I appreciate your thorough explanation of the issue & more importantly the solution. Now I can install MacOS Monterey on my MBP mid 2015. Never knew I had a 3rd party SSD until I attempted the new MacOS install. Thanks again for the workaround/fix!
You are most welcome, I'm glad I could help. When I first ran into the issue, I did find a forum post on the subject, but nothing at all on RUclips. I still haven't seen a lot on RUclips concerning, do I thought this would prove to be a valuable posting.
I am going to keep this tutorial so that later I can be able to upgrade to Monterrey. I was looking for tutorials on how to be able to upgrade to Monterrey on my 2015 macbook pro by swapping SSD drives. Without a video tutorials, I would end up getting lost and risk my laptop
Did you experience in slowness or any other issues like application freeze or battery draining fast after this upgrade? I have Macbook Pro early 2015 and I am running Catalina on it. Cannot decide if I should update?
Actually, no, it seems just fine. If you are unsure, Big Sur has been very stable for quite a while now, you might consider going there, and continuing to monitor Monterey.
I am so glad this video was of help. When I ran across rhe issue, and discovered the reason, I was surprised to find a lack of videos on the subject on RUclips.
The part about the drive from eBay put up a red flag for me because, that was a very BAD idea of the seller to sell that drive with a fully configured OS on it. A good way to get your data stolen if the right person got it. Should have either come blank, or a clean install and then shut down after install completed so when you got it, it would have asked to be setup like a new mac, / clean install. Either way, glad things worked out for you, and I enjoyed the video.
Indeed, that took me by surprise. I think the seller probably buys up the low capacity drives from people who have upgraded theirs, and then flips them for a profit. It's not a great practice to just sell them as is though. Honestly, I was expecting a blank drive with no OS at all, and was quite prepared to install and then upgrade, which is exactly what I ended up doing. I'm gad that you enjoyed the video, there are a lot more coming.
Interesting to see that it needs an OEM drive to continue, at least you got it to work! Not ideal that the drive wasn’t wiped but at least it was a genuine SSD.
What are your comments about the Monterey on the Early 2015 MacBook Pro? I am currently on the Catalina, does it worth to update that old man to the Monterey? On the Monterey, is it faster, more efficient etc (in terms of speed and battery etc.)?
Honestly, I would wait right now. This has been a secondary laptop for me, at first to my 15" 2015, which I have now traded in for an M1 MacBook Air. (See tomorrow's video release.) As far as battery life, there are ever increasing options to manage battery. This machine had a battery replacement a couple of years ago, so the battery is quite a bit newer than the computer itself. As far as faster, I think a little bit, but it's pretty marginal. On the other hand, the Monterey experience so far has been pretty buggy, with a couple of serious issues, though they affect only I would probably say to wait until 12.2, or maybe even 12.3. Eventually, when you can feel more confident about it, yes, it will be worth the upgrade. Monterey is likely going to be the end of the line for these machines, at least natively. So it's a qualified yes, but there is no hurry about it.
@@brokenelectronics3665 I see. Thank you for the information, I will probably wait. However I’d like to ask you an additional question: do you know if there exists any solution to allow us to downgrade these old 2015 Macs to an older MacOS version, like El Capitan or Sierra? I am asking because I am pretty sure my old device used to work pretty faster, smoother, and releaxed while it was on these old OS versions.
@@egehandorum7128 If you are willing to go with a clean install, and losing your user account, yes. Apple still makes the installer files available here: support.apple.com/en-us/HT211683. You will need to create a USB install drive. Apple has directions on their website, but I think the app Install Disk Creator would be easier, as it automates the Terminal commands; macdaddy.io/install-disk-creator/ If you decide to go ahead with this, let us know how you make out.
@@brokenelectronics3665 Instead of creating a USB drive, may I go with the Internet Recovery option? I just found this and tried now on my device, it seems I can install the El Capitan back. I remember my device was like a rocket on this OS version. However there is an issue: may I have all my documents back? (They are already backed up in iCloud and I have also Time machine backup) so am I allowed to use my Time Machine backup that is created on the Catalina version?
@@egehandorum7128 You answered one question, you are currently on Catalina. No, you can do a Time Machine restore from a newer version of the OS to an older version. So many of the apps would have been upgraded to a version that will not run on El Cap. However, once you have logged in with your Apple ID, you should be able to go to the Purchased tab in the App Store, and download all of your apps again, in versions that will work on El Cap. As far as the documents, you should be able to restore them, either from iCloud, or a local backup on an external drive. There have been some changes with Internet Recovery, but in Catalina, you should be able to install either the original OS the machine shipped with, or the most recent supported. Depending on when the machine shipped, it would either be Yosemite or aEl Cap, as the oldest, or Monterey as the newest. Note, a lot of what I am saying is speculation, as I have never tried to downgrade on OS version while retaining the user profile. Again, good luck with it!
Monterey. These machines are not going to be supported under Ventura, sadly, although Open Core Legacy Patcher will (probably) allow for Ventura to be installed.
Well, Catalina is fine, although I preferred both Mojave and Big Sur to Catalina. If you are hesitant about Monterey, I would probably suggest Big Sur. It will be in full support through the end of 2023, and is very stable. Catalina will be out of support at the end of this year.
You are most welcome! That's why I did the video, there had been commentary about the issue on a couple or three support forums, but a lot of people look to RUclips for this kind of information.
I appreciate your thorough explanation of the issue & more importantly the solution. Now I can install MacOS Monterey on my MBP mid 2015. Never knew I had a 3rd party SSD until I attempted the new MacOS install. Thanks again for the workaround/fix!
Thank you for the kind words. Yes, if one has a MBP purchased second hand, there would be no way of knowing if the SSD was original or not.
Just did the same for a 15” Mid-2015 Pro Retina, Thanks for the help!
I have to thank you a lot. I had my old SSD laying around and did this method with success. Thank you so much!
You are most welcome, I'm glad I could help. When I first ran into the issue, I did find a forum post on the subject, but nothing at all on RUclips. I still haven't seen a lot on RUclips concerning, do I thought this would prove to be a valuable posting.
I am going to keep this tutorial so that later I can be able to upgrade to Monterrey. I was looking for tutorials on how to be able to upgrade to Monterrey on my 2015 macbook pro by swapping SSD drives. Without a video tutorials, I would end up getting lost and risk my laptop
I'm so glad that you found it useful.
Did you experience in slowness or any other issues like application freeze or battery draining fast after this upgrade? I have Macbook Pro early 2015 and I am running Catalina on it. Cannot decide if I should update?
Actually, no, it seems just fine. If you are unsure, Big Sur has been very stable for quite a while now, you might consider going there, and continuing to monitor Monterey.
I am about to press install, thanks for this. I'll stick with Catalina. Pretty stable and does the job for me.
I had a feeling that this was why .. thank- you I got some installing to do
I am so glad this video was of help. When I ran across rhe issue, and discovered the reason, I was surprised to find a lack of videos on the subject on RUclips.
Is there any problem with Catalina on a 3rd party ssd?
Planning on installing it on my Macbook Pro 15 (mid 2015)
The problem is a firmware update that is part of the Monterey installer. Catalina and Big Sur are both fine.
@@brokenelectronics3665 Okidoki. Thanks for your response 👍
You are most welcome, good luck with it.
The part about the drive from eBay put up a red flag for me because, that was a very BAD idea of the seller to sell that drive with a fully configured OS on it. A good way to get your data stolen if the right person got it. Should have either come blank, or a clean install and then shut down after install completed so when you got it, it would have asked to be setup like a new mac, / clean install.
Either way, glad things worked out for you, and I enjoyed the video.
Indeed, that took me by surprise. I think the seller probably buys up the low capacity drives from people who have upgraded theirs, and then flips them for a profit. It's not a great practice to just sell them as is though. Honestly, I was expecting a blank drive with no OS at all, and was quite prepared to install and then upgrade, which is exactly what I ended up doing. I'm gad that you enjoyed the video, there are a lot more coming.
Interesting to see that it needs an OEM drive to continue, at least you got it to work! Not ideal that the drive wasn’t wiped but at least it was a genuine SSD.
That was the point, and hwy I linked the seller. As we know, eBay is a jungle.. ;-)
What are your comments about the Monterey on the Early 2015 MacBook Pro? I am currently on the Catalina, does it worth to update that old man to the Monterey? On the Monterey, is it faster, more efficient etc (in terms of speed and battery etc.)?
Honestly, I would wait right now. This has been a secondary laptop for me, at first to my 15" 2015, which I have now traded in for an M1 MacBook Air. (See tomorrow's video release.) As far as battery life, there are ever increasing options to manage battery. This machine had a battery replacement a couple of years ago, so the battery is quite a bit newer than the computer itself. As far as faster, I think a little bit, but it's pretty marginal. On the other hand, the Monterey experience so far has been pretty buggy, with a couple of serious issues, though they affect only I would probably say to wait until 12.2, or maybe even 12.3. Eventually, when you can feel more confident about it, yes, it will be worth the upgrade. Monterey is likely going to be the end of the line for these machines, at least natively. So it's a qualified yes, but there is no hurry about it.
@@brokenelectronics3665 I see. Thank you for the information, I will probably wait. However I’d like to ask you an additional question: do you know if there exists any solution to allow us to downgrade these old 2015 Macs to an older MacOS version, like El Capitan or Sierra? I am asking because I am pretty sure my old device used to work pretty faster, smoother, and releaxed while it was on these old OS versions.
@@egehandorum7128 If you are willing to go with a clean install, and losing your user account, yes. Apple still makes the installer files available here: support.apple.com/en-us/HT211683. You will need to create a USB install drive. Apple has directions on their website, but I think the app Install Disk Creator would be easier, as it automates the Terminal commands; macdaddy.io/install-disk-creator/ If you decide to go ahead with this, let us know how you make out.
@@brokenelectronics3665 Instead of creating a USB drive, may I go with the Internet Recovery option? I just found this and tried now on my device, it seems I can install the El Capitan back. I remember my device was like a rocket on this OS version. However there is an issue: may I have all my documents back? (They are already backed up in iCloud and I have also Time machine backup) so am I allowed to use my Time Machine backup that is created on the Catalina version?
@@egehandorum7128 You answered one question, you are currently on Catalina. No, you can do a Time Machine restore from a newer version of the OS to an older version. So many of the apps would have been upgraded to a version that will not run on El Cap. However, once you have logged in with your Apple ID, you should be able to go to the Purchased tab in the App Store, and download all of your apps again, in versions that will work on El Cap. As far as the documents, you should be able to restore them, either from iCloud, or a local backup on an external drive.
There have been some changes with Internet Recovery, but in Catalina, you should be able to install either the original OS the machine shipped with, or the most recent supported. Depending on when the machine shipped, it would either be Yosemite or aEl Cap, as the oldest, or Monterey as the newest.
Note, a lot of what I am saying is speculation, as I have never tried to downgrade on OS version while retaining the user profile. Again, good luck with it!
whats the highlest native OS that the 2015 MBP are supported to?
Monterey. These machines are not going to be supported under Ventura, sadly, although Open Core Legacy Patcher will (probably) allow for Ventura to be installed.
@@brokenelectronics3665 Thank you whats the most stable since it sounds like Monterey might be pushing it?
I see alot of folks talk about Catalina?
Well, Catalina is fine, although I preferred both Mojave and Big Sur to Catalina. If you are hesitant about Monterey, I would probably suggest Big Sur. It will be in full support through the end of 2023, and is very stable. Catalina will be out of support at the end of this year.
@@brokenelectronics3665 thank you Sir
oh heck I still have my old 128gig ssd I can do this too! Big thankie!
You are most welcome! That's why I did the video, there had been commentary about the issue on a couple or three support forums, but a lot of people look to RUclips for this kind of information.
Thank you very much for the tutorial !!!
You are welcome!
thanks man!
You are most welcome, I am glad this was helpful for you.
ahhaah i just bought an ssd from that seller, hope its good
Keep them coming!
Heck, I've got videos in the pipeline that will take the channel at least into early 2023!
@@brokenelectronics3665 twice a week then 😉
@@vette-4-life not on a regular basis, but it will happen from time to time.
hahaha i have the same screwdrivers dude!!!!
That’s very likely, they are easily available if you know what you need.
@@brokenelectronics3665 yes they are the best, very good grip