Mac Pro mid 2010 SSD upgrade - Sata III compatible?

[Elon333]

Hi everyone, I have seen different posts with similar issues about upgrading the SSD on Macs Pro 2010 and upgrading system, but I as i understand the systems might be a bit different or as some threads are few years old the suggested hardware has been discontinued from production in the meanwhile..or at least as I understand.

I am pretty basic with understanding this stuff, I'm learning, but here is my problem:

I have a MacPro 15" Mid 2010 8GB Ram running 10.6.8 Snow Leopard. It works still wonders actually and I love it, the only prob is that I need to update softwares and with LogicPro goes sometimes in overload. I can't afford a new Mac so I am trying to pass to El Captan and I read it is best to get a new SSD.

I can't seem to find the Crucial MX300 that, as I read on an older thread here from 2017, would be a good option, because it is discontinued by Crucial. They don't produce SATA II anymore but they told me that I can install a SATA III and will work to SATA II standards. On-line randomly I read that the SATA III is not compatible with STAII ports, so I am confused.

My question is: If I install a SATA III, for example Crucial MX500, which, according to Crucial, will work to SATA II standards, will it work on my system? And will it make any difference when installing ElCaptain compared to what I am running right on now?
Second Hand older SSDs are an option or better not?

More info on my mac here:

Processor Name: Intel Core i5
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 8 GB
Processor Interconnect Speed: 4.8 GT/s
Boot ROM Version: MBP61.0057.B0C

Macintosh HD:
Capacity: 319.73 GB
Available: 186.7 GB
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk0s2

Thank you very much!
Elon

 

[Fishrrman]

Any 2.5" SATA SSD will be fine.
I'd suggest Crucial or Sandisk.

But be aware that some of the "overload problems" you're experiencing may be due to the age of the CPU. Not much you can do about that.

 

[Elon333]

Hi Fishrrman thanks for the quick reply!

So something like the Crucial 500MG/ 1TB 2.5-inch internal SSD (• SATA 6.0Gb/s • 560 MB/s Read 510 MB/s Write) would work and actually help with running El Captain and audio softwares like Logic/Ableton (apart from these Logic Overloads..)?

Would it make any difference installing a 500Mg or 1TB in my case?
Is it not advisable to get second hand ssd right?

Anything elese I should do?
Thanks!

 

[Fishrrman]

SSD will be considerably faster than a platter-based drive.
Again, the Crucial will do.
What size? That's up to you.
Don't "think too much" about this -- just do it.

 

[Elon333]

Ok thanks Fishrrman,
I'll give it a go.