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Upgrade Macbook Pro HDD to SSD

D

danwillis75

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 6, 2019
17
1
Milton Keynes UK
Hi all,
I currently have a MacBook Pro with a 500 GB HDD drive but its running ridiculously slow. I posted a while back stating that I intended to upgrade the HDD & RAM to hopefully speed it up, but was advised that I probably don't need to upgrade the RAM at all, just upgrading the hard drive should be sufficient.

So I'm planning on doing this at the weekend, I would just like some further advice as to my options.

My model is as follows:

Macbook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012) Non retina
2.3 GHz Intel Core i7
8 GB 1600MHz DDR3

I believe this makes it a MacBookPro 9.1

I WAS planning to transfer all my files/pics/vids onto an external hard drive, install the new SSD and then transfer them all back (purely in case there was any corruption/conflicts on my existing HDD that i didn't want to sabotage my brand new SSD) but then realised that would be a nightmare as I would need to transfer across all my OS, programs, etc.

So, I'm now just going to transfer my whole system onto the new SSD.

Any tips/tutorials pointing me in the right direction would really help me out.

Lastly, I was looking for a recommendation of a decent quality SSD. I have found a few on Amazon.co.uk. Samsung, Crucial, Hypertec, Indmem or alternatively I've seen some from Flexx, who i believe may be a partner of OWC.

Just wondered if anyone had any thoughts on which brand they would recommend and can I upgrade to 2tb, or am I limited to 1tb.

Thanks in advance.

Dan

*EDIT: I have just had a little browse of similar threads and seen that a clean install may be the better way to go for me. I certainly feel like I would refer that option, If anyone could post the necessary steps to take to do this i would massively appreciate it. I am currently running Mojave 10.14.6 if that helps.
 
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When I upgraded my 2012 MBP 13 I did not perform a clean install and had no problems. My upgrade went like this:

Buy a SSD, I have used both the Crucial MX500 series and Samsung EVO 850, install the SSD into an external enclosure, use Carbon Copy Cloner (it is free for 30 days) to clone your internal drive to the SSD.

After the cloning has completed, reboot and at the chime hold down the option key, select the external SSD to boot from to test that the cloning went correctly. If all is well, and it should be, remove the internal drive, remove the SSD from the enclosure and install the SSD in your MBP. Reboot.

Put the hard drive in the enclosure for backup (if it is large enough) or as extra storage.
 
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I did exactly what @justashooter suggested and zero problems on my 2011 MBP. The main advantage of doing it this way is the ability to verify that the drive works before cracking the case.
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

Do either of you know whether it is possible to upgrade to a 2tb drive at all? Feel like i've seen a couple of posts previously with issues regarding upgrading to 2tb although can't see why this would make a difference.
 
ust about any 2.5" SATA SSD will do.
I WOULD NOT spend extra $$$ for "the fastest" SSD -- not worth it.

Go to ifixit.com to see what's involved with the drive swap.
BE SURE TO BUY AND USE THE RIGHT TOOLS (shouting intentional).
Phillips #00 driver
TORX T-6 driver

I would also STRONGLY SUGGEST that you buy this BEFORE you start the job:
tinyurl.com

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

When you get the SSD, you can use the external enclosure to "prep and test" the SSD BEFORE YOU INSTALL IT.
If you do it "my way", and if you encounter a problem, YOU STILL HAVE A WORKING MACBOOK with which to diagnose and correct the trouble.

When you have all the things you need:
a. Put the SSD into the enclosure
b. Use disk utility to format/erase it. You didn't tell us which version of the OS that you're using RIGHT NOW.
c. If it's High Sierra or earlier, erase the SSD to Mac OS extended with journaling enabled, GUID partition format.
If it's Mojave, erase to APFS with GUID partition format.

When the SSD is erased, do this next:
Download CarbonCopyCloner from here:

Download CCC | Bombich Software

www.bombich.com www.bombich.com
CCC is FREE to download and use for 30 days -- doing it my way costs you nothing.

Now, open CCC and "clone" the contents of the internal HHD to the SSD in the enclosure.
This is child's play. NOTHING will be easier.

When the clone is done, it's time to TEST IT to make sure it's good:
1. Reboot
2. IMMEDIATELY hold down the option key and KEEP HOLDING IT DOWN until the startup manager appears.
3. You should now see the SSD as a bootable drive in startup manager
4. Click on the SSD with the pointer and hit return.
5. Do you get "a good boot"? That's what we want.

If you get a good boot, now it's time to power down, disconnect the SSD, take it out of the enclosure, and "do the drive swap".

Once the SSD is inside, BOOT WITH THE OPTION KEY TRICK ONE MORE TIME.
When you are booted and in the finder, open startup disk preference pane and set the SSD to be "the new boot drive".

Now, finally, reboot WITHOUT the option key.
The MBP should boot right to the login screen.

You can put the old drive into the enclosure and use it for extra storage or a backup.
 
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Thanks @Fishrrman that's good to know.

Would you recommend this way over a clean install?

Alternatively, you have any links to clean installs for my model if I decided that may be the way for me?
I'm currently running Mojave 10.14.6 I believe that makes a difference re: Which install I use.
 
danwillis75 said:
Thanks @Fishrrman that's good to know.

Would you recommend this way over a clean install?

Alternatively, you have any links to clean installs for my model if I decided that may be the way for me?
I'm currently running Mojave 10.14.6 I believe that makes a difference re: Which install I use.
Click to expand...
The way that Fishrrman described is pretty quick. I would suggest going the cloning route first--essentially painless. After you put your cloned ssd into your MBP play around with the MBP and see if you like the performance.

If you still think it is sluggish and you'd like to do a clean install, put the original HD back in, re-format the SSD and do a fresh install. Doing the fresh install starts you with a blank slate and you'd need to install all of the apps that you need/like as well as copying the files/documents/photos from the HDD. The fresh start will probably result in a faster sleeker system since you probably won't be installing all of the apps that were on the old HDD.

When I did a fresh install of Mojave on my 13" mid 2012 MBP I used directions from OSXdaily, but I remember having to jump from link to link to get things done. This article seems to have all of the steps laid out-- clean install mojave

Initially I did a clean installation of Catalina on a 500GB Samsung evo 850 but wanted to used some 32 bit apps, so I repurposed an older 250gb samsung SSD (non-evo) and did a fresh install via usb drive of Mojave--the usb install of Mojave seemed to go faster than the wifi install of Catalina.
 
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@clueless88

Thankyou so much. I kind of had second thoughts about the clean install anyway, so I'm going to do exactly what you said and just do a direct transfer first. The only thing that was unsure about was if it would be difficult to then do a clean install if i still wasn't happy with the result, but you have settled that doubt, so thanks again. Wish me luck guys. I'll let you know how i get on.

Sorry, one question I have that hasn't been answered. Does anyone know if I can upgrade to a 2tb SSD?

Thanks.
 
I am old school and am wary of having a large SSD or HD in my machines. I may be imagining things but it seems that when I have 10,000 photos on my internal drive the machine runs slower. I am a big proponent of having a large external drive and a "small" internal drive. I think with the prices here in the US, the 500GB SSDs are in the sweet spot--around $60, plenty of room for the OS and programs/apps. That being said I have a Windows laptop and MBP have 250GB SSDs in them, the windows desktops have 500GB SSDs.

For the price of a 2TB drive you could pick up a 500GB SSD internal drive and a large external spinning HD and have money left over. Or you could get a 500GB internal SSD and a 1TB external SSD for around the same price as a 2TB internal SSD.
 
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No problem installing a 2TB drive. I take the approach of wanting all my storage in a laptop to be internal. Detracts from the portability when you have drives hanging off it. Larger drives can get pricey but I wouldn’t consider installing anything less than 1tb. My photo library is only 10k/40gb so 1tb is more than adequate. Since you’re currently running with 500gb then a 1tb may be the sweet spot.
 
Thanks both.

I think as @glenthompson advised i'm gonna go for the 1tb option. I feel like this will be enough also. At least to keep me going for another few years when I will no doubt trade up for a newer model :)
 
Hi guys,

So I have gone ahead and purchased the Samsung 860 EVO.

However I have another quick question. Someone on Amazon asked the question of whether they can fit it into their MacBook and someone replied saying to make sure TRIM is enabled, else the Mac will gradually slow down over time? Is this correct, as I have no idea even what TRIM is.

thanks

Dan
 
If you are running Mojave, your internal drive should be formatted as APFS, and I believe TRIM is enabled by default with APFS formatted SSD's. You can check this by clicking the Apple logo on menu bar > About this Mac > System report in the window that opened > Clicking SATA/SATA Express and looking under TRIM support for that drive.
 
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Hi guys,
So I have transferred my HDD to SSD now successfully. All seems ok. So I’m going to fit the SSD tomorrow as it took all day to do the transfer. However during the transfer I realised just how much junk I have on my MacBook so am still tempted to do a clean install.

Could I do the following? Transfer all my files (that I want to keep) and apps etc. From my new SSD to an external 1tb Drive that I have, and then do a clean install and then put them all back? Annoying because I probably should have done this in the first place but at least I have my old HDD in case anything goes wrong.
Any tips on the best way to do this would be greatly appreciated.

lastly I have Microsoft office on my MacBook, but when I tried to access Word it asked me for my product key. Is there a way around this? I possibly have it somewhere, just wondered if there was a way of getting it to work as can’t entirely understand why it’s asking for it. I’m guessing it has detected that it is on a new drive somehow.

one final thing that’s concerning me though is that on the clean install guide that was posted earlier in the thread it says about downloading a beta version of Mojave. Presuming it’s an old install guide. I don’t want to pay for Mojave OR download a beta version. Any way around this too?
Thanks for all your help so far.
Dan
 
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As far as the files you want to keep I would just copy them from the original drive. The APPS I believe will have to be migrated using the OS X Migration app (otherwise they may not work??) I've never tried that.

As far as Microsoft Word - Adobe also does that - when you move the program I believe it sees it as a new install and you need the key. I just did this with a friends MBP and when I launched Microsoft Word it asked for a key. She looking for it.

Old install guide. If you are downloading Mojave from Apple it will not be a beta.
 
justashooter said:
As far as the files you want to keep I would just copy them from the original drive. The APPS I believe will have to be migrated using the OS X Migration app (otherwise they may not work??) I've never tried that.

As far as Microsoft Word - Adobe also does that - when you move the program I believe it sees it as a new install and you need the key. I just did this with a friends MBP and when I launched Microsoft Word it asked for a key. She looking for it.

Old install guide. If you are downloading Mojave from Apple it will not be a beta.
Click to expand...
justashooter said:
As far as the files you want to keep I would just copy them from the original drive. The APPS I believe will have to be migrated using the OS X Migration app (otherwise they may not work??) I've never tried that.

As far as Microsoft Word - Adobe also does that - when you move the program I believe it sees it as a new install and you need the key. I just did this with a friends MBP and when I launched Microsoft Word it asked for a key. She looking for it.

Old install guide. If you are downloading Mojave from Apple it will not be a beta.
Click to expand...
Thanks @justashooter that should get me going :)
 
Hi guys, just wanted to say Thankyou for all the advice. SSD all installed and MacBook is working like a dream. Only issue is MS Office is not working as it’s recognised it as a new machine and I have 2011 version which is no longer supported even though I have the product key :( so annoyingly cannot access my documents. Hoping I don’t have to buy new Office but, I’ll see if I can find a way around that. I have asked the question in another thread in “software” where someone has posted a link to a long winded way of doing it, so MAY have to try that unless anyone has any easy fixes.

thanks again, really appreciate all the help you have all given me.

dan
 
justashooter said:
I don't have a fix for Microsoft Word, but I believe you can open Word documents with OpenOffice.

Apache OpenOffice - Official Site - The Free and Open Productivity Suite

The official home page of the Apache OpenOffice open source project, home of OpenOffice Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw and Base.
www.openoffice.org www.openoffice.org
That is what I use but I don't have to share documents, spread sheets with others.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info, but I do need the full office pack for creating new documents also. I get the feeling I’m just going to have to purchase a new product.
 
OP wrote:
"lastly I have Microsoft office on my MacBook, but when I tried to access Word it asked me for my product key. Is there a way around this? I possibly have it somewhere, just wondered if there was a way of getting it to work as can’t entirely understand why it’s asking for it. I’m guessing it has detected that it is on a new drive somehow."

and also wrote:
"Only issue is MS Office is not working as it’s recognised it as a new machine and I have 2011 version which is no longer supported even though I have the product key :( so annoyingly cannot access my documents."

Office 2011 won't work with newer versions of the OS.
I CAN report that Office 2011 DOES WORK on my 2018 Mini running Mojave.

So...
My guess (and it's ONLY "a guess") is that if you are a registered user of Office, you MIGHT be able to call MS tech support and explain.
They MIGHT offer you a replacement key or code to get it working again.
I think the registration key is somehow "tied in" to hardware, and if you "move around" the hardware, things can break.

Then again, they might no longer support the 2011 version of Office on the Mac.

So again...
Unless you want to move up to a newer version of Office, I'd try contacting MS on this...
 
Fishrrman said:
OP wrote:
"lastly I have Microsoft office on my MacBook, but when I tried to access Word it asked me for my product key. Is there a way around this? I possibly have it somewhere, just wondered if there was a way of getting it to work as can’t entirely understand why it’s asking for it. I’m guessing it has detected that it is on a new drive somehow."

and also wrote:
"Only issue is MS Office is not working as it’s recognised it as a new machine and I have 2011 version which is no longer supported even though I have the product key :( so annoyingly cannot access my documents."

Office 2011 won't work with newer versions of the OS.
I CAN report that Office 2011 DOES WORK on my 2018 Mini running Mojave.

So...
My guess (and it's ONLY "a guess") is that if you are a registered user of Office, you MIGHT be able to call MS tech support and explain.
They MIGHT offer you a replacement key or code to get it working again.
I think the registration key is somehow "tied in" to hardware, and if you "move around" the hardware, things can break.

Then again, they might no longer support the 2011 version of Office on the Mac.

So again...
Unless you want to move up to a newer version of Office, I'd try contacting MS on this...
Click to expand...
I’m hoping this will be the case when I contact MS, but I’m dubious to say the least. Worst case scenario they won’t offer me anything, but at least I’ll have tried. I’ll let ya know how I get on. May help people in the future if they have a similar issue :)
 
Hi guys,
I am happy to report that I contacted Microsoft and they did indeed sort out my issue with MS Office and I now have a fully functioning (FAST) Macbook, with full access to all of my MS Office software and files. Couldn’t have asked for a better result than that, so Thankyou all for the help and advice.

Dan
 
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