Upgrade option for Mid-2012 Macbook Pro Retina SSD

[New2AppleMac]

I have this awesome laptop that has been running very well since initial purchase and need to upgrade its 256GB SSD. Are there SSD options available other than Apple and OWC?
Secondly, which external enclosure is suitable for the Apple SSD once it is out of the system?

 

[ruslan120]

Check out this thread. You can install almost any NVMe SSD using a specific adapter (in the thread and video below). The thread/video also list tested drives.

Video Guide:

 

[New2AppleMac]

Check out this thread. You can install almost any NVMe SSD using a specific adapter (in the thread and video below). The thread/video also list tested drives.

Video Guide:

Thank you for sharing an excellent thread about SSD upgrades. The video starts out with talking about late 2013 MBP and shows a NVME SSD. The Amazon links for the connector are also for 2013-2015 MBP.
My query is about Mid-2012 MBP Retina which according to this article uses SATA M.2 AHCI SSD and suggests using the same. I'm confused because the message above seems to contradict the linked thread.
Will appreciate some clarification.
* MacBook Air from Late 2010 to Mid 2012 (MacBookAir 3,1 to MacBookAir5,2)
* MacBook Pro Retina from mid 2012 to early 2013 (MacBookPro10,1 to MacBookPro11,2)
These two models above come with a M.2 AHCI SATA SSD and use a SATA interface. [SNIP]

You can upgrade the storage of those models with any SATA M.2 AHCI SSDs - e.g Crucial MX500 sata M.2 - and M.2 to Apple 6+12 adapters. Transcend and OWC also sell upgrades.

 

[Anarchy99]

there is a ssd upgrade you can do
similar to that one above sintech also offers a mSATA to 2012 rMBP

with it you can then install any mSATA drive.
mSATA drives are harder to find than nVME nowadays but still doable

i shucked the samsung T5 #MU-PA2T0B/AM because it was the only way too get a 2tb mSata, totally worth it.

which reminds me if you have issues finding mSATA drive both the samsung T5 externals as well as the older T3 externals use mSATA so you may be able to find one cheaper than a bare drive.

 

[ruslan120]

No problem! And apologies if the linked video was misleading, I included it to highlight the installation procedure.

I also misspoke with regards to the drive, NVMe is incompatible (apologies, first time encountering 2012 Retina MBP SSD Upgrades, had assumed since the port is similar it would be the same :/ )

To clarify, any mSATA drive (which looks like NVMe, albeit mSATA has an additional notch) will work.

“These two models above come with a M.2 AHCI SATA SSD and use a SATA interface. They are definitely not compatible with M.2 PCIe SSD. The PCIe M.2 format looks very similar to the SATA M.2 format but it won't work.

You can upgrade the storage of those models with any SATA M.2 AHCI SSDs - e.g Crucial MX500 sata M.2 - and M.2 to Apple 6+12 adapters. Transcend and OWC also sell upgrades”

QNINE SSD Adapter Card for 2012 Macbook Air and Pro Retina, HDD Hard Disk Drive Converter to 2.5 SATA Support 2012 Year Model A1465 A1466 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M16MF9Z/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_IglzDbM526AY5

^ Thats the first adapter I found, there might be ones with better reviews out there.

Hope this was helpful.

 

[Macdctr]

I found this adapter that will work with the 2012-Early 2013 MacBook Pro Retinas although I have not yet used them.

Sintech M.2(NGFF) SATA Card,for Upgrade 2012-Early 2013 MacBook PRO Retina SSD 701017253662 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Sintech M.2(NGFF) SATA Card,for Upgrade 2012-Early 2013 MacBook PRO Retina SSD at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

It's a Sintech M.2(NGFF) SATA Card upgrade for 2012-Early 2013 MacBook PRO Retina SSD. This card should work with a SAMSUNG 860 EVO Series M.2 2280 1TB SATA

SAMSUNG 860 EVO Series M.2 2280 1TB SATA III V-NAND 3-bit MLC Internal Solid Sta 887276246710 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for SAMSUNG 860 EVO Series M.2 2280 1TB SATA III V-NAND 3-bit MLC Internal Solid Sta at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

I am picking up a used Early 2013 15 inch MBP soon and plan to get this adapter and storage drive once I have the laptop in my hands. I will report the results once I have everything.

 

[makra]

I found this adapter that will work with the 2012-Early 2013 MacBook Pro Retinas although I have not yet used them.

Sintech M.2(NGFF) SATA Card,for Upgrade 2012-Early 2013 MacBook PRO Retina SSD 701017253662 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Sintech M.2(NGFF) SATA Card,for Upgrade 2012-Early 2013 MacBook PRO Retina SSD at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

It's a Sintech M.2(NGFF) SATA Card upgrade for 2012-Early 2013 MacBook PRO Retina SSD. This card should work with a SAMSUNG 860 EVO Series M.2 2280 1TB SATA

SAMSUNG 860 EVO Series M.2 2280 1TB SATA III V-NAND 3-bit MLC Internal Solid Sta 887276246710 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for SAMSUNG 860 EVO Series M.2 2280 1TB SATA III V-NAND 3-bit MLC Internal Solid Sta at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

I am picking up a used Early 2013 15 inch MBP soon and plan to get this adapter and storage drive once I have the laptop in my hands. I will report the results once I have everything.

Did you succeed in the end? I'm trying to upgrade an A1425 MBP10,2 (13") with a 1TB Samsung 980. I got hold of a cheap adapter, but the MBP neither recognizes the Samsung nor a Crucial P1. Any hints, which adapter would work?

 

[Macdctr]

Did you succeed in the end? I'm trying to upgrade an A1398 MBP10,2 (13") with a 1TB Samsung 980. I got hold of a cheap adapter, but the MBP neither recognizes the Samsung nor a Crucial P1. Any hints, which adapter would work?

I'm not sure if the 980 series storage drive is compatible with MBP 10,2. As for the adapter card, I stayed with the short Sintech adapter.

 

[Diablo360]

I would just go with oem Apple/Samsung. They should be pretty cheap by now if you check on ebay

 

[makra]

I would just go with oem Apple/Samsung. They should be pretty cheap by now if you check on ebay

Ok, I've ordered one more adapter. If that doesn't work, I'll sell the 980 and buy OEM... Thanks.

 

[Macdctr]

I would just go with oem Apple/Samsung. They should be pretty cheap by now if you check on ebay

If you're looking to get more of a performance boost then going with OEM Apple storage drives is not the answer. Yes for compatibility reasons you can go this route but you'll be limited with slower drive performance somewhere in the 400mb/sec range for read and write speeds. With NVMe M.2 storage drives, depending on the brand/model of storage drive, you can far exceed Apple's drive speeds by seeing as much as 1200/1400 mb/sec read write speeds... this is what I am seeing on my Early 2015 AIR and 13-inch Pro laptops using Samsung 970 EVO/PRO NVMe storage drives.

 

[Macdctr]

Ok, I've ordered one more adapter. If that doesn't work, I'll sell the 980 and buy OEM... Thanks.

Before ordering any storage drives to replace your 980, I suggest you go to this thread and review it carefully to see what drives would be compatible with your laptop...

Upgrading 2013/2014 Macbook Pro SSD to M.2 NVMe

This thread is about upgrading MacBook Airs & Macbook Pros (2013-2015) with new high speed and/or high capacity NVMe SSDs. This thread was one of the first to talk about MacBook Pro NVMe SSD upgrades on Macrumors, and was started by user "maxthackray", which we can thank and give tribute for...

forums.macrumors.com

In the thread I linked above it tells you what is compatible with NVMe storage drives like the Samsung 980 series storage drives...

This is why I always recommend doing some research, especially when the information have been posted like in the above link...

 

[makra]

Thanks so much! I had searched quite a bit, but hadn't fount anything. I wasn't aware of those differences though. So now I know, what to look for. I would like to do the upgrade because my MBP only has a 128GB-drive. That's just not enough for me...

 

[Macdctr]

Thanks so much! I had searched quite a bit, but hadn't fount anything. I wasn't aware of those differences though. So now I know, what to look for. I would like to do the upgrade because my MBP only has a 128GB-drive. That's just not enough for me...

Looks like your MBP (2012) is limited to SATA drives which is what I'm using in my Early 2013 15-inch MBP. The one I got is a Samsung SSD 860 EVO M.2 1TB SATA drive and it works perfectly in my Mac. Read speeds using this drive is around 500 mb/sec and write speed is around 475 mb/sec. That's about the best you will get with your 2012 MBP in drive performance. Unless you upgrade your laptop to a 2013/2014/2015, you won't see faster drive performance as the newer laptop supports PCIe NVMe M.2 storage drives. There are discussions as to what is the best storage drive to use on these computers vs performance and/or battery life. I tend to favor performance over battery life (hence Samsung drives) because I'm never too far away from a receptacle to charge my Mac if I need to. If you have any question feel free to message me.

 

[makra]

Looks like your MBP (2012) is limited to SATA drives which is what I'm using in my Early 2013 15-inch MBP. The one I got is a Samsung SSD 860 EVO M.2 1TB SATA drive and it works perfectly in my Mac. Read speeds using this drive is around 500 mb/sec and write speed is around 475 mb/sec. That's about the best you will get with your 2012 MBP in drive performance. Unless you upgrade your laptop to a 2013/2014/2015, you won't see faster drive performance as the newer laptop supports PCIe NVMe M.2 storage drives. There are discussions as to what is the best storage drive to use on these computers vs performance and/or battery life. I tend to favor performance over battery life (hence Samsung drives) because I'm never too far away from a receptacle to charge my Mac if I need to. If you have any question feel free to message me.

Before you answered I had already bought a Samsung SSD 860 EVO M.2 1TB on eBay - based on the information you gave me, that seemed a good choice. And yes: Performance is more important - I use another MB when traveling.

 

[jjbond]

I purchased the MCE 2TB kit that includes an adapter and a bare T5 drive on their board. I put this into my early 2013 MBP almost 2 years ago and have not had a single bit of problem, highly recommended. I'm running it with Bootcamp as well as VMWare Fuzion and Catalina and LOVE IT!!!

Jen

MCE Technologies 2TB Internal SSD Flash Upgrade for 13" and 15" MacBook Pro Retina (Mid 2012 - Early 2013) - Includes Installation Kit!

Your MacBook Pro 13" or 15" with Retina Display (Mid 2012 - Early 2013) is a high performance machine requiring the very highest performance flash drives available today. The MCE 2TB Internal Flash Storage Upgrade Solution for the Mid 2012, Late 2012, and Early 2013 MacBook Pros with Retina D...

www.amazon.com

 

[makra]

Thanks again for your help. The cheapest adapter, I could get, and a Samsung SSD 860 EVO M.2 1TB do the job.

 

[coolrunningsmelb]

Thanks again for your help. The cheapest adapter, I could get, and a Samsung SSD 860 EVO M.2 1TB do the job.

I assume the 860 is SATA? I bought a 970 EVO Plus NVMe and I'm a bit screwed. Is that right, that there is no adapter in existence that can solve the compatibility problem between NVMe and SATA in the Early 2013 MacBook Pro?

 

[makra]

I assume the 860 is SATA? I bought a 970 EVO Plus NVMe and I'm a bit screwed. Is that right, that there is no adapter in existence that can solve the compatibility problem between NVMe and SATA in the Early 2013 MacBook Pro?

Yes, that's right. Those early Retina MacBooks don't support NVMe/PCIe. You'd have to get hold of a SATA drive.