remove ssd drive macbook pro 2012 retina

#REMOVE SSD DRIVE MACBOOK PRO 2012 RETINA INSTALL#
#REMOVE SSD DRIVE MACBOOK PRO 2012 RETINA UPGRADE#

Choose the OS X 10.10 installer and boot your computer.

This should bring up a list of bootable drives (now you can release the Option key), which in your case will likely be one (unless of course you placed your old drive in the optical bay).

Hold down the Option key then press and release the power button (while still holding the Option key).

With your computer powered down, insert the USB drive into an available USB port.

#REMOVE SSD DRIVE MACBOOK PRO 2012 RETINA INSTALL#

Head over to Ars Technica and read Andrew Cunningham’s Guide to making a bootable OS X 10.10 Yosemite USB install Drive.

Installing OS X 10.10 Yosemite to your new Solid State DriveĪfter you’ve successfully upgraded your machine you’ll be left with a blank Solid State Drive, so now it’s time to install OS X:

Keep your new solid state drive healthy and running blazing fast by enabling TRIM support.

Pop the lowercase back onto the unibody and secure it with the 10 screws.

Install the drive caddy Adapter in the optical bay.

Install the old drive or a newer larger hard disk drive in the drive caddy adapter.

Remove the 10 screws holding lower case to the bottom of your computer, pop off the case.

#REMOVE SSD DRIVE MACBOOK PRO 2012 RETINA UPGRADE#

The hardware upgrade is straight forward, but if you’ve never done something like this before, move slowly, track your screws, and be careful not to damage any of the delicate ribbon cables inside your computer.Ī Step-by-Step Guide to What I Did on the Video: One size fits most 13″ 15″ 17″ MacBook and MacBook Pros.Ī Larger Secondary Hard Disk Drive (You can use your original HDD) Hard Disk Drive Caddy Adapter for Unibody MacBook and MacBook Pro I’ve installed over a hundred crucial drives and not one has failed yet. It includes the T6 and #0 bits, and so much more. I suggest the Boxer 30 piece Precision Screwdriver Set. Torx T6 screwdriver & Philips #0 screwdriver

So, let’s get started… Tools You Will need Fortunately for you, I documented the process. More specifically, the answer was to upgrade my mid-2012 MacBook Pro and hold off on making the jump to Retina display for another few years.įortunately for me, with the right know-how, this isn’t too difficult, and it will end up saving me about $3,000 in the end. I asked myself this only recently, and the answer was yes. Or, the better question, is there a way to spend a fraction of that and be just as satisfied with your purchase? With a price tag like that, you should step back and ask yourself if there is a better way to spend your money. I just used my iMac as an example to make the above images.To get your hands on a decked-out MacBook Pro with Retina display, you’re looking at spending $3,600+.

Note: I do know that 2011 iMac's can accommodate an internal SSD without removing the existing HDD or optical drive. Here the Link Speed is 6 Gigabit, so a SDD replacement would be able to operate at its maximum transfer rate. My 2011 iMac shows the following for the HDD drive. So, it would be worth the money to replace my optical drive with a HDD but not a SSD. Anything less will often still work, but the drive will not be able to transfer date at its maximum speed. HDD's require at least 3 Gigabit and SSD's require 6 Gigabit to operate at their maximum transfer rate. What is important is the Link Speed of 3 Gigabit which is the maximum for the controller. Negotiated Link Speed is 1.5 Gigabit which is normal since most optical drives transfer data at less than this speed. For example, my 2011 iMac shows the following for the optical drive. This can be view using the System Information application.

The first question to answer would be the link speed capabilities between the controller and the optical drive.

Remove ssd drive macbook pro 2012 retina