Swapping Harddrives

[Benchmob31]

Today I got a refurbished 15" uMBP. It came with a 250 gig hdd @ 5400rpm. I also have a Mac mini which has a 320 gig hdd@7200 rpm. I want to pull the 320 out of my mini and put it into the uMPB as is, meaning with all the data that is on it.

Will this cause any problems? Will i need to do anything to the harddrive or can i just pop it in and it will detect all of my hardware settings? Has anyone done this? Let me know. Thanks.

 

[azboricua]

Today I got a refurbished 15" uMBP. It came with a 250 gig hdd @ 5400rpm. I also have a Mac mini which has a 320 gig hdd@7200 rpm. I want to pull the 320 out of my mini and put it into the uMPB as is, meaning with all the data that is on it.

Will this cause any problems? Will i need to do anything to the harddrive or can i just pop it in and it will detect all of my hardware settings? Has anyone done this? Let me know. Thanks.

Im not 100% sure, but you MIGHT face some issues with hardware drivers. For Example, the drive currently has the drivers for your mac mini, and all of a sudden its going to be running an entirely different system. Its worth a try, just make 100% sure you run time machine right before you do this, that way if you screw something up you can always restore and not lose any personal data.

 

[RKO]

Im not 100% sure, but you MIGHT face some issues with hardware drivers. For Example, the drive currently has the drivers for your mac mini, and all of a sudden its going to be running an entirely different system. Its worth a try, just make 100% sure you run time machine right before you do this, that way if you screw something up you can always restore and not lose any personal data.

I'll 2nd that.

 

[MacMini2009]

I recommend just backing up your Mac Mini's hard drive with an external hard drive using Time Machine. Then you can wipe the hard drive on the Mac Mini using (I think) disk utility or some other software. Swap the drives, and partition it on the Macbook Pro, do a fresh install of Snow Leopard or Leopard, and connect the external hard drive to the Macbook Pro to get the files back.

 

[azboricua]

I recommend just backing up your Mac Mini's hard drive with an external hard drive using Time Machine. Then you can wipe the hard drive on the Mac Mini using (I think) disk utility or some other software. Swap the drives, and partition it on the Macbook Pro, do a fresh install of Snow Leopard or Leopard, and connect the external hard drive to the Macbook Pro to get the files back.

That too

 

[gr8tfly]

The best way to do it is to use the Migration Assistant to move your settings, apps, and data to your new machine. Once that's done, use Disk Utility's Restore function to clone the new machine to your old drive. You'll have to put the Mini's 7200 RPM drive in an external enclosure to do the transfer.

I'd actually recommend just buying a new 320GB 7200RPM drive and USB enclosure, and leave the Mini alone.

In any event, I wouldn't recommend attempting to just swap drives. There's a good chance you'll just end up with a messy, unstable, configuration.

Enjoy your new ub MBP!

 

[Benchmob31]

I was gonna swap hdd to save a little money. I cant just buy a 320 hhd @ 7200 rpm, I would want to buy a 500 hdd @ 7200 rpm!!!! Anyways thanks everyone for their advice. I plan on having this laptop for years to come so I want to start it off right!

 

[LedCop]

Well, I personally have had no problems with just swapping hard disks between Macs. Otherwise, firewire target mode would be flaky, wouldn't it? The closest to a problem I ever had was when running a build/version of OS X that was older than the Mac was designed for - I had lousy display colors. But this shouldn't be the case now as the most recent Mac model was released way before the current builds of both Leopard and Snow Leopard.

So perhaps try firewire target disk mode on your Mac Mini and boot your MacBook Pro off of it if you have a firewire cable? Then you can see whether you would be happy with a straight hard disk swap and spare yourself long copy+installation processes.

 

[After G]

If you haven't cracked open a Mini before, I wouldn't recommend doing it.
It'd be easier to just get a new drive and though you save money opening up the Mini it's not worth the stress worrying about whether you've broken something or not.

 

[Benchmob31]

If you haven't cracked open a Mini before, I wouldn't recommend doing it.

I have cracked open a few times. I know what I am doing with that hardware. How do you think the 4 gigs of ram and 320 gig hdd got in there? But thanks for the concern.