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I've got a MacBook Pro (with Touch bar) and a previous generation MacBook Pro (without the Touch bar) I'm getting ready to update from OS X 10.12.6 to 10.14.

Will I run into any issues due to the differences between the two machines if I

  1. Install a fresh copy of OS X 10.14 onto the old laptop
  2. Install necessary applications and configuration details (I have a fairly custom Apache/PHP/maria DB installation) on the old laptop.
  3. Test to make sure it's all working as expected
  4. Backup the old laptop with SuperDuper!
  5. Restore the backup onto the newer laptop

I'd like to take my time setting up the new OS X 10.14 without having to be without my current laptop while doing so. Is there anything that would cause this not to work due to the hardware difference between the two laptops? I would be turning Full Disk Encryption on.

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I've never done this with laptops, only ever Mac Pros with removable drives, however, the lovely thing about Macs is that you can take the drive from one, just drop it in another & so long as the OS was released after that Mac was released it will just work.

Theoretically, this is also true if you use something like SuperDuper to 'carry' the drive over. I use Carbon Copy Cloner, but as far as I'm aware they are to all intents & purposes the same thing.

Your only issue is if one machine is too new for the OS you are trying to 'carry' (like trying to boot a 2018 from Lion ;) otherwise there ought to be zero issues.

One caveat - don't try this with FileVault on.
It might be OK, but I wouldn't risk it, just in case.
Decrypt first, do your move, then once you've established all is OK, re-encrypt.
Better safe than sorry.

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  • Quick test and things seem to be working well, even with all my homebrew bits. Thanks.
    – Jason
    Commented Sep 29, 2018 at 19:51
  • By default, recent Macs require "Secure Boot", which complicates this significantly. I don't claim to understand all of the implications yet, but one of them is that the Mac will require the files involved in startup to be signed as valid for that particular Mac. If you move/clone a boot volume (and associated preboot files) from one Mac to another, the signatures will not be valid. If the Mac has an Internet connection, it'll contact Apple to validate the files and generate new signatures on the spot; if it doesn't have Internet, it won't boot.
    – Gordon Davisson
    Commented Sep 30, 2018 at 0:30
  • See this blog post and its links for more info.
    – Gordon Davisson
    Commented Sep 30, 2018 at 0:30

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