New MBP... straight HDD switch??

[Synergie]

I am buying a new 13" MBP soon to replace my 2009 one. I had upgraded the HDD on this myself though to the Momentous XT hybrid drive (7200 rpm with 4GB NAND FLASH memory) So this drive is faster than the 5400 RPM that comes with even the newer MBPs. I'd like to keep using my current HDD for several reasons (even though its a 500 Gb where the included one in he new MBP is 750 GB):

My current hybrid is faster... plus I have a ton of stuff installed on here including tweaks that I'd like to keep and not have to reinstall (HATE getting a new machine because of set up time)

I remember it was easy to carbon copy clone my old drive onto the new one and just pop it in the MBP and boot it up and it was fine (as if nothing happened except way faster start up!)

Can I take my Momentous XT with Lion on it out of this MBP, and just do a straight swap? WIll it boot up just fine in the new MBP?

Thanks in advance...

 

[Retina MacBook]

Can I take my Momentous XT with Lion on it out of this MBP, and just do a straight swap? WIll it boot up just fine in the new MBP?

Thanks in advance...

There is a 80% chance it will work. I swapped mine between a MacBook Pro and the white MacBook, not a single problem happened. Except for bootcamp, you need to install a different driver.

 

[Synergie]

There is a 80% chance it will work. I swapped mine between a MacBook Pro and the white MacBook, not a single problem happened. Except for bootcamp, you need to install a different driver.

I don't need Bootcamp... Loathe Windows now...

So there should be no problem with drivers then? The fact that I was able to switch drives on my occurrent MBP with no issues makes me think it should be ok... since Lion is installed on this one, it should contain all the correct info for drivers etc shouldn't it? (I could understand if it was SL or something prior to the switch to the new processors... but Lion should be ok)

If not, I will have to use Migration assistant or something... put it on the new HDD then carbon copy clone back to this HDD. As far as I know Momentous XT works on the newer MBPs...

 

[Retina MacBook]

I don't need Bootcamp... Loathe Windows now...

So there should be no problem with drivers then? The fact that I was able to switch drives on my occurrent MBP with no issues makes me think it should be ok... since Lion is installed on this one, it should contain all the correct info for drivers etc shouldn't it? (I could understand if it was SL or something prior to the switch to the new processors... but Lion should be ok)

If not, I will have to use Migration assistant or something... put it on the new HDD then carbon copy clone back to this HDD. As far as I know Momentous XT works on the newer MBPs...

There are preloaded drivers that comes with Lion so it could run on every Mac. So I guess it would work. Besides, if it does fail, you can bring the old HDD back in. No harm done.

 

[calderone]

There is a 80% chance it will work. I swapped mine between a MacBook Pro and the white MacBook, not a single problem happened. Except for bootcamp, you need to install a different driver.

How about 0%? Because that is what it is until a point update or ML upgrade.

 

[Synergie]

How about 0%? Because that is what it is until a point update or ML upgrade.

I thought the current MBPs in stores now have Lion, not ML? Are you saying I can't use my Momentous XT on the new MBP? Bummer... it's a much faster drive than the included standard 5400 rpm one. I thought if the current OS (Lion) can support the MBPs in stores right now (since that's what they ship with right now) then a straight swap should work should it not? Obviously Lion has the correct drivers for this drive because I am using it right now on my 2009 MBP running Lion.... I am confused.

So will I need to migrate everything with Migration Assistant? Will that install everything including tweaks etc I have now? Or will I have to do a lot of reinstalling???

 

[Retina MacBook]

How about 0%? Because that is what it is until a point update or ML upgrade.

How about 100%? He can always put the old one back if it doesn't work. And besides, it comes with drivers.

 

[Synergie]

There are preloaded drivers that comes with Lion so it could run on every Mac. So I guess it would work. Besides, if it does fail, you can bring the old HDD back in. No harm done.

If I am running this HDD on my current MBP right now... (the very computer I am using to type this msg!) a 2009 MBP running Lion, then Momentous XT is obviously supported by Lion right? (since its working beautifully!) So the 2012 MBP should be able to shouldn't it??

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How about 100%? He can always put the old one back if it doesn't work. And besides, it comes with drivers.

'He' is a 'She' btw

 

[Retina MacBook]

The problem is not about the compatibility with the Hybrid HDD, it's about if the OS inside it will work on a different computer. The drive will definitely work, that's a 100% but I'm not sure about the OS. It could work, since I tried that before, but I am still not sure in your case.

If it doesn't boot up, it's either you format the drive or you put the old one back in.

The other thing I'm sure about is that this test is completely harmless. If the hybrid HDD doesn't work, you have the other. Just make sure you know what you're doing when you open the computer.

 

[calderone]

The OS will not work in its current state, which should have been clear from my post.

 

[Synergie]

The OS will not work in its current state, which should have been clear from my post.

So can I wipe the momentous XT, carbon copy clone the OS off the new MBP to the Momentous XT, swap it out, then use the TM backup from my 2009 MBP from Time Capsule to get everything back to how it is right now?

Or... will Migration Assistant also move those tweaks over too? (basically I hid my dock with a very long delay on mouse over, use Drag thing instead... and I also changed the wallpaper for spaces etc to a wooden one) I have a ton of programs I really don't want to have to download again and reinstall like Adobe stuff....

I just want a few things:

Use the Momentous XT, and not have to reinstall a bunch of programs and I also have tweaks set up to permanently hide my OS X dock (because I am using Drag Thing with tabs instead). I don't want to have to manually install / set-up all these again... I just wanna go the easy route to have my new MBP boot to exactly what my system is set up like now.

(I wouldn't even be looking to upgrade if it weren't for my darling kitty who knocked this one on the floor and seriously dented the side of the display )

 

[calderone]

If you question is: "can I restore from a backup?"

The answer is yes.

You can use Internet recovery to install the OS into the momentus. You could probably get away with not wiping the momentus, installing it in the new machine and still use the recovery portion to erase and install, assuming you have a recovery partition.

 

[dordal]

I've never had any trouble switching hard drives between Macs; the OS has always 'just worked'. (Bootcamp is another story, but that's usually just a driver issue).

My most recent switch was to take a Lion 10.7.4 from the newest generation MBP (non-Retina) and put it into an early 2008 MBP (pre-unibody). No problems at all!

So my guess is that you'll be fine; it's definitely worth trying. That said, there is some benefit to setting up a new machine and copying stuff over; it gets rid of the junk (old preference files, etc.) that you've had floating around for years. I usually do a clean install once every 18-24 months.