Swap my current SSD into new MacPro?

[cutterman]

Hi All

I have a 2,1 macpro that I am considering for an upgrade when the 2010 models come out. I am currently booting with an Intel G2 SSD that I would like to swap directly into the new box. I dont want to wipe and reformat it.

I have done this successfully with PC/motherboard upgrades. Not sure if it will work with OSX. Will I need to make sure I have the video card driver installed, as that will be likely be different? Or are all the necessary drivers in the OSX installation?

Thanks mucho.

 

[gotzero]

At the very least, back it up and also use time machine, put it in the new machine, reinstall SL with the method that saves programs and data, and be on your way.

I would not try and use a swapped drive on a different system.

 

[nanofrog]

It's tecnically possible, but there's different components between the boards that require different drivers, which is a PITA.

You're better off performing a clean install, as it makes sure you've got all the correct drivers installed. It can even help reduce capacity, by forcing you to look at what's installed (determine if you actually need it). It can help with performance as well.

 

[skotopes]

It's tecnically possible, but there's different components between the boards that require different drivers, which is a PITA.

You're better off performing a clean install, as it makes sure you've got all the correct drivers installed. It can even help reduce capacity, by forcing you to look at what's installed (determine if you actually need it). It can help with performance as well.

Why mac os has such strange behavior? If it bsd-like isn`t it enough to remove all kext caches?
I have migrated from unibody macbook pro to mac pro and simply made copy of system partition with cleanup of all caches.

 

[cutterman]

Thanks for the replies. All good suggestions. Given that it is an SSD, I want to minimize the amount of writing to the disk. I have a LOT of apps installed and I dont want to reinstall if possible. Before I do anything I will be sure to have multiple image backups of the system partition.

@skotopes- that's what I thought. Based on my research OSX iterates the hardware device tree at bootup, so assuming that all the drivers are installed it should work, esp if the kext cache is deleted. So far I haven't been able to find any differences in the drivers installed (but not loaded) between my mac pro, imac, and MB pro. I 'think' OSX installs all the drivers necessary for every mac computer.

 

[gotzero]

Reinstalling the OS is not going to give you a number of rewrites near high enough to negatively impact a SSD.

 

[nanofrog]

Why mac os has such strange behavior? If it bsd-like isn`t it enough to remove all kext caches?
I have migrated from unibody macbook pro to mac pro and simply made copy of system partition with cleanup of all caches.

If you've identical systems, you can pull a disk from system A, put it into system B, and you're done.

But if they're different, dealing with it manually is a PITA (finding the correct files for the new system manually). It will take a little time, and it's easy to miss one IMO. It seems less likely for mistakes by performing a clean install, and restore files from backups.

That's all I was getting at.