Chosen Solution
Hi there, this is my first Macbook, has been great but I recently updated it to high sierra, and it seemed to be working fine even after the update for a bit until one day shortly after it just wouldn’t fully boot anymore. I was intending to upgrade the ram to 16gb and get an SSD to keep it functional but I didn’t get around to it in time before this happened! i’ve searched many forums and articles for fixes on the white screen problem, tried disk utility first aid and attempted to reinstall macOS, first aid reported no issues but it still won’t reach the login screen, and the reinstall for high sierra gets stuck at 2 minutes remaining. Tried restarting the nvram etc all to no avail, i’ve used up almost all of my wifi data just trying to do internet recovery a few times, now I don’t have enough data to attempt a reinstall of lion or another compatible OS with option-command+shift+r …etc. just wondering if it’s worth it or possible to still buy the ssd and fresh install onto that, my main concern being, Is it possible to clone or somehow keep the files that are on the hdd currently and swap to the ssd if it’s just stuck with these issues and won’t reach the login screen? To clone or backup don’t you need to access the desktop? Or can it all be done through the disk utility screen? Will I be even be able to reach utility if put a new ssd in? Or do I persist and wait for new wifi data to try and reinstall a previous os before getting an ssd, will that even fix the issue or is it something hardware related? You have my gratitude for whatever help you can offer! Thanks,
While I do recommend upgrading to a SSD you also will need to replace the HD SATA cable as that is truly your issue you have now. These cables over time fail! While you could also have a failing drive as well I would start by just replacing the cable. Here is the needed part MacBook Pro 15" Unibody (Mid 2012) Hard Drive Cable and the guide you’ll need to follow MacBook Pro 15" Unibody Mid 2012 Hard Drive/IR Sensor Cable Replacement. There are some other actions you’ll want to do to help protect the new cable. First you want to place a strip of electricians tape on the uppercase where the cable crosses over to the drive. Protecting it from the rough surface of the aluminum case which abrades it as the drive shifts around. The next issue is the plastic bottom cover catches make sure the one near the optical drive is not broken if it is you’ll want to swap it out with the other. A sharp bang to the bottom cover can press down onto the cable as it crosses over the optical drive . I do recommend placing some foam tape to the sides of the cable to help protecting it from the risk if the cover crushing it. Now the real hard issue! These cables are not designed to be folded to make the crease to get around the corners. All you do is sendup fatiguing the thin foil wires within the cable. Instead you want to use a BIC pen ink straw which is the ideal radius to help you form the arc within the cable for the corner turns. You brought up one more issue here Cloning! Don’t do it! You want to setup a OS installer drive following this How to create a bootable macOS Sierra installer drive. Make a full backup of your drive after you replace the cable. Use it to reformat your HDD and reinstall the OS. At the end the installer will ask if you want to migrate your stuff from another mac or TimeMachine backup. This is the better way making sure your files are not damaged and any old files and caches are not copied over.
