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Trading MacBooks

it5five

it5five

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 31, 2006
1,219
1
New York
Hey everyone. I need some help with something. My dad is getting a MacBook Pro, giving me his C2D MacBook, and I am giving my CD MacBook to my brother.

I was hoping that I could just switch the hard-drives in the MacBooks and be done with it, but I wasn't sure if there was anything else I had to do. Will there be registration problems or warranty problems? Neither of the MacBooks have the extended AppleCare, so we don't have to worry about that. When I go look at the System Profiler, it shows the serial number for this computer and everything. Will the hard drive/OS be able to know that it is in a different computer and automatically update all of that, or will I have to re-install the OS?

Thanks.
 
it5five said:
Hey everyone. I need some help with something. My dad is getting a MacBook Pro, giving me his C2D MacBook, and I am giving my CD MacBook to my brother.

I was hoping that I could just switch the hard-drives in the MacBooks and be done with it, but I wasn't sure if there was anything else I had to do. Will there be registration problems or warranty problems? Neither of the MacBooks have the extended AppleCare, so we don't have to worry about that. When I go look at the System Profiler, it shows the serial number for this computer and everything. Will the hard drive/OS be able to know that it is in a different computer and automatically update all of that, or will I have to re-install the OS?
Click to expand...

Just use the Migration Assistant (in /Applications/Utilities), transfer the stuff from your CD to the C2D via Firewire. You're done. Apple does NOT do anything like MS's Product Activation. And Dad can do the same for the C2D to MBP.

Apple Help Viewer (/System/Library/CoreServices) has the FAQ & all the details.
 
Personally, I'd save the hassle of swapping out the hard drives and suggest each of you backing up your files to an external drive, then transferring them over to the MacBooks. If you get a big enough drive, all three of you could use it as a backup, should anything happen to any the computers (plus if you push it as a backup solution, it's easier to get Dad to pay for it).
 
Thanks for the help.

So, just to make sure; what we're going to do is transfer the C2D files/settings to the MBPro, do a fresh install on the C2D, use migration assistant to transfer files/settings from CD to C2D, do a fresh install of the CD.

Is Migration Assistant just able to transfer user settings as well, or just files?
 
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