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Hi,
I was wondering if I can replace my 256 GB SSD in 2012 retina MBP with a Samsung 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD512?
http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/memor...
Regards,
Dax
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Check out OWC's product here: OWC SSD Upgrades for 13" & 15" MacBook Pro Retina models as one option, other options are available from other sources.
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Actually you can use standard mSATA SSDs. Just search on e*ay for your MacBook model number and msata adapter. You'll also need a Pentalobe screwdriver and Torx T5. Adapter and screwdrivers cost me 15$ incl. shipping. Installation is very easy, just be careful not to damage the logic board. Also check that the small magnets that hold the cover don't stick to the cover. All four of them have to sit in their position next to the logic board. Be patient when you try to put them back there :). I also recommend cleaning out the fans (mine were pretty dusty after ~2.5 years).
I used a Samsung 840 evo mSATA 1TB as replacement. Some pics:
Original SSD
Adapter, mSATA and Apple SSD
Adapter installed
Samsung SSD installed
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While I commend your efforts in making it work. You do realize the mSATA I/O speed is much slower than the M.2 device I/O speed (from a specs perspective). I would recommend you do some benchmarking between the two to see the difference.
Thanks for your suggestion. Do you know if the 2012 MacBook Retina supports SATA Express? Otherwise an M.2 SSD would still use SATA and thus limit performance.
As far as I know its a SATA III over M.2 as SATA Express standard came out after this model was released. Apple then went to PCIe over M.2 as the interface on the newer models.
If you can get the OWC or Transcend disks they're a good choice. Unfortunately it's difficult to purchase them where I live so it was easier to order the adapter and screwdriver from China and get the SSD at a local reseller. Also OWC and Transcend are more expensive than mSATA SSD + adapter.
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@danj You seem very determined to push the OWC and Jetdrive products, and mentioned the Lacie, which are all very expensive products for the job that they do. Now it just might be my suspicious mind, but it feels a little less like giving advice and more that you are attempting to make a sale, earn a client?
I don't have the expertise that you probably have, and I'm not alluding to, however I have been looking into this type of upgrade for my A1425 Macbook Pro Retina, and can say, after reasearching this solution for about 6 months now, this is the first time I have ever heard of anyone saying that the OWC drives are faster than an 850 evo, which, as far as I can tell from the boards around the place, seems to be the most popular choice to do this upgrade through the use of an adaptor.
I think you may also be confused about the connector type on the late 2012 model. It is a sata interface, not m2, because m2 is not an interface type but more of a size standard as you can m2 sata drives or pcie I think (can't be bothered looking it up). Anyway, my point is, the OWC drives have a 3 year guarantee on them, the same as the evo's (and less than the pros), I find it suprising that you seem to think that an 850 evo will corrupt after reaching 75% capacity. If that was the case, wouldn't there be more than just your say so plastered all over the web?
The problem is that there is no clear write up "this is how you do it" if you wanted to utilise anything other than OWC. Full credit to them for putting in the hard yards and getting a product to market that encouraged others to enter, drove down prices and spawned a new little movement. Perhaps there is and I just haven't seen it.
@Damirperisa , I have just ordered an mSata vesion of the 850 evo, along with an adaptor for my retina, should be here during the week and will let you know how it goes. I really wanted to get the 2tb solutions, but couldn't stretch the budget
Sorry, forgot to update this. I updated using an 850 evo 1 tb drive from Samsung, trim enabled, from here https://www.mwave.com.au/product/samsung.... Ordered an adaptor on eBay. Put it together quite simply, I'm no computer expert nor builder, and it has been working a dream for the last few months. No issues. Speed is much better. But wish I had a 4 tb drive!! I can't vouch for the other products here, nor to their drawbacks, but I'm glad I went down the path of the evo.
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Flavasava73 - NOPE! I'm not a salesman and I don't get anything from anyone!
If there are other cheaper sources you know of for the needed product/part I'm all ears! I do support people/companies who make good products and stand behind them.
<P2> Where did you see me state the OWC blade drive was faster than the Samsung blade drive (custom Apple) ?? I've never stated that!
What I did say was the OWC specs 560MB/s Read and 460MB/s Write was a bit better than the Samsung 840 EVO mSATA 540MB/s Read and 520MB/s Write from a specs perspective.
<P3> Apple uses a custom physical interface. Over the course of time Apple has used a few different PHY interfaces as well as SIG interface, so it's not so cut and dry. It depends on the age of the system what is the right answer. You may want to re-read things here keeping in mind a few different models were spoken about so it's a bit muddy.
Now lets get to the chase of the matter here:
I assume you're looking at the mSATA adapter setup Dan2H above used to use a mSATA blade drive within his Retina system. The issue we had was someone put it into a newer system 2014 and it was a mess! So while it can work in a 2012 or early 2013 system please don't use it in the newer models.
I did mis-speak on my comment to Damir Perisa which was a mistake on my part. Sorry I'm Human! I err once and awhile. And, yes the 2012 is a SATA signaling over a custom Apple PHY interface. I've corrected my error in the text.
My recommendation to use the OWC solution over using an mSATA adapter with any mSATA drive still is better. And, don't use it in anything newer than 2012/13 series as it won't offer the performance the native PCIe offers.
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I fitted a Samsung EVO 860 mSATA using the adapter mentioned in some of the comments here. Thanks for all the information, I will be upgrading my own 2012 Retina to a 1TB Samsung EVO 860 mSATA soon.
Here are some pictures of Blackmagic Disk Speed Test from the old and new SSD.
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Please share update of your results of this effort. Thank you.
Hi, thanks for share this captures, please can you tell me if you need update the SSD's firmware after install the SO ? thank you!
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You cannot put this in your MacBook Pro . This Samsung SSD is for normal Laptop . Retina parts are totally different . CHeck out the SSD in your MacBook Pro Retina last step 6:
MacBook Pro 15" Retina Display Mid 2012 SSD Replacement
you have to go to apple for SSD upgrade . Apple SSD upgrade is too much costly. that will cost around new Retina laptop.
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Hey folks,
Just wanted to say that I did exactly what @dan2h advised and I managed to replace my SSD in my mid-2012 MacBook Pro 15' Retina with a Samsung 850 EVO mSATA. It works fine.
Basically you just order the Samsung SSD, then you buy this adapter and follow the instructions in this video. Don't forget to get the special screwdrivers, P5 and T5; I used this one because it was half price.
The key point here is that Apple charges £490 to replace the SSD for my particular model (alternatively the OWC and Jetdrive custom-built SSDs are priced in the same range), but I fixed it myself for ~£150.
Thanks to everyone whose online footprints I've followed. Hope this helps someone in the future.
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@aolt123 - Happy it all worked out! Just keep in mind the newer PCIe based systems can’t support the mSATA SSD’s
The link to the adapter is not functional. Please share the adapter make/model. Thank you.
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Coming from someone that has a mSata Conversion to Apple Adapter and a Samsung Pro 950 1tb in my Mid2012 Retina Pro, I can tell you anyone that says msata will be slower has no idea wtf their talking about. I know this thread is old, but I get 550 read 530 write. Up from the 450/400 I had with the stock drive. Stop pushing OWC and Transcend. And stop misleading people. I am a Mac Repair tech and I can tell you, the Interface on the board according to the Board Diagram is a simple proprietary sata connector and nothing more. Sata III @ 6.0 Gbps. This changed in mid 2013 to a PCIe. but still a modified connector proprietary to Apple.
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Stephen.
Can you please post up links to options dude? I have a MBP 2012 retina and desperately need to up grade the 256 ssd as I keep running out of space and that is just use of apps and OS. I don't want to have to fork out the ludicrous sums of money for OWC or Transcend but could defo do with a 1TB drive upgrade. Thank you in advance man.
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Used a Samsung 850 EVO M.2 ssd with this GREEN adapter (M.2 NGFF M Key SSD to A1398 A1425 Adapter for Notebook Pro Retina 2012 ) from Amazon. https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07Q26MNHC?ref_...
Worked perfectly with 0 issues. Originally ordered a SINTECH adapter (black adapter) but it didn’t support a 2280 and was quite clearly badly designed to allow anything bigger than a 2260.
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will a SAMSUNG 860 EVO MZ-M6E1T0BW work with the msata adapter?
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Yes, I fitted that mSATA to a customers retina MacBook Pro 2012 15” last week with the adapter.
I have a MacBook Pro Retina (10,1) mid 2012 A1398 EMC2512. Which Samsung 1TB drive will be compatible with this model and what else will I need to connect it?
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This thread is a yar old.
I have a mid 2012 Retina Macbook with 256 Gb and I want more.
Options:
1. Adapter mSata +mSATA SSD from eBay, like dan2h sugested.
2. The original mac Interface is custom, or the m.2 new SSD will fit perfectly as an upgrade?
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Here's what you want: OWC - MacBook Pro with Retina 13" & 15" 2012 — Early 2013 SSD Upgrades
While Apple's SSD's look like M.2 SSD's they are not physically compatible. Using a mSATA SSD via an adapter will be very slow.
I would go with the OWC solution.
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dan2h, did you do some benchmarks with your mSATA ssd via addapter?
i am considering upgrading my retina 2012 and while jetdrive 725 and owc are an option, they are more expensive for the speed and capacity they offer and are also not future-proof (when 2tb drives will come out).
i am thinking to get a m.2 to apple addapter and a samsung 850 or a intel 600p or 5400s M.2 drive. anyone did this? what M2 drives are compatible to be used in the apple retina 2012 via such an addapter and with what speeds?
from what i understand, the addapter is just a physical adjustment and the controler of the apple mainboard will deal with the drive how it can (sata 6gb/s for the retina 2012 i think)
feedback and input from any side welcome
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Your system (2012) uses a custom SSD (PHY) interface which uses a SATA dialog (SIG). You'll need either: Transcend JetDrive or OWC Aura SSD. Sorry you can't use any current M.2 SSD's in your system.
Or, instead I would get an external Thunderbolt SSD drive. The two I recommend is the Transcend StoreJet 500 Portable SSD or Lacie Rugged Thunderbolt SSD. That way you are future proofed and get equal performance in what your internal SSD offers and a lot more storage.
Thunderbolt offers about 3.1 Tb/s (385 MB) of throughput! Of course the limit of the drive at the other end is the true limit.
The transcent storenet 500 with 1 tb inside is even more expensive then 1tb internal apple-ssd. Wow, thunderbolt product making companies fix their prices quite well, it seems. :(
I've had two of these kludge setups show up and in both cases we pulled the setup and went back to the original Apple SSD in one system and used the OWC in the other, as the owner wanted more storage.
While it appears to work they run much slower, mSATA (6.0 Gb/s or 0.75 MB) not PCIe x2 (15 Gb/s or 1.9 MB) or PCIe x4 (30 Gb/s or 3.75 MB) which is possible in the 2015 model. As you fill the drive it messes up. We noted when it was better than 75% full it would corrupt. I would stay away from using this in the 2015 models for sure.
Thank you for your insights and reply.
The >75% corruption sounds very strange. It cannot be because of bus addapters, but rather the controller of the drive/fake/bad ssd.
I already have external storage but the idea is to upgrade the internal one for more fast capacity on the go. I do lots of photography stuff and with 16 gb ram and the great display, this is the best machine to go for now.
Today i checked some drives and found that with the m2 to apple-ssd addapter, i can only put 2260 m2 ssds in the retina 2012, because the addapter cards are 22 mm by 60 mm sized (and letting the back part flap around is no option). So this addapter is of no use - maybe another...
The most probable is the jetdrive 725 or owc 960gb solutions, since they are fast and big enough. I am still not happy with it as they cost 30% more and are not upgradeable easy for later ... The problem stays not being able to use normal ssd standards (which is an apple disease anyway).
We've been using two of the Lacie units as our data drive and leaving the internal SSD drive for apps and free space for the apps we use (virtual RAM & paging). We need to start looking at options as our base solution (older MacBook Pro's) is getting long in the tooth.
Hi guys,
I hope somebody will answer, I got a Samsung 860 EVO mSATA and the adaptor, the problem is that the MBP 15” Retina 2012 doesn’t recognize the SSD, when I go to recovery mode and use Disk Utility I cannot find the SSD.
Is it because the SSD is not formatted and for some reasons it cannot be recognized?
I read on some websites that I should change the SSD cable for some compatibility issues, but none of you ever said anything so I don’t think it’s the issue here, any idea?
EDIT:
I tried to boot from a windows USB, even there I cannot see the SSD.
I have no way to try the 860 EVO to see if it’s faulty, the adaptor seems the right one as it’s written on it that is for the MBP 15 retina with all the models written…
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Make sure it's inserted all the way and I used a USB MacOS key to boot from to use the disk utility. Also, I am using Mojave and not something older (although mSATA should be supported IMO).
Lastly, this for you to post your SOLUTIONS and not your problem. You should start a new thread to get help to your issue.
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FYIW I cannot recommend the OWC Aurua Pro X, at least not in the 2013 rMBP. See this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/822...
Seems it is a known issue by OWC. I have had to return my drive and go back to my original Apple SSD due to frequent kernel panics & high CPU usage.
by Gerry