So I have been reading about changing to an SSD from the HDD on my late 2011, 13 inch, MacBook Pro (A1278). I have found a Samsung 860 EVO 500GB SSD on Amazon.
Will this SSD be okay in my MBP? If not what other recommendations are there?
I’ve also read that the SATA cable can be on its way out so was thinking of replacing this too at the same time. Are there any suggestions for the best replacement cable?
All help is appreciated. Thank you.
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.13
Samsung used to the the gold standard for SSD upgrades but that seems to have changed. We see more issues than before with them. On the other hand, we see very few issues posted about Crucial and OWC SSDs used in Macs. I have an OWC 500GB in my 2012 MBP-13. It made the computer a pleasure to use again.
The other factor is support. Even if you buy directly from Samsung, you will find their support slow and not very helpful. It can take days to still not have a viable solution.
On the other hand, every question I've asked OWC over the last 15 years received a useful response in 24 hours of less.
This is the OWC SSD page for your model. The "Pro" Model has a longer warranty: https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/macbook-pro/2011
Two things:
1) Your MBP was the first to have a 6GB/sec SATA drive bus. Buying a 3GB/sec drive will leave a lot of performance on the table. Go for the 6
2) When servicing or changing drives in 2009-2012 MacBook Pros, best practice is to change the drive CABLE at the same time. The cable is, in fact, a thin flexible printed circuit board that suffers a circuitous routing over sharp edges on the chassis. After 3-5 years of the vibration of normal use and transport, the cable's insulation can chafe and expose the traces. Symptoms of a worn cable can mimic symptoms of a failing hard drive.
The cable is cheap (~US$18); available (here); and easy to change, especaily when you are changing the drive anyway.
EDIT: Just noticed you quoted prices in Pounds. Did you check with OWC resellers in the UK?
https://www.owcdigital.com/reseller/resellers#reseller
If you can get the Crucial cheaper, that's fine with me. I don't think Crucial have the cable but Amazon does. However the AMAZ cable prices vary. I would not pay over about £14 for a cable.
Samsung used to the the gold standard for SSD upgrades but that seems to have changed. We see more issues than before with them. On the other hand, we see very few issues posted about Crucial and OWC SSDs used in Macs. I have an OWC 500GB in my 2012 MBP-13. It made the computer a pleasure to use again.
The other factor is support. Even if you buy directly from Samsung, you will find their support slow and not very helpful. It can take days to still not have a viable solution.
On the other hand, every question I've asked OWC over the last 15 years received a useful response in 24 hours of less.
This is the OWC SSD page for your model. The "Pro" Model has a longer warranty: https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/macbook-pro/2011
Two things:
1) Your MBP was the first to have a 6GB/sec SATA drive bus. Buying a 3GB/sec drive will leave a lot of performance on the table. Go for the 6
2) When servicing or changing drives in 2009-2012 MacBook Pros, best practice is to change the drive CABLE at the same time. The cable is, in fact, a thin flexible printed circuit board that suffers a circuitous routing over sharp edges on the chassis. After 3-5 years of the vibration of normal use and transport, the cable's insulation can chafe and expose the traces. Symptoms of a worn cable can mimic symptoms of a failing hard drive.
The cable is cheap (~US$18); available (here); and easy to change, especaily when you are changing the drive anyway.
EDIT: Just noticed you quoted prices in Pounds. Did you check with OWC resellers in the UK?
https://www.owcdigital.com/reseller/resellers#reseller
If you can get the Crucial cheaper, that's fine with me. I don't think Crucial have the cable but Amazon does. However the AMAZ cable prices vary. I would not pay over about £14 for a cable.
May I suggest that you DO NOT buy your upgrade off of AMAZON and go to https://www.owcdigital.com
I have used them for several upgrades over the years and I find that their support and ability to answer all questions is far worth the few dollars you may save by searching AMAZON. They are top notch in all they do.
Which of the OWC range would you recommend? From what I can see the Samsung and Crucial SSD’s are around £52, but the OWC ones are considerably higher.
I am not looking to spend stupid money on an SSD, as I wouldn’t benefit from it. Just want it to perform a bit better than it does currently.
Thank you for your help. Got a crucial SSD on its way, will order a cable. I have also got a USB to SATA cable. What is the best process to transfer all of the data from my HDD to the SSD. I thought it was just a case of plugging it in and formatting it from the HDD, but I’m getting confused by reading about cloning software or time machine backup being needed.
Will my data be lost if I just format it from the HDD.
First time doing something like this, so want to make sure I do it right and don’t lose any data or mess the swap up.
SSD in late 2011 MBP.
