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Need advice on booting 2011 Macbook Pro

M

macraj

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 9, 2013
3
0
Hello Community,

Recently I replaced Internal Optical drive in my Early 2011 Macbook Pro with OWC SSD. The SSD had problems two weeks back and I had to get it replaced with a new SSD from OWC. My problem is I don't have the bootable CD with me to install OS. Is there a way I can create a bootable USB flash drive and use it to boot my macbook?

I thought of purchasing bootable Snow Leopard CD from Apple Store, but since I don't have internal optical drive in the bay, can I purchase external optical drive and use it to boot? I heard that external optical drives does not work well in macbook pros. If this is the case, are there other alternatives? Please help me!

Thanks,
Macraj.
 
macraj said:
Hello Community,

Recently I replaced Internal Optical drive in my Early 2011 Macbook Pro with OWC SSD. The SSD had problems two weeks back and I had to get it replaced with a new SSD from OWC. My problem is I don't have the bootable CD with me to install OS. Is there a way I can create a bootable USB flash drive and use it to boot my macbook?

I thought of purchasing bootable Snow Leopard CD from Apple Store, but since I don't have internal optical drive in the bay, can I purchase external optical drive and use it to boot? I heard that external optical drives does not work well in macbook pros. If this is the case, are there other alternatives? Please help me!

Thanks,
Macraj.
Click to expand...


OWC Opti drive enclosure / firewire , use your old opti, with a new CD?
 
niteflyr said:
1st off, you probably did not have a bad SSD. 2011 MBP's have known issues with SATA III, 6gbps drives in the optibay. Move the SSD to main bay and HDD to optibay.

I don't know of anyway to make a SL install drive. Maybe now is the time to upgrade to Mavericks. It is a free download and here is how to make a bootable install thumb drive:

http://osxdaily.com/2013/10/23/create-os-x-mavericks-install-drive/
Click to expand...

Thanks for your response. Actually I had SSD at the place of HDD and HDD at Optical drive - so HDD has SATA 3 and SSD with SATA 6 gbps. So no issues there. The only issue is can I purchase an external optical drive and boot with a Snow Leopard bootable CD? Is OWC external drive compatible with 2011 macbook pro?

----------
thewap said:
OWC Opti drive enclosure / firewire , use your old opti, with a new CD?
Click to expand...

Thanks! I will try to use this and see.

Macraj.
 
macraj said:
Hello Community,

Recently I replaced Internal Optical drive in my Early 2011 Macbook Pro with OWC SSD. The SSD had problems two weeks back and I had to get it replaced with a new SSD from OWC. [...]

[...] can I purchase external optical drive and use it to boot?
Click to expand...

Hi Macraj,
as suggested, just put in the new SSD and start up. Early-2011 (if EFI updated, see the link mentioned by niteflyr) and late-2011 MBPs will go into internet recovery and download Lion. May take a while - if possible, connect not via WiFi but use an Ethernet cable, it will be way faster.

Following that, you get a fresh install of Lion and can use whatever method to copy over your backup files (see http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html, using Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant).

If you have a backup disk (for instance, made with CarbonCopyCloner, CCC, thus a 'clone' of your HD) you could place that into an enclosure attached via USB or Firewire and boot from it. Then use CCC to copy over everything to the new SSD.

I am not sure of the early-2011 MBP, but the late-2011 MBP should still work on SL, but unfortunately just not on the one you can get as installation CD/DVD (10.6.3). The MBP will need one of the later SL versions (10.6.8). Thus you would need a drive with an updated version SL to boot.

BTW, there are solutions to use the SSD in the optical bay. Some DIY, some with a 'better' optibay. Check here:
http://sites.google.com/site/themacbookproproject/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1570602/
http://hardwrk.com/en/ssd-hdd-adapter-kit-for-macbook-pro.html
 
Solved. I installed SSD in my Macbook Pro, hooked my External USB drive, and started. It asked for System Restore and since my HDD had my latest Time Machine back up, I restored the system into External USB drive, booted it using that. Then I cloned my SSD using Carbon cloner from External hard drive, removed ext hard drive changed startup to boot from SSD and restarted the system.

Thank you all for helping me fix the issue with your valuable suggestions.

Macraj.
 
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