I have a Early 2011 Mackbook Pro, currently running "OS X 10.9.5 (13F1911)". I have previously installed a "Crucial MX100 512 GB SATA 2.5-Inch 7mm Internal Solid State Drive CT512MX100SSD1", and "Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2)". I was under the impression that I was unable to install new Mac OS software because it would cause issues. Do you have any opinion on this? Any help thanks.
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Able to upgrade IOS if installed solid state drive?
- Thread starter gerardop639
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Moonjumper
macrumors 68030
I am not aware of any issues. I have added 16GB RAM to my iMac and there were no issues. I installed macOS on an external drive to the MacBook Pro I used to own and then upgraded that to a new OS (to see if there were any issues before committing to updating the internal drive) and again no issues.
[doublepost=1530906537][/doublepost]I didn’t think the upgraded memory would be an issue, I read on a thread that the solid state drive wouldn’t be recognized by Apple and be a potential issue.
I presume you're looking at High Sierra, not Mojave. I would not suggest installing Mojave on your primary system until it's out officially.
When I search for "high sierra crucial mx100", I get some results where people have had problems with the MX100, but also the M500, the BX100 and the MX300 and High Sierra. But it appears all of these posters have a MBP from 2010-2012 (note I didn't qualify my search to the MBP). So there may be something with some of the older Crucial SSD's and the 2010-2012 MBP's. But considering the number of people who have 2010-2012 MBP's, the large number of people who have these Crucial SSD's, I wouldn't consider it a widespread issue. I have a M500 (the predecessor to the MX100) in a 2014 Mini where I recently upgraded to High Sierra without a problem and it's been running well since.
I noticed that these reports of problems with the Crucial SSD's and the MBP's are from late 2017. It maybe that firmware updates since then has solved the issues. On my 2012 13" MBP (Sierra), there have been at least 2 firmware updates since the beginning of the year. With MacOs 10.9.5, I don't think these firmware updates would have been installed. So prepare for the firmware update - when installing the new OS, you should be running on AC power. I mention the firmware because on the Mac Mini forum, there was a person with a 2011 MBP who seemed to have a RAM issue solved by the latest firmware update so perhaps some of the recent earlier firmware updates for the 2011 MBP had some issues.
Your other options would be to run High Sierra with HFS+ and not APFS or run Sierra, not High Sierra.
EDIT: I missed the obvious - it could very well be that later updates of High Sierra (again noting that the people reporting issues reported them in 2017) solved the issue, if there was one. My first install of High Sierra with the Mini and Crucial M500 was 10.13.4 - the current is 10.13.5.
When I search for "high sierra crucial mx100", I get some results where people have had problems with the MX100, but also the M500, the BX100 and the MX300 and High Sierra. But it appears all of these posters have a MBP from 2010-2012 (note I didn't qualify my search to the MBP). So there may be something with some of the older Crucial SSD's and the 2010-2012 MBP's. But considering the number of people who have 2010-2012 MBP's, the large number of people who have these Crucial SSD's, I wouldn't consider it a widespread issue. I have a M500 (the predecessor to the MX100) in a 2014 Mini where I recently upgraded to High Sierra without a problem and it's been running well since.
I noticed that these reports of problems with the Crucial SSD's and the MBP's are from late 2017. It maybe that firmware updates since then has solved the issues. On my 2012 13" MBP (Sierra), there have been at least 2 firmware updates since the beginning of the year. With MacOs 10.9.5, I don't think these firmware updates would have been installed. So prepare for the firmware update - when installing the new OS, you should be running on AC power. I mention the firmware because on the Mac Mini forum, there was a person with a 2011 MBP who seemed to have a RAM issue solved by the latest firmware update so perhaps some of the recent earlier firmware updates for the 2011 MBP had some issues.
Your other options would be to run High Sierra with HFS+ and not APFS or run Sierra, not High Sierra.
EDIT: I missed the obvious - it could very well be that later updates of High Sierra (again noting that the people reporting issues reported them in 2017) solved the issue, if there was one. My first install of High Sierra with the Mini and Crucial M500 was 10.13.4 - the current is 10.13.5.
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Thanks. I would be going with High Sierra. I was given advice to do this,
“Yes, You can perform a direct update to NEWER MacOS however you will need to re-enable trim support for your SSD when you are done with the update.
After you complete the update and rebooted enter this command”.
Open terminal app
At command prompt type
# sudo trimforce enable
Yes
Yes
reboot
Any thoughts on this process? Why do I need to mess with trim?
“Yes, You can perform a direct update to NEWER MacOS however you will need to re-enable trim support for your SSD when you are done with the update.
After you complete the update and rebooted enter this command”.
Open terminal app
At command prompt type
# sudo trimforce enable
Yes
Yes
reboot
Any thoughts on this process? Why do I need to mess with trim?
The type of storage chips used in SSD's for Macs require that a cell be erased before new data is written to it. TRIM is a way for the OS to tell the SSD that an erase can be done so that when new data is written, only the write operation has to be performed, not the erase + write operation. There's tons of documents on the web if you want a more detailed explanation.
Enabling TRIM will improve performance once you have run out of cells that don't need erasing before data can be written to it. Will you notice a difference? Difficult to say. Are there downsides to enabling it? It seems that recent SSD's (and the MX100 is recent enough) and OS's handle it without problems (there was a big controversy a few years ago about certain SSD-OS combinations that had TRIM issues and this issue has not surfaced since). There are different opinions on the use of TRIM, sometimes expressed with passion. Note that with Mavericks (10.9), you would have needed to install 3rd-party software to install TRIM so it's likely that you're using it for the first time (so "re-enable" probably is not accurate in your case).
I interpreted your original question as asking about the High Sierra-MX100 combination. But maybe you were also wondering whether an existing OS can be upgraded without worrying about erasing and re-installing software. And as indicated in the answer in your previous post, yes you should be able to do that. But make sure you have a backup so that if it doesn't work, you can do a completely new install and then migrate your files (can be done as an option during the OS installation). One thing you will have to worry about is that in making a jump from Mavericks to High Sierra, 3rd party software will likely need to be upgraded which may or may not be an easy task (depends on the software product). It's not uncommon for software from smaller vendors to not work on a newer version and the software company no longer is updating the software.
Enabling TRIM will improve performance once you have run out of cells that don't need erasing before data can be written to it. Will you notice a difference? Difficult to say. Are there downsides to enabling it? It seems that recent SSD's (and the MX100 is recent enough) and OS's handle it without problems (there was a big controversy a few years ago about certain SSD-OS combinations that had TRIM issues and this issue has not surfaced since). There are different opinions on the use of TRIM, sometimes expressed with passion. Note that with Mavericks (10.9), you would have needed to install 3rd-party software to install TRIM so it's likely that you're using it for the first time (so "re-enable" probably is not accurate in your case).
I interpreted your original question as asking about the High Sierra-MX100 combination. But maybe you were also wondering whether an existing OS can be upgraded without worrying about erasing and re-installing software. And as indicated in the answer in your previous post, yes you should be able to do that. But make sure you have a backup so that if it doesn't work, you can do a completely new install and then migrate your files (can be done as an option during the OS installation). One thing you will have to worry about is that in making a jump from Mavericks to High Sierra, 3rd party software will likely need to be upgraded which may or may not be an easy task (depends on the software product). It's not uncommon for software from smaller vendors to not work on a newer version and the software company no longer is updating the software.
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Fishrrman
macrumors Nehalem
"I was under the impression that I was unable to install new Mac OS software because it would cause issues. Do you have any opinion on this?"
Have you TRIED updating it?
Do that, and get back to us.
You should be able to install any version of the OS onto the SSD, that the Mac will run.
I would suggest OS 10.12 (LOW Sierra) as a "good move upwards".
You can get it here:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208202
IMPORTANT:
BEFORE you update, I STRONGLY SUGGEST that you use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to create a bootable cloned backup on an external drive.
Either app is FREE to download and use for 30 days -- the backup costs you nothing (provided you have an external drive).
Having a bootable cloned backup will makes things relatively easy to "get back to where you once belonged" if the upgrade doesn't go as planned.
No cloned backup?
Then "getting back" will become MUCH more difficult.
Have you TRIED updating it?
Do that, and get back to us.
You should be able to install any version of the OS onto the SSD, that the Mac will run.
I would suggest OS 10.12 (LOW Sierra) as a "good move upwards".
You can get it here:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208202
IMPORTANT:
BEFORE you update, I STRONGLY SUGGEST that you use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to create a bootable cloned backup on an external drive.
Either app is FREE to download and use for 30 days -- the backup costs you nothing (provided you have an external drive).
Having a bootable cloned backup will makes things relatively easy to "get back to where you once belonged" if the upgrade doesn't go as planned.
No cloned backup?
Then "getting back" will become MUCH more difficult.
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[doublepost=1544828278][/doublepost]I am trying to upgrade the firmware on the SSD. I followed the correct process and used a cd to upgrade the firmware. It seems like a simple ad straight forward process. I downloaded the update onto the cd, restart the computer and hold down a few buttons, which I cannot remember right now. The system doesn't seem to find the CD to run during start up to install the new firmware. I would like to upgrade the firmware on the SSD, enable trim, then install the newest Mac OS. When I open the App store it says I have no updates available.
