MPB 13" mid 2012 - SSD & HDD?

[Burrel]

I have a mid 2012 13" MacBook Pro, with HDD and I was wondering if it is possible to upgrade this model to have an SSD running alongside the HDD? The purpose of this, if I’ve done my research correctly, is to have the OS running from the SSD to speed things up and then still have the HDD to store my music/photos/films, etc.

Getting ahead of myself I’ve already bought an SSD, being a Crucial M500 2.5 inch 120gb. Would this be ok for my needs, above?

I’ve been searching the net trying to find out whether my laptop could have the SSD run alongside the HDD but I’ve not found a definitive answer.

If it’s not possible then I guess I’ll return the SSD and live with it how it is. If it is possible and someone is aware of a good step by step guide (for the illiterate!) of not just fitting it but having in ready to use and what I made need to consider thereafter due to having 2 hard drives.

Many thanks in advance and a happy new year to you all.

 

[kdotv23]

Hey!

Its totally possible to have both SSD and HDD for extra space. You would need to take out the Superdrive/CD drive out and replace it with this...

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DDAMBS0GB/

then you would put the HDD on that thus removing the Superdrive/CD drive.

Do you already know how to switch out the HDD to an SSD? Are you doing a clean install of OS X?

Heres a good step by step...

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DDAMBS0GB/

Step 17 part is basically the same as the link i gave you from OWC which lets you use another SSD or your old HDD

The M500 is great btw, I have the Crucial M550 for both 2010 and 2012 Macbook Pro. The 2012 is getting the HDD treatment pretty soon too since I don't need the Superdrive, I thought i would replace it with the HDD it came with for extra storage, just like you!

GOOD LUCK! oh and come back here if you have any other questions...Ill try to help you out if you need anything. I myself just got done doing the upgrades to both macbook pro's last week

 

[snaky69]

I have a mid 2012 13" MacBook Pro, with HDD and I was wondering if it is possible to upgrade this model to have an SSD running alongside the HDD? The purpose of this, if I’ve done my research correctly, is to have the OS running from the SSD to speed things up and then still have the HDD to store my music/photos/films, etc.

Getting ahead of myself I’ve already bought an SSD, being a Crucial M500 2.5 inch 120gb. Would this be ok for my needs, above?

I’ve been searching the net trying to find out whether my laptop could have the SSD run alongside the HDD but I’ve not found a definitive answer.

If it’s not possible then I guess I’ll return the SSD and live with it how it is. If it is possible and someone is aware of a good step by step guide (for the illiterate!) of not just fitting it but having in ready to use and what I made need to consider thereafter due to having 2 hard drives.

Many thanks in advance and a happy new year to you all.

Sure, thousands of people (myself included) have done just that. You'll just need to rip out the optical drive and replace it with a caddy so you'll have somewhere for your second hard drive(or SSD) to go.

 

[Burrel]

Thank you for the responses, guys. I guess I did get too ahead of myself with buying the SSD, thinking there would be a space for it to sit right next to the HDD, and avoiding the need to remove the CD drive - which I do still use at times, albeit very minimal.

I now have another set of options to ponder it seems. Having spent £47 on the 120gb SSD and now finding out I will need to spend a further £35 on the OWC data doubler, I'm now wondering whether I should return the SSD and effectively spend a further £70 where I can have a 500gb SSD to replace my HDD altogether, therefore meaning I won't need to buy the data doubler and can still keep the CD drive.

I'm not sure whether I would need to do a clean install of OS X, I basically want it to be exactly as it is as the moment (so not losing any information) but just so things run faster.

My main worry about doing this is that I will lose some really old e-mails that are in my Outlook (linked to my Hotmail account) where the e-mails have somehow been deleted from my main web Hotmail account, but still, thankfully, appear on my laptop in Outlook. I think they've been deleted from the main Hotmail server. When I created a new account on my iPhone 6 to sync that account, it of course synced to the main Hotmail rather than the one connected to Outlook. I appreciate I could forward all of the e-mails in question to myself so they're there, but there's rather a lot and I'd like to avoid doing that if possible.
So if by changing the hard drives means that I'd need to have the account added to Outlook / potentially lose those e-mails, then I think I'll have to give it a miss altogether unless there's a way to back up all of the e-mails in this Outlook account (if though it won't match my Hotmail account online)?

kdotv23 - Thank you very much for the step by step link, however it seems to have copied the first link again in error.

 

[Altemose]

You may have luck with a hybrid drive which is both an SSD and HDD in a single drive. You would still be able to keep the SuperDrive that way. It is not as fast as a straight SSD but is still leaps and bounds better than a 5400 RPM HDD. I would do a clean install of OS X and then use Migration Assistant to bring the data over.

 

[kdotv23]

Thank you for the responses, guys. I guess I did get too ahead of myself with buying the SSD, thinking there would be a space for it to sit right next to the HDD, and avoiding the need to remove the CD drive - which I do still use at times, albeit very minimal.

I now have another set of options to ponder it seems. Having spent £47 on the 120gb SSD and now finding out I will need to spend a further £35 on the OWC data doubler, I'm now wondering whether I should return the SSD and effectively spend a further £70 where I can have a 500gb SSD to replace my HDD altogether, therefore meaning I won't need to buy the data doubler and can still keep the CD drive.

I'm not sure whether I would need to do a clean install of OS X, I basically want it to be exactly as it is as the moment (so not losing any information) but just so things run faster.

My main worry about doing this is that I will lose some really old e-mails that are in my Outlook (linked to my Hotmail account) where the e-mails have somehow been deleted from my main web Hotmail account, but still, thankfully, appear on my laptop in Outlook. I think they've been deleted from the main Hotmail server. When I created a new account on my iPhone 6 to sync that account, it of course synced to the main Hotmail rather than the one connected to Outlook. I appreciate I could forward all of the e-mails in question to myself so they're there, but there's rather a lot and I'd like to avoid doing that if possible.
So if by changing the hard drives means that I'd need to have the account added to Outlook / potentially lose those e-mails, then I think I'll have to give it a miss altogether unless there's a way to back up all of the e-mails in this Outlook account (if though it won't match my Hotmail account online)?

kdotv23 - Thank you very much for the step by step link, however it seems to have copied the first link again in error.

I should have checked before submitting...Here is the step by step if you do decide to remove the superdrive with the old HDD...

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing+MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2012+Dual+Hard+Drive/13787

I would definitely not rule out on getting a SSD. It makes such a big difference on how the computer performs everyday tasks. Everything seems much smoother and quicker!

Im sure someone on here can help you with backing up any data you need. I suggest making another thread for that so that you can get a better answer.

I dont know why I waited so long to change that stupid HDD to an SSD. Its like having a brand new computer!