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Can I just switch my HD from old Mini to New mini without resintall system?

hitteam

hitteam

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 27, 2010
75
8
Thousand Oaks, California
Hi, I just got my new unibody Mac mini today, and I just reinstalled the Osx and all my software on my old Mac mini (late 2009 model), can I just swap their HD without reinstall all the system and software (+bootcamp) again? And run it on the new Mac mini. Coz I hate to transfer all my data over again. Thank you.
 
With 10.6.5 sure.

With 10.6.4 maybe.

With 10.6.3 no way.

They just came out w/10.6.4, but they also have a special updater just for the new mini's, so who knows on 10.6.4.

Try it and let us know.
 
Don't know if the Mini has a special OS X build preinstalled but I just swapped drives between my minis (old and new). No problems so far. Wifi, Bluetooth, Audio all working well...
 
AppliedMicro said:
Don't know if the Mini has a special OS X build preinstalled but I just swapped drives between my minis (old and new). No problems so far. Wifi, Bluetooth, Audio all working well...
Click to expand...

Were you on 10.6.4 when you did the swap?

10.6.4 for all Macs (except the 2010 Mac mini) is build 10F569.

The Mac mini-specific build of 10.6.4 should have another build number. Can someone confirm?
 
In considering this...

Can I use a backup on taken from my MBP? Its a Time Machine backup, and I am wondering if I can get away using APPS that I only purchased a one time license for both on my new Mac Mini, and MBP? Am I crazy in thinking this? Help me out!:confused:

Thanks!
 
You can always just connect them with a FireWire 800 cable and use the "Transfer My Mac" option during first startup on the new Mini.
 
ADent said:
With 10.6.5 sure.
With 10.6.4 maybe.
With 10.6.3 no way.

They just came out w/10.6.4, but they also have a special updater just for the new mini's, so who knows on 10.6.4.
Click to expand...
My new aluminum unibody mini came with 10.6.3 (10D2235).
Fully updated 10.6.4 from old Mac mini is 10.6.4 (10F569).

- Airport, FireWire, USB, mini DisplayPort-Out, Audio-Out working well with both systems. Fan control seems to work (just from the noise it makes).
- Card reader not recognized by 10.6.4 (10F569), though it works on pre-installed 10.6.3 (10D2235).
- Ethernet, Audio-In: Not yet tested.

I'm lazy, so I'm probably just going to wait for 10.6.5 to support the card reader, instead of re-installing from Install DVD.
 
I made a superduper image of my hard drive from my old mac mini (Dec. 2009 purchased) and then restored that image to a 64 GB Kingston SSD drive which i put in the 2010 Mac mini. But no ethernet. I'm getting a message that the cable is unplugged, even though it is not. I thought I broke or disconnected a cable during the SSD install but the Ethernet is detected if I boot off the OSX DVD.

Anyone know where I can get the mini specific 10.6.4 update?

UPDATE: the 10.6.4 update for the 2010 mini did not fix the ethernet issue. I did successfully install OSX on an external firewire drive using the provided OSX disc (grey) and ethernet does work so there is definitely some issues with taking a drive from an older mac mini and putting it into the 2010 mini.
 
AppliedMicro said:
Fan control seems to work (just from the noise it makes).
Click to expand...
I can't make a difference between 1800RPM and 2300RPM by ear. Install the iStat trail and look it up.
If you have an external 2.5" enclosure or SATA-2-USB Adapter, copy over the
/System/Library/Extensions/AppleSDXC.kext
This should make the card reader work.

My Mini came with 10.6.3 as well, though.
 
Your discussion got me curious, so I pulled out my 2010 OSX and my late 2009 OSX.

2010 as yours 10.6.3 (2Z691-6657-A)
2009 10.6.2 (2Z691-6603-A)

I read somewhere it is best not to mix even OSX from different machines, like here:the 4,1 and the 3,1.

Does that make any sense?:confused:
 
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