0

My MacBook Pro's performance has gone down and sometimes files are unreadable and sometimes MacBook is unable to boot up, so I am thinking to upgrade my MacBook with a PCIe gen4 SSD and use an adapter such as this StarTech model.

This is what I am thinking to go for!

Screenshot from Amazon.com for a SATA adapter and SSD

to fit it inside SATA slot, is this recommended or will it even fit and work?

my MacBook model Screenshot of the About This Mac window

System Report

Screenshot of the System Information showing the SATA details

Improve this question
4
  • oh no its macbook pro mid 2012 model
    – Chang Zhao
    Aug 30, 2021 at 12:43
  • After comments under the answer… we do actually need to know whether it can even reach SATA III speeds, or whether it is limited to SATA II. From that About this Mac screen, click System Report, then SATA/SATA Express & see what it says on the right for Link Speed, 3 or 6 gigabit. If it's only 3, then there is absolutely no point getting an ultra-fast SSD.
    – Tetsujin
    Aug 30, 2021 at 13:43
  • it says 6GbPs but I don't know what does negotiated speed refers to !?
    – Chang Zhao
    Aug 30, 2021 at 14:02
  • Negotiated is what it's actually connected at, which appears to only be SATA II rather than III. I've an 840 Evo but can't compare because mine is on the internal bus which IS only 3gbps. [We unfortunately don't have vaguely comparable machines even though they're the same age]
    – Tetsujin
    Aug 30, 2021 at 14:32

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

I'd guess you could but why would you want to?
The bus is limited to SATA III speeds, so why not just fit a much cheaper standard 2.5" SATA III SSD instead? You could get a 1TB cheaper than that 500GB.

Improve this answer
6
  • the speed limit was where my scepticism was stuck, however i want the best ssd in 2.5" SATA III. Not sure which one to go for, but as far as I know PCIe Gen 4 consumes less power than sata 3 ssd.
    – Chang Zhao
    Aug 30, 2021 at 12:57
  • Tetsujin: Are there SATA SSD that operate at the full 6 Gb/s? I understand the interface operates a 6 Gb/s. I are am referring to whether the drive itself is capable of delivering data to the interface at that rate.
    – David Anderson
    Aug 30, 2021 at 13:27
  • 1
    @DavidAnderson - tbh, I don't know. I have one here hits 500MB/s actual on Black Magic, so that's closer to 4gbps I guess… which will do for me as without the PCI adaptor, I can only do SATA II. What else in an ancient Mac Pro might be slowing it down I can't even guess. Do we even know if a 2012 MBP can do SATA III? My 2012 Mac Pro can't [natively].
    – Tetsujin
    Aug 30, 2021 at 13:31
  • Does not the image in the OP's question show a adaptor for NGFF SSD, which would not compatible with the NVMe SSD also shown in the image?
    – David Anderson
    Aug 30, 2021 at 13:57
  • @DavidAnderson I have added screenshot of System Report > SATA & SATA Express it does shows 6Gbps Speed support\
    – Chang Zhao
    Aug 30, 2021 at 14:03
0

The OP's Mac is designed to a drive with a 2.5 inch form factor. The image in the OP's question shows a M.2 NVMe SSD.* The adaptor show in the same image does work with M.2 NGFF SSDs, but not M.2 NVMe SSDs.† A M.2 NGFF SSD is basically a SATA SSD drive with a M.2 form factor.‡ Therefor I believe there is no speed advantage to using this adaptor with a over just using a SATA SSD with a 2.5 form factor.

References

* Seagate: FireCuda 520 SSD Data Sheet
† StarTech: M.2 SSD to 2.5in SATA Adapter Converter
‡ PC Pepper: SATA vs mSATA vs NGFF M.2 vs NVMe – Which is the right SSD for me?

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .