MacBook Pro new hard drive

mr_george18 wrote:

Thanks for both replies, but I don’t have a usb to sdd sata cable so I can’t clone.

Boot clone https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-10081

How to use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201250

How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

Download CarbonCopyCloner ($40ish, bomboch.com). Duplicates the internal drive, including boot sectors. Also good regular-use backup program. But duplicate the drive and just install it in the old machine.

TimeMachine trickle-feeds feeds on an active system, CCC best used relatively quiet system at end of day. Both good, both should be used.

Another thought ... if you do do not have one, I suggest getting an external enclosure to hold several drives. OWC (macsales.com) sells them. Then you can swap several backup drives through it. It would allow you to clone the internal drive.

You have a couple options but which you choose depends on whether the SSD is large enough. If the SSD is large enough to migrate everything on your current hard drive then you can simply restore using your TM backup. That said, TimeCapsule isn't exactly my favorite choice for restoring - WiFi isn't fast enough so you'll need to use an Ethernet cable. My personal favorite, again assuming the SSD is large enough, is to connect the SSD to the computer using an SATA<->USB cable, a drive dock, or an external enclosure and clone the internal drive to the SSD. This lets you test the SSD before you go about taking the computer apart and installing the SSD.

If the SSD isn't large enough to transfer everything TM may be your best choice because you can use TM to select specific folders to transfer. I used this option when I migrated one of my work computers to an SSD. I migrated everything but my music and video files. You can also install the drive and restart in Internet recovery and install the OS first and then manually install the software you want to use on it. Later you can transfer data from your TC.

BTW, one issue we've found is that the internal SATA ribbon is often worn in older unibody MacBook Pros. I've taken to replacing them as a matter of course when upgrading to an SSD.