Can I straight swap a hard drive between 2 (almost identical) macbook pros?

[TheSVD]

Hi

Me and my friend wanted to swap macbook pros - she has a 15" unibody and I have a 17" one of the exact same era (both have core 2 duo, no SD card slot, same graphics card, just a slightly different processor) - can we swap our hard drives and they will just work in the other laptop? Just wondering as there is a load of data to back up on both hard drives and this would save a load of time!

Thanks

 

[Oxonian3]

I also would love an answer to this question!

 

[Untouchab1e]

Its considered extremely bad practice to do so, but I guess its possible? Ive never done it between Macbooks before, but dont be surprised if you have an unreliable system afterwards..

Generally, if you dont take backup of your important data, you have no rights to complain when you loose it. Even simple things such as using Dropbox to backup your documents and Time Machine is all you need really...

But to answer your question.. I believe it should work..

 

[bb426]

Always back up, like you said.

The only problem that I could see is that the different screen sizes typically have different internal setups, and it could cause problems with how it operates.

Although it shouldn't do anything to your data. The worst thing that could happen is that it doesn't work; you can always switch back. Try it.

 

[snaky69]

If they are the same model, but different sizes, it should work without issues.

How would switching them help you backup is beyond me though.

 

[bb426]

Just wondering as there is a load of data to back up on both hard drives and this would save a load of time!

And I don't understand how that would help you... just what exactly are you trying to do? I can already see that most likely there is a better way to do what you are trying to do.

 

[awer25]

Get one more hard drive, make a time machine backup on one, then do a fresh install with migration assistant to get your data back. Then repeat on the other drive. It may not be the speediest option, but it's the safest.

 

[head honcho 123]

this would work. it will boot and run.

but i can imagine you having slight problems... maybe some driver issues... should be very very minor.

i would still recommend backing up ur files and doing a fresh install.

i do this every year.

 

[cdustybk]

It should work. But DO MAKE A BACKUP.

I don't know what it would accomplish though, unless you're swapping computers or making sure one works or something...

Not trying to be rude, but you do know you can't save data off onto the actual computer don't you? Just making sure I'm reading the question right.

 

[Maxpilot]

I does work. I took my drive out of my old MacBook Pro 2.26GHz computer and dropped it into my new MacBook Pro 2.7GHz computer with no problems or issues. It booted right up and ran just like it always did,