Replacing laptop

[Wingsley]

My elderly parents used a working 13-inch late-2013 Core i5 MacBook Pro until recently. The battery failed. Even if you unplug it just to move it somewhere else in the house and plug it back in, it would restart.

I decided the only way to get things moving again for them was to by a temporary machine to use until the new M3 laptops hit the market. I think they should buy an M3 MacBook Air 15-inch next year. So I went on eBay and found a used 2015 MacBook Pro 13-inch (Model # MF841LL/A ) and it just arrived today for $225. Buying a battery kit and hiring a repair guy to have it installed would have cost more.

I have their old MacBook backed up to an external hard drive with USB 3 interface. I want to clean-install MacOS Mojave on this 2015 machine for software compatibility reasons. I have Mojave on a thumb drive. After installing Mojave, how do I restore their data from the backup drive?

 

[ignatius345]

Sounds like a good deal. Back up the old Mac with Time Machine (which it sounds like you're doing already), then when you get the new one, fire up Migration Assistant and choose the option to restore from a Time Machine backup. Plug it in and wait a while, and everything should be more or less as it was on the old machine.

 

[Fishrrman]

Important question:
What did you use to create the backup on the external drive?

Was it time machine?
Was it something else, like SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner?

Any further advice needs these questions answered first.

But having said that, I'm going to ASSUME that you used tm, CCC, or SD for the backup.

In that case, PRINT OUT THESE INSTRUCTIONS.
If you follow them exactly I guarantee success (well, 98% guaranteed)

Power down the 2015 MBP, all the way off.
Connect the flash drive.

HOLD DOWN the OPTION key and KEEP HOLDING IT DOWN after you press the power on button.

You should see the startup manager, with the flash drive there.
Select it with the pointer and hit return.

The Mac should boot to the flash drive installer.
If it doesn't, there's probably something wrong with the way the flash drive was created.
(if this happens, you're going to have to abort the process for now and resolve problems with the flashdrive first)

The flash drive will boot and the installer will open.
DO NOT INSTALL YET!

Instead, hit "command-Q" to quit the installer.
Now open disk utility.

IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT
In disk utility, go to the "view" menu and choose "show ALL devices".
You cannot see the internal drive unless you do this!

Now look at the list on the left.
The TOPMOST item is the physical drive.
Click on it, the click ERASE.
Erase to "APFS, GUID partition format"

When the erase is done, quit disk utility and RE-open the installer.
Start clicking through. The Mac will restart one or more times, and the screen will go dark for a minute or more, with no other indication of activity.
BE PATIENT.

When done, you'll see the initial setup screen "choose your language".
At this point, CONNECT THE BACKUP DRIVE.
Now start clicking through.

Setup assistant will ask if you wish to install from another drive. YES, you do.
"Point the way" for setup assistant to the backup.
Give it time to "digest" everything (may take a while).

I recommend that you migrate everything.
So... turn setup assistant loose and let it do its thing.
Again, BE PATIENT.

When done, you should see your parents' login screen, as it was before.

Good luck!

 

[xraydoc]

I decided the only way to get things moving again for them was to by a temporary machine to use until the new M3 laptops hit the market. I think they should buy an M3 MacBook Air 15-inch next year.

Doesn't seem that they're going to require an M3. What's wrong with an M2-based 15" MacBook Air? Do you think that a <20% performance boost in the best of circumstances is going to make a difference for them if they were otherwise ok with a 2013-era Core i5?

 

[ChrisA]

My elderly parents used a working 13-inch late-2013 Core i5 MacBook Pro until recently. The battery failed...

Never wait for a new model. If you need a computer, buy a computer. If you don't need a computer, don't buy a computer. Get what suits your needs at the time you buy.

If the i5 based Mac fit their needs, except for a dead battery, then an M2 Mac will be total overkill. It is not worth the disruption of replacing it twice. They would never notice the incremental performance improvement of an M3 over an M2. Also, the M2 based Macs seem t be on sale and any M3 will not be discounted.

As for how to transfer the data. It is trivial. Use Apple's migration assistant. It will ask you to plug in a Time machine backup and then pull everything from that.