Skip to main content

Mid 2012 model, A1278 / 2.5 GHz i5 or 2.9 GHz i7 processor.

1622 Questions View all

Samsung 860 EVO SSD reading excessive CRC errors.

Hey everyone reading this, i’ve come with a new question now;

After recently salvaging a 2012 Macbook Pro, I stuck a Samsung 860 EVO SDD (250 GB version) into it’s caddy, and installed El Capitan on it.

No issues, performance was seamless and quick, it was great. I later discovered a program called DriveDx, and ran the analysis on my SSD to see it’s overall health and to see if there were any failing factors. Yep, there were. UDMA CRC errors, and over 9,250 of them were stockpiling my little V-NAND SSD.

After extensive internet researching, I narrowed it down to two possible problems; the HDD cable had gone bad, or the Samsung SSD is incompatible with the Mid 2012 Macbook Pros for some reason (Some people say it’s the controller on the Pro, others say it’s because Samsung drives are picky…).

Anybody have some advice as to what I should probably do?

At the moment, I’m lost on whether I should go out and buy another branded SSD and reinstall El Capitan, or buy another HDD cable on Amazon.

Just to verify I have tried the same cable with the HDD in its place, although there were CRC errors on it, none increased when I checked DriveDx after restarting.

I’ve already placed tape on both sides of the cable + the unibody chassis to prevent any further scathing of the cable, if it's even there.

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

Is this a good question?

Score 0
Add a comment

2 Answers

Chosen Solution

To help put your mind at rest I only install Samsung SSD in the Mac’s I work on. I would say I’ve easily installed over a couple of thousand by now. While I have encountered a few bad drives it is an extreme raraty.

So what’s really happing here?

If you’ve placed a strip of electricians tape on the uppercase where the cable crosses over that’s a good start! As the rough aluminum case over time abrades the cable. Your Hard Drive Cable Is A Ticking Time Bomb

But that doesn’t deal with a bad cable which has fatigued from stress. Which is a very common issue as these ribbon cables are fragile!

You do need to get a new cable but which one? You do need to be careful as Apple has created quite a few versions some where designed only to support slower SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) drives. Others which could support faster SATA III (6.0 Gb/s) drives had a few problems with thin insulation as well as thin copper lines. So buying a pig in a poke off of Amazon or eBay is a bit risky! As you may not get the best part!

The Apple P/N you want is 923-00975 or 923-0104 Here’s some good sources:

But before you install the cable you do need to shape it correctly as a common point of failure is people damaging the cable by creasing the cable in a sharp bend which damages the thin foil wires. What you want to do is use an old BIC pen ink straw as a brake to help you form a nice arc around its radius.

After you’ve installed it and the system is running make a clean backup of your drive as you will need to reformat it to clear the corruptions. I would recommend creating a bootable OS installer thumb drive to make this easier. I also recommend sticking with Sierra as the newer macOS’s alter the file system from the older HFS+ to APFS. While APFS has some better features for SSD’s the I/O connection your system has (SATA) is not the best for the more chatty dialog APFS uses as the queue depth is limited over the newer PCIe connections of the newer retina models.

And lastly you may encounter as issue with your current OS installer as the certificates where incorrectly set and had expired. Here’s more on this issue If you've got an old macOS install image, it will probably stop working today . Here’s the updated installer How to upgrade to macOS Sierra

Booting up under the installer reformat your drive with Disk Utility and then install a fresh copy of OS on the drive once done. Use the Migration Utility which is the question at the end of the install to restore your user accounts, apps & data.

Done!

MacBook Pro 13" Unibody (Mid 2012) Hard Drive Cable Image

Product

MacBook Pro 13" Unibody (Mid 2012) Hard Drive Cable

$34.99

Was this answer helpful?

Score 1

3 Comments:

I'm glad to hear I don't need to head out and buy another SSD! As for the installer media, i've VERY recently downloaded the El Capitan OS X installer (Yesterday actually!) onto my Macbook Air 2015 that I also have, and have already used that to reinstall Capitan on both the Original HDD and the SSD again. Since it's before High Sierra, I assume it should be fine. As for the HDD Cable, I think i'm going to buy the one from beetstech, and choose only to buy the flex cable (Seeing as I already have the IR sensor on the current HDD cable I have.). So, what do you think? Am I set?

by

The difference is a frame the sensor is still part of the cable part.

Sounds like you're ready to roll! Let us know how it goes!

by

Hard drive cable is in, bent by that bic pen cartridge, and secured! CRC Errors are finally gone (well, at least not going up...). Thank you so much. I can now use my Pro to it's full potential!

by

Add a comment

I have this problem with my Mac Pro 5.1 (2012) and Samsung 860 EVO. What cable is there to change? None.

Was this answer helpful?

Score 1

1 Comment:

I'm running Mint Linux on a Mac pro 5,1 (2010 "cheese grater"). I've got 5162 CRC errors reported. And as par.nordqvist72 reports, the Mac Pro has plug-in drives (right into the mother board w/ no cables) via drive "sleds." So this isn't a bad cable.

by

Add a comment

Add your answer

Space Ship will be eternally grateful.
View Statistics:

Past 24 Hours: 1

Past 7 Days: 2

Past 30 Days: 7

All Time: 1,136