How to update 2012 MBP Pro from Mojave to latest OS?

[magentawave]

I have a mid 2012 MacBook Pro 15, Model: A1286, 2.3 GHz Core i7, 500gb SATA hard drive running Mojave 10.14.6. I bought this from a friend that never used it and added 16gb of ram. Problem is that it's really slow. I'm always getting the dumb spinning beach ball.

QUESTIONS:

1) Is it possible to update this Mac to the latest OS? (I don't have any of the Apple discs.)

2) What are the downsides?

3) Any tips for doing this?


Thank you!

 

[saudor]

you can only go to catalina officially but with OCLP, you can go higher. I'd keep it on Mojave as it's super stable if you're not too keen on using unofficial means.
As for speed, upgrade to a SSD and it will run much faster. Anything past 2013's mavericks runs terrible on regular hard drives.

You can use superduper's free version to clone your drive to the SSD

 

[magentawave]

you can only go to catalina officially but with OCLP, you can go higher. I'd keep it on Mojave as it's super stable if you're not too keen on using unofficial means.
As for speed, upgrade to a SSD and it will run much faster. Anything past 2013's mavericks runs terrible on regular hard drives.

You can use superduper's free version to clone your drive to the SSD

Great! I have a 1 TB SSD that I can use.

If OCLP works then I don’t mind going “unofficial.”


a) Is there any downside to installing OCLP on a mid 2012 MBP 15?

b) Is there any downside to installing the latest OS on a mid 2012 MBP 15 that has 16 GB of ram and an SSD?

c) Is Superduper similar to Carbon Copy Cloner?

Thanks again.🤙🏼

 

[saudor]

Great! I have a 1 TB SSD that I can use.

If OCLP works then I don’t mind going “unofficial.”


a) Is there any downside to installing OCLP on a mid 2012 MBP 15?

b) Is there any downside to installing the latest OS on a mid 2012 MBP 15 that has 16 GB of ram and an SSD?

c) Is Superduper similar to Carbon Copy Cloner?

Thanks again.🤙🏼

a.) you could potentially run into issues when you run OS updates so it depends on how willing (time, energy) you are on fixing them. For the most part, it seems OK but it will be worth checking the relevant threads/pages to see how it runs on your machine specifically

b) Aside from the inherent issues that plague even supported machines, it should be similar. Newer versions will bring you better security in theory.

c) Superduper is used to clone a bootable drive so all you have to do is clone it, replace the drive and it works. If CCC can do that, it should work the same.

 

[magentawave]

a.) you could potentially run into issues when you run OS updates so it depends on how willing (time, energy) you are on fixing them. For the most part, it seems OK but it will be worth checking the relevant threads/pages to see how it runs on your machine specifically

b) Aside from the inherent issues that plague even supported machines, it should be similar. Newer versions will bring you better security in theory.

c) Superduper is used to clone a bootable drive so all you have to do is clone it, replace the drive and it works. If CCC can do that, it should work the same.

You have been a big help. Thank you. I'm going to swap out the SATA for the SSD and then decide to upgrade past Mojave or not. If the SSD eliminates all the spinning beach ball BS then I might not even bother to update the OS.

 

[Jesse_Bassett]

With a 2012 macbook pro I personally would just upgrade to Catalina. If your not intending on using Windows or Linux as a dual boot for your unit, you can just have the macOS installed. No need for the OpenCore Legacy Patcher.

 

[magentawave]

With a 2012 macbook pro I personally would just upgrade to Catalina. If your not intending on using Windows or Linux as a dual boot for your unit, you can just have the macOS installed. No need for the OpenCore Legacy Patcher.

I use iTunes. If I upgrade to Catalina then I’ll have to use a special app to run iTunes on Catalina (I forget the name of that app). Assuming that app works well, is there any advantage to Catalina vs Mojave?

 

[saudor]

I use iTunes. If I upgrade to Catalina then I’ll have to use a special app to run iTunes on Catalina (I forget the name of that app). Assuming that app works well, is there any advantage to Catalina vs Mojave?

Catalina has more issues in my experience in terms of stability but YMMV and what you do with the system. The app you're looking for is Retroactive. I use it on Big Sur and it's not too bad.

Since both are unsupported anyways, you might as well just get the SSD, and stay on Mojave and maybe try out Bigsur/modern OSes on an external drive

 

[avz]

I have a mid 2012 MacBook Pro 15, Model: A1286, 2.3 GHz Core i7, 500gb SATA hard drive running Mojave 10.14.6. I bought this from a friend that never used it and added 16gb of ram. Problem is that it's really slow. I'm always getting the dumb spinning beach ball.

QUESTIONS:

1) Is it possible to update this Mac to the latest OS? (I don't have any of the Apple discs.)

2) What are the downsides?

3) Any tips for doing this?


Thank you!

It is possible that your "slow" experience with Mojave is that APFS is not very efficient with HDDs. I am running Mojave 10.14.6 on a HFS+ formatted original 500GB HDD on my 13 inch 2012 MBP and it is fast even when connected externally via USB port.

Upgrading to Catalina should be easy as I am actually struggling to get rid of the "red badge" notification to upgrade to Catalina despite the fact that I am running Mojave on HFS+. Failing or overly full HDD can also make your Mac run slow but generally 2012 Macs are still have very solid performance especially with 16GB of RAM.