Old Hard Drive, New PC

The logic board in my 2010 MacBook Pro failed. I got an estimate of anywhere from $600-$1000 to fix it. I bought a cheap PC laptop with plans to sell the MacBook. Before I sell it though, I want to be sure I wipe the hard drive.
My plan is to remove the hard drive, buy an enclosure, and connect this to my new laptop to erase everything. Is the fact that it's not a Mac going to give me issues?
As plan B I could keep the hard drive in the enclosure and use it as an external backup. But how much less would my old MacBook Pro sell for without a hard drive?

During my working career as a condition of employment, I had to carry around a Windows laptop.
The only saving grace for me was that we had a group called deskside support. So if it started acting weird or every 6 months I took it to them and said fix it.
So I never did anything at all with the laptop.
I figure they hired me to work on the OpenVMS servers and not that stupid laptop.
They actually offered to sell me that laptop when I retired. I told they didn't have enough money to make me take it.
Allan

Similar Messages

Old hard drive, new Mac Pro?

My G5 power supply died so I bought a new Mac Pro. Can I install the old G5 hard drive into my new mac pro and boot up??
Thanks, beth

If you have a G5 that uses SATA drive then you can install it however you will not be able to boot from it. If you have a PATA drive then you can always install it in the 2nd optical drive bay but you need tohe right brackets to have it secure.

Old hard drive, New MacBook

Hi,
I have just purchased a new Aluminium MacBook to replace my previous white plastic MacBook.
In the old MacBook I had a 250GB with OSX 10.5 from WD which I installed myself however when I put this into the new metal MacBook it just keeps restarting. It does start up with the HDD that the metal MacBook came with though.
What should I do?

The new MacBook needs the version of OS X that comes on its install discs. Put the old drive into an external enclosure and use Migration Assistant. Or if you still have the old MacBook, use target disk mode and Migration Assistant. Or, boot from your new machine's install disc and do an Archive and Install.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1710

Have Old Hard drive and want to move old data onto new hard drive in imac.

I am trying to get my files off of an old hard drive. I have it hooked up through a sata drive. I am able to access all the programs but for whatever reason I am unable to access any of the files, i.e- 1,00's of pictures, videos, music, and documents. Is there something else I need to do in order to get the files, or is it possible that all the programs could still be on it but the files are just missing? In the current Sata it only has two plugs but on my hard drive it looks like there is another place to plug something in.

Hello again Shadow,
The way I do this is to:
1) Install your new hard drive into your iBook
2) Get your iBook reassembeled
3) Place your old hard drive in your firewire enclosure
4) Insert your install DVD into your iBook and restart with the C key held down. When the installer launches, select your language in the first pane, click 'continue' and in the upper dropdown menu in the next page select Utilities > Disk Utility. After DU is open, select your hard drive from the list of volumes on the left (the very top one), and then click the 'Partition' tab to the right. Then select 1 partition (normal) and make sure that you have 'Mac OS Extended (journled)' selected in the lower section. Then click 'partition'
5)Quit disc utility, which brings you back to the installer. continue with your installation of OS X. In one of the first steps you will see a button on the lower left which says 'options' click on that and make sure that the option 'Installs OS X for the first time' is selected. It will normally be selected by default with a new drive.
6) After the installation, the Migration Assistant will ask if you would like to transfer your information from another mac. click yes then follow the instructions. but instead of using another mac, connect a firewire cable from your enclosure with your old hard drive installed. The installer will think that this is another mac and will transfer all of your account information and user files (everything!)from your old drive to your iBook's new drive. Just diconnect when it says to and complete the installation sequence.
You're done!
Check back again if anything is unclear.
Randy
Message was edited by: DesertSage

I have replaced my old hard drive with a new SSD drive. Can I restore a complete Time Machine backup

I have replaced my old hard drive on a MacBook Pro midyear 2010 with a new SSD drive. I have a complete system backup of my old drive in an external hard drive using Time Machine.
Questions that I would like to get answered.
1) Can I connect my external hard drive to the macbook pro and use that to boot up my machine by pressing and holding down the Options key? Once booted up successfully, can I use Disk Utility to format the new SSD and then restore the complete time machine backup?
2) If that is not possible, can I use my old drive which I can connect using a USB adapter and use that to boot up by following the same strategy as listed in Step#1 above?
3) If neither options are possible, do I need to use a bootable USB drive for Mavericks OS X to boot up the machine,
I have Mavericks OS X ( 10.9.6) and I do not have a DVD of the OS.
Any help is appreciated.

Let me first document the steps that did not work and then I will document the steps that worked.
1) Replaced the hard drive with SSD.
2) Connected the original hard drive using a USB adapter to the MacBook to make it behave like an external device.
3) Powered on the machine and on hearing the chime pressed Command-R to start in recovery mode.
4) Chose the Disk Utility option to erase and format the SSD. The format chosen was Mac OS Extended Journaled.
5) Once the formatting was done, then clicked on the "Restore" tab in Disk Utility
6) In the Source field, dragged my original hard drive from the left pane and placed it in the field
7) On the destination field, choose the new SSD drive. Clicked on "Restore". Gave me a warning, accepted the warning and the restore was under way.
8) I had 236 GB to restore so took 3.5 hours before it was done.
9) Disconnected the external hard drive ( my original internal HDD), shut down the machine and powered on again.
10) Heard the chime and after that it was a white screen with no Apple logo.
Was visibly upset and started thinking what my next move will be. Then tried these steps
1) Again powered off the machine.
2) Connected my internal HDD once more as an external drive
3) Powered on and on hearing the chime, pressed Command-R as before
4) Once the OS X utilities screen popped up, this time chose Install OS X
5) Erased the contents of SSD once more and reformatted it using Mac OS Extended Journaled.
6) Installed OS X by following the prompts.
7) Once the OS was installed, I was presented with an option on how to transfer data to this new Mac
8) Chose the option to move the data from my original HDD.
9) Took another 3 hours to move the data.
10) Removed the original HDD once the transfer was complete, powered down the machine and started it once more.
11) Booted successfully and all my content is now accessible on the new SSD.
Moral of the story - It is the spirit that counts.

What is the exact name of the cable I need to connect my old hard drive from my macbook pro (it has been taken out of the computer) to my new macbook pro? I need to transfer files from the old hard drive to the new computer.

What is the exact name of the cable I need to connect my old hard drive from my macbook pro, which has been removed from the computer, to my new macbook pro? I need to transfere files from the old hard drive to the new computer.

No eSATA to USB. Just a SATA/IDE to USB adapter. Google SATA/IDE to USB adapter and you will get tons of links to buy them. Most likely your local computer electronics store has them, although they might be more expensive buying locally than online.
I have several. You can get either USB 2, which what I recommend, or USB 3. USB is backward compatible so a USB 3 adapter will work on a USB 2 port and a USB 2 adapter will work on a USB 3 port. Backward compatible in both directions.
I suggest a USB 2 type because there have been some problems with certain USB 3 devices, the USB 3 interface used isn't all that good in those certain devices. USB 3 is still fairly new where as USB 2 has been around for over 10 years.
synghem wrote:
Thank you LowLuster,
At the apple store they said I needed an esata to usb wire. But looking at wires on line has been confusing. Is sata the same as esata? How do I know if I need a usb 3 or usb 2?

I need to move my old hard drive files to our new computer, how?

Hey I need to move my old hard drive files to our new computer. It is a SATA 3.5. Is it as simple as putting it in an enclosure and plugging it to new computer.
Can I do this at the start with the IMAC? I don't have the old computer, just the drive.

*Hi thresherman, Welcome* to Apple's Users Help Users Forums.
To go from PPC to intel the use of migration assistant is not the recommendation. The definitive solution is here from Kappy and a brody.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=435350
Good Luck, JP

I need to replace my laptop Hard drive. How do I get my iTunes off the old hard drive to an external so I can put it back on the new hard drive?

I need to replace my laptop Hard drive. How do I get my iTunes off the old hard drive to an external so I can put it back on the new hard drive?

Type move itunes library into the google serach bar.
It has always been very basic to always maintain abackup copy of your computer. Do you not have a backup copy?

I have an imac 20 in. The old hard drive crapped out on me. i put a new harddrive in and am now trying to install linux. But the imac doesnt recognise any keyboards

I have an imac 20 in. The old hard drive crapped out on me. i put a new harddrive in and am now trying to install linux. But the imac doesnt recognise any keyboards

Without a bootable backup/clone or a Time Machine backup of your previous Snow Leopard installation or a saved copy of Lion's install app, you'll have to upgrade your Leopard volume to Snow Leopard (10.6.6+) so you can waste another hour or more DLing the Lion thing again.

I have adobe CS6 on my old hard drive and i wish to transfer it over to my new hard drive. I no longer have the disc which it came on. How do I do this? also i have only ever put a single copy on a laptop and it is alowed 2........if that matters.

I have adobe CS6 on my old hard drive and i wish to transfer it over to my new hard drive. I no longer have the disc which it came on. How do I do this? also i have only ever put a single copy on a laptop and it is alowed 2........if that matters.

deactivate (help>deactivate) on your old hd.
then install using the installation file(s) and your serial number.
Downloadable installation files available:
Suites and Programs: CC 2014 | CC | CS6 | CS5.5 | CS5 | CS4, CS4 Web Standard | CS3
Acrobat: XI, X | 9,8 | 9 standard
Premiere Elements: 13 |12 | 11, 10 | 9, 8, 7
Photoshop Elements: 13 |12 | 11, 10 | 9,8,7
Lightroom: 5.7.1| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2.7(win),2.7(mac)
Captivate: 8 | 7 | 6 | 5
Contribute: CS5 | CS4, CS3
Download and installation help for Adobe links
Download and installation help for Prodesigntools links are listed on most linked pages. They are critical; especially steps 1, 2 and 3. If you click a link that does not have those steps listed, open a second window using the Lightroom 3 link to see those 'Important Instructions'.
window using the Lightroom 3 link to see those 'Important Instructions'.

PC hard drive died and I have replaced it. Need to import the music on my iPod, but get a message that it's synced with another library (old hard drive). How do I import the music onto new hard drive? Senuti's just for macs.No old hard drive to copy.

My PC hard drive died and I have replaced it. Need to import the music on my classic iPod, but get a message that it's synced with another library (old hard drive). How do I import the music onto the new hard drive? Senuti (one respondent's suggestion) is just for macs. I have no old hard drive to copy to the new hard drive (another respondent's suggestion.)

See this older thread from another forum member Zevoneer on different ways to copy music from your iPod back to your PC.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2417169?start=0&tstart=0
B-rock

Moving Data from old hard drive to new hard drive

I'm posting this question in this category , I hope it's the right place. Here's my situation and general information. I have a Toshiba L35 S2161 laptop, it's about 5 yrs old, running WinXP Service Pack 3. just got the blue screen, wouldn't boot, tried everything and I only have the factory provided "recovery" disc that will wipe my drive and lose all my data if I use it. I hadn't been doing regular backups, so I want to save as much if not all of my data as I can. I don't want to spend time here going over everything I've tried (boot disc like Knoppix, etc) which didn't work, just need to get to the bottom line and make sure I'm doing the next steps correctly.
Here's my plan:
l. Remove old hard drive from laptop
2. purchase new hard drive - I've been told any drive will work, it doesn't have to be designed for a Toshiba. I've been looking at best prices, etc. mainly Western Digital. I may purchase a larger drive to at least get more memory , although I really didn't have that much on my old drive, but had a lot of apparent memory-related problems, freezes, etc.
3. Install new blank drive into laptop, using the Toshiba factory recovery disc to reformat the disc and get it ready to receive the data.
4. Insert the recovery disc into the drive, turn on the computer and HOPE that it boots it up and installs a fresh install on the new drive. Not sure what the screen willl show at this point - I've never installed a new drive in a laptop, so will be somewhat nervous at this point to see what happens.
5. Assuming the new drive is recognized by the recovery disc and installs a clean version of WIN XP (I'm assuming that's what's on the recovery disc that came with my computer, because it had WIN XP pre-installed), I will now be ready to transfer data from the old drive.
6. This is the step I'm not sure what or how to do next. I would like to clone my entire old drive onto the new drive but I'm afraid if I do that it might load damaged files that would mess up my new install. I purchased a disc enclosure with a USB cable (haven't received it yet), and was going to use that somehow. I presume I will plug it in and it will show up as an external drive and I can access that drive and transfer my priority files or data first and then try to transfer as much more as I can....
I need further help and information about this last step...the critical data transfer method. There are cloning kits that are plug and play and would transfer my entire system as it was before the blue screen, but again, I'm concerned about transferring everything onto a clean install and finding myself with a computer that won't boot again because it transferred a bad file. Also, would it overwrite or interfere with the clean install on the new drive? I'm stuck at this point....hopefully someone out there can walk me through this final step with the best option for transfer. I'm trying to avoid purchasing pricey software like Acronis (which I looked at online and it seemed difficult to use, to figure out what to transfer).
My laptop is obviously out of warranty, being five years old, and I am not interested in taking it in to repair tech, I want to do this myself and I think I can with a few helpful tips. Thanks for any help asap...

Hi!
The error message I received on the blue screen was "unmountable boot volume" which leads me to believe i have a corrupted MBR. This fiasco happened when I turned off my computer when it was running a program (I know, bad thing to do).
I'm waiting on a new hard drive with a 120 GB (my old drive was 80GB). I was told not to go above 120 or I'd have partition problems.
The SATA drive enclosure powers up the old drive (I can hear the disc spinning) so the disc isn't dead. If I''d have the full retail vesion of WinXP I would of course have used the recovery console, but I only had the toshiba recovery disc that came with my system. Also, I couldn't burn a CD boot disc...didn't have access to another computer nor would a tech friend do it for me as he apparently made a disc for someone and their system crashed so I had no choice but to buy a new drive and try to transfer the data via the SATA external drive/usb cable.
My big question now is: Will the Toshiba recovery disc actually reformat my new drive? Someone on another forum with a Toshiba laptop had purchased a new drive, used the recovery disc and the cd just went into a constant loop and never went into a full install. I'm thinking that maybe on a new drive there isn't enough knowledge base there for the recovery disc to install and reformat a new disc. That would be a bummer because then I'd have no choice but to purchase a retail version of WinXP which I was hoping not to have to do. Thats' getting into some $$ when added to all the other thing I've tried to get this laptop up and running . (A Knoppix live CD boot disc didn't work either).
I don't know what service pack was on the old disc...possibly SP2, but if it was only SP1, I fear it's not going to have the ability to format a new disc. The disc does have drivers, etc. but the question is, are they able to install the OS. I was running XP3 when it crashed, so I know i would have to download that again. I just want to get the darned system back up and running with my new drive and restore disc. IF I can do that, then I'll try to transfer the data from the old drive via the external drive enclosure.
I also decided against the clone....I was afraid I'd be cloning a bad disc or errors onto a new drive, and didnt' want to stress a possibly wonky drive even more than it possibly is.
So, that's where I'm at now! Thanks so much for any further insight into this....something tells me the recovery disc isn't going to format my new drive but fingers crossed...more thoughts/feedback appreciated!

I had to install a new hard drive because my old hard drives boot files became corrupted, and i want to get all of my music files off the old hard drive and regain all my play counts/ratings/playlists

Greetings everyone
as the title says, ive had to install a new hard drive and i want to transfer my old itunes library onto the new drive, maintaining all playlists/play counts/ratings etc, album artwork if possible. The old hard drive is installed as a slave drive and is completely acessible, but due to the boot files being corrupted i cannot use it as the main drive and therefore operate my old itunes. Also, my ipod no longer contains my music library as itunes synced without my permission and wiped it.
The only thing i have tried is copying all of my old music files from the old drive by selecting 'add folder to library' and then the old drive, then replacing the new itunes library.itl file with the one from my old itunes. This restores all my playlists and playcounts but when i try to play any of the songs it says that the files could not be found, and i dont fancy locating 8500 music files individually!
Thankyou for taking the time to read my post, any help will be greatly appreciated.

Ah, my reply was based on the assumption that you had a default installation of iTunes.
i.e you had all your music in the iTunes media folder inside your iTunes folder.
If your iTunes folder is so small compared to the amount of music you have, you must have a different arrangement.
This complicates you situation considerably.
iTunes can cope with moving around as long as all the music is in the iTunes media folder, not not if it isn't.
Your first step should be to get iTunes working on the old drive. This will involve editing the xml library file so that the drive letter is correct and then rebuilding the library from the xml file.
Then you will need to consolidate your library which moves everything into the iTunes media fodler. After that you will be able to use my first suggestion.
Step 1
Find the iTunes folder on the old drive and copy the two library files somewhere else so you can find them again. That's iTunes Library.itl and iTunes Library.xml.
Now open the copy of iTunes Library.xml with WordPad.
Look for lines starting:
Location
These contain the paths to tracks.
You will need to use a find/replace to change the drive letter so that it is correct.
Make sure that you include enough in the "find" so that you only change the right thing.
Maybe /c:/ and replace with /d:/ or whatever.
After that, tell iTunes to use the library on the old drive with a shift key start.
Hold down the shift key and start iTunes, keep holding the shift key until you are prompted to choose a library. Navigate to the iTunes folder on the old drive and choose iTunes Library.itl.
Then use the method in the following article to rebuild your library;
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1451
Unfortunately the date added will be today for all tracks.
If iTunes works correctly after this, consolidate your library
File>>Library>>Organize>>consolidate
This copies all tracks into to iTunes media folder and could create a problem if you do not have disk space so don't do it if you are unsure about free disk space.
Check that iTunes works OK and then use the first method.
Message was edited by: polydorus

HT1386 my pc crashed and I bought a new laptop and was able to recover all my music from the old hard drive and transfer it to the new pc. I bought a new album on itunes and am unable to download it on my 6th nano even though I authorized the new pc. An

My old PC crashed and I ended up buying a new one. I was able to recover all my music from the old hard drive and restore it in itunes. I purchased a new album online thru itunes and added it to my library. When I tried to add the album to my 6th nano it wouldn't download. All the tracks are check marked and I can listen to the album on my pc but it won't sync onto the ipod. The new pc is authorized, any ideas?

You can only sysc with one iTunes library. The new computer is a new library. You have to restore your iPod on the new conputer and then sync.

I want to import my bookmarks from my old hard drive to my new computer. Old hard drive is in new computer as secondary drive, can't run firefox from it. Would like to find the file where my bookmarks are stored

have looked in the old hard drive for the file where my favorites would be stored. the only file that I can find is not the latest. I did not back up my favorites on the old computer.

Bookmarks are no longer stored in an html file. Instead, they are stored in a file called '''places.sqlite''' in your '''Profile''' folder.
# Locate the '''places.sqlite''' file in your old hard drive.
# Copy it into the '''Profile''' folder of your new hard drive.
# Note that since you would be overwriting the places.sqlite in your new drive, your current bookmarks/history etc would be overwritten by the ones in the old drive.
For more information, see these articles:
[http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Recovering+important+data+from+an+old+profile Recovering important data from an old profile] and [http://kb.mozillazine.org/Places.sqlite places.sqlite]
If you wish to know how to locate your Profile folder, read this article: [https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Profiles Profiles].

Old Hard Drive, New PC

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