Bought new MBP....can I use my old MBP's HD? +other questions

[MinorDisaster]

So my old Early 2008 MBP model's logic board broke....so I'm getting a new one...the 1999$ one with 9600GT 256mb.

SO a few questions...if anyone would take the time to answer these it would be awesome. Also btw...I have bootcamp Vista on my old MBP's HD.

1) Is my old MBP's HD affected by the logic board failure?
2) Will I be able to simply put in the old MBP's HD into the new MBP, and use it like that? Bootcamp partition and all?
3) During the process of apple running a check to see what was wrong with my MBP(before they found out it was logic board problem)...do you think they formatted my hard drive?

Because I had no means of backing up my data as my MBP wouldn't turn on...so I just gave it into apple for a checkup to see what was the problem...so do you think they did anything to the drive?

Thanks alot.

 

[Hellhammer]

1. Likely no
2. Yes
3. Likely

 

[MinorDisaster]

Damn! =(

Can't people diagnose a computer problem these days without formatting the hard drive? I mean the screen wouldn't even turn on....it clearly wasn't an HD problem.

 

[Hellhammer]

Damn! =(

Can't people diagnose a computer problem these days without formatting the hard drive? I mean the screen wouldn't even turn on....it clearly wasn't an HD problem.

It didn't even turn on right? In that case, they haven't touched the HD likely (because it didn't turn on, no way to do it without connecting it to other Mac). Call them and ask. Sorry, I read too fast and forgot

 

[MinorDisaster]

haha thanks! You gave me quite a scare there.

I had about 10GB of music on that thing....a good amount of which was bought from itunes. O.O It would be such a pain if all that was lost......

Unless you can get the music off your ipod...since all of it is on my ipod...

Also...are you sure that I can just plug in my old HDD and use it with the new MBPs? Are the HDDs the same? Will I need screws or tape or glue or what-not?

 

[Hellhammer]

haha thanks! You gave me quite a scare there.

Sorry about that

I had about 10GB of music on that thing....a good amount of which was bought from itunes. O.O It would be such a pain if all that was lost......

Once you've bough them, I think you can download them again.

Unless you can get the music off your ipod...since all of it is on my ipod...

That's possible with 3rd party app. I found iLinkPod and it should do it.

Also...are you sure that I can just plug in my old HDD and use it with the new MBPs? Are the HDDs the same? Will I need screws or tape or glue or what-not?

I would get hard drive enclosure so you could use your old HD as external HD and get your files that way. You need something like this

 

[MinorDisaster]

No...I don't want to use it as an external hard drive. I want to be able to use it to boot...

If i just replace the new HDD with my old HDD INSIDE the new macbook pro...will it boot fine?

 

[jfyrfytr25]

if you swap hard drives, it will boot. however, since they are different models there is going to be some issues. such as the dual graphics option. that was not on your old one therefore there is no option in preferences to change it. when you put it the new one it does not automatically detect and appear. plus the video card drivers are different also which can cause glitches.

other things can go wrong also such as not having volume control or not being able to control display brightness and such.

have you ever been in an apple store and the display models have no sound or cant change brightness. it is because they image all the drives off the same drive. so if the original is a 13"MBP then all the machines including the 15" will have only the 13" options.

if you are swapping drive between the same models it is fine. but, swapping different models can and will cause somewhat of a headache.

best bet is to just migrate the info into the new drive.

and as for the itunes music. Apple's official stance is: be diligent in your back ups of purchased music because they do not promise 2nd downloads for lost music. if the library is not that big and you ask very nicely, they MIGHT make an exception ONCE.

but IF they do, they will make it very clear it is a one time deal and to not count on this again. back up all of your purchases.

 

[MinorDisaster]

Okay...so if I just use it as an external HDD, will I be able to retrieve all my data?

 

[NC MacGuy]

Okay...so if I just use it as an external HDD, will I be able to retrieve all my data?

Yes. If you get one of those USB2 SATA enclosures from ebay or somewhere ($5-10) you can actually migrate your data, user prefs, network, etc. from it using migration asst. Choose the volume attached to this mac option, plug in the USB old drive and go. Your new drive will look exactly as your old drive did. Passwords, networks, mail, everything.

Or you can go old school by plugging in the drive and drag and drop. Fine for data. It won't work as well with some app's though since they may need specific files loaded into your library folders to work.

 

[MinorDisaster]

OOH cool.

Im assuming migration asst is migration assistant....but I really dont know where to get it. Link?

 

[jfyrfytr25]

migration assistant is built in to the OS. when you get the new macbook and start it up, you will get a welcome video, you will do some registration stuff and then a window will pop up and say "restore from time machine" "restore from another mac" "restore from another volume on this mac" and "do not restore"

if you miss it at that point. you can always go into applications/utilities/migration assistant.

also, no need to even buy an external enclosure. if you still have the old computer you can connect them by either firewire or ethernet and pick "restore from another mac".

 

[MinorDisaster]

And if I use this....will it take the old mac's drivers and stuff? Because just now you said the drivers wont work because the gfx card is different.

Also....will it copy the bootcamp partition?

 

[jfyrfytr25]

it only copies things like applications, documents, pics, music, settings. you can also pick and choose what you want copied. migration assistant is for this express purpose so no it does not copy drivers. as for the boot camp partition.

you could probably use carbon copy cloner to image the old drive to the new one

google it and it will come up. i love it, i have a extra HD with my hard drive cloned. that way if my main fails, i can pop in the back up and be running in 5 min.

 

[LedCop]

No...I don't want to use it as an external hard drive. I want to be able to use it to boot...

If i just replace the new HDD with my old HDD INSIDE the new macbook pro...will it boot fine?

I think it will boot fine and even work perfectly as long as you have either Mac OS 10.5.8 or Snow Leopard on that hard disk that you want to transplant.

You an test it by connecting your old HDD via USB to your new MBP and boot from it as an external USB HDD. If you're happy with what you see, you can then make the change more permanent.


Is your old HDD faster than your new MBP's one though? Or even larger? If not, you should consider using migration assistant to copy your files and settings from your old HDD to your new MBP's HDD. And you don't have to worry about any missing drivers or whatnot.