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Upgrading from late 08 to mid 12 MBP 15"

V

vdubbeet

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 25, 2012
62
0
As the title says, I'm upgrading from my current late-08 to a new to me mid-12. A few questions:
1) I have a 1TB HD in my current MBP, may I just replace the 500GB in the mid-12 with my current or do I have to back everything up, reformat it & copy over?
2) I have a Seagate 1TB backup plus ext HD with Firewire 800 - will this work with the mid-12?
3) what Thunderbolt adapters do you think I would need? I think so far, Ethernet & HDMI but am unsure.
5) is there a 3.0 USB to 2.0 USB adapter/converter? I don't want to have to replace all of my thumb drives, etc.
6) what else am I forgetting?
As always thanks for your help.
 
vdubbeet said:
As the title says, I'm upgrading from my current late-08 to a new to me mid-12. A few questions:
1) I have a 1TB HD in my current MBP, may I just replace the 500GB in the mid-
Click to expand...
Sounds like you're going to a rMBP? If that's the case then you cannot swap the drive. There are options in upgrading the SSD in the rMBP.
 
You have the non-retina version of the mid 2012 machine, so you are in good shape for what you want to do.

1. I've never tried moving the startup disk from one machine to the next. Make sure you have a good backup of your data. The worst case scenario is that you will need to install a new copy of OS X on the drive and migrate your files back.

2. The drive will work just fine. Plug it into the FW800 port and it will work the same as before.

3. You have gigabit ethernet built into you machine, so no need for that adapter. You will only need the video adapters HDMI, VGA, DVI. Just get the ones you need. I use DVI for my external display and VGA for connecting to projectors.

4. As far as the end that goes into the computer is concerned, there is no difference in the connector for USB, USB2, USB3. The end of the USB3 cable that plugs into an external HDD is significantly different.

5. You have things under control.

One thing to consider with that machine is upgrading the hard drive to a solid state drive. It will make a significant difference in the performance of the machine.
 
vdubbeet said:
As the title says, I'm upgrading from my current late-08 to a new to me mid-12. A few questions:
1) I have a 1TB HD in my current MBP, may I just replace the 500GB in the mid-12 with my current or do I have to back everything up, reformat it & copy over?
Click to expand...


I recall reading on here (about 2 years ago) about a guy that would simply move his current hard drive into any new machine he bought. He would just take out the brand new hard drive from the brand new machine and slap his old hard drive in there and the only stipulation is to make sure the OSx version is the same as what shipped with the NEW machine.

I'm assuming the old drive is just a flavor of SATA that would be compatible in the newer machine you are buying.
 
Thanks, everyone. Picking up my new to me machine this evening. Will post about hard drive, etc once I get things installed.
 
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