SSD - does compatibility matter?

[Rydawg96]

So I just bought this Seagate 1TB SSD to put in my 2012 MacBook Pro that has an almost full 500GB mechanical hard drive. However, I noticed that on the side it says compatible with Windows and Linux, but nothing for Mac compatibility. Does it matter? I though you could just buy any 2.5” SATA SSD, format it as a APFS or HFS+ drive, and then you’re good to install macOS. Would like to know before opening it as Best Buy doesn’t allow returns of open storage products.

 

[junkw]

model #?
[automerge]1578808440[/automerge]
ZA1000CM1A002 ?

 

[junkw]

or STGS1000401?

 

[ptfuzi]

No issues there, just format it.. I've seen many external drives being more expensive just from being formatted on MacOS extended

 

[Weaselboy]

I noticed that on the side it says compatible with Windows and Linux, but nothing for Mac compatibility.

Looks like a standard SATA interface drive and it should work just fine on your Mac. I'm guessing what they mean by compatibility is the drive management software it comes with won't work on a Mac. That is not a problem though... just use Disk Utility on your Mac to format it.