How To Install A Crucial Ssd In A Mac Computer

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In 2022 I wrote this post about installing an SSD drive. Back and so SSD drives were expensive and the whole process I described was a scrap complicated. Now SSD drives have dropped dramatically in price and you lot can just replace your existing drive with an SSD one. I can't think of whatsoever reason why you should non exist using 1. All MacBooks now come up standard with an SSD drive. If yous accept an older one that you'd like to upgrade y'all should be able to take your Macintosh estimator to a local dealer and have them install an SSD bulldoze. Otherwise you lot can have a get at installing 1 yourself.

Traditional hard drives have a spinning disk inside. There is also a 'caput' that moves beyond the spinning disk to read the data (similar an erstwhile tape player). There are two problems with then many moving parts: (1) it slows everything down, and (2) eventually one of these parts volition seize up or pause and the drive will fail.

SSD drives do not have any moving parts. They shop data on a scrap rather than on a spinning disk. It'south like having a very very fast very very big thumb drive.

What'southward the best SSD bulldoze for an Apple computer?

If y'all accept a macbook or a Mac Mini what yous need is 2.5″ SATA Bulldoze. It will look something similar this:

There are many brands available. Toshiba, OWC, Crucial, Samsung, Transcend, Sandisk. Technically whatever SSD drive will work on a Macintosh computer. So whatever of the above brands should work. You will need to format them to Macintosh format using the Macintosh Bone X disk utility.

But… there have been problems in the past when Apple tree changed the way it did things (with TRIM) that meant some SSD drives did not work for a while. This has all been fixed up now, but back then it was the Crucial and OWC drives that kept working when other's stopped working. So even though any SSD drive will work at the moment, I would recommend sticking with a Crucial or OWC drive. Crucial and OWC work hard at retaining compatibility with Apple computers.

Crucial make a drive chosen the MX300 and OWC make a serial of drives called Mercury.

How to do it:

i. Work out what size bulldoze you need.

Click on your Apple card on the top left of your desktop and select 'Nearly This Mac'. Go to the tab that says 'Storage' and y'all will see a window that looks like this:

This tells me (on the left) that my current difficult drive is 1 TB. (It says 'Solid Country SATA' because I have just recently upgraded to a 1TB SSD drive.)

The graph adjacent to the difficult bulldoze shows me that my hard drive is approximately half full. This ways I'd demand a 1TB drive. A 500GB drive will be too small. Generally y'all can merely go a drive the same size as the i you already have, but if your drive is actually total with not much costless space information technology might be worth going to a bigger size.

ii. Where to order an SSD.

The first place I would recommend is OWC, their website is macsales.com. Back when there were problems with TRIM back up information technology was OWC who came out and helped Apple readers with some information. (See this article) They have a few models. I'd go for the best, the OWC Mercury Pro 6G bulldoze, merely because installation procedure is non elementary and so it's worth getting the most reliable drive you can.

Brand sure y'all click on the green 'pro' tab to become the Mercury 'Pro' 6G bulldoze. I am an affiliate of Macsales so I get a committee if yous use these links. Just click hither and you will be asked what mac you accept, follow the prompts.

The second place I would recommend is crucial.com. Get for the MX300 series. It might non be quite as skillful as the OSC Mercury Pro but information technology's notwithstanding a reliable and fast drive.

A crucial 1TB Hard Drive is $279 and an OWC is $359 at the time of writing this post.

3. Connect the SSD drive temporarily to your Mac

The easiest way to do this is to buy a small external case that you can identify your SSD drive into before you lot supersede your electric current drive or a 'docking station'.

Here is a cable from Amazon that will do the task. You plug i finish into the USB port and the other end into the SSD drive.

4. Format the SSD Bulldoze using disk utility.

After your SDD drive is plugged in you'll need to use Disk Utility to format it – Mac OS Extended (Journaled):

For more detailed data on how to do this read this article.

five. Re-create everything onto the SSD drive.

At present you demand to copy your unabridged computer onto the new SSD drive. You tin't just drag the files across because there are lots of hidden files that demand to be copied. You need a special fill-in programme that will make a ' bootable clone' of your hard drive.

2 pieces of software that I recommend are 'Carbon Copy Cloner' or 'Super Duper'.

Y'all need to brand a clone bootable copy onto the SSD deejay. For more than information on how to do this read this commodity.

6. Remove your erstwhile Hard disk and supplant it with the new SSD Drive.

Shut down your computer, disconnect the power, remove the old hard drive and supercede information technology with the new SSD drive. An SSD drive has a standard SATA Connector, which means that you tin plug information technology straight in where your old hard bulldoze was.

The difficulty of this varies according to what kind of a Macintosh computer yous have.

Mac Pro

Difficulty: easy – xxx seconds.

I just saturday the SSD drive in and added a bit of tape to concur it in place.In that location are adapters out there if you prefer a more than professional solution e.g. Angelbird SSD Adapter

Mac Mini

Difficulty: moderate – 1/ii hr.

Yous can go the old hard disk out without pulling out the motherboard but the SSD drives are ever so slightly thicker and more uniform in shape so the motherboard may need to come up out to manoeuvre the SSD drive in place. There are easy to follow instructions here at mac fixit.

Macbook

Difficulty: hard – 1 hr.

Unscrew the back of your MacBook, remove the old hard drive and insert the new SSD bulldoze. Information technology's not complicated but you will demand some very small Phillips caput screwdrivers. You tin observe instructions hither. (Note that all Macbook Airs and Retina Macbooks afterward than 2022 have a built in SSD drive already.)

iMac

Difficulty: Hardest!

It's quite circuitous to pull the iMac apart and yous need a vacuum clamp to pull the glass screen off. It requires some mechanical skill. There are adept instructions here and crucial take their own guide here.

seven. Reboot from the new SSD drive.

Only ability upward your figurer and y'all should be at present running from your new SSD drive.

8. Cheque if you need to Enable TRIM.

Some Hard Drives need you lot to plough on TRIM.

The SSDs that I recommend above (Crucial and OWC) do not need TRIM. (read this commodity for more than information).

If you have another brand of drive, you volition probably need to enable trim, although y'all really need to cheque with the manufacturer, and often this information tin be difficult to discover.

To enable trim yous need to type this into the final:

sudo Trimforce enable

Please read this article first and so that you understand what you're doing:

http://hardware.itbusinessnet.com/article/Trim-Talk-4034718

I recommend that you get a Crucial or OWC bulldoze so that you do not need to do this.

9. Time Machine

If you have a Time Auto fill-in, when you lot change Hard Drives it starts all again and won't recognise the old Time Car backup. Read this commodity on how to keep your onetime Time Machine backup when y'all change Difficult Bulldoze.