Upgrade Hard Drive Macbook Late 2011

[unseetheforestforthetrees]

Hi everyone 👋

I would like to upgrade my macbooks hard drive. The model is a late 2011 13 inch MacBook Pro. I heard very good things about the Samsung evos. I think the highest space I could afford would be the 2tb, do you know if this will fit ok??

Samsung 860 EVO 2 TB SATA 2.5 Inch Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (MZ-76E2T0)

Samsung 860 EVO 2 TB SATA 2.5 Inch Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (MZ-76E2T0)

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[Fishrrman]

It's not worth spending the money for a 2tb drive like that for a MBP that's 9 years old (and could "go" on you at any moment). Then again, you may have money to toss away...

My recommendation:
Put a 1tb SSD in it, from Crucial or Sandisk.
Buy "for price", not "for speed" (2011 is too old to make any difference in speed).

Also, buy an external USB3 enclosure like this:

SABRENT 2.5 Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool Free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized for SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Black (EC-UASP)

SABRENT 2.5 Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool Free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized for SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Black (EC-UASP)

tinyurl.com

You can use this to "prepare and test" the SSD BEFORE you open the MBP to install it.
This way... if something goes wrong... you'll STILL HAVE A WORKING MBP to use to get things fixed.

Also...
Be sure to use THE RIGHT TOOLS for the job:
- Phillips #00 driver (for screws on back)
- TORX T-6 driver (for "bosses" on the side of the drive).

IF your internal still seems to be running well enough with the OS on it (even if it may be "running slow"), I suggest you use CarbonCopyCloner to "clone over" your current OS install to the new SSD.

Get CCC here:

Download CCC - Bombich Software

www.bombich.com

CCC is FREE to download and use for 30 days, doing it this way will cost you nothing.

 

[unseetheforestforthetrees]

It's not worth spending the money for a 2tb drive like that for a MBP that's 9 years old (and could "go" on you at any moment). Then again, you may have money to toss away...

My recommendation:
Put a 1tb SSD in it, from Crucial or Sandisk.
Buy "for price", not "for speed" (2011 is too old to make any difference in speed).

Also, buy an external USB3 enclosure like this:

SABRENT 2.5 Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool Free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized for SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Black (EC-UASP)

SABRENT 2.5 Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool Free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized for SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Black (EC-UASP)

tinyurl.com

You can use this to "prepare and test" the SSD BEFORE you open the MBP to install it.
This way... if something goes wrong... you'll STILL HAVE A WORKING MBP to use to get things fixed.

Also...
Be sure to use THE RIGHT TOOLS for the job:
- Phillips #00 driver (for screws on back)
- TORX T-6 driver (for "bosses" on the side of the drive).

IF your internal still seems to be running well enough with the OS on it (even if it may be "running slow"), I suggest you use CarbonCopyCloner to "clone over" your current OS install to the new SSD.

Get CCC here:

Download CCC - Bombich Software

www.bombich.com

CCC is FREE to download and use for 30 days, doing it this way will cost you nothing.

Hi Fishrrman,

Thanks for all your advice there are very valid and interesting points there. I didn't know about those inclosures.

I have to say that the 2TB Samsung at €250 is very, very reasonable on Amazon there compared to other retailers, and I really, really, need as much space as I can get. I already have my ram maxed out at 8GB.

Do you know if this model will be compatible with my mac? (Late 2011)

Model: Samsung 860 EVO 2 TB SATA 2.5 Inch Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (MZ-76E2T0)​

Also for the enclosure that you recommend, can this be used to make the old internal hard drive external and usable after I switch it out?

Thanks again..

 

[Fishrrman]

"Also for the enclosure that you recommend, can this be used to make the old internal hard drive external and usable after I switch it out?"

Yes.

Any 2.5" SATA SSD will do.

 

[justashooter]

Your 2011 MPB will use 16gb ram, unlike what apples says. Although for most uses 8gb is enough, unless you are video editing, using photoshop, etc. I have installed 16gb in 2 different MBP 13 machines. Keep an eye on ebay if you are in the US, I bought a pair of 8gb chips for $42 for one of the machines. Crucial, hynix, owc, etc. will work just fine.

SSD & RAM Upgrades | crucial.com

Compatible upgrades unavailable for your device due to system issues or missing data. Please try again later.

www.crucial.com

 

[unseetheforestforthetrees]

Your 2011 MPB will use 16gb ram, unlike what apples says. Although for most uses 8gb is enough, unless you are video editing, using photoshop, etc. I have installed 16gb in 2 different MBP 13 machines. Keep an eye on ebay if you are in the US, I bought a pair of 8gb chips for $42 for one of the machines. Crucial, hynix, owc, etc. will work just fine.

SSD & RAM Upgrades | crucial.com

Compatible upgrades unavailable for your device due to system issues or missing data. Please try again later.

www.crucial.com

Ah right! That makes sense about the RAM! I was actually watching two people yesterday on youtube putting 16 GB sticks of ram into models made around my one and I couldn't make any sense of it because I googled it and officially it said the maximum was 8GB of RAM! I ordered my hard drive yesterday - 2 TB SSD So that's a move in the right direction anyway

Well actually in a similar way to video editing, what I am using this computer for is music production and it can be very intensive in terms of computing power etc. when you have multiple audio tracks, lot's of music plugins, you are listening to your instruments as they are being played, multitasking etc. etc. The potential memory upgrade is very interesting!! Thanks for letting me know! You're right theres so many options out there so I will shop around a little bit I will revert to you shortly with some RAM just to run what I plan on buying past you

 

[unseetheforestforthetrees]

Your 2011 MPB will use 16gb ram, unlike what apples says. Although for most uses 8gb is enough, unless you are video editing, using photoshop, etc. I have installed 16gb in 2 different MBP 13 machines. Keep an eye on ebay if you are in the US, I bought a pair of 8gb chips for $42 for one of the machines. Crucial, hynix, owc, etc. will work just fine.

SSD & RAM Upgrades | crucial.com

Compatible upgrades unavailable for your device due to system issues or missing data. Please try again later.

www.crucial.com

Hi Justashooter,

I am strongly thinking about buying these two RAM sticks... I don't mind the price, these would be really valuable for me.

I was wondering if you think these RAM sticks would be perfect for my computer? The specs are a bit confusing for me. It is stated as being compatible with my specific computer from 2011 though.

The specs are:

BRAND OWC
CAPACITY 16GB
STANDARD PC3 12800
MEMORY SPEED 1600MHz
CAS LATENCY CL11
SINGLE MODULE OR DUAL KIT Dual channel kit
ERROR CHECKING Non ECC
REGISTERED Non Registered
VOLTAGE 1.35V
FORM FACTOR SO-DIMM
CONFIGURATION 2x8GB

Product Description: Upgrade the memory in select MacBook Pro, iMac 5K Retina, iMac, Mac mini systems, and certain Intel/AMD-based Windows laptops using the 16GB DDR3L 1600 MHz SO-DIMM Memory Kit from OWC / Other World Computing. This memory kit features a total capacity of 16GB, which is made up of two 8GB modules. It also has a clock speed of 1600 MHz, a bus speed of PC3-12800, and a 204-pin SO-DIMM form factor. It operates using 1.35V, has a CAS Latency of CL=11, a cycle time of 1.875 ns, does not support ECC technology, and is not registered. Additionally, it is fully compliant with JEDEC specifications and is RoHS certified.

 

[hallux]

You might consider grabbing a new cable for the drive. That 13" in those years (2010-2012) were notorious for the drive cables failing, to the point that Apple actually pre-stocked AASP ship-to locations (I am one, that's how I know) with a couple in case they were needed.

 

[unseetheforestforthetrees]

You might consider grabbing a new cable for the drive. That 13" in those years (2010-2012) were notorious for the drive cables failing, to the point that Apple actually pre-stocked AASP ship-to locations (I am one, that's how I know) with a couple in case they were needed.

Hi Hallux, Thanks for the advice. good to cover all bases...

I actually think it may have already snapped in the past and I replaced it in the past!!

Im 99% sure, it's just my memory just isnt the best! I specifically remember the ZIF connector part of the replacement tutorial... and I remember I went out and bought a bunch of iFixit tools for the job too so yes!!

I'll probably pass on this replacement again, but if it does happen to "go" again on me, I'll still have my data right, it's just another repair job right?

 

[hallux]

It won't cause your data to disappear from the drive, no. If the cable is an issue you will notice it with the SSD swap. Even if it's functioning fine with the platter the SSD will seem like it's not working right if the cable is on the way out.

 

[clueless88]

Not sure if you even need to have 1TB internal ssd. I installed a 500gb 860 evo samsung ssd in a mid 2012 13"MBP and have been happy with the performance--the price of the ssd's have fallen quite a bit the past few years, right now they are on Amazon for $59 usd. As for more storage, I opted to use an external spinning hard drive that can be attached as needed.

 

[justashooter]

The ram specs for a 2011 MBP are DDR3L 1333 MHz SO-DIMM, I suppose the faster ram will work at the slower speed. Just FYI, there are the correct spec Crucial 8gb pairs on ebay for less than $60.

16gb sodimm ddr3 1333 for sale | eBay

Get the best deals for 16gb sodimm ddr3 1333 at eBay.com. We have a great online selection at the lowest prices with Fast & Free shipping on many items!

www.ebay.com

 

[mdgm]

Check in e.g. Activity Monitor your memory usage. If you are using lots of swap that would be an indication that more RAM would help. With a SSD you won't notice as much of a slowdown with swapping as you would with a HDD but lots of swapping to disk would use up some of the limited writes you can make to a SSD.

When the Mac fails eventually, the 2TB SSD will be very usable in an external enclosure with a newer Mac as an external drive for backups etc.

 

[unseetheforestforthetrees]

When the Mac fails eventually, the 2TB SSD will be very usable in an external enclosure with a newer Mac as an external drive for backups etc.

Hi everyone, just a question out of curiousity really... I'm upgrading my laptop today....

It was mentioned once or twice that the Mac might fail soon etc... I understand my Macbook has been around a long time now and I'm actually very pleased it's lasted me this long... Now with this upgrade I'll give it a new lease of life again... But what I don't really understand is how it is most likely to fail going forwards? How do old Mac's usually fail? It certainly wouldn't be a hard drive issue with the new HDD...Probably numerous things? I rememeber years ago someone told me if you look after your Mac it'll last forever!! To be honest I wouldn't disbelieve it won't last forevwe because it has been a real workhorse..

 

[robvas]

Hi everyone, just a question out of curiousity really... I'm upgrading my laptop today....

It was mentioned once or twice that the Mac might fail soon etc... I understand my Macbook has been around a long time now and I'm actually very pleased it's lasted me this long... Now with this upgrade I'll give it a new lease of life again... But what I don't really understand is how it is most likely to fail going forwards? How do old Mac's usually fail? It certainly wouldn't be a hard drive issue with the new HDD...Probably numerous things? I rememeber years ago someone told me if you look after your Mac it'll last forever!! To be honest I wouldn't disbelieve it won't last forevwe because it has been a real workhorse..

It's a 13", it will probably keep going for a long time...barring a motherboard failure or needing the battery replaced.

The 15" MacBook Pro was the one to avoid from the 2011 model year. The graphics chipsets are junk and will fail, if they haven't already. And even getting a replacement will just put you back in the waiting game...

 

[unseetheforestforthetrees]

Hi All ,

Just a quick thank you to everyone for all your help... I installed both the Samsung evo ssd and 16gb ram and everything is running butterfly smooth now! 😊 I'm pretty sure my read and write speeds that I checked last week we're around 50 mb and now around 500mb/s which is crazy in a way!! I'm very pleased with this outcome overall... Cheers
😊🙏

 

[unseetheforestforthetrees]

Hi All ,

Just a quick thank you to everyone for all your help... I installed both the Samsung evo ssd and 16gb ram and everything is running butterfly smooth now! 😊 I'm pretty sure my read and write speeds that I checked last week we're around 50 mb and now around 500mb/s which is crazy in a way!! I'm very pleased with this outcome overall... Cheers
😊🙏

 

[unseetheforestforthetrees]

It's not worth spending the money for a 2tb drive like that for a MBP that's 9 years old (and could "go" on you at any moment). Then again, you may have money to toss away...

My recommendation:
Put a 1tb SSD in it, from Crucial or Sandisk.
Buy "for price", not "for speed" (2011 is too old to make any difference in speed).

Also, buy an external USB3 enclosure like this:

SABRENT 2.5 Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool Free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized for SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Black (EC-UASP)

SABRENT 2.5 Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool Free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized for SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Black (EC-UASP)

tinyurl.com

You can use this to "prepare and test" the SSD BEFORE you open the MBP to install it.
This way... if something goes wrong... you'll STILL HAVE A WORKING MBP to use to get things fixed.

Also...
Be sure to use THE RIGHT TOOLS for the job:
- Phillips #00 driver (for screws on back)
- TORX T-6 driver (for "bosses" on the side of the drive).

IF your internal still seems to be running well enough with the OS on it (even if it may be "running slow"), I suggest you use CarbonCopyCloner to "clone over" your current OS install to the new SSD.

Get CCC here:

Download CCC - Bombich Software

www.bombich.com

CCC is FREE to download and use for 30 days, doing it this way will cost you nothing.

Also thanks very much for your shout out about the free carbon cloner and using hard drive enclosure... This really made it a deal for me.... It took 6 hours but totally worth it and done exactly what it says on the tin - cloned my hard drive even with the Operating system. And now I have a nice external hard drive with my old drive 🙂