Can I take my 2010 Macbook Pro HD and stick it in a 2011 MBP without problems?

[stayathomedad]

Upgrading from a 2010 15" MBP to a 2011 15" MBP.

Can I simply take out the 2010 hard drive and stick it into the 2011 system?

Will OS X boot up and recognize the different hardware?

 

[nikhsub1]

Upgrading from a 2010 15" MBP to a 2011 15" MBP.

Can I simply take out the 2010 hard drive and stick it into the 2011 system?

Will OS X boot up and recognize the different hardware?

It might and it might not, you may get kernel panics. FYI I would never recommend doing what you are asking - it is always best to do a clean install with new hardware. What you should do is create a time machine backup of your old machine (if you haven't already) then just restore that to the new machine. Voila - you will get the same result except it will be done the right way.

 

[kryptticAZ]

Upgrading from a 2010 15" MBP to a 2011 15" MBP.

Can I simply take out the 2010 hard drive and stick it into the 2011 system?

Will OS X boot up and recognize the different hardware?

I just did exactly this. However, you will need to boot from the Installation CD and reinstall the system software on the first boot since the new processor and graphics card require new drivers. When you do this, everything will remain intact (files, apps, etc.) and only system software is updated.

Much faster than reinstalling everything from scratch...

 

[skiltrip]

I was unable to boot my 2011 from a 2010 external bootable clone. People on here said it's because it's a different build of the OS this time around.

 

[bigjnyc]

just connect the two laptops to each other using an ethernet cable and run migration assistant to copy all your stuff over... apps, documents, settings etc.. It's fast, easy and you won't run the risk of messing something up.

 

[TheHoff]

I just did exactly this. However, you will need to boot from the Installation CD and reinstall the system software on the first boot since the new processor and graphics card require new drivers. When you do this, everything will remain intact (files, apps, etc.) and only system software is updated.

Much faster than reinstalling everything from scratch...

^^ this worked flawlessly for me, as well -- moved an SSD from a 2008 into a 2011.

 

[iMacDragon]

After the release of 10.6.7 you'll be able to do this as it will include all the necessary new stuff, but till then it will need an OS reinstall to work.

 

[stayathomedad]

So I just take the 2010 hard drive, stick it into the 2011 MBP, boot from the CD and reinstall OS X? Is that it?

Can I also do this for the 2011 hard drive that will be going into the 2010 MBP?

 

[iMacDragon]

So I just take the 2010 hard drive, stick it into the 2011 MBP, boot from the CD and reinstall OS X? Is that it?

Can I also do this for the 2011 hard drive that will be going into the 2010 MBP?

the drive going from the 2011 should just work straight away in older machine

 

[MMV]

After the release of 10.6.7 you'll be able to do this as it will include all the necessary new stuff, but till then it will need an OS reinstall to work.

I've had my 2011 MBP sitting here waiting for the SSD out of my 2010 MBP while I watch every day for the 10.6.7 update. Please come soon

 

[TheHoff]

I've had my 2011 MBP sitting here waiting for the SSD out of my 2010 MBP while I watch every day for the 10.6.7 update. Please come soon

Why don't you use the disc that came with the 2011? Take the 2010 drive, put it in the 2011, insert the 2011's DVD and boot to that. It will reinstall with the new SL and your user will remain.

 

[aznguyen316]

the drive going from the 2011 should just work straight away in older machine

I just tried this using 2011 13" to 2010 15" ssd I had. It booted only if I held alt and selected it otherwise it would be stuck at apple logo and flash a circle with cross through it. It boots up fine but I keep getting random errors, glitches, not able to reboot etc so I'm now reinstalling the 2010 OSX grey over it and we'll see how that plays out. If not I'll do a clean install and time machine stuff over.

 

[MMV]

Why don't you use the disc that came with the 2011? Take the 2010 drive, put it in the 2011, insert the 2011's DVD and boot to that. It will reinstall with the new SL and your user will remain.

I just have this OS configured with little tweaks, some just for the SSD. While it shouldn't be a huge deal I just think it'll keep the status quo by doing the 10.6.7 update.