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Upgrade help for late 2006 MacBook Pro 2,2 - 2.16Ghz Intel Core 2 Due w/ 2 G RAM

A

Andita

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 28, 2012
2
0
My old Macbook Pro is still awesome but it is running Tiger (10.4.11) and its Fujitsu120 GB (5400 rpm) is reaching the end of its life, after 6 years of issueless use.
GOALS:
Upgrade RAM to 4 G with Samsung 2GB DDR2 SODIMM 200pin 667MHz
Upgrade the HD with a 160 GB Intel x25-m SATAII G2 SSD
Update new Intel x25’s firmware to current version (SSD is from 2010)
Upgrade the OS from Tiger to Leopard to Snow Leopard
Upgrade Firefox Browser from 3.6.28 to a current version
Upgrade MS Office 2004 to Office 2011
Remove Windows Parallel Desktop software
Remove other programs I no longer want (test drive versions that came preloaded)
Keep all my bookmarks, key chains, iTunes play lists and some programs (ex: Adobe CS2)
ISSUES: I’ve never tackled such a comprehensive upgrade before. I’m overwhelmed. My instincts are to start completely fresh with clean installs directly onto the new SSD (OS and software I have disks for). Then can I transfer only the programs and other stuff piecemeal from a backup? (I’m putting the old hard drive into an enclosure.) I’ve been hesitant to upgrade the OS and all the software first and then make a disk image to restore to the new SSD because I’m worried that after all these years there are issues such as viruses, malware, fragmentation, left over code from program removals, etc. that might transfer too. I don’t have any programs like Norton to optimize the drive beforehand and there are a lot of things I don’t want on the new HD. Is piecemeal transfer a good idea? I’m starting to think it is better to do all the software additions/deletions on the current HD so that I have as close to a pristine clone for the new SSD beforehand and so the OS is the same on both hard disks. Should I partition the new SSD? Should I install the new SSD into the enclosure first and try to update firmware and install OS before I physically install SSD into the computer? Also the OS disks I have don’t seem capable of starting up the machine so I need to make a Snow Leopard start up disk that I can use to run disk utilities from once I’ve installed the new OS. PLEASE GIVE ME GUIDANCE on what the correct order of operations for the goals listed above. Any guidance is appreciated. Thank You!
 
You don't need to step through the different versions, you should be able to just install Snow Leopard on the new SSD.

My suggestion would be:
  • Do the firmware update for the SSD in the enclosure.
  • Then move the old HD to the external enclosure and install the SSD in the MBP.
  • Do not connect the old drive to the system until you're ready to transfer data.
  • Install Snow Leopard on to the SSD. Run through Software Update to make sure Everything already installed is patched and up to date.
  • Now attach your old drive to the computer.
  • And as appropriate copy data and install applications you want to use. Make sure you have the latest versions of the programs that can run under Snow Leopard. And make sure you run the software updates that some of those programs may need (like Office).
Some of the issues you listed are non issues on OS X. However, others are valid issues. So, doing a clean install at this point guarantees you have nothing left over from various removed programs or from old versions of programs.

If you do the upgrade this way, your old drive remains bootable as it is now until you are sure the SSD is set up properly.

NOTE: You will need to find the directions for copying the data and such back for some programs. For example: With iTunes you need to copy the Music folder back and the iTunes preferences before you run iTunes for the first time on Snow Leopard.
 
Thanks Bear

Bear said:
You don't need to step through the different versions, you should be able to just install Snow Leopard on the new SSD.

My suggestion would be:
  • Do the firmware update for the SSD in the enclosure.
  • Then move the old HD to the external enclosure and install the SSD in the MBP.
  • Do not connect the old drive to the system until you're ready to transfer data.
  • Install Snow Leopard on to the SSD. Run through Software Update to make sure Everything already installed is patched and up to date.
  • Now attach your old drive to the computer.
  • And as appropriate copy data and install applications you want to use. Make sure you have the latest versions of the programs that can run under Snow Leopard. And make sure you run the software updates that some of those programs may need (like Office).
Some of the issues you listed are non issues on OS X. However, others are valid issues. So, doing a clean install at this point guarantees you have nothing left over from various removed programs or from old versions of programs.

If you do the upgrade this way, your old drive remains bootable as it is now until you are sure the SSD is set up properly.

NOTE: You will need to find the directions for copying the data and such back for some programs. For example: With iTunes you need to copy the Music folder back and the iTunes preferences before you run iTunes for the first time on Snow Leopard.
Click to expand...

Can you direct me to a tutorial on how to update the firmware when the SSD is in an external enclosure (USB connection)? I looked around an found someone who had trouble doing this on a PC. http://communities.intel.com/thread/11904 I downloaded the ISO from Intel but haven't burned it to a DVD yet b/c I need to buy some +R DL disks.

Thank you for the heads up on program transfer compatibility. Looks like my CS2 programs are Power PC based and totally incompatible with SL. You saved me a lot of trouble. I found a list http://snowleopard.wikidot.com/ to check compatibility and a lot of things on the current HD are not going to work at all in SL. I'm so grateful for your advice. If I had gone the disk image full restore route I would have ended up with a lot of compatibility issues and without trim support, deleting a ton of stuff from a brand new SSD would have sucked! Thank you Again.
 
Last edited:
Research your SSD options and find one that suits you and your budget. I recommend an intel 520 they get great reviews and are reliable. Plus they come with a 5 year warrant.
 
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