How to test an iMac

[Sundance2007]

Hi, I have an old 21" iMac (2009) with El Capitan 10.11.6 installed. I have an opportunity to buy a couple of 27" A1419 iMacs but don't know anything about them (CPU, Memory) as the hard drives have been removed. Is it possible to clone the OS in the old iMac I have onto an external HDD or SSD and will that cloned drive work in the newer A1419 so I can test them and see if they are worth the trouble?

Thanks

 

[ignatius345]

Is it possible to clone the OS in the old iMac I have onto an external HDD or SSD and will that cloned drive work in the newer A1419 so I can test them and see if they are worth the trouble?

I'm pretty sure there's hardware-specific stuff in the OS that would make that not work. You could always try it.

Did someone actually open these iMacs up, remove the hard drives, and then put them back together with missing drives? That's a lot of work!

As far as the RAM installed, on those iMacs there's a RAM access door in the back, so you could open that up and see what's installed in there.

Also, if the serial number is engraved on the case somewhere, I wonder if you could run that through anything online to see if it tells you anything about the processor.

 

[BrianBaughn]

A1419 covers quite a few different iMacs but it narrows it down:

Lookup Mac Specs By Serial Number, Order, Model & EMC Number, Model ID @ EveryMac.com

EveryMac.com's Ultimate Mac Lookup - lookup Apple Mac, iPod, iPhone and iPad specs by serial number, order number, model number, model ID, EMC number and more.

everymac.com

They all shipped with a version of macOS prior to El Capitan and should be capable of running it off an external HD or SSD (preferable for your testing)…provided they do have some RAM installed. Check for RAM as ignatius345 described.

Apple's page on serial number location:

Identify your iMac model - Apple Support

Use this information to find out which iMac you have, and where it fits in the history of iMac.

support.apple.com

A1419 iMacs don't all use the same RAM but there are only two possibilities, I'm pretty sure. Check what RAM is compatible on the everymac.com site.

 

[Sundance2007]

A1419 covers quite a few different iMacs but it narrows it down:

Lookup Mac Specs By Serial Number, Order, Model & EMC Number, Model ID @ EveryMac.com

EveryMac.com's Ultimate Mac Lookup - lookup Apple Mac, iPod, iPhone and iPad specs by serial number, order number, model number, model ID, EMC number and more.

everymac.com

They all shipped with a version of macOS prior to El Capitan and should be capable of running it off an external HD or SSD (preferable for your testing)…provided they do have some RAM installed. Check for RAM as ignatius345 described.

Apple's page on serial number location:

Identify your iMac model - Apple Support

Use this information to find out which iMac you have, and where it fits in the history of iMac.

support.apple.com

A1419 iMacs don't all use the same RAM but there are only two possibilities, I'm pretty sure. Check what RAM is compatible on the everymac.com site.

Yeah, that is apparently what they did, seemed like the hard way to do it for sure.

Is there any place you can buy an SSD or HDD with Big Sir installed on it? That is the newest OS you can install on the A1419?

 

[Ben J.]

Hi, I have an old 21" iMac (2009) with El Capitan 10.11.6 installed. I have an opportunity to buy a couple of 27" A1419 iMacs but don't know anything about them (CPU, Memory) as the hard drives have been removed. Is it possible to clone the OS in the old iMac I have onto an external HDD or SSD and will that cloned drive work in the newer A1419 so I can test them and see if they are worth the trouble?

Thanks

The way to do it would be to
Be connected to internet.
Plug in an external drive.
Launch 'Install OSX' in your applications folder.
Select to install OSX on the external drive.
Be patient. it will take some time, and will restart several times and seem inactive for periods. But after an hour or two, you'll have a bootable drive that should work on the other iMac.

Plug it in the other imac.
Startup while holding option key.
Select the external for startup.
Open 'About this mac' in the Apple menu.

 

[ChrisA]

Is it possible to clone the OS in the old iMac I have onto an external HDD or SSD and will that cloned drive work in the newer A1419 so I can test them and see if they are worth the trouble?

Al you need to do is power up the Mac and even with no disk or a failed disk it will boot up to a screen were you have a few options, one of them is to install macOS from the Internet. To do this all you need is a small external drive of any kind. But if the goal is to test basic functionality, just getting this screen up is enough.

Don't pay much, older Macs with installed OS and 30-day warenty are not expensive. The ones you describe are only a few steps above e-waste.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Yeah, that is apparently what they did, seemed like the hard way to do it for sure.

Is there any place you can buy an SSD or HDD with Big Sir installed on it? That is the newest OS you can install on the A1419?

The oldest A1419 models can only run up to macOS 10.15.x Catalina…officially.