Hey there community. I'm wanting to know exactly how to upgrade my Mid 2012 MBP to a SSD. What should I buy? How big can I go? I'm finding differing answers. What else am I going to need? I'd like to bootcamp the SSD and triple boot with OSX/Windows/Ubuntu.
Please help me with this endeavor.
MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.14
If you intend to buy from OWC, the best way to do it is to buy their kit. It includes an external enclosure and the little tools. put the new SSD into the enclosure, plug it into the MBP, format it, partition if desired, and then clone your current system to it using Carbon Copy Cloner. When finished, test it to make sure it is bootable. Then uninstall your current hard drive and install the new SSD. While you have it open, think about upgrading RAM. When done with that, simply boot up - you are ready to go. You can install the old hard drive in the external enclosure for an extra backup. And yes, do the cable too. Works like a charm, did this on my 2012 MBP. Here are the install instructions
https://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/
If you intend to buy from OWC, the best way to do it is to buy their kit. It includes an external enclosure and the little tools. put the new SSD into the enclosure, plug it into the MBP, format it, partition if desired, and then clone your current system to it using Carbon Copy Cloner. When finished, test it to make sure it is bootable. Then uninstall your current hard drive and install the new SSD. While you have it open, think about upgrading RAM. When done with that, simply boot up - you are ready to go. You can install the old hard drive in the external enclosure for an extra backup. And yes, do the cable too. Works like a charm, did this on my 2012 MBP. Here are the install instructions
https://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/
Visit OWC to see what's available for your model, prices, tools, and tutorials.
To triple boot requires at least 60GBs for macOS and Windows, and at least another 50GBs for Linux. That suggests you need at least a 256GB SSD. I would suggest getting a 512GB SSD or larger if you wish to triple-boot operating systems.
If this is the non-Retina model, then the Crucial MX500 series is also a good choice. Stay clear of the Crucial BX500 series as that is a very basic budget model which can be extremely slow when writing large amounts of data (such as installing an OS). I've never had a problem running the Crucial MX series on any our Macs.
You may want to replace the hard drive cable especially if you have the 13" model since it is known to have an extremely high failure rate especially when using an SSD.
As for other brands of SSD, I would recommend staying with well known respected brands. Some Samsung SSD models are known to have compatibility issues with Macs so do your homework first.
Another consideration when purchasing an SSD is whether the manufacturer provides a platform independent firmware updater. Many manufacturers provide only a Windows firmware updater. Other brands may provide a platform independent updater, but hide any references to it (SanDisk). Another reason I like Crucial is they provide the platform independent firmware updater and they provide a list of changes/fixes with the new firmware.
One respected source of both the hardware and information: https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/macbook-pro
Upgrade to SSD on my own
