Booting iMac from hard drive pulled out of Macbook Pro

The other night my friend drunkenly dropped my Macbook Pro. I have taken it completely apart, and can't find anything wrong with it. To pull some information of my hard drive, I removed it and placed it in an enclosure. I brought the enclosure to work, and tried to boot the iMac through the USB enclosed hard drive. All the specifications on the OSX are the same, yet it will not load. Either it keeps spinning, or I get a prohibitted sign. What could be causing this?

They have to be identical computer to boot, unless they are it will not work. It's that simple, if you want to see if they drive is still good boot from another Mac and just use Finder to navigate to the external drive and see if you can view items. You can view and copy and paste data however you will not be able to boot from the drive unless the other Mac is an identical configuration to your MBP.

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MacBook Pro won't boot with new hard drive, but a different MacBook Pro will

So here are the details. My friend and I both have 13-inch Mid 2010 MacBook Pro's. Same processor and specs since they were purchased at the same time, but originally had 250 GB hard drives. His hard drive failed and needed a new one. Put a 500 GB Seagate Momentus 5400.6 in his computer, and tried using a flash drive with "Install OS X Mavericks" on it to install Mavericks on his new hard drive. No matter what, it wouldn't install. I finally was able to install OS X 10.9.4 on it by connecting the new hard drive to my computer with a USB hard drive enclosure. I put the hard drive back inside his computer and it wouldn't boot (stuck on the gray screen with apple logo and a spinning wheel). I then attached to the hard drive to his computer externally with the USB enclosure, and then it booted and worked perfectly.
So, it seemed like the problem was with something inside his computer, but then I switched our drives, and that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I put my original hard drive into his computer, and his new hard drive into my computer, and they both booted and worked perfectly, so I have no idea why his computer will not boot with the new hard drive internally.
To summarize, his computer boots with: 1) new hard drive connected externally (won't work if it's internal), and 2) my hard drive internally
but my computer boots with: 1) new hard drive connected externally AND internally, and 2) my hard drive internally.
Both hard drives have OS X 10.9.4 installed
If anyone has any idea what's causing this and how to make his computer work with the new hard drive internally that would be greatly appreciated.

So after switching the internal SATA cables from each computer, now we have
His computer, with my SATA cable:
1) Worked with every hard drive!
My computer, with his SATA cable:
1) Works with 1 TB Toshiba hard drive
2) Works with 500 GB Seagate hard drive
3) Works with my original hard drive
4) Flashing folder with question mark with his old hard drive
So it turns out you were right! Definitely had something to do with the SATA cables. But it's still strange that mine was able to boot with all the hard drives except the one that was originally in his. So it seems like it was some combination of his SATA cable and something else, since when his SATA cable was in his computer only 1 hard drive (my original) worked, and when it was in my computer, 3 hard drives worked. But at least its working, and I'm just gonna keep our SATA cables switched since that seems to work out fine

Can anyone enlighten me as to how I can transfer data from an extracted hard drive off of a Macbook Pro onto a new Retina model? No SATA port!!!

Hello,
I'm trying to transfer data from my old hard drive (taken out of Macbook Pro 2009) onto a new Macbook Pro Retina. My ignorance is vast and I purchased an eSATA device to do so, not thinking that there is no SATA port on this new computer. Is there a special cable or anything anyone can recommend? I'd be very grateful for some help here.

I would just get a cheap USB enclosure from OWC, put your old drive in it, and use it it transfer the data to your new rMBP. Cheap and simple. The one I spec'ed is for a USB 3.0 enclosure as you have USB 3.0 ports on your computer - much faster than USB 2.0.
Clinton

HT2729 Digital Copies to my IMac with external hard drive, then on my MacBook Pro I can see the movies, but if I close out my IMac, I can't access my movies on my laptop??? Can anyone help me out here? Thanks.

I have my itunes stored on my external hard drive of my IMac.
I have started to put my Digital Copies to my IMac with external hard drive, then on my MacBook Pro I can see the movies, but if I close out my IMac, I can't access my movies on my laptop???
Can anyone help me out here? Thanks.

I have my itunes stored on my external hard drive of my IMac.
I have started to put my Digital Copies to my IMac with external hard drive, then on my MacBook Pro I can see the movies, but if I close out my IMac, I can't access my movies on my laptop???
Can anyone help me out here? Thanks.

I erased my hard drive and now my Macbook pro won't boot

I bought a new macbook pro the other day, so I decided to erase the hard drive on my 2010 Macbook pro and reinstall my OS cleanly. I erased the hard drive and tried an internet recovery. It downloaded the recovery and would not boot. Tried resetting everything you could name of and it doesn't help. Can't get anywhere with command R, it just freezes. Safe mode won't boot. Command V, eventually ends with an error saying to return to old smc. I pulled the hard drive out and put it in another mac from about the same year and through internet recovery, actually loaded OS Lion back on it. I put it back in the problem mac, and it just freezes at the apple logo and spinning wheel. Can't understand why erasing the hard drive would effect any hardware, but maybe it messed with logic board somehow? I've now tried using the Recovery partition, since OS Lion was loaded on the drive, but it freezes there as well. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Are you sure it came with Lion?
Check out the support page for what build shipped with which OS.
PJRS

Transferring data from external hard drive to new replacement Macbook Pro...

Hello,
Apple have arranged to give me a replacement Macbook Pro due to faults with hardware on the one I am currently using. I will be going to pick up the replacement Macbook Pro tomorrow morning.
As a complete novice I just wanted to check that I have backed up the data from my current laptop onto my Iomega external hard drive properly, as I am slightly nervous about losing all my work and not being able to transfer all my files onto my new Macbook Pro tomorrow.
I did a back up using time machine earlier today which took quite a long time and seemed to go successfully. Is this the right thing to have done to save all data from my current laptop onto the external hard drive?
Will transferring data from the external hard drive onto my new Macbook Pro be a simple task?
Will I have to reinstall all my software such as Logic and Pro Tools? Also will my preferences and settings for music software be changed?
I'd greatly appreciate any advice.
Thanks,
Deena

Well it's like this.
If your problem on the Mac didn't affect the software or the TimeMachine backup, then restoring from that using SetupAssistant (when you first set up a new Mac it will ask you to restore) should go fine.
HOWEVER, if there are software issues on the Mac that also transferred to the TimeMachine drive, that will only transfer them back onto your new computer.
You can't very easily just pick out the things you want to restore from TimeMachine with, it doesn't give that fine detail of control, and if it's really messed up, it might not restore anything at all.
The golden rule of backups is to maintain two separate and easily accessible hardware copies of your data off the machine at all times.
Since you don't know for sure if the TimeMachine restore is going to work as intended, and your only other source is going to disappear, I'd advise a additional backup of your Music, Documents, Pictures and Movie folders etc., to another regular external drive via regular drag and drop copy methods.
The operating system and programs can all be reinstalled from fresh sources on the new machine, provided you have the AppleID and password, license codes for your programs, email passwords and any other necessary information to re-establish the license on the new machine.
(In some cases licensed software HAS NOT transferred to a new machine with a TimeMachine restore and had to be reinstalled)
Some times you have to contact the developer or "uninstall" the licensed program so it sends a signal to their servers that the program has been removed, else your license code may not work on the new machine.
You might decide the new machine would be better off with a fresh install of your programs that you know are 100% compatible with Lion etc., leaving a lot of older stuff you installed over the years off the new machine, if you restore from TimeMachine, you don't have this option. You pretty much get all the crap along for the ride,
If your new machine gets all crapped up, then restoring Lion is going to going to be a tough challenge, as you need a strong reliable Internet connection to download a fresh copy of Lion from Apple servers (no more disks). Once you do that, then somehow you have to use third party software ($$) to cherry pick your files out of TimeMachines trap. More headaches than you anticpated, and likely a charge by a specialist.
So I'd advise another hard drive with a copy of just your files, just in case a crap-up occurs
You can restore Lion yourself if it craps up, install programs from fresh sources as you know how to do, use the old license codes and then return your files manually exactly back into their same Music, Pictures, Documents, and Movies (etc, not Library) folders as before.
The key to this manual method is to make sure to use the same user name as before, so all your file location data pathnames retained by program files like iTunes to where the songs are located on the drive, are matched. Once you open these programs and restablish the links in OS X, then you can move them around.
Some tricks, if you use iPhoto, you can right click "show package contents" and inside is a folder with your Originals, copy that out and you can reimport your pictures into the new iPhoto Library on the new machine.
So use TM if you dare, but prepared to do things manually is my opinion.
TM restores have not been all that reliable or dependable, the more messed up your machine is, the worst the restore seems to be.
Good Luck

Can i restrict apple mail client from downloading all emails...and allow it to pick a start date for gmail mail to sync? i am flooded with old emails, thousands on them ...eating hard drive space of my macbook pro and un necessary overhead

can i restrict apple mail client from downloading all emails...and allow it to pick a start date for gmail mail to sync? i am flooded with old emails, thousands on them ...eating hard drive space of my macbook pro and un necessary overhead

The genius bar technicians can check your MBP for possible hardware problems and specific software issues that you may have. The diagnosis will be free. Any extensive repairs will not be free.
If you have minor software problems, you essentially will have to deal with them yourself. Examine these two comprehensive documents for possible problem definition and solutions. If you encounter problems that you are unable to cope with, start a new discussion and there will be persons willing to assist you in solving them.
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3521
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3353
Ciao.

I RECENTLY HAD THE HARD DRIVE REPLACED ON MY MACBOOK PRO 8.1 UNDER WARRENTY NOW I FIND I CANNOT INSTALL I LIFE FROM MY ORIGINAL DVDS

I RECENTLY HAD THE HARD DRIVE REPLACED ON MY MACBOOK PRO 8.1 UNDER WARRENTY NOW I FIND I CANNOT INSTALL I LIFE FROM MY ORIGINAL DVD my original os was 10.6.7 now running 10.6.8

Download & install this:
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1512

How do i download my files from an external hard drive to my new macbook pro

how do i dowload my files from my external hard drive onto my new macbook pro?

Can you not just drag them from the external drive to a folder on your new computer?

How do i transfer files from my external hard drive to my new macbook pro?

how do i transfer files from my external hard drive to my new macbook pro?

Hi niel, when I open my hard drive in my mac, I cannot find any files in there. I guess its not reading my hard drive.

I want to transfer files from a functioning hard drive in a nonfunctioning MacBook Pro to an external drive. I have an IDE/SATA drive adapter. The files won't fit on the drive for a working computer I have. Can I use it to transfer files to the external?

I want to transfer files from a functioning hard drive in a nonfunctioning MacBook Pro to an external drive. I have an IDE/SATA drive adapter. The files won't fit on the drive for a working computer I have. Can I use it to transfer files to the external drive?

Good luck and you are welcome.
Like I said, I bought one of their inexpensive enclosures and now can use the hard drive just as a source for the files that are on it...my external drives are much larger and faster so I just plug that drive in when I need something from it.
This one is on sale for $16 http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/ES2.5BPU2S/

My hard drive crashed on my MacBook Pro crashed and I need to get my CS5 up and running on the new hard drive. I copied what I could onto an external hard drive but when I drag and drop I get directions to uninstall but the uninstall folder I have does sa

my hard drive crashed on my MacBook Pro crashed and I need to get my CS5 up and running on the new hard drive. I copied what I could onto an external hard drive but when I drag and drop I get directions to uninstall but the uninstall folder I have does says it is an alias that is no longer present. I get error 6. I would like to get my software up and running on the laptop again please

If you subscribed to iTunes match the songs are kept in icloud. If you didn't but you did save the actual iTunes library folder which should include the music, video, etc. you should be able to just drag this file back to your machine in the same place and when you open iTunes it will give you a chance to identify the iTunes library folder.
You can test this to find out if you saved the media files or not and don't need to attach your nano to do it.
You are correct that once you connect the nano it will clear the existing files from it and sync it with the new iTunes library.
If you don't have the media files i'm not sure if/how to get them back on a windows ipod. I have everything backed up regularly because of the horror stories I have seen & heard.

How do i transfer files an external hard drive to a new macbook pro

how do i transfer files from an external hard drive to a new macbook pro?

thank you. i did that with my old computer, and it saved it as a whole other computer on my new macbook. now if i do the same for the external hard drive, i guess it will save it as another separate computer on the new one. so i guess what i should have asked is, is there any way to copy my whole old computer and external, but have the files integrated into the new mac, so i don't have to log in and out of 3 computers just to use my old programs or to see pictures or movies or files from the past. ??? and i now have the apple tv and i have to turn on my macbook and log into the old computer to see certain old files and pictures or home movies???? there has to be an easier way???

All photos in Faces gone after external hard drive transfer to new MacBook Pro

Hello all,
I had a upto date 6 year old Macbook G4 that I regularly backed up onto a external hard drive.
I recently purchased a new Macbook Pro OS 10.8.3 with iPhoto version 9.4.3.
I imported all info from the external hard drive to the new MacBook Pro. Seems most all data transferred ok.
With the following exception with iPhoto application, I have over 17,000 photos in the iPhoto library.
On opening iPhoto on my new MacBook after import all the iPhoto seems to be working ok, Places, library, folders, editing etc.
The one problem seems to be with Faces. When opening faces it loads and the individual recognised face folders are there, with perforated outline
but no photos. No phots in any individual Faces folders.
All Faces folders are greyed out, the number of each of the faces in each folder is correct with names and are again all grey out with a perforated outline.
Help and information on how to get the pictures of the photos back into the indivudual folders which are still in the Faces page but are blank.
Thank you, signed "Faceless Faces"

I imported all info from the external hard drive to the new MacBook Pro. Seems most all data transferred ok.
Exactly what did you do? With iPhoto there is no "importing" involved - you simply drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the pictures folder of the new machine and launch iPhoto letting it convert as needed
With the following exception with iPhoto application,
You would do nothing with the iPhoto application - you use the new iPhoto application installed on yoru new system - you only move the iPhoto library as noted above
You can try Back up your iPhoto library, Depress and hold the option (alt) and command keys and launch iPhoto - rebuild your iPhoto library
LN

Hard Drive Upgrade on 17" MacBook Pro, 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo

I have a 17" MacBook Pro, 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo, with a 160 GB hard drive. I am looking to upgrade the hard drive. Will a WD Scorpio Black, 320 GB SATA, notebook hard drive fit into my MacBook Pro?

Hi MJMP1: You aren't really missing any Hard Drive space, check out this Apple article for more info.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2419?viewlocale=en_US
Stedman

Booting iMac from hard drive pulled out of Macbook Pro

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