How to Get Brand-New EVO 870 to Cooperate with Mid-2012 13" MBP?

[br1an_b]

I am using a mid-2012 13" Unibody MacBook Pro, running OS X El Capitan (10.11.6), and my system has 8 GB of 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM, an Intel Core i7 processor, and the original 500 GB 5400 rpm Hard Disk Drive (yuck). Pretty standard, outdated setup. I recently purchased a brand new 1 TB Samsung EVO 870 SSD to clone my HDD to and replace for a substantial speed and storage upgrade. Currently, my 500 GB HDD has about 400 GB of content on it.

 

I formatted the SSD in Disk Utility, using the "OS X Extended (Journaled)" Format, and the "GUID Partition Map" Scheme. Then I cloned my HDD to the SSD using Disk Utility in Recovery Mode, and then I opened up the MacBook Pro, unplugged the battery, and swapped out the drives. I plugged the battery cable back in, put the back cover back on, and booted up. It worked, but it was suspiciously slow. I would get the Spinning Beach Ball in between clicks, and the overall responsiveness actually seemed worse than with the ancient HDD. When I logged in, all my Menu Bar icons and Desktop icons loaded more quickly than with the HDD, but I was still getting the Beach Ball when I would click on things like the  Logo. (I actually opened Spotify by mistake and was happy to see that it actually loaded everything in a few seconds, instead of a few minutes.)

 

I also noticed that my Superdrive (CD/DVD drive) was making odd clicking noises, almost as if the laser reader thought there was a disc loaded into it. And at one point my fans revved up for a second. My CPU performance looked like a square wave, where for a moment it would be maxed out, then nothing, then maxed out, then nothing. My Disk performance didn't seem to indicate that the SSD was doing anything in the moment that I was looking at it. I attached pictures for reference, and I posted an Unlisted video on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/ALy6oZ1AIg0.

 

After seeing these mixed results, I restarted the computer, in case the first bootup happened to be a bit more rough than future bootups. It took roughly five minutes of my laptop sitting on the gray  screen for it to actually get through the restart to the login screen. When I logged in, the same weirdly laggy behavior continued.

 

It's like the SSD is faster... when it feels like it. I'm confused. Is the 870 series too new for the mid-2012 MacBook Pro? Or are there drivers I need to install? Maybe I need a new hard drive cable? Or maybe 1 TB is "too large" for my MacBook to handle? Or did I seriously manage to zap the SSD with electrostatic while I was handling it? I did my best to keep myself grounded at all times by touching the aluminum case of the MacBook periodically, and I touched the SSD only when I needed to (while, of course, avoiding the metal contacts on the SSD).

 

I would consider myself a tech enthusiast, but I am a musician and a music teacher first, so I'm sure there is something I'm missing. Quite possibly something basic or simple.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[ProjectBox153]

Would you be able to try doing a clean installation of macOS? These MacBook Pros are known for broken SATA cables, but that shouldn't cause this type of behavior. 

[br1an_b]

4 minutes ago, ProjectBox153 said:

Would you be able to try doing a clean installation of macOS? These MacBook Pros are known for broken SATA cables, but that shouldn't cause this type of behavior. 

I suppose I could give that a try. After doing a clean installation of macOS, would I be able to restore all my stuff, including installed programs and plugins, by just copying all of that over from my HDD? I'm kind of a noob to this stuff cuz I haven't had much need to do it before.

[ProjectBox153]

Just now, br1an_b said:

I suppose I could give that a try. After doing a clean installation of macOS, would I be able to restore all my stuff, including installed programs and plugins, by just copying all of that over from my HDD? I'm kind of a noob to this stuff cuz I haven't had much need to do it before.

Let's just try a clean installation first and then we'll see about your other content. Your original hard drive still has everything on it, right?

[br1an_b]

1 minute ago, ProjectBox153 said:

Let's just try a clean installation first and then we'll see about your other content. Your original hard drive still has everything on it, right?

Yeah it does. I'm actually using it right now, but I can swap the drives out again and reinstall macOS on the SSD.

[ProjectBox153]

Just now, br1an_b said:

Yeah it does. I'm actually using it right now, but I can swap the drives out again and reinstall macOS on the SSD.

What I would do is put the SSD back in (and don't worry, they aren't as fragile as you think) and use Internet Recovery or a USB installer to install macOS again. 

[br1an_b]

Just now, ProjectBox153 said:

What I would do is put the SSD back in (and don't worry, they aren't as fragile as you think) and use Internet Recovery or a USB installer to install macOS again. 

Okay. Is there anything else you would recommend I try before I do that? I've been talking to a friend of mine and he said that reinstalling the OS is a good option but it will be a bit more tedious/complicated to copy my stuff over manually after that. Also, do you know if I would be able to reinstall OS X El Capitan specifically, since that's what I'm currently on? I know it's several years old at this point. I'm just not trying to install Big Sur/Catalina/Mojave/whatever the latest supported version of macOS is. Thanks for your help!

[ProjectBox153]

9 minutes ago, br1an_b said:

Okay. Is there anything else you would recommend I try before I do that? I've been talking to a friend of mine and he said that reinstalling the OS is a good option but it will be a bit more tedious/complicated to copy my stuff over manually after that. Also, do you know if I would be able to reinstall OS X El Capitan specifically, since that's what I'm currently on? I know it's several years old at this point. I'm just not trying to install Big Sur/Catalina/Mojave/whatever the latest supported version of macOS is. Thanks for your help!

My goal with the reinstallation of macOS was just to make sure the SSD is working fine. If the fresh installation works fine then I can help you clone your existing one over again. You said you used Disk Utility to clone the OS, right?

[br1an_b]

9 minutes ago, ProjectBox153 said:

My goal with the reinstallation of macOS was just to make sure the SSD is working fine. If the fresh installation works fine then I can help you clone your existing one over again. You said you used Disk Utility to clone the OS, right?

Yes! When I reinstall macOS should I reinstall the SSD and do it from there, or plug it into my MacBook with an external SATA cable and do it from my old HDD?

[ProjectBox153]

9 minutes ago, br1an_b said:

Yes! When I reinstall macOS should I reinstall the SSD and do it from there, or plug it into my MacBook with an external SATA cable and do it from my old HDD?

Pull the hard drive out, put in the new SSD and use Internet Recovery or a USB drive to install macOS without the original hard drive connected at all.