Hard Drive from 15" to 13" swap

[tomf]

Hi,

I have a 15" mbp (mid 2010 model) with a 750gb 7200rpm drive, and i'd like to put it in my 13" mbp (mid 2012 model) - is this possible?

thanks for any help and advice

 

[maflynn]

Yes, remove it from computer and install it in the other computer.

 

[Mike Boreham]

Hi,

I have a 15" mbp (mid 2010 model) with a 750gb 7200rpm drive, and i'd like to put it in my 13" mbp (mid 2012 model) - is this possible?

thanks for any help and advice

Did you mean without reinstalling etc, or was your question just about the physical aspect?

If the latter, your 2010 Mac won't have everything needed by a 2012 mac, so you have two options:

1. Reinstall OSX and migrate from a clone of your 2010 HDD, using the Setup Assistant option at the end of the install.

2. Put the 2010 HDD in the 2012 and boot from the Recovery Partition, then just download and run the full installer (the 4+Gb version, not just either of the update options) on top of the existing (don't format).

I have done 1. lots of times, but only seen 2. recommended, although I have run the full installer on top of existing in an exiting machine successfully. Data settings and apps are unaffected.

On one occasion (2008 to 2010 MBP) option 1 appeared to work but the computer just wasn't happy and I reinstalled everything form scratch, which is always the purest best option.

 

[devilcm3]

actually it works ... just swap the drive and it should work

 

[Mike Boreham]

actually it works ... just swap the drive and it should work

On reflection I think my statement that the 2010 model wouldn't have everything needed by the 2012 machine is probably a throwback to the the days when OSX only came on DVDs. Now that OSX is downloadable Apple can include everything that the latest Macs need.

So yes it would work(as you found) provided the 2010 machine was fully up to date.

Apologies for my misleading first reply.

 

[devilcm3]

On reflection I think my statement that the 2010 model wouldn't have everything needed by the 2012 machine is probably a throwback to the the days when OSX only came on DVDs. Now that OSX is downloadable Apple can include everything that the latest Macs need.

So yes it would work(as you found) provided the 2010 machine was fully up to date.

Apologies for my misleading first reply.

provided the drive runs on Mountain Lion.