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Ssd compatibility MacBook Pro mid 2012

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caspergirl

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 15, 2010
137
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hi there! I have a backup machine a MacBook Pro 13,3 mid 2012 and I want to put in an ssd. I saw a Black Friday offer that sells a SanDisk SSD Ultra 3D 500GB Sara III in a good price.

Is this compatible? Is there any issue with thermal sensors as I red in Amazon? (Someone wrote that macs have no thermal sensors and the ssd will run constantly). Is there indeed issue with SATA cable when someone switches the old HDD with an SSD?
 
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Yes that SSD is compatible with your machine. I believe you will need a Torx 6 or 8 driver to remove the screws. Check with OWC for specifics. An SSD doesn’t run like a spinning drive. The SATA cable is compliant with the SSD so you will have no issues. I’ve done it many times on my 2010 model.
 
I red that it is dangerous to put ssd because it may cause damage to logic board. And I’m a little bit anxious because of that. From your experience is this possible? How can I understand if the cable is good enough? Just the disk will not work?
 
caspergirl said:
I red that it is dangerous to put ssd because it may cause damage to logic board. And I’m a little bit anxious because of that. From your experience is this possible? How can I understand if the cable is good enough? Just the disk will not work?
Click to expand...

I don’t know where you read that but it’s fundamentally untrue. Any modern SATA SSD will work with a 2012 13” MBP.

The only issue with the 13” is that the SATA cables have a high failure rate. They’re very poorly designed and at one point Apple had a silent repair program for them.
 
I have a 15 inch mid 2012 and can tell you the SSD will make your machine fly, however I strongly recommend changing the SATA cable when you do it.
 
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So there is no way to damage the logic board because of this. The worst case scenario is the damage of the sata cable right?
 
As long as you're careful during the install process of putting in the SSD and removing the old HDD and putting it all back together again, you shouldn't have anything to worry about.
 
Just about any 2.5" SATA SSD will do the job.

The 2012 design non-retina MBP's can exhibit problems with the ribbon cable that connects the drive to the motherboard. If the cable "gets flaky", it might run ok with a [slower] HDD, but not with a [faster] SSD. In that case, the cable can be replaced.

Apple had a FREE cable replacement program for the 2012 MBP's, but that may no longer be in effect.

You'll need a Phillips #00 driver and a TORX T-6 driver (to take off the bosses on the side of the drive).

You can go to ifixit.com to see what's involved.

You might also consider picking up a USB3 external enclosure (these are cheap, $15 or so).
You can use it to "prep and test" the SSD -BEFORE- you do the drive swap. Doing it this way can save A LOT OF TROUBLE if something doesn't go quite right.

After you have the SSD prepped and tested, do the swap, and then take the old drive and put it into the enclosure. It can then be a backup or extra storage, etc.
 
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Also have had a 2012 cMBP 13" for the past 6 years with zero issues. i7 CPUs and it's a tank. Swapped internal drives a few times with zero issues. Good to know about the ribbon cable issues but this hasn't manifested itself for me at all so far. Left the standard optical drive in as well.
 
I have a non retina 2012 with an ssd, it completely changes the device

the beauty about the 2012 is it supports SATA 3 + USB 3.0

I went with the Samsung EVO series and its been excellent
 
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