like) but that seems to be a plausible explanation.

 

[ThomasJL]

My ALU macbook drive worked fine in my white macbook. My macbook drive did not work in the ALU macbook without a reload.

swapped em cause i had a 7200rpm drive in the white macbook

Hi Cozmo 85,

That is the exact same reason why I want to swap drives: I have a 7200 RPM drive in my white MacBook. Before you reinstalled Leopard, what happened when you put the drive in your aluminum MacBook and turned the computer on? What appeared on screen?

 

[ptsube]

I'm in the same boat. I have a 320GB, 7200rpm Seagate in my MBP. I was wondering if this would work.

Does anyone know if the install disc comes with the newest build?

 

[Ron21]

I'm in the same boat. I have a 320GB, 7200rpm Seagate in my MBP. I was wondering if this would work.

Does anyone know if the install disc comes with the newest build?

It won't work, I had to reinstall OS X.

I have always swapped my HD when I upgraded from MB to MBP to another MBP and so on. This time however it simply would not work. The new Macbook crashed 5 seconds after pressing the power button.

I'm guessing this is because of the new nVidia chipset.

The install disk does come with the newest build.

 

[ThomasJL]

Thanks for all the replies so far. For people still wanting to do a swap without the hassle of reinstalling everything:

Is it likely that the upcoming 10.5.6 software update (for plastic MacBooks) will include all the drivers found on the unreleased 10.5.5 Leopard build (that came pre-installed with 13" aluminum MacBooks)?

 

[Cozmo85]

Hi Cozmo 85,

That is the exact same reason why I want to swap drives: I have a 7200 RPM drive in my white MacBook. Before you reinstalled Leopard, what happened when you put the drive in your aluminum MacBook and turned the computer on? What appeared on screen?

Constant reboots right after the apple logo.

 

[ThomasJL]

I have always swapped my HD when I upgraded from MB to MBP to another MBP and so on.

Same here.

 

[dcMobile]

The easiest way to swap an older drive into your new MacBook will be to swap it in, boot off the DVD that came with the MacBook, then do an Archive and Install while preserving users and network settings.

 

[ThomasJL]

If you guys were in my position (i.e. not wanting to do a reinstall of Leopard and all my applications), would you wait for 10.5.6 to be released on Software Update, and then install the update, before buying a new 13" aluminum MacBook?

 

[Ron21]

If you guys were in my position (i.e. not wanting to do a reinstall of Leopard and all my applications), would you wait for 10.5.6 to be released on Software Update, and then install the update, before buying a new 13" aluminum MacBook?

I'm not sure 10.5.6 would even make a difference.

Apple usually releases different versions of an OS update for each of it's computer models. For example the 10.5.6 update might include some hardware specific updates for an iMac which you would not get if you downloaded the update on a Macbook.

I would suggest swapping the HD, booting from the install disk and doing an archive and install. This preserves all of your apps, accounts and settings.