Looking for compatible hard drives for older MacBook Pro (mid-2012) – PATA or SATA?

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Looking for compatible hard drives for older MacBook Pro (mid-2012) – PATA or SATA?

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to upgrade the internal storage on a mid-2012 MacBook Pro (non-Retina). I know it uses a SATA interface, but I've come across some PATA hard drives that are listed as compatible with older Macs. I'm a bit confused about the difference between PATA and SATA for Mac systems, and whether a PATA drive would actually work in this laptop.

Also, has anyone here ever bought a replacement HDD from third-party sites? I found this one online: https://www.etechbuy.com/categories/storage-devices/hard-drives/desktop-hard-drives/pata.html – wondering if this type of drive could work, or if I should stick to modern SATA options.

Any advice would be appreciated — thanks!

Posted on Apr 21, 2025 06:56 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 21, 2025 09:55 AM in response to ETechBuy

That Mac does not use Parallel ATA (PATA) drives – and I would not try to stuff one in. A PATA drive uses a 40-pin connector. Your Mac has a hard drive bay that accepts a 2.5" notebook drive with a 6,0 Gbps SATA interface that uses a 7-pin connector.

If you are going to replace your drive, I would recommend getting a brand-name 2.5" notebook form factor SATA SSD. That Mac originally came with

A 500 GB, 750 GB, or 1 TB 5400 rpm mechanical hard drive, or
A 128 GB, 256 GB, or 512 GB SSD

SSDs with capacities of 1 to 4 TB are pretty inexpensive now, and if you are still using a mechanical hard drive, you will find that a SSD will deliver a very welcome improvement in the time it takes to power up your MacBook Pro and the time it takes to launch applications.

But stay away from no-name brands and no-name sellers.

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