Changed HD to SSD on Macbook Pro 2012: slower than ever

[Blowout]

hey Macforum

A couple of days ago I decided to put new life in my Macbook Pro 2012 “13 non Retina. So I bought a Samsung SSD And now I do not know what to do.

It all started when I tried to install MacOS. first I tried with a bootable USB stick. This took about 8 hours. And after about 3 hours it still took 7 hours (that it said).

I decided to quit it and install via internet recovery. Which took about 7 to 9 hours (left it overnight).

Still it is very slow. Turning the laptop on takes about as long as my old HD. (Which was about a minute and 20 seconds) And than I have to wait until I can even type something. (I get the beachball) This takes 2 minutes! I do notice that on my HD it was the beachball alot. And now i have a SSD no beachball. I have to wait until it reacts.

Anyway. Opening anything takes forever. Even a finders window takes 3 minutes. My laptop is not overheating anymore like it used to with my old HD. So I guess that’s good

I have checked to see if the SSD is the startup disc. And it is. I have tried to look up other answers but sinds I Only have my phone right now it is a real hassle.

I do not own a external HD plugin thingy (yes thats how tech savvy i am) to be able to plug the SSD in as an external. Anyone who will be able to help?

 

[littlepud]

Possible bad SATA cable?

 

[chscag]

I agree with @littlepud. On a machine that old whenever changing out a hard drive, the SATA cable should also be changed out for a new one. Check www.ifixit.com for instructions and the cable.

 

[Blowout]

Thank you. I will try that out. Does it matter which SATA cable I get? Or does it need to be specific? Or specific enough to fit?

 

[makinao]

The only possible reasons I can think of is either 1) your MBP is indexing because of the new OS installation, 2) something went wrong in the OS installation, or 3) HD cable broke (although my MBPs are as old as yours and have been through at least one HD change, and this never happened to me).

If you still want to give DIY another try and you haven't trashed the old HD, get a cheap external enclosure like this, then 1) put the old HD back in the MBP, 2) put the new SSD in the enclosure, 3) clone using Carbon Copy Cloner app (should take under 4 hours for 1tb using USB 3), 4) take out both drives, 5) install the new SSD into the MBP then 6) boot. I just changed two Macbook Pro boot disks like this in the past three days (2012 MBP 15" non retina SSD to SSD, 2011 MBP 13" HD to SSD), and they're working flawlessly.

Otherwise, bring it to a pro and have them do it.

 

[rocknblogger]

The only possible reasons I can think of is either 1) your MBP is indexing because of the new OS installation, 2) something went wrong in the OS installation, or 3) HD cable broke (although my MBPs are as old as yours and have been through at least one HD change, and this never happened to me).

If you still want to give DIY another try and you haven't trashed the old HD, get a cheap external enclosure like this, then 1) put the old HD back in the MBP, 2) put the new SSD in the enclosure, 3) clone using Carbon Copy Cloner app (should take under 4 hours for 1tb using USB 3), 4) take out both drives, 5) install the new SSD into the MBP then 6) boot. I just changed two Macbook Pro boot disks like this in the past three days (2012 MBP 15" non retina SSD to SSD, 2011 MBP 13" HD to SSD), and they're working flawlessly.

Otherwise, bring it to a pro and have them do it.

@Blowout this is exactly what I was going to recommend. The fact that it took so long to install macOS makes me think that either the cable is wonky or the SSD may be a dud. Good luck!!

 

[Blowout]

I will try it out. But could anyone answere this?

Thank you. I will try that out. Does it matter which SATA cable I get? Or does it need to be specific? Or specific enough to fit?

 

[Weaselboy]

Thank you. I will try that out. Does it matter which SATA cable I get? Or does it need to be specific? Or specific enough to fit?

Go to ifixit like @chscag mentioned and lookup the specific cable for your model. This is not just a generic cable.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP -- it's almost certainly the ribbon cable that connects the drive to the motherboard.

Apple -used to have- a free replacement program for this, as this was a defective part. Not sure if it's still in effect.

Question for anyone else reading this:
Does Apple still have the FREE ribbon cable replacement program for 2012 MBPros?
Or... has that ended...?

 

[unglued]

Opening anything takes forever. Even a finders window takes 3 minutes. My laptop is not overheating anymore like it used to with my old HD. So I guess that’s good

Well, it’s sort of working, try the basics first like resetting SMC (hold down the Shift+Control+Option keys on power up) and if nothing try reseating the SSD cable.

 

[Blowout]

OP -- it's almost certainly the ribbon cable that connects the drive to the motherboard.

Apple -used to have- a free replacement program for this, as this was a defective part. Not sure if it's still in effect.

Question for anyone else reading this:
Does Apple still have the FREE ribbon cable replacement program for 2012 MBPros?
Or... has that ended...?

Thanks for this info. I live in Europe so I am sure it won’t be over here. Going to buy a new cable tomorrow