Macbook Pro, New SSD and Spinning Beachball of Doom?

My Problem

Five months after installing a new SSD to replace my HD in a 2012 Macbook Pro, I was constantly being interrupted with the ol' spinning beachball of doom. Examining the Console utility logs and view the Activity Monitor showed no signs of anomalies. Exhausting all at-home options, consulted with a Mac Genius at an Apple Store and they too were stumped, but provided me with a clue: pull out the internal SSD and hook it up via external USB. Lo and behold, the laptop worked as before. I called up the SSD manufacturer who provided me with an additional clue: the hard drive cables on the specific MacBooks get damaged and will make the system wonky, progressively degrading over time.

My Fix

Using the detailed walk-through instructions, removing and replacing the hard drive cable was a breeze.

My Advice

It may be a one-off use in buying the correct tools for this job, but you don't want to strip the tiny screws on the laptop. Splurging for good tools will pay off than the potential headache of removing stripped screws.