Operating system for MacBook Pro (A1278)

[bernard1928]

Broken HD cable caused loss of Opsys.
replaced cable and tried cloning Snow leopard-No success.
Original Opsys was Yosemity.
Tried same again using new Hard drive-no help.
thinking - Bios might be programmed to accept only original Yosemity.
I(s so, would it help to clear the BIOs .

 

[Kissmyne]

There are known workarounds for putting unsupported operating systems onto a comp with varying degrees of success.(unsupported in this case involving installing a version of OS X that preceded delivery of the system). However I would recommend updating to OS X El Capitan, which you should be able to do without too much headache..

If no operating system installed currently.. Use Internet Recovery(CMD+OPT+R) to reinstall Yosemite, and then update to El Capitan using the app store. Should take 2-3 hours, though your mileage will vary depending on your internet, system config etc...

 

[bernard1928]

There are known workarounds for putting unsupported operating systems onto a comp with varying degrees of success.(unsupported in this case involving installing a version of OS X that preceded delivery of the system). However I would recommend updating to OS X El Capitan, which you should be able to do without too much headache..

If no operating system installed currently.. Use Internet Recovery(CMD+OPT+R) to reinstall Yosemite, and then update to El Capitan using the app store. Should take 2-3 hours, though your mileage will vary depending on your internet, system config etc...

Thank you.
appreciate your help

 

[DeltaMac]

MBPro with that model number have been sold now for a long time (for computers!)
The model A1278 was first sold in 2009, and came with Leopard.
The latest A1278 is still sold new (I think). According to Apple's tech pages, the same model now ships with El Capitan.
Makes it an interesting beast, with that wide range of operating systems for the same model number.
However, I suspect that each year, the model from that year cannot run an operating system older than the one it shipped with it. Pretty normal for Macs.
The older ones (before 2010 models) will not have access to the Internet Recovery. Newer ones will connect to Internet Recovery, and Apple's server will offer whatever OS X system it shipped with originally.