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Well, I added an 860 Samsung as a second HDD with an OWC adapter. For a week no prob, I use it first for storage only, this morning when I boot my Mac I got a message that the drive couldn’t be read and find out that it was wiped out! I was unable to even reformat is using APFS, only with the Journaled format… but if I remember correctly, the first time that I installed it, I had first connected my 860 with USB connection as an external drive to format in the APFS format. My MBP is early-2011 running High Sierra 10.13.6. I’m a new Mac user, so any advice would be appreciated . Is there any reason as to why APFS cannot be formatted with the drive mounted inside the MBP ? Update (07/28/2020) @danj on an MBP early 2011. I run a Crucial MX500 (500GB) APFS and that stable as a boot drive, on a second drive I try with a Samsung M.2 Evo 860. with OWC adapter. I can format the drive with APFS but not stable at all. I turn off the MBP and in the morning partition is gone … OF course, it could be a bad drive but if so why would it partition correctly in first place….I will try to partition with ExFat and see. Any other suggestions are welcome
You talk about using your Samsung SSD as a second drive using the OWC adapter did you not note the 2011 models optical drive SATA port is squirrelly! You need a fixed speed SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) drive within your system. OWC Data Doubler Locate the compatibility note for your MacBookPro8,1 system Testing has demonstrated that Apple factory hardware does not reliably support a 6G (6Gb/s) Solid State Drive or Hard Disk Drive in the optical bay of 2011 and 2012 MacBook Pros (Model ID 8,1; 8,2; 8,3; 9,1; 9,2). If your OWC Data Doubler bundle comes with a 6G drive, you should ONLY install that drive in the main drive bay and utilize the Data Doubler to re-task your existing drive or install a new 3G SSD or HDD in the optical bay. PRE-2011 models can utilize a 6G drive in the optical bay, but will do so at a reduced 3G (3Gb/s) speed. I love the Samsung SSD’s but this is one of the few places it won’t work well which is what you discovered! The problem is the Samsung SSD is an auto sense drive (able to sense the systems SATA ports data rate). What happens is it can’t zero in on the correct I/O data rate that’s needed. It senses the faster SATA III (6.0 Gb/s) data rate but because of the messed up logic board the system can’t handle the data at this rate. So you’ll need to change out the SSD to a different unit or use it externally via USB, FireWire or Thunderbolt (ver1). Understanding HFS+ and APFS File Systems Apple’s intro of APFS in High Sierra was a watershed Apple finally improving its file system. But, It has its issues! Apple designed it with the idea it would be used in the current models which it offered SSD’s in (at the time of its release Sept 25. 2017). That was retina MacBook systems and the newer thin series iMac’s. It really can’t run effectively in SATA based drives (HDD or SSD). To add to it the first versions of APFS had issues! The third version is the first stable one which is part of Mojave. Sadly macOS High Sierra (10.13.x) is as high as your system can officially support so Mojave (10.14.x) is just out of reach for your system. Frankly, I strongly recommend you stick with Sierra (10.12.x) on your system as the highest you should go with. The Bottomline So you have to remove the Samsung SSD out of the optical drive carrier as it can’t sync up with the needed data rate your system requires SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) from this port due to a defect in the systems logic board SATA port. You could move it over to the HD bays connection. Unlike the optical bay the HD bay is able to support SATA III (6.0 Gb/s) which your drive will sync up with at without difficulty. But, we still have a problem! Your system likely has an older SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) HD SATA cable as thats what Apple shipped with your system. You could also have a worn or damaged cable which will encounter issues running at the higher data rate your SSD will run at. Here’s a bit more on this Your Hard Drive Cable Is A Ticking Time Bomb. You need to make sure you have the better cable (Rated for SATA III) use and I strongly recommend you apply the electricians tape on the uppercase to help protect your cable. I’ve also seen people damage the cable without realizing it! The thin foil wires within it can be damaged by creasing it to get around the corners this damages it! You really want a nice arc at the points that need a bend. I use an old BIC pen ink straw as a forming brake to curl the cable around as its radius is as far as you want to go. Also don’t bend the cable at the connector as that will snap the wires! Here’s the iFixit cable your system needs MacBook Pro 13" Unibody (Mid 2012) Hard Drive Cable and yes this is the 2012 systems cable which is all I use in the 2011 & 2012 systems. Drop back to HFS+ format on the drive as well.
