MAC Mini and external drives from other MACs?

[amersault]

so my old MacBookPro (Santa Rosa) finally black screened this weekend. i think the Nvidia card may be the culprit.

rather than take it into the shop and for what they will likely quote me, i am tempted to get a MAC Mini instead for what i'll likely spend.

i was thinking of taking out the MBP hard drive and placing it in an enclosure. if i did so, i could still theoretically access it from the MAC Mini, correct? would i also be able to boot/Target Disk off the external HD?

i've also got a DVD burner from an aging tower i can cannibalize and place in an enclosure to connect to the MAC Mini. would this set-up work?

if anyone has done something similar or if this has been posted elsewhere, please let me know.

thanks in advance.

 

[GGJstudios]

i was thinking of taking out the MBP hard drive and placing it in an enclosure. if i did so, i could still theoretically access it from the MAC Mini, correct? would i also be able to boot/Target Disk off the external HD?

Yes, and yes.

 

[amersault]

Yes, and yes.

Thank you!! (gives me hope to keeping all my data and still running all my apps from the old HD)

can anyone recommend any enclosures for that HD? any brands i should consider/stay away from?

 

[GGJstudios]

Thank you!! (gives me hope to keeping all my data and still running all my apps from the old HD)

can anyone recommend any enclosures for that HD? any brands i should consider/stay away from?

I've had good success with every product I've bought from OWC over the past 4 years. You might want to check out their enclosures.

 

[amersault]

I've had good success with every product I've bought from OWC over the past 4 years. You might want to check out their enclosures.

thanks, GGJ checking out your links now.

 

[amersault]

thanks, GGJ - i'm going to spring for one of OWCs bundle options and will start the replacement soon.

last one for this thread -

if i take the DVD R/W from an aging PPC tower and throw that into an enclosure, will the MAC mini recognize it? or are Mini's partial to detecting certain DVD drives only?

 

[philipma1957]

thanks, GGJ - i'm going to spring for one of OWCs bundle options and will start the replacement soon.

last one for this thread -

if i take the DVD R/W from an aging PPC tower and throw that into an enclosure, will the MAC mini recognize it? or are Mini's partial to detecting certain DVD drives only?

the dvd needs to be mac compatible. some are some are not

 

[amersault]

the dvd needs to be mac compatible. some are some are not

thanks, Philipma - it is so it should be good, based on your comment.

 

[useme2305]

you will not be able to boot from the old drive as far as i know as long as the old OS is on it.

if that was part of your question.

 

[amersault]

you will not be able to boot from the old drive as far as i know as long as the old OS is on it.

if that was part of your question.

thank you - it was actually part of my question.

that's interesting. the MBP has Snow Leopard on it. i assume Target Disk Mode should still work, correct?

i'm hoping to be able to retrieve the data and save all the apps while working off the Mini.