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removed Macbook HD

D

D.M.S

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 19, 2008
70
0
If i give away/sell the standard 120gb HD that came with my macbook would someone be able to put it in their macbook and have a copy of leopard ready to fire up?
I didn't even switch the computer on before I changed out the hard drive for a 320gb so it should fire up with the welcome/registration screen correct?
I don't have any external enclosure with which to erase ect with.
 
You should pull your new drive out, put the old one back in there and boot off the OS install discs. Then use Disk Utility to wipe that drive.

If you don't do this, it should, in theory, work in another machine. Shipping it out like that is not legal, though, as the purchaser of the drive did not necessarily purchase the OS. You're protecting yourself at this point. If the purchaser has a legit copy of the OS, they can install it easily.
 
That sounds like it should work, as long as the other macbook has the same hardware as yours (otherwise you'll have problems). You're not licensed to do that, but nothing will stop you.
 
I'm more likely to give it to someone in particular but if they dont want it i'll ebay it for a few bucks.
The person i had in mind has a 1.83 coreduo macbook with 60 or 80gb at the moment and only tiger.
And for some reason the middle screw on that metal strip was real pain in the ass to take out so doing the sap again to erase wasn't something I wanted to do.
i'm more asking if i do in fact flog it off to a stranger
 
they won't be able to take out their HDD, insert the one you gave them, and use it just like you had it. that won't work. they would be able to extract files off the drive, but not plug it in and have leopard.
 
I dont know how mac os works but the disc swapping is NOT possible for windows.

When windows is installed, the software store the bios identifier, therefore you cannot install windows on a hard disc and move the hard disc afterwards.

I would guess that mac OS has the same anti-copy protection....it is just a guess, though
 
bozz2006 said:
they won't be able to take out their HDD, insert the one you gave them, and use it just like you had it. that won't work. they would be able to extract files off the drive, but not plug it in and have leopard.
Click to expand...

Not true. It will work even if it is an older machine, as the drivers are slipstreamed. It'll even detect and automatically turn off multitouch if, for example, it was installed in a PowerBook G4.

Since I manage loads of Macs and happen to be a Mac system image build specialist for most of my firm's clients, the way we approach a mixed hardware environment is to build their image on the newest hardware and then roll out that image to everyone. And it works... like a charm, in fact. :cool:

There will only be problems if that drive is placed into a machine with newer hardware than the version the drive originally came out of. But the drivers for such hardware can indeed be installed.
 
drstein said:
I dont know how mac os works but the disc swapping is NOT possible for windows.

When windows is installed, the software store the bios identifier, therefore you cannot install windows on a hard disc and move the hard disc afterwards.

I would guess that mac OS has the same anti-copy protection....it is just a guess, though
Click to expand...

I believe that depends on the Windows version, as I've moved XP/2003 before with no issues.
 
well i did the swap for somoene in class tonight and it did in fact start up into the welcome/registration screen.
done on a 1.83 core duo macbook.
 
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