Can I use my old Macbook Pro as an external disc drive while installing Windows 7 through boot camp?

I want to install the Windows 7 CD on the newest version of the 2013 Macbook pro 10.9.2 running OSX Mavericks, through Boot Camp. It does not have a disc port, nor do I have an external disc drive....but I do have an older macbook that does have a disc drive and I know you can supplement it for an external disc drive.
My question is can I use my old Macbook pro's as an external disc drive for the installation of Windows 7 in Boot camp? Will this be a problem? Or do I have to buy an external disc drive separately.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5287

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Boot Camp Question .... I just bought a 2013 late model Mac Book Pro Retina and am wondering if it is worth installing windows through boot camp. If I install the windows component in order to run an exe file and its component "Declans Korean Flash Cards"

I just bought a 2013 late model Mac Book Pro Retina and am wondering if it is worth installing windows through boot camp.
If I install the windows component in order to run an exe file and its component "Declans Korean Flash Cards"... will it make my mac suseptible to viruses overall due to having a windows component? also will it make my mac slower as well

If you are only going to use one or two window only programs then I wouldn't waste the space. Try WinonX it allows you to install exe. Files on Mac without installing windows.

I have all of my data from my old macbook pro in an external hard drive. Basically it's my old Macbook hard drive with external casing. It was working fine before when retrieving files using my new macbook air, now I can't access any files?

I can't access any of my files, photos, anything form my external hard drive... It worked before now when I plug it in the light comes on, but it doesn't even show up as an external drive, so I can't access anything, I'm worried I have lost everything...

Huge mistake was only having ONE copy of your data OFF computer,
most people do it, and its just horrible and the typical reason for serious data loss.
Likely you have a very common failure (extremely common actually) called SATA bridge card failure, which would be "good" news,
read about same here:
Your dead external hard drive is likely fine! Great hope for your 'faulty' external HD
Never again let yourself have LESS than 2 copies of your important data off-computer, ever
1. verify the external HD doesnt show up on another Mac
if same, you have about a 8 in 10 chance its SATA card failure.......... easy to fix.
The great news at the end of the tunnel of an apparently failed or failing external hard drive.
When checked on another computer, and with no need for spending money on data extraction expertise or software, the very likely case is that your external USB or thunderbolt HD is in fact fine, and merely the card interface, or SATA bridge card has failed or is failing. Keeping a HD dock around handy, or cheaper still a $20 hard drive enclosure or a SATA to USB connector can be a real life saver in getting your drive back to use, when the drive itself is fine, and merely its interface card has gone bad.
The SATA bridge card inside a USB external HD has a very high failure rate in general
Typical SATA bridge cards as seen inside a 3.5" external HD with power input (#1), and 2.5" SATA cards (#3, #4, #5)
What are the realistic odds your HD is perfectly fine?
There are no hard facts whatsoever, especially since so many people discard their assumed “dead/faulty” hard drives, but a good educated conclusion from years of examining and seeing this issue is that for hard drives made since 2010, and not dropped or generally abused, is that a minimum of 50% conservatively are perfectly fine! I personally estimate however that it likely approaches 60%+.
Considering how many external hard drives ‘fail’ (rather the SATA bridge more than half the time) each day, that is a very high number of perfectly fine HD that are tossed!
This is especially common with 3.5” desktop HD that are connected 24/7 with power and see a lot of data transfer. People wrongly conclude that “X” mfg. just made a defective drive, when in fact their 3.5” drives inside the plastic enclosure is 100% fine. I have personally seen well over 200 of these dead SATA cards and additionally seen 3 fail within a one hour span of doing a large data copies.
One of the very reason pros use bare HD as inserted into HD docks is not just the saving of space and the need for endless USB cables, but the elimination of the need for this high failure-rate part.
While the shapes and sizes vary somewhat on SATA bridge cards, they all serve the same purpose and have likewise failure rates
What exactly is the SATA bridge card in your external HD?
In the middle to late of 2009, most all external hard drives both in 2.5” and 3.5” reached the shelves in SATA III. These small SATA cards or "bridges" are used to translate between the hard drives’ interfaces and the enclosures' external ports (USB, Thunderbolt, Firewire). Additionally these small bridges not only transfer power but also of course the data. Unfortunately these SATA bridge cards have a very high failure rate as they are burdened with shuffle power and data.
Literally these little unreliable and fragile cards are the power conduits and the nervous system for all external HD data transfer.
SATA card as found inside a typical USB external hard drive
The assumption that the hard drive is bad when its not!
Countless 1000s of good external hard drives are thrown away each year because the owner thought the HD was bad when it fact it was the SATA bridge card which had failed. This card is removed in a matter of mere second once an external USB HD is cracked open from its plastic casing to reveal the bare HD and the attached SATA card which attaches between the HD and the USB cable.
To complicate this problem, even many computer professionals do not know that there is a very easy solution to the “failing or dead HD” issue since the hard drive itself is very likely just fine. Its astonishing that so many highly educated computer repair persons are unaware of this high-failure part, but this is mostly due to the fact that they do not juggle 100s of hard drives and know that of the iceberg that is a “external hard drive failure”, the mostly unseen majority are not a HD failure at all, but a bridge card failure.
To add to this great misunderstanding is the fact that people assume that "likewise symptoms seen on an external HD are the same as seen on an internal HD, therefore also the external HD must be bad". This is a compositional fallacy of logic. Since internal HD do not have a SATA bridge interface, to conclude similar symptoms "indicate the same failure" is misplaced and incorrect.
This is all not to say that HD do not fail, they do indeed, and I have seen many 100s of dead and failing hard drives. Hard drives even under ideal conditions have a life expectancy of around 4-8 years due to ferromagnetic depolarization from entropy. But of the mountain of symptoms that are seen as “hard drive failures” in comments, posts, and hearsay, half or more of these are not a HD failure at all.
Once your rescued hard drive is removed from the bad SATA card
You have several options, but the purchase of a $20 HD enclosure is one option, another is having a HD dock, however this eliminates the former portability in a 2.5" small HD.
Remember that 3.5” HD require power, which means you need either a HD dock, or a powered SATA card kit as seen at top left in the picture below. 2.5” HD get power from the USB port itself.
Just remember that the serious downside to the low cost external HD enclosures is THEY TOO contain these SATA cards, and what is worse the cheap ones will fail, often, much quicker than the original factory one did! In which case it is recommended you buy a quality HD USB enclosure
Rescue tools to use with your extracted HD for data recovery

Can I use my old Macbook Pro Ram in the New Macbook Pro (late 2008)

I have 2, 2 gig DDR2 sticks of ram in my macbook pro. I wanted to know if they would work in the new macbook pro (late 2008)? I know the new one uses DDR3 - What would be the downside of using DDR2 in a DDR3 macbook? Would the graphics cards work to their potential? Thanks!

No. The DDR2 RAM in your older computer is not the same as the DDR3 RAM used in the new ones. There are significant differences between them not the least of which is pin count.

Im practically a novice to Mac Operating systems but just bought a MacBook pro, installing windows through boot camp on the system I cannot access apple operating systems what do I do

i tried to install windows 7 through the Boot Camp provision on my MacBook Pro which was successful but cant have access to Apple operating system its booting from windows only

Thanks very much knucklesmac, Im from Ghana I first bought my Ipad 2 in Calgary 27 Sept 211, Ive since loved apple products but Im not a computer geek, but would certainly love to be one Im ok with windows though.
Now the partition I craeted through windows was too small, not only that the widow 7 cd refused to come out.whats the next move, i wish to be initiiated into the apple cult the machines are sleek and beautiful

How can I connect an old macbook pro...

How can I connect an old macbook pro with that does NOT have a Thunderbolt connection to a new 27 inch iMac? I only need to do this for one specific purpose, to be able to see the work I'm doing on the laptop in InDesign on the iMac's larger screen (at a larger size as it were, so I can see a double page spread (or even a whole page would be an improvement) in one go)? I gather it might be possible to get an adaptor but note that Apple don't seem to sell one. I know I could do this with the cinema screen but would rather do it with a new imac as that will have more use to me overall. It's a work laptop which I don't own so I don't own the Indesign to just be able to use that on an iMac. I have tried to connect monitors to the laptop in the past, but with no success at all. I hope someone can help . Thank you.

Im pretty sure you are talking about the M8536 which has an ADC Adapter.
you will have to daisy chain a thunderbolt to DVI adapter with an DVI to ADC Adapter.
the first adapter:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB570Z/B/mini-displayport-to-dvi-adapter
The second adapter is old so you may find used ones on ebay like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/M8661LL-B-Used-Genuine-Apple-DVI-ADC-Display-Adapter-Mod el-A1006-WORKS-/160901961703?pt=US_Video_Cables_Adapters&hash=item25768117e7

Can i access my old macbook pro's 'Time machine' saved on time capsule with a new laptop

How can i access my old macbook pro's 'Time machine' saved on time capsule with a new laptop.
Also why can i only EITHER have the capsule attched to the internet OR have it as my backup external hard drive?? Things are not running smoothly can someone please help?
Many thanks,
Cirsflan

Answered in your other thread.. keep to one. Just confusing running two threads with the same question.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4863146?tstart=0

Can I use my old macbook as a disk drive for my new iMac?

My husband just bought me a new new iMac (yey!) but had assumed it would have a dvd drive (as you do). It doesn't. So can I use my old Macbook to upload cds and dvds and somehow import to my itunes on my new computer?

As long as your Macbook is up-to-date. Go to system preferences>Internet and Wireless>Sharing>check mark CD/DVD sharing.

HT4059 can you use ibook on macbook pro

can you use ibook on macbook pro? If so, how do i read the free books from itune?

"if you can use the Kindle app from iPad to Macbook, shouldn't you be able to do the same with an apple product?"
No.
The kndle app provides this feature.
Ibooks does not.
" I would rather buy books from iBooks"
You can buy form whomever you like.
" but not being able to go from device to device like in Kindle is a problem."
You can read iboks on ipod touch/ipad/iphone, just not your computer.

HT5219 How many Thunderbolt displays can I use with my MacBook Pro using Windows 7 and Parrallels?

How many Thunderbolt displays can I use with my MacBook Pro using Windows 7 and Parallels

Two. You can daisy-chain two ATD together. Doesn't matter what you're running.
Clinton

I can not install xp through boot camp, the team just bought yesterday, is a macbook pro 13 when my old computer did it without problem with the same install disc

I can not install xp through boot camp, the team just bought yesterday, is a macbook pro 13 when my old computer did it without problem with the same install disc

There are no XP or Vista drivers for the new Apple computer hardware. Apple stopped XP and Vista support. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4410.

I cannot find videos (not movies) that i have transferred to my macbook pro from an external hard drive, these files used to be on my windows PC!

I cannot find videos (not movies) that i have transferred to my macbook pro from an external hard drive, these files used to be on my windows PC. Photos and a few of the videos came over but i am missing the majority of the videos. Help please!!! I have tried omnidisksweeper with no success in finding them.
in my Usage it says i have over 40 gb of movies when i only have about 9gb which i can see using spotlight search. i really hope the other amount is my missing videos! these are videos of my kids as babies.

Read this post and do the migration again, putting the library in a portable shape first if necessary.
tt2

How to transfer data from macbook pro to an external hard drive, im using (WD 1TB 3.0) ???. I cannot copy anything from my mac to it not a single file.

how to transfer data from macbook pro to an external hard drive, im using (WD 1TB 3.0) ???. I cannot copy anything from my mac to it not a single file.

ok - since you'll be sharing it with a PC - connect it to your windows pc - then format from there - instead of NTFS format - choose exFAT.
or, you can read the link below on how to do it in dos mode.
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/how-can-i-forma t-external-drive-in-exfat-not-in/0f6bf19a-19d6-4470-ae05-53ddf26bb476?msgId=1860 eae3-3488-4eea-8326-f87b89d9851b
once you've formatted it - you can now use it in both your macbook and windows computer.

How can I backup my MacBook Pro to an external hard drive

How can I backup my MacBook Pro to an external hard drive?

Basic Backup
For some people Time Machine will be more than adequate. Time Machine is part of OS X. There are two components:
1. A Time Machine preferences panel as part of System Preferences;
2. A Time Machine application located in the Applications folder. It is
     used to manage backups and to restore backups. Time Machine
     requires a backup drive that is at least twice the capacity of the
     drive being backed up.
Alternatively, get an external drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1. Carbon Copy Cloner
2. Get Backup
3. Deja Vu
4. SuperDuper!
5. Synk Pro
6. Tri-Backup
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files. For help with using Time Machine visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.
Although you can buy a complete external drive system, you can also put one together if you are so inclined. It's relatively easy and only requires a Phillips head screwdriver (typically.) You can purchase hard drives separately. This gives you an opportunity to shop for the best prices on a hard drive of your choice. Reliable brands include Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital, Toshiba, and Fujitsu. You can find reviews and benchmarks on many drives at Storage Review.
Enclosures for FireWire and USB are readily available. You can find only FireWire enclosures, only USB enclosures, and enclosures that feature multiple ports. I would stress getting enclosures that use the Oxford chipsets especially for Firewire drives (911, 921, 922, for example.) You can find enclosures at places such as;
1. Cool Drives
2. OWC
3. WiebeTech
4. Firewire Direct
5. California Drives
6. NewEgg
All you need do is remove a case cover, mount the hard drive in the enclosure and connect the cables, then re-attach the case cover. Usually the only tool required is a small or medium Phillips screwdriver.

Every time I try to back up my Macbook Pro with an external hard drive using Time Machine, I receive the error of "the disk does not have enough space". I have a 500GB hard drive and only 120GB Macbook. It worked fine before the latest Maverick's

Every time I try to back up my Macbook Pro with an external hard drive using Time Machine, I receive the error of "the disk does not have enough space". I have a 500GB external hard drive and only 120GB Macbook. It worked fine before the latest Maverick's update. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

My guess would be it has created an entirely new backup of your drive when you upgraded to Mavericks.
See Here: http://pondini.org/TM/1.html
And here: http://pondini.org/TM/9.html
Peruse the whole site. There is a lot of information there.

Can I use my old Macbook Pro as an external disc drive while installing Windows 7 through boot camp?

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