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I have a Late 2009 15" MacBook pro running El Capitan with a 1T hard drive, I want to put this hard drive in my 13" Mid 2012, which only came with a 500GB Hard drive. I have a bunch of external drives just in case I need to spread all the data to other drives and then clone the 500GB drive to 1TB, then put the 1TB drive into the 13" computer. I just want to get my 1TB into my Mid 2012, just not sure what would be the best way to do it, TIA.
On the most part this is quite easy as both systems use 2.5" drives. But! The Only issue which can bite you here is the two systems have different SATA speeds. Your older system is a SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) while your newer system has a SATA III (6.0 Gb/s). So while the 1 TB drive can work in the newer system, the same may not be possible for the newer systems drive for it to work well in your older system. You will also not get the full advantage of your newer system as the older drive may only run at SATA II speeds instead of what the system can support here SATA III. This is why we need to know what you have for drives to make sure they will work and if you have any limitations. Here’s the guides you’ll need to refer to: MacBook Pro 15" Unibody Mid 2009 Hard Drive ReplacementMacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2012 Hard Drive Replacement One last issue you may face here is the HD drive cables on both of these systems tend to get worn. You might need to replace the cable/s if the drives encounter problems.
