Are Mac SSDs transferable?

[hestolemydog]

Probably a really dumb question to ask but I have a MacBook Air (Early 2015) and a MacBook Pro from around the same time.

I opened both machines and swapped the SSDs since I want to start using the Pro more often and my main data was on my Air but upon turning them on I was presented with a file icon and a question mark on it.

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My guess is they're physically compatible but encrypted to tie them to the original machine

[hestolemydog]

16 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

My guess is they're physically compatible but encrypted to tie them to the original machine

Is there any work around? So what would I do if I were to buy a new SSD? I think I may have been sold a dodgy second hand MacBook Pro.

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Just now, hestolemydog said:

Is there any work around? So what would I do if I were to buy a new SSD? I think I may have been sold a dodgy second hand MacBook Pro.

I suspect you could just format it and continue like normal, but if you want the data off it you will need that original machine.  Again, just a guess though

[hestolemydog]

1 minute ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

I suspect you could just format it and continue like normal, but if you want the data off it you will need that original machine.  Again, just a guess though

The SSD in the Macbook Pro I bought second hand keeps booting up to a weird log in screen with a big padlock that's why I tried to put my own Macbook Air SSD in the machine. Sorry I can't be more clear, I'm clueless with Macs.

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2 minutes ago, hestolemydog said:

The SSD in the Macbook Pro I bought second hand keeps booting up to a weird log in screen with a big padlock that's why I tried to put my own Macbook Air SSD in the machine. Sorry I can't be more clear, I'm clueless with Macs.

Maybe this behaviour would sound familiar to @DrMacintosh

[DrMacintosh]

That means this drive is protected by FialVault! To decrypt it you must use the original machine it was encrypted with. You should swap the drives back in their respective machines and fire up Migration assistant to transfer the data from the Air the the Pro if you can. 

 

However if the Air SSD is better (perhaps bigger capacity and you want to use that?) and you want to use it in the Pro, first turn off FileVault on the Air, then make a Time Machine backup of the Air and be sure to make the backup unencrypted. Then copy any data you wish to keep from the Pro onto a partition on an external HDD or some type of storage to get it off the machine so you can put it back later. Then with all the data backed up from the Air and the Pros data saved on another drive, booth the Pro into recovery mode and wipe the drive. Reinstall macOS and then select restore from Backup during the setup process. 

 

If you don’t have access to the original machine that encrypted the drive I am not aware of any way to bypass it. Hope that helps

[hestolemydog]

1 hour ago, DrMacintosh said:

That means this drive is protected by FialVault! To decrypt it you must use the original machine it was encrypted with. You should swap the drives back in their respective machines and fire up Migration assistant to transfer the data from the Pro the the Air if you can. 

 

However if the Air SSD is better (perhaps bigger capacity and you want to use that?) and you want to use it in the Pro, first turn off FileVault on the Air, then make a Time Machine backup of the Air and be sure to make the backup unencrypted. Then copy any data you wish to keep from the Pro onto a partition on an external HDD or some type of storage to get it off the machine so you can put it back later. Then with all the data backed up from the Air and the Pros data saved on another drive, booth the Pro into recovery mode and wipe the drive. Reinstall macOS and then select restore from Backup during the setup process. 

 

If you don’t have access to the original machine that encrypted the drive I am not aware of any way to bypass it. Hope that helps

Thanks a bunch for the reply. I will be sure to try out those processes tomorrow at work. I really appreciate you taking the time to help and also thanks to @Ryan_Vickers for pulling you in!