Question about swapping hard drives between MBPs

[charityjf]

Hi,


So I had a MacBook Pro 13”, model A1502 (so from 2014/2015 I think?) which was working fine up until a few months ago when I accidentally spilled a drink on it. ?‍♀️ I’ve taken it to a couple of repair places (incl. Apple) and it turned out it wasn’t worth fixing, but they did say the hard drive looks to be ok. One place even took it out & put it in a MacBook Air from around the same time, and when it started up, my stuff seemed to be all there, which was a huge relief as I am unfortunately one of those idiots who doesn’t have a decent back-up! I know, SO silly, I will change my ways after this experience.

I’ve now bought a new iMac 24” to replace it and I want to get my data onto it somehow. I’ve been told not to start up my liquid damaged MacBook Pro, as the damaged components could cause electrical problems which could fry my hard drive & destroy my data. I’ve considered various other options for transferring the data and I’m thinking the best one might be to use an old MacBook Pro 15” my parents had lying around (model no. A1398) which I can borrow & put my hard drive in to do the transfer.

I’d just like some guidance as to whether it would be ok to do that, as there’s a couple of questions I have:

1. Can my hard drive from my 13” MBP be safely put into my parent’s 15” MBP? Are they compatible? I was looking for a hard drive caddy / enclosure thing to do the job before I realised my parents had this old MBP and I noticed that this one can take drives from both machines: https://www.amazon.co.uk/FREEGENE-ACASIS-Bus-Powered-Enclosure-Apple/dp/B08DFDX8WC, so does that mean both MacBook Pro’s have compatible hard drives? I just want to be sure that means I’d be ok to swap my hard drive to this other machine to do the data transfer.

2. As I’m not entirely sure why my parents’ 15” MBP ended up being unused (& my folks sadly can’t remember), what can I do to check for any damage that might cause problems or data loss from my one precious copy of my data? I’ve done a diagnostics test (as described here: https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT202731) and it found no issues. It starts up & I can log into the account on there ok, open apps etc. Is there anything else I can do to assess it? It might have been retired because it just got slow, or I have a vague memory of my dad putting so much stuff on it it couldn’t work properly anymore, which obviously would cause issues, but I don’t know for sure what happened. So I’d happily do any tests on it I can before risking putting my hard drive in it.

3. If it does look to be ok to go ahead, any tips or warnings for how to swap the hard drives? I saw the repair guy do it & it looked pretty simple, but I wasn’t watching THAT closely as I didn’t know I might need to later replicate the procedure. Any online tutorials for this? Will I need any tools other than a special screwdriver to open the casing?

Thank-you so much anyone who is able to help me.

 

[Ray2]

$10 and 2 minutes work: mount the drive in a cheap external usb enclosure. YouTube to see how it’s done.

 

[charityjf]

$10 and 2 minutes work: mount the drive in a cheap external usb enclosure. YouTube to see how it’s done.

Thank-you for your reply. I’m not 100% sure, but from what I could gather, there seem to be very few enclosures that are compatible with the hard drive from my MBP and they were £50, £80 or more (I’m in the UK.) I think Apple used a proprietary 16 + 12 pin connector in this model, so most cheap enclosures don’t work with it.

I’ve included pictures of both sides of the hard drive; if anyone knows for sure if I’m right about this, or can correct me if not, it would be much appreciated!

 

[Ray2]

I had a 2014 rMBP. Yes, appears there's not much of a market remaining for those ssd's. You want AHCI compatibility. That's the proper pin configuration. There are plenty of cheap converters that will get you there. But this may be a better answer for you:

GODSHARK 18pin to SATA Adapter with USB SATA Cable for 2010 2011 MacBook Air, HDD Hard Disk Drive Converter Support Model A1369 A1370

GODSHARK 18pin to SATA Adapter with USB SATA Cable for 2010 2011 MacBook Air, HDD Hard Disk Drive Converter Support Model A1369 A1370

www.amazon.com

If not specifically available in the UK, it will provide a benchmark of what will get you migrated.

 

[Fishrrman]

"$10 and 2 minutes work: mount the drive in a cheap external usb enclosure. YouTube to see how it’s done."

There's one problem:
The proprietary-design drive from a 2014/15 MacBook Pro WILL NOT FIT into a "cheap" USB3 enclosure.

OP:
Here's how to get the data back:
1. Either mount the drive into the MacBook Pro of your parents (warning: it might not FIT), or find a MacBook Air (like you used before) to mount it in.
2. Can you get the computer booted with the drive inside? If so...
3. Download CarbonCopyCloner from here:

Download CCC | Bombich Software

www.bombich.com

CCC is FREE to download and use for 30 days, doing it my way will cost you nothing.
4. You will need an external USB3 drive (HDD or SSD) that can hold the contents of your original SSD.
5. Use CCC to "clone" the contents of the SSD to the external drive.
6. Now you have an exact copy of your stuff on a drive that can be connected to the new iMac.

BE AWARE:
You probably should WAIT UNTIL THE EXTERNAL DRIVE IS PREPARED before you boot the new iMac for the very first time.

REASON:
When you boot a new Mac, it will create a new account.
If you create a new account, and then try to "migrate" stuff from an external drive created with an OLDER account, you may run into permissions problems, "two accounts", etc.
It's best to have the backup ready the very first time you boot the new Mac.
Then connect it when the setup assistant asks if you wish to migrate data from another drive.
Setup assistant will find your original account, and migrate it along with "the rest of your stuff" to the new iMac.

Be aware, too, that some older applications may not work without an upgrade, or might not work at all (if they're 32 bit software).

 

[charityjf]

"$10 and 2 minutes work: mount the drive in a cheap external usb enclosure. YouTube to see how it’s done."

There's one problem:
The proprietary-design drive from a 2014/15 MacBook Pro WILL NOT FIT into a "cheap" USB3 enclosure.

OP:
Here's how to get the data back:
1. Either mount the drive into the MacBook Pro of your parents (warning: it might not FIT), or find a MacBook Air (like you used before) to mount it in.
2. Can you get the computer booted with the drive inside? If so...
3. Download CarbonCopyCloner from here:

Download CCC | Bombich Software

www.bombich.com

CCC is FREE to download and use for 30 days, doing it my way will cost you nothing.
4. You will need an external USB3 drive (HDD or SSD) that can hold the contents of your original SSD.
5. Use CCC to "clone" the contents of the SSD to the external drive.
6. Now you have an exact copy of your stuff on a drive that can be connected to the new iMac.

BE AWARE:
You probably should WAIT UNTIL THE EXTERNAL DRIVE IS PREPARED before you boot the new iMac for the very first time.

REASON:
When you boot a new Mac, it will create a new account.
If you create a new account, and then try to "migrate" stuff from an external drive created with an OLDER account, you may run into permissions problems, "two accounts", etc.
It's best to have the backup ready the very first time you boot the new Mac.
Then connect it when the setup assistant asks if you wish to migrate data from another drive.
Setup assistant will find your original account, and migrate it along with "the rest of your stuff" to the new iMac.

Be aware, too, that some older applications may not work without an upgrade, or might not work at all (if they're 32 bit software).

Hi Fishrrman,

Thank-you for your reply and for confirming that cheap USB enclosures don’t work with my drive. Even the guy at the Apple store who handed over my new iMac said I could just do that, so it’s been a confusing journey to figure out I actually CAN’T.

I feel concerned about trying to put my hard drive in my parents MBP, as you’re not sure if it’s compatible and the last thing I want to do is damage it so I lose data. I don’t mind trying it if there’s no risk of data loss, but if there is, I’d rather take it to the Genius Bar or somewhere. Do you know how risky it would be to try?

In terms of using CarbonCopyCloner & an external USB3 drive, I don’t understand why this is necessary? If my hard drive does turn out to work ok in my parents MBP, wouldn’t I just follow the Migration Assisstant procedure the same way anyone would if they were upgrading from an old MBP to a new iMac? I knew I might need to buy a particular cable, since the new iMacs have very limited ports, but I thought then I could transfer from one Mac to another fairly easily? Why do you suggest the intermediate step of putting my data on a hard drive? Is it because no cables can connect those two machines?

 

[charityjf]

Also, I don’t know if this helps, but I do have an iCloud account with LOADS of free storage, plenty to fit the data from my 256GB hard drive… I don‘t know if I could use that to move my data over, instead of a USB3 drive?

 

[MBAir2010]

I’ve taken it to a couple of repair places (incl. Apple) and it turned out it wasn’t worth fixing

ohh betcha i can fix that macbook pro!
does the MacBook power on at all?
if is does not, you can power on the MacBook pro with a screw driver tapping that on 2 nodes near the keyboard ribbon.
these boards are coated very well and have this feature for liquid damage.
i have preformed this several times that year an under swamp-like conditions!
and the MacBook Pro 13”, model A1502 is from 2013, late.

let me know if you need more info, or interested in this resuscitation.

 

[NoBoMac]

Yes, not any cheap options for enclosures. Could maybe rig up some connectors and cables to make it work, but will start getting into the cost of an enclosure. So, I'd bite the bullet and get an enclosure: safest/easiest option and will give you a "new" external SSD to use for other things once data moved off it.

 

[charityjf]

I’ve taken it to a couple of repair places (incl. Apple) and it turned out it wasn’t worth fixing

ohh betcha i can fix that macbook pro!
does the MacBook power on at all?
if is does not, you can power on the MacBook pro with a screw driver tapping that on 2 nodes near the keyboard ribbon.
these boards are coated very well and have this feature for liquid damage.
i have preformed this several times that year an under swamp-like conditions!
and the MacBook Pro 13”, model A1502 is from 2013, late.

let me know if you need more info, or interested in this resuscitation.

Um, I don’t think this is an option. I took it to both my local Apple store Genius Bar & a very well-reviewed local tech repair company & both said it would be an expensive & risky repair with no guarantees the machine would work for any decent length of time. I trust that assessment. Putting my hard drive back into it & powering it on could cause me to lose all my data, so I don’t think that’s a good suggestion. Not to mention that even if you could fix it & even if I trusted a random stranger from an online forum to do that (which I never would… no offence, but I read reviews of local repair companies for a reason)… you live in Florida, and I live in the UK.

 

[MBAir2010]

charityjf​

and everyone else

there is a nice video of a chap across the pond in NYC
who was told his MacBook was over damaged by the genius bar there
while a repair shop down the street fixed it for free.

and here it is

the apple store repair peeps lie, i hear them lie to customers all the time from 2015-2019.
one example is they try selling them $99 transfer data service while time machine does this for free.
anyways
your call, just trying to help save a good device.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

It's important to confirm the exact year of your Mac.

A1502 covers MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013) to MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015). An SSD pulled from any of these Macs will work in any of the others (the 2015 were faster but the connector was the same), as well as a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) to MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015), all of which are A1398. However, an A1398 could also be a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013) whose SSD is different.

All that said, it should be as simple as popping in your SSD and booting up (only other issue could be if your parent's Mac never upgraded to High Sierra and yours did, as that introduced APFS formatting - if this is an issue, their Mac can be upgraded to High Sierra for free).

 

[charityjf]

charityjf​

and everyone else

there is a nice video of a chap across the pond in NYC
who was told his MacBook was over damaged by the genius bar there
while a repair shop down the street fixed it for free.

and here it is

the apple store repair peeps lie, i hear them lie to customers all the time from 2015-2019.
one example is they try selling them $99 transfer data service while time machine does this for free.
anyways
your call, just trying to help save a good device.

Yeah, I appreciate the effort, but the other non-Apple repair shop I took it to quoted me a much lower price than Apple but actually advised me against trying to repair it with them. They said it was risky and may not last long afterwards (they’d only guarantee it for 3 months.) They spent some time on all of it but never charged me anything & actively advised me against paying them for the repair service. So there was nothing in it for them to say it wasn’t worth repairing it (apart from keeping their good reputation.)

The Apple store quoted £950 to repair it and I get they might have been lying, but it did at least mean I was able to get that amount from my home contents insurance, with no excess to pay, which was a pretty good result!

I have zero experience of taking apart computers and the machine is old anyway, so it’s time for an upgrade.

 

[MBAir2010]

Yeah, I appreciate the effort

sounds good, thanks for the reply!
new MacBooks are very fast and will last long, you will be happy!
(i declined a free one last year from work)

I'm dealing with replacing a mac mini fan and researching how to get a hex screw off the chassis.
no luck!

 

[charityjf]

It's important to confirm the exact year of your Mac.

A1502 covers MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013) to MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015). An SSD pulled from any of these Macs will work in any of the others (the 2015 were faster but the connector was the same), as well as a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) to MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015), all of which are A1398. However, an A1398 could also be a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013) whose SSD is different.

All that said, it should be as simple as popping in your SSD and booting up (only other issue could be if your parent's Mac never upgraded to High Sierra and yours did, as that introduced APFS formatting - if this is an issue, their Mac can be upgraded to High Sierra for free).

Ok, this potentially sounds promising! Thank-you for your reply. I don’t know the year of my MacBook Pro, but it doesn’t sound like that really matters. My parent’s one is showing as late 2013 in ‘About this Mac’, so that’s lucky.

Unfortunately I have no idea what OS my MBP was on & I can’t check as I can’t start it. I tried looking at the features of each to see what I remember using, and I’m still not sure. My parents’ one is on El Capitan. Should I just try my hard drive in their machine, or could it do damage if they are different file formats due to being different MacOS versions?

 

[charityjf]

I should say to everyone (anyone who’s still reading!) BTW, that Apple did say way back when I first took my damaged laptop in, that if I bought a new computer from them, they would transfer the data for free, so that is an option. That’s why I haven’t bought an enclosure yet, because they cost at least £50, which seems a lot for what will then only be a 250GB external drive, when I could just get Apple to do it (and I don’t really have much use for a hard drive that small.) There are a few reasons I’ve not taken it to Apple yet:

1. The more complicated this is looking to be, the more I worry they might make a mistake with my precious data. I might be being paranoid here, but I’ve just seen so many tradespeople mess things up (plumbers, builders etc.) that I find it hard to trust people. Although I’m getting to the point where it seems this is way beyond my abilities anyway, so I’m more likely to mess it up than they are!

2. I don’t know what to get them to put my data ONTO.
• Should I take in my new iMac for them to put it straight on there? I’m not that keen on handing over my nice shiny perfect new iMac in case they scratch it or something, but perhaps I’m being paranoid again there.
• Should I take in an external USB drive of some sort for them to put it on instead? What ones would work?
• Can they just put it all on my iCloud Drive? Can you do Migration Assistant from iCloud?
As you can see, this is all above my knowledge level so I’m getting stressed & confused!

3. This will mean at least three trips to my local Apple store. One to drop my stuff of so they can do the data transfer, two to pick it up, three to later take my old hard drive back to be wiped so I can sell my old MBP for parts (I’d want to wait a while to do this to feel sure all my data had definitely gone across ok.) Luckily my local Apple store is nearby, but I work night shifts, so getting there during the daytime is quite difficult & I’d rather not do it unless necessary.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

I’m almost positive Apple will not transfer your data to an external drive. Did they say they would?

Re your operating system, upgrade their Mac to High Sierra first, then install your drive. It’s the best way to be sure it will work. But installing your High Sierra drive into their EC Mac won’t cause issue.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

1. confirm your Mac‘s year for peace of mind by finding the serial number, printed on the bottom, and entering it into www.checkcoverage.apple.com
2. I‘ve thought of the “most expensive but lowest effort route” which eliminates Apple store trips. Buy the expensive but worth it OWC enclosure for your SSD, it includes the screwdrivers you need, and remove your SSD and then install it in the enclosure. Connect it to the iMac and you can manually copy your data or use migration assistant (note that this will make another user on the iMac, it cannot merge. Also, you cannot use MA from iCloud) for your data. https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MAU3ENPRPCI/

 

[darngooddesign]

Two options.

1. You don't need an enclosure for that SSD as you should be able to get a PCIe to USB adapter cable.

2. See if an independent repair place or one which specializes in data recovery can transfer your data to an external drive. Get a large enough drive so you can then use it for Time Machine backups.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

Two options.

1. You don't need an enclosure for that SSD as you should be able to get a PCIe to USB adapter cable.

2. See if an independent repair place or one which specializes in data recovery can transfer your data to an external drive. Get a large enough drive so you can then use it for Time Machine backups.

1. Which one?

 

[Hunter5117]

Seems the easiest is to take your laptop back to the independent service guy who put it into the MB Air, and pay him a reasonable price to transfer data to an external drive of some sort. If he sells drives at a reasonable price, buy it from him. You have already said that you need to start backing up (yes you do) so this will be your start.

 

[0_1]

edit - NM

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

Not sure if I'm missing something here but I've never used an enclosure, I just remove the drive and connect it using SATA to USB on the new machine.

You are missing something as the model in question has a proprietary connection.

Apple Proprietary SSDs: Ultimate Guide to Specs & Upgrades | BeetsBlog

Apple’s SSDs are confusing. Are they M.2 drives? What connector do they use? AHCI or NVMe? What drive can I use to upgrade? We have answers. We’ll tell which SSDs work in which MacBook Pros, iMacs, Mac minis and more.

beetstech.com

 

[0_1]

You are missing something as the model in question has a proprietary connection.

Apple Proprietary SSDs: Ultimate Guide to Specs & Upgrades | BeetsBlog

Apple’s SSDs are confusing. Are they M.2 drives? What connector do they use? AHCI or NVMe? What drive can I use to upgrade? We have answers. We’ll tell which SSDs work in which MacBook Pros, iMacs, Mac minis and more.

beetstech.com

Just saw that, sorry, that's what I get for skimming.