Macintosh SSD Changeover

glennd

glennd

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Customer brought me a Macintosh A1398 (2012?). Over about half an hour of discussion a picture began to emerge which goes something like this: In 2018 the laptop developed issues, she took it to the shop from whence it came, they replaced the HDD with an SSD. The entire user folder was backed up to a WD external usb drive (over 200GB). I don't know if they did some kind of migration or just a clean install on the new SSD. Because the new SSD (250GB) was apparently much smaller than the original HDD they were unable to restore her vast photo library (she's a photographer) and so it stayed on the WD. Now when we run the Photos application, it throws an error if the WD is not plugged in, because the library is not available. If the WD is plugged in, it runs but really really *really* slowly.

She's put up with it since then but finally took it back to the shop. They said it's all working fine and charged her $70. It's clearly not working fine. You could argue it technically is working properly but the way they set it up to run Photos on the external drive is plain stupid.

So, my solution is to replace the SSD with 1TB or bigger so the Photo library can go back on to the laptop. My problem is I've never done this on a Macintosh. My question is, can I use the same process as I would for a Windows machine? Can I clone it to a new drive from a Windows/Linux box? I don't know what else I need to know. I need to decide if I even want to attempt this or pass it to a Mac tech.
 
My primary thought is who wants to put any more money into a 9 year old laptop? Apple releases a major OS upgrade every year. They only support the last three versions. They were all 10.x. So, 10.13, 10.14, 10.15 and then last fall they released 11.0 (Big Sur). Her system can only go to 10.15 (Catalina). I guess she'd be OK for a little while, but you're up against that and the age of the system.

The new Mac systems that use their M1 processor are pretty awesome IMHO. Intel is acting worried.

If you go ahead with the upgrade it's not too hard to copy the Photos library file to the new system and have the clean install use that.

I think you're on the right track with the performance. Not sure if that machine has USB 3 or not.

Is the external drive an SSD?
 
glennd said:
My question is, can I use the same process as I would for a Windows machine?
Click to expand...

Yes, but there's an easier and (arguably) better way. Just back up the old SSD using Time Machine, install the new SSD and put a fresh copy of the latest supported macOS* on it, and during the setup process it'll ask if you want to restore from a Time Machine backup. The answer is, of course, yes.

*Just knowing that it's an A1398 helps surprisingly little with deciding which OS is supported as Apple has a deplorable habit of applying the same model number to a huge range of different machines. Take a look at EveryMac (https://everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/?search_keywords=a1398) to see just how bad it is!
 
@Computer Bloke is right. You can't go by the A1398. I use an app called Mac Tracker. I looked up the 2012 editions and clicked till it showed the A1398. Here's what it showed.

mactracker1.png


mactracker2.png
 
timeshifter said:
My primary thought is who wants to put any more money into a 9 year old laptop? Apple releases a major OS upgrade every year. They only support the last three versions. They were all 10.x. So, 10.13, 10.14, 10.15 and then last fall they released 11.0 (Big Sur). Her system can only go to 10.15 (Catalina). I guess she'd be OK for a little while, but you're up against that and the age of the system.

The new Mac systems that use their M1 processor are pretty awesome IMHO. Intel is acting worried.

If you go ahead with the upgrade it's not too hard to copy the Photos library file to the new system and have the clean install use that.

I think you're on the right track with the performance. Not sure if that machine has USB 3 or not.

Is the external drive an SSD?
Click to expand...
I presume because it's still in excellent condition and performs really well other than the stupid Photos setup. It's an i7 which most people are perfectly happy with. The external drive is a spinner, I think I saw a USB 3 connector but the laptop is USB2 as far as I can tell.
 
timeshifter said:
I looked up the 2012 editions and clicked till it showed the A1398. Here's what it showed.
Click to expand...
That's interesting. She said she paid over $3000 for it which would put it in the lower of the two Initial Price figures.

I see the storage is "flash storage" which according to the YT videos I looked at indicates the thing shipped with M.2 SSD so that kind of blows my theory that the old spinner drive was replaced with a new SSD. I'm thinking standard SATA and that's not the case here.

I don't know that she understands or cares about the version of the operating system so long as it does what she needs. Do I care? I see it supports Power Nap, I could use that right about now....

timeshifter said:
Another idea would be to use the "Secure Digital (SDXC)" slot. You can get a fast SD card to go in there. Some companies even make them where they're flush to the case to they are essentially invisible.
Click to expand...
That would improve performance but doesn't solve the space problem. We need more than 256GB. I'm thinking 1TB but could probably live with 500GB.
 
glennd said:
I don't know that she understands or cares about the version of the operating system so long as it does what she needs. Do I care?
Click to expand...
Would you recommend a customer run a Windows 7 machine today? In about 1.5 years that's where her machine will be in terms of OS security updates. Otherwise it will run fine for a long time and I'd be less concerned about running an OS without security updates if it's a Mac vs Windows.

A 15" MacBook Pro, especially with an i7, would typically be in the $3,000 ballpark for the last 10 years or so.

The discussion here could be more accurate if you have the machine and go to the Apple logo in the top left and choose About This Mac... and tell us what it says. Otherwise, a lot of guessing is involved. I don't recall, from memory, that a 2012 had M.2 SSD. Unless it was a Retina MacBook Pro, but this sounds like one with a CD drive. Like I said, lots of guess without the About This Mac... info.
 
Computer Bloke said:
Yes, but there's an easier and (arguably) better way. Just back up the old SSD using Time Machine, install the new SSD and put a fresh copy of the latest supported macOS* on it, and during the setup process it'll ask if you want to restore from a Time Machine backup. The answer is, of course, yes.

*Just knowing that it's an A1398 helps surprisingly little with deciding which OS is supported as Apple has a deplorable habit of applying the same model number to a huge range of different machines. Take a look at EveryMac (https://everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/?search_keywords=a1398) to see just how bad it is!
Click to expand...

Is there a way of finding out exactly what SSD is in there without opening the case? So I make sure I get the right replacement. I see the Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD are a bit over $200.

So the only things I don't know how to do are the first two steps:
1. Back up the old SSD using Time Machine
2. Put a fresh copy of the latest supported macOS* on it.

What I'm not sure on (apart from everything else!) is whether the Photos library situation is just (in Windows speak) a shortcut that points to data on the external drive or some kind of (again in Windows speak) reconfigure the library location to a non default location.

So, what's your current level of confidence in me actually doing this??
 
timeshifter said:
Would you recommend a customer run a Windows 7 machine today? In about 1.5 years that's where her machine will be in terms of OS security updates. Otherwise it will run fine for a long time and I'd be less concerned about running an OS without security updates if it's a Mac vs Windows.

A 15" MacBook Pro, especially with an i7, would typically be in the $3,000 ballpark for the last 10 years or so.

The discussion here could be more accurate if you have the machine and go to the Apple logo in the top left and choose About This Mac... and tell us what it says. Otherwise, a lot of guessing is involved. I don't recall, from memory, that a 2012 had M.2 SSD. Unless it was a Retina MacBook Pro, but this sounds like one with a CD drive. Like I said, lots of guess without the About This Mac... info.
Click to expand...
Fair enough. I should contact her next week and get her to bring it in so I can answer all those questions I knew were coming :)
 
This is not that complicated. If it had a hard drive it is, without any doubt, a pre-retina MacBook Pro. If it actually is a retina MacBook Pro then it came with their proprietary SSD. There's no such thing as a retina model with a hard drive. With the initial price being $3,000 it's very possible that it came with a 1TB SSD. It's also possible that the other shop simply stole her 1TB SSD or that her SSD died and they didn't have anything else so they put in a small drive. I must say it's rather shady to charge a diagnostic fee on the same machine twice, especially when your client comes in with questions thinking you didn't do something right.

The fix is to clone the drive using either Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! If it's a retina model then you need to buy a specialty drive on eBay. I recommend a used original Apple drive over some knockoff Chinese clone. It's also a good idea to pick up an enclosure for the drive, which you can find at macsales.com:

Search Results for ssd enclosure at MacSales.com

Upgrade the RAM and storage of nearly any Apple computer at MacSales.com. We also provide refurbished Macs, external storage, docks, accessories, and more!
eshop.macsales.com eshop.macsales.com

Clone the drive over then take the photos library from the external drive and put it into her Photos folder on the newly cloned internal drive. Then double-click the library and it will open with the Photos app. You're done. My cost for this would be as follows:

$75 - Diagnostic
$599 - SSD Upgrade & Drive Mirroring
$99 - Data Transfer

Now whether you can find a 1TB original SSD for a 2012 MacBook Pro is another potential issue. I couldn't find one on eBay (though admittedly I didn't spend much time searching). If you have to go aftermarket, then use a trusted source like macsales.com:

OWC 1TB Aura Pro SSD for 2012-2013 MacBook Pro

Upgrade the storage and speed of your 2012-2013 MacBook Pro - up to 16x more capacity for 13-inch models or 8x for 15-inch models.
eshop.macsales.com eshop.macsales.com

I know it's an older MacBook, but if she can get another 3 years out of it (admittedly running older, non-supported software) then it's probably worth it. Alternatively she can buy a new one, but she's going to be looking at another $3,000. She may not be comfortable doing that in the middle of a pandemic.

Think of it this way. She spent $3,000 and so far has gotten 9 years out of it. That's $333/year. If the bill comes to $775 (my pricing, not yours) then that's another 2 years 4 months amortized the same as the 9 years she's used it thus far. Therefore, if she can get 2 years 4 months or longer out of the machine after you upgrade it, then it's worth it.

Deciding whether or not to fix a computer is a numbers game (assuming of course the client isn't emotionally attached to it for some reason). I think it would be easy to get another 3 years out of that machine, so it makes sense to put the money into it.
 
Other than getting a bigger built in drive the only solution is to use a Thunderbolt drive. I'd never use USB for anything like that. I've an interior designer customer with an iMac from that era. The machines 256gb's because the 512+'s back then were really outrageous. At some point we started having space issues do to Photos so I gave him pricing on replacing the SSD or using TB. He went with TB and I've yet to hear a complaint in 2.5 years about any latency issues with Photos. Nickel solution to the dime problem.
 
I have the better part of 20 years in this business and it never ceases to amaze me how long mac owners want to keep their machines. With PCs, we start reminding them at 4 years old that the end is coming, and at 5 we always have the economic argument against repair - which makes perfect sense. With Macs, though, 9, 10, 12 year old machines have a problem and they always want to fix them. I replaced a $600 logic board (my cost!) not that long ago because someone couldn't bear the thought of getting a new machine to replace their incomprehensibly-loved dinosaur.
 
@HCHTech The difference is, when a PC owner is looking at a replacement, they're looking at spending hundreds. When a Mac user is looking at a replacement, they're looking at spending thousands. If there's any way they can put off spending thousands of dollars unexpectedly, they want to do that. I wish PC's were still $1,000+ minimum. Most of my clients do spend at least $600 - $1,000 on a new PC but I wish that was more normal. How the heck did we get to the point where it was acceptable to spend $1,000+ on a phone and $250 on a computer? It's ass-backwards.
 
Yeah, and Pro users who do it for a living not only have huge investments in equipment and software, but also a specific workflow which they have become efficient at.

So, a new Mac may be $3000-4000 depending on model, they likely have to upgrade ALL the professional software, learn that they way they did things is now not supported, plus replace peripherals that could cost them another $1000-2000 depending on industry. So depending on the industry the new machine, equipment, training could set them back around $6,000 - $10,000 again, depending on their profession.

With PC users they are used to hearing the gun go click, so they hate it but accept that fate. Mac users don't.
 
Computer Bloke said:
I've been a native English speaker all my life. My stepmother is Canadian. I understand Galdorf.

But this sentence makes no sense to me. Is it a crossword clue?
Click to expand...
Oh, that was a reference to an article I read when I must have been oh, 15 or something. It was in a big magazine that dealt with computers, around 95 or so, it had a picture of a gun and they were talking about Microsoft's practises back then. That photo stood out. That was part of the expression they used regarding how Microsoft had a loaded gun to force users to upgrade.
 
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