macbook pro upgrade problems

[rexifelis]

I am working on a macbook pro for a client.
I swapped out the existing ram 4gb to the max 16gb
and swapped out the existing hd 500gb with a sandisk ssd 1 TB

(/edit)
macbook pro A1278, Mid-2012
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we did a full time machine backup before doing the above upgrades.
the problem is that when i try to restore from the time machine backup
it halts on reformatting the internal ssd.
disk utility can see it and reformat (erase) with no problems.
when installing clean os downloaded from apple's servers it runs fine...
until i use migration assistant and put the user's account (and files)
back on it... and when restarting the machine it does a kernel panic
and crashes back to restart.

is there a max ram that the installer can handle? or is it the ssd?
i'm almost at the point of pulling out what remains of my hair.

please help!

rexifelis
(thank you for reading)

 

[Bending Pixels]

It may be the. new ssd is causing the hiccup. If a clean install of the OS works, continue in that vein. Use Time Machine to just restore data

 

[treekram]

There may be an OS version issue (what version did the old disk have and which one did you install on the new SSD?). Or perhaps some formatting difference (GUID vs MBR, case-sensitive vs. not, APFS vs. HFS, etc.). There are also Time Machine formatting requirements but I think TM would flag an issue before doing a backup (but if you convert the format later that can be a problem). You can try doing using Migration Assistant with the old 500GB HDD in a USB enclosure.

 

[Audit13]

It could also be a failing sata drive cable?

Some problems with a cable don't appear until using an SSD.

 

[rexifelis]

It could also be a failing sata drive cable?

Some problems with a cable don't appear until using an SSD.

it shipped with a new data cable
[doublepost=1545888798][/doublepost]

There may be an OS version issue (what version did the old disk have and which one did you install on the new SSD?). Or perhaps some formatting difference (GUID vs MBR, case-sensitive vs. not, APFS vs. HFS, etc.). There are also Time Machine formatting requirements but I think TM would flag an issue before doing a backup (but if you convert the format later that can be a problem). You can try doing using Migration Assistant with the old 500GB HDD in a USB enclosure.

oh duh, what is installed mountain lion... and his backup was on MOJAVE.
[doublepost=1545890743][/doublepost]started downloading mojave... long download. just thought i should post an update

thanks!