Samsung 840 EVO & Corsair Vengeance 8GB RAM on mid 2012 Macbook Pro

Heavybarrel · Sep 15, 2014

Hello Everyone,

I'm getting a 8GB Corsair Vengeance (CL9, 1.35V), and a Samsung 840 EVO (250GB) for upgrading my mid 2012 Macbook pro. Are these a good buy? Any recommendations?

I want to set-up the OS on the new SSD, I want to start afresh, and do not want to clone my existing HDD.

[Also I will have you know that I'm just a Environmental Science student, who doesn't know much about computers, or in other words I'm just a "Noob", the only reason I'm using a Mac is because its 'uber' convenient to use, compared to Windows.]

Back on upgrading my Mac; I'm going to keep the HDD in the driver bay and replace the optical drive with the SSD. How would I go by the initial set up, where I get the OS on the SSD and perhaps format the current HDD - I think there is something goofy going on in there, and how could I sync both the drives together, so that I can use the HDD just for storage i.e. all the multimedia stuff, like Movies, Music, etc.

I have realized that there aren't many Macintosh users in this community, but I'm hoping that someone could help me. Thanks.

ferwindjacks · Sep 15, 2014

Love my Mac. No need to down play the fact that you have one.

Cant go wrong with Corsair RAM, just make sure its compatible with the laptop.

You would start by taking the back plate off of the laptop, unscrewing the CD reader and plugging in the 2.5in SSD.

Next, boot up your computer and open Disk Utility, select the drive (not the Macintosh HD volume), open the erase tab, set the format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled), and press the erase button.

After that, you can install OSX onto that drive via USB or right from your main boot drive (the HDD). To do so you'd need to partition the disk, which is also found in the Disk Utility app.

Take the time now to back up everything you want to save on your current drive, such as important documents and what not. You will not be able to keep them after the reformat. To back them up, simply use a USB drive/external drive, and you can drag everything over and save it there. Be advised, dragging applications will not work, so you'd need to reinstall/make sure that microsoft office is hooked up to an account you can log back into for word and what not.

After installing OSX on the new drive, you need to boot to that drive. Restart the computer when it is all finished and as soon as you see the screen light up press and hold the "alt/option" key on your keyboard. From there you should be able to select which drive to boot to via arrow keys.

Then, when you boot it might take you through set up and what not since its a new install. let it do its thing. This is when you say goodbye to everything on your old drive. Dont worry, you will still be able to use it, just not in its current state.
You're gonna have to erase your original HDD via disk utility, but make sure its still formatted under mac os extended journaled. After the reformat, then you will be able to use that drive in conjunction with your SSD that you have your OS installed on.

TL;DR there are several guides that take you through the process, or something along those lines. heres one from ifixit that somewhat deals with what you're getting into. http

/www.ifixit.com/Misc/HD_Software_install.pdf

Sorry for the LONG reply, but it had to be done. Hope I helped.

Heavybarrel · Sep 15, 2014

As a matter of fact, I'd say I quite like my Mac as well. Just love the ease of using the track pad, easily the best thing about the Macs (lol).

The Corsair Vengeance - (http

/www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233588&cm_re=CMSX8GX3M2B1600C9-_-20-233-588-_-Product)
The only thing I'm worried about its compatibility with the mid 2012 macbook pro is that nobody seems to conclusively know what voltage and Cas Latency does this model support. I even called the Apple technical support, the representative just wasn't sure about it, in fact she seemed quite baffle with the question, and just gave her own opinion. Looking in the description of the product, it says its compatible with 4th generation i5 and backwards compatible with 2nd and 3rd generation as well, so I should be fine.

And I think I can't really go wrong with the Samsung 840 EVO, as many people reviewed it and seem satisfied.

I got the installation and the setting up part, but do I use both drives separately or as ONE drive? Would the SSD in the optical bay be recognized as the main drive, since it has the OS on it? I've read that the best way to take advantage of the SSD is to use it with conjunction to the HDD. How can sync both drives, where only the multimedia gets stored on the HDD and file cache gets stored on the SSD. Essentially how can I make both drives act as one, if that is the way to use bothSSD and HDD.

ferwindjacks · Sep 16, 2014

The RAM will fit perfectly.

I've got two 840 Pros (older technology but faster than the EVO) and I am very happy with them. Samsung makes the best SSDs IMO (especially the Samsung Magician software... oooo...)

So what you want is something called a 'fusion' drive. A proprietary term coined by apple, its basically software that 'combines' an SSD and HDD into 'one' drive. I give all these quotations because it doesnt really do that. In reality, the software learns what you use the most and dynamically stores that on the SSD, while the less used stuff is tossed on the HDD. Here is a guide on how to set up fusion for yourself.
http

/www.macworld.com/article/2014011/how-to-make-your-own-fusion-drive.html

There is no way for them to act as 'one' unless put into a RAID, and it wont work well with an SSD and HDD. Best to set up fusion.

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Samsung 840 EVO & Corsair Vengeance 8GB RAM on mid 2012 Macbook Pro

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