Question about moving HDD.

[kbright1892]

Ok, this may be a stupid question but I've tried to find it on the forum and by Googling but can't.

I have an early '11 13" base MBP but I've really wanted a 15". I was going to Chicago last week for work and decided to stop at Microcenter and pick up one of the $1599 early '11 15" MBP with the 2.3 i7. The 13" has Snow Leopard and the 15" came with Lion.

Here's the question. Since they are both early '11 models, can I just take my Vertex 3 SSD out of my 13" and swap it over or do I need to start fresh with it in the 15"? I plan on trying to put SL on the 15" anyway but didn't know if I could just move the HDD and go. Either way the SSD will go into the new computer but I would prefer not to have to format first and start over.

Thanks in advance and sorry if this is a dumb question.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

If you have the latest version of 10.6.8 installed on that SSD, you can put it into the late 2011 MBP without reinstallation. Thus you can also use it with an early 2011 MBP, as they came with 10.6.

[SUCCESS!]Late 2011 Macbook Pro with Snow Leopard

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[kbright1892]

Thanks! I just didn't know if I needed to reformat the SSD before/after moving it or if I could just swap it and go. I found all kinds of info on downgrading Lion to SL. Either way I'm backing up all my info just in case. Never know when something goes wrong.

 

[iThinkergoiMac]

No need to reformat. I am running OS X on a HDD that I took directly out of a 2008 MacBook and threw into a 2009 13" MBP and turned it on. No problem at all. However, I will say, if you have professional apps (FCS, Adobe CS, etc), they will require you to re-activate due to the hardware change. Other than that, you'll be fine.