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Help: Directly swapping SSD from one Macbook Pro to another one

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paulhannon

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 9, 2008
63
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I have two Macbook Pro's and wanted to literally just install the SSD from one machine into the other, but when I did the machine I installed it into just flashed up the question mark folder. There's no hardware damage as i put back in the original drive and it works the same as it ever did.

The macbook that I'm putting the new drive into is a 2010 (i5) model on El Capitan and the one from which the drive came from is a late 2011 (i7) model on High Sierra.

I did in the past try to install a cloned SSD, but the same thing happened, the "? Folder". My understanding is that it should just work, but I feel my "understanding" is wrong.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
If you use dosdude1's high sierra patcher you can patch it to work in the 2010, but then it won't work in the 2011.
 
profcutter said:
Is it an early 2010 13" MacBook pro? If so, it can't run High Sierra without modifying the install.
Click to expand...

Yeah that would seem to be the reason why, thank you.
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Analias said:
If you use dosdude1's high sierra patcher you can patch it to work in the 2010, but then it won't work in the 2011.
Click to expand...
I might look into this.
The 2010 one just keeps beachballing, hence why i want to use a new HDD/SSD.

Thanks for the suggestion.
 
paulhannon said:
I have two Macbook Pro's and wanted to literally just install the SSD from one machine into the other, but when I did the machine I installed it into just flashed up the question mark folder. There's no hardware damage as i put back in the original drive and it works the same as it ever did.

The macbook that I'm putting the new drive into is a 2010 (i5) model on El Capitan and the one from which the drive came from is a late 2011 (i7) model on High Sierra.

I did in the past try to install a cloned SSD, but the same thing happened, the "? Folder". My understanding is that it should just work, but I feel my "understanding" is wrong.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Your issue is your firmware. 2010 MacBooks/Pros do support High Sierra out of the box, don't listen to the naysayers.
 
I have a 2010 MBP that runs fine on LOW Sierra.
Haven't tried it with High Sierra.

As avz mentioned in the post above this one, it might be a firmware issue, but if I recall the only way to upgrade the firmware is to run the appropriate OS installer, during which the firmware is also upgraded.

My suggestion:
Try upgrading the 2010 to Low Sierra first. You can download the installer from here:
Sierra

Once you're upgraded to Low Sierra, try the High Sierra drive again.
No go?
Then you could try upgrading from Low Sierra to High Sierra. You can download the installer from here:
High Sierra
 
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Fishrrman said:
As avz mentioned in the post above this one, it might be a firmware issue, but if I recall the only way to upgrade the firmware is to run the appropriate OS installer, during which the firmware is also upgraded.
Click to expand...

Correct. I did High Sierra installs just for the sake of updating the firmware. It is possible that Apple will issue one last firmware update for the 2010 machines before High Sierra goes in the wild on its own.
 
avz said:
Your issue is your firmware. 2010 MacBooks/Pros do support High Sierra out of the box, don't listen to the naysayers.
Click to expand...
That is incorrect. They don't support the apfs file system out of the box (at least not booting from one), but if HS is installed to a HFS+ partition it will boot just fine on a mid 2010+ mbp with original firmware. The firmware (boot rom) update included with the HS install/update enables booting from a apfs file system.

On a side note, if the boot volume is apfs, and you do not have the updated boot rom, you will not get the circle with a line you will get the flashing question mark folder.
 
Analias said:
That is incorrect. They don't support the apfs file system out of the box (at least not booting from one), but if HS is installed to a HFS+ partition it will boot just fine on a mid 2010+ mbp with original firmware. The firmware (boot rom) update included with the HS install/update enables booting from a apfs file system.

On a side note, if the boot volume is apfs, and you do not have the updated boot rom, you will not get the circle with a line you will get the flashing question mark folder.
Click to expand...

I said it supports High Sierra out of the box, not booting APFS volumes out of the box. FYI, even late-2009 white MacBook supports High Sierra out of the box, let alone 2010 machines.
 
avz said:
I said it supports High Sierra out of the box, not booting APFS volumes out of the box. FYI, even late-2009 white MacBook supports High Sierra out of the box, let alone 2010 machines.
Click to expand...
So you did. Apologies. Why are you alluding to the firmware being an issue though?
 
Analias said:
So you did. Apologies. Why are you alluding to the firmware being an issue though?
Click to expand...

While it seems a common sense to keep the firmware up to date, most people fail to do it.

A pro tip: You can buy a perfectly good MacBooks very cheap in "non-working condition" simply because the owners did not update the firmware.
 
avz said:
While it seems a common sense to keep the firmware up to date, most people fail to do it.

A pro tip: You can buy a perfectly good MacBooks very cheap in "non-working condition" simply because the owners did not update the firmware.
Click to expand...
I agree, but I've never seen out of date firmware prevent High Sierra from booting, other than the apfs issue of course, which is not the factor in this case. You straight out state "your issue is your firmware" just wondering what bought you to that specific conclusion? Maybe you have come across an issue that I haven't.

Edit:
Actually now that I re-read the OP it IS flashing the question mark folder. Should've done that earlier. In that case it would mean to me that HS is installed to an apfs volume, in which case the issue is the firmware.

A fresh install of HS to a spare disk (hfs+ formatted), mounted internally, while the power is connected will do the trick. Then the apfs formatted HS SSD should boot.
 
Last edited:
Analias said:
I agree, but I've never seen out of date firmware prevent High Sierra from booting, other than the apfs issue of course, which is not the factor in this case. You straight out state "your issue is your firmware" just wondering what bought you to that specific conclusion? Maybe you have come across an issue that I haven't.
Click to expand...

It was a no-brainer for me. You are asking for trouble by trying to boot a recent OS on a machine that has only ever seen El Capitan. I feel that you don't really need any in-depth knowledge to arrive to that conclusion.
 
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