Need Urgent Help with my MacBook Pro Model A1278

[Warriorand]

Hi,
As the title says, I need help with my macbook pro model A1278,
I know is old, but it really works well,
My problem is that the hdd failed, sudden death, so now I have to reinstall everything again,
I bought an ssd (dont know if that is the problem becuase of the age of my mac) and try to to follow tutorials, and blogs, however,
I can not get the mac to reinstall the OS, can someone please help and explain me like step by step how should
the new os installation should be done, dont know if it is ssd compatibility, if I should buy and hhd? or what I'm doing wrong.

I dont have any other mac in case if needed it, however i do have a Windows Pc, in case it shoud be take in consideration.
Sorry if I didnt post the thread in the correct part, Im new to this.

I havent tried to send my mac to a workshop because is expensive and I want to learn how to do this things myself.

Thanks in advance for all the help you the community can give me.

 

[pigoo3]

Just to be sure...was this new SSD installed internally...in place of the old hard drive?

Two options:

Option #1: Reboot the computer...and immediately press the 3-key combo of Option + Command + r keys. This is "Internet Recovery". This generally installs the macOS that came with the computer when it was 1st purchased. This macOS version may be older than you want...but it will at least get you up & running...until you are ready to install the macOS you prefer to have.

Option #2: Make a USB thumb drive bootable installer of the macOS version you prefer to install. Many articles on the internet explain how to do this...and where to get the macOS install file you need.

HTH,

Nick

 

[Warriorand]

Thanks for your reply,

Yes, the old hdd was replaced by the new ssd, in the only place the mac has available to put the storage device internally.
I'll try this methods, prefer the number one, and from there i can just update to the latest macOS support version. However I wandered, how the mac will be able to install an OS, if the hdd doesnt work anymore and was swapt by the new one? where the mac store this OS?

Thanks for your reply, looking forward for your response.

 

[MacInWin]

Thanks for your reply,

Yes, the old hdd was replaced by the new ssd, in the only place the mac has available to put the storage device internally.
I'll try this methods, prefer the number one, and from there i can just update to the latest macOS support version. However I wandered, how the mac will be able to install an OS, if the hdd doesnt work anymore and was swapt by the new one? where the mac store this OS?

Thanks for your reply, looking forward for your response.

The key combo will trigger the Mac to look for your network, get a login from you for that, then contact the Apple server and ask for the version of the OS that came on the Mac originally to be installed. It will download that installer and run it, which will give you a Recovery Panel, where you can format the new drive, then do the installation. From there, once booted, you can upgrade to whatever version you want.

 

[ferrarr]

Ethernet will be fastest when using Internet Recovery. Also, if you are not using WPA2 security for your Wi-Fi network it will not connect to the Apple servers.

 

[techiesteve]

If you have a 13" mid 2012 MBP and the SSD isn't seen it's very likely the hard drive flex cable has failed. They were so unreliable that Apple used to cover their replacement under a quality program, but those days have now passed.

 

[Rod]

Try the Internet Recovery option and let us know how it went. My guess is you will have more questions.
You may have to be patient with it, the last time I used this option was also with a 2010 white unibody MacBook and it took 4 attempts to connect successfully then all night to download the MacOS but it did work, just need to persevere.
You should end up with the Set Up Wizard which will walk you through the process of setting up, if not let us know.
All this assumes the SSD is already formatted for MacOS if not you will need an external source to format and map the drive first.