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To make a Mid 2012 13" MBP dual booting macOS / Linux .....or Not

S

Scoot65

macrumors regular
Original poster
My current mac which I've had for a few years is a mid 2012 Macbook Pro 13" 2.5Ghz i5 / 8GB RAM / 500GB SSD / macOS Sierra 10.12

My main uses are general internet browsing, YouTube, online banking / online purchases and using iTunes for my music library and to sync my iPods. So nothing too demanding.

I'm know I'm years behind any security updates and this is putting me at risk. I was going to get a new Macbook Air early next year, but I realised that apart from having a new machine with new a macOS and security updates it wouldn't change how I do things as my current MBP works fine and meets my needs well.

This got me thinking........ and I'm now thinking about partitioning the SSD and use Sierra to run offline for Photos / iTunes and iPod syncing and on the other partition have something like Ubuntu / Kubuntu for online web browsing, online banking / purchasing etc as these receive security updates. I could then boot into one SSD partition or the other depending on what I want to be doing.

I've been watching a few youtube videos about installing Linux flavours such as Ubuntu / Kubuntu and it doesn't look too challenging to do.
I'm not a big tech savvy guy, but can "get by" and if there's a problem as long as I find step by step instructions I can usually sort things out.

I have two bootable back-ups via CCC of my current MBP SSD.

What are you guys' thoughts on this idea?
Does this sound OK, any pitfalls I've not considered?
Not worth the risk of a major screw-up / headache

Thanks..
 
@MBAir2010 Made a fair question, the MBP with the DVD slot is more suitable to dual-booting, since you can replace the DVD drive with a Storage Drive housing, while the MBP with the retina screen is a little harder to dual boot.
 
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Thanks for the replies.......It's a mid 2012 with the DVD slot. (I've edited the title)

I was hoping to be able to just use the existing internal SSD by just partitioning it. That's what I was thinking when I said dual booting. Switching between the two partitions. Maybe dual booting is the wrong terminology.
Would removing the DVD drive and fitting a storage drive in the it's place be a better option?
 
Scoot65 said:
Thanks for the replies.......It's a mid 2012 with the DVD slot. (I've edited the title)

I was hoping to be able to just use the existing internal SSD by just partitioning it. That's what I was thinking when I said dual booting. Switching between the two partitions. Maybe dual booting is the wrong terminology.
Would removing the DVD drive and fitting a storage drive in the it's place be a better option?
Click to expand...
Either one works! I would suggest swapping the DVD drive for a storage drive would be the better idea, as you will have your data separated from each other.
 
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OldNewMBP said:
Either one works! I would suggest swapping the DVD drive for a storage drive would be the better idea, as you will have your data separated from each other.
Click to expand...

Yes, that does sound a better option. I'll into that mod.

So my initial thoughts about installing something like Ubuntu / Kubuntu etc. with their ongoing security updates, for online stuff and using macOS for my offline stuff is OK?
 
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Scoot65 said:
Yes, that does sound a better option. I'll into that mod.

So my initial thoughts about installing something like Ubuntu / Kubuntu etc. with their ongoing security updates, for online stuff and using macOS for my offline stuff is OK?
Click to expand...
make sure those video on the MPB'12 are recent as in this year since things have changed installing older OS and linux on these early intel MacBooks these past 2 years.

My experiences is I have the same model of MBP and tried to dual linux Unbubtu
with high Sierra which crashed the entire drive in 2018, as in 2023, MtLion and OCLP Monterey crashed a drive in the dvd port. a week later the main drive crashed on OCLP Monterey.
the only way I could get linux mint to work on a second drive for a project there stuns ago.
All last year I tried to instal Mt Lon on a second drive on a second drive but failed since  would not let me.
I can try to find the posts of my failures which might be on the"what have you done with early intel" thread or on the MPB one. I just never really had a successful experience
LATELY installing any older OSX  does really not want us to use.

the MBPro has a nice fresh install of Mojave, 500ssd.
and I will time machine Mt Lion on a new drive when the prices of ssd dive return to normal.
that MacBook Pro still does a great job!
 
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This is a very reasonable plan for a 9,2, and the optical-bay swap suggestion above is the one I'd follow too. Keeping Linux on its own physical drive means you never have to resize the Sierra partition later, and if the experiment doesn't work out you just pop the SuperDrive back in. One practical note: the SATA port behind the optical bay on those machines is often the flakier of the two at 6Gb/s, so put the SSD you boot Sierra from in the main bay and the Linux drive in the caddy.

For the distro itself, a mainstream LTS release like Ubuntu or Kubuntu is the right call since the 2012 has plain Intel HD 4000 graphics and everything works out of the box. Do the install with the machine on ethernet or with the "install third-party drivers" box ticked, otherwise the Broadcom wifi won't come up until you get firmware onto it. Also expect to hold Option at chime to pick your boot volume; rEFInd is nice but not required if you don't mind that.

The only real risk is a slip with the partitioning tool, and since you already have two CCC clones you're covered. Verify one of them actually boots before you open the case, not after.
 
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I did a partition experiment with Mint on my 2011 Air, with a common data partition shared between the 2 OS, it worked for a few months and then I started to get messages "cannot access file" or "corrupted" or "file ownership" issue, but by that time I have decided to go back to full OSX. As long as you keep backups of your data some place, go try it out I guess.
 
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MBAir2010 said:
make sure those video on the MPB'12 are recent as in this year since things have changed installing older OS and linux on these early intel MacBooks these past 2 years.

My experiences is I have the same model of MBP and tried to dual linux Unbubtu
with high Sierra which crashed the entire drive in 2018, as in 2023, MtLion and OCLP Monterey crashed a drive in the dvd port. a week later the main drive crashed on OCLP Monterey.
the only way I could get linux mint to work on a second drive for a project there stuns ago.
All last year I tried to instal Mt Lon on a second drive on a second drive but failed since  would not let me.
I can try to find the posts of my failures which might be on the"what have you done with early intel" thread or on the MPB one. I just never really had a successful experience
LATELY installing any older OSX  does really not want us to use.
Click to expand...

I think the most recent YouTube videos I've been watching were from a couple of years ago, some were older than that. I'll try to find more recent vids. Thanks for the heads up!

I hope I don't experience the problems you've had. I think if I do, I'll just go back to standard using one on my CCC backups.

I have a bootable macOS Sierra installer USB which I created a few years ago. So I've also got that too.
 
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DavidPS said:
This is a very reasonable plan for a 9,2, and the optical-bay swap suggestion above is the one I'd follow too. Keeping Linux on its own physical drive means you never have to resize the Sierra partition later, and if the experiment doesn't work out you just pop the SuperDrive back in. One practical note: the SATA port behind the optical bay on those machines is often the flakier of the two at 6Gb/s, so put the SSD you boot Sierra from in the main bay and the Linux drive in the caddy.

For the distro itself, a mainstream LTS release like Ubuntu or Kubuntu is the right call since the 2012 has plain Intel HD 4000 graphics and everything works out of the box. Do the install with the machine on ethernet or with the "install third-party drivers" box ticked, otherwise the Broadcom wifi won't come up until you get firmware onto it. Also expect to hold Option at chime to pick your boot volume; rEFInd is nice but not required if you don't mind that.

The only real risk is a slip with the partitioning tool, and since you already have two CCC clones you're covered. Verify one of them actually boots before you open the case, not after.
Click to expand...
I'm definitely going down the optical bay route. In fact I've got a SSD caddy ordered. I need to order a SSD for the Linux install. Not sure to go with a 250GB or 500GB SDD drive.

I think it's a good idea to have my macOS Sierra and Linux on separate drives...... and I'm intending to leave Sierra on the main drive bay.

The main thing that worries me a bit is the known issue with wifi drivers during the install process. I'll have the machine connected to ethernet though.

Am I right in thinking that the MBP's wifi chip gets a firmware update during the Linux install process? If I have to restore back to standard will this mean that the MBP loses wifi connection ability due to the chip being firmaware flashed? Am I misunderstanding this bit?

Many thanks..
 
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