Apple

Name: Apple Hard Drive / SSD Cable For 13-inch MacBook Pro (Mid 2012) main drive bay
Brand: Apple
SKU: APL8211480
Price: 14.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.90 (21 reviews)

Hard Drive Cable
For 13-inch MacBook Pro (Mid 2012)

Mac

Apple Part Number(s): 923-0104, 923-0741, 821-1480-A, 821-2049-A

Replacement hard drive cable for MacBook Pro.

GALLERY
COMPATIBILITY
RATINGS

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This product is compatible with... Learn how to find your Mac's model ID

MacBook Pro (13-inch 2012)

(June, 2012)

Model ID: MacBookPro9,2

2.5GHz, 2.9GHz

Detailed specs

Install Videos

Customer Ratings

Write a Review 4.9 / 5 21 out of 21 (100%) reviewers would recommend this product

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Mid2012

Rating: 5/5 Works perfect May 2, 2022 My computer wasn’t working. This cable fixed it.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Response from OWC, Support May 3, 2022 Thank you for taking the time to leave an awesome review! Glad to hear you're happy with your SATA cable and that it fixed your laptop!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: MusicMind

Rating: 5/5 Great Replacement Cable - More Robust Than Original March 16, 2022 I recently bought a mid-2012 MacBook Pro 13 because I needed the Firewire connection. This particular MacBook Pro has almost a cult following among musicians with many still being used in studios and for live performances. I found a model very cheap and in excellent condition. I upgraded the memory and installed an SSD. It was running fine, but I began to hear about the issues that MacBook Pro's of this era suffered from, which were faulty hard drive cables that tended to break or crack. I could see that my Macbook Pro sitll had the original cable, and while it was running fine, I decided to avoid a future problem by replacing the cable. Apple superseded the original part with a much larger and more robust cable. When the new cable arrived, it was so much larger than the original I thought I had received the wrong part! Removal of the old cable and installation of the new cable is fairly straightforward, be sure to watch the installation video that OWC provides, it's very helpful. Take your time in the installation, make sure you have the tools that you'll need, and that you're working in a well-lit area, and it should go smoothly. This part is crucial to keep your mid 2012 MacBook Pro running.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Response from OWC, Support March 17, 2022 Great to hear the video helped get that cable installed and help keep your drive operating for your needs. They definitely still are a great model of Macbook Pro for most uses, personal or professional.

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: EcuadorExpat

Rating: 5/5 fit perfectly and the video was a great help February 22, 2022 Finished replacing the HD cable in less than 30 minutes.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Response from OWC, Support February 22, 2022 Thank you for your feedback!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Lee_Macbook2012

Rating: 5/5 Exactly what I needed and shipped fast January 29, 2022 I was worried my hard drive had failed when I received the folder with a question mark when starting my computer. After testing the hard drive outside of the computer with a USB connection and reading several reviews of this part I realized it was probably the cable. It worked like a charm! OWC also shipped it quickly, which was very helpful because I was overseas at the time of my order.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Response from OWC, Support February 1, 2022 Thank you for providing us with your feedback! We are delighted to hear you are happy with the Hard Drive Cable! If further assistance is needed, please feel free to reach out to our support team.

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: cfisher-24166

Rating: 5/5 MacBook Pro Mid-2012 Hard Drive Cable October 22, 2021 We always use MacSales/Other World Computing as our go-to vendor for all things Mac. This hard drive cable is essential when you've replaced the drive itself and still have connectivity/boot-up issues. Thanks for all you do, Other World Computing!

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Response from OWC, Support October 22, 2021 Thank you for the Awesome review and continued support! We really appreciate the feedback and kind words :)

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: eubiedoo

Rating: 5/5 Great product at a great price September 28, 2021 OWC is my go to for accessories for my older Macs. This replacement cable fixed a problem related to the flashing folder with a question mark. Hope it will stand the test of time.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Response from OWC, Support September 29, 2021 Thank you so much for taking the time to leave your review WildPiranha-92794. We are glad to hear that the Apple Hard Drive cable fixed your drive issue. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions, comments, or concerns. Phone 1-800-275-4576 or +1-815-338-8685 Customer Service/Sales & Technical Support - Monday-Friday (8am-8pm CT) - Saturday & Sunday (Closed) Live Chat Technical Support - Monday-Friday (8am-8pm CT) - Saturday (9am-5pm CT) - Sunday (Closed) Live Chat Customer Service/Sales - Monday-Friday (7am-10pm CT) - Saturday & Sunday (9am-5pm CT). Thanks for choosing OWC, and have a great day!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: CheerfulFalcon-60264

Rating: 4/5 Fixed my Macbook May 1, 2021 Last resort to fixing my MacBook Pro and it works perfectly. Only thing wrong is the indicator light is in the bring position when installed.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: ElatedDuck-61325

Rating: 5/5 Perfect fit April 25, 2021 Very happy with the cable

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Dawalk Location: Prescott Valley, AZ Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 4/5 Apple Hard Drive Cable for mid 2012 MacBook Pro March 31, 2020 First I want to THANK everyone who wrote a review on this product!

My MacBook Pro - 13" mid 2012 has gone through a couple of SSD's from OWC during the last couple of years and they have provided excellent customer service replacing the drive with a new one (overnight). The 2nd drive, which was a replacement, I had received in 9/2019. On 3/2020, my MacBook Pro froze and completely locked up. Had to perform a hard shutdown and when I restarted it I got a folder with a flashing question mark. I knew it couldn't find the hard drive so I booted into recovery mode and when I went into the Disk Utility there was no drive showing. Called OWC and after talking to Darren B, he overnighted a new SSD, however when I installed new drive it didn't show up either under Disk Utility. After searching the web, I found an article where the Hard Drive cable in the 2012 MacBooks were faulty. So, I went back to OWC and felt good about being able to repair mine based on the research I found. When I found the cable on OWC and read the reviews I was fairly confident this was the issue I was experiencing - so, I ordered one that night. The following day I called OWC to inform them that I would be returning the new SSD they had sent me, since the SSD wasn't the problem. I spoke to Joe and explained what was happening. Glad I ordered the part because Joe told me that that wouldn't be problem and that the controller on the motherboard was the likely cause. I asked him if he had read the reviews on this HD cable (he didn't answer me). Someone at OWC needs to inform him that this cable is very likely the cause. Once I received the cable and installed it, my computer immediately booted up to my SSD. Not only that I've seen a remarkable degree in responsive of my computer. In fact I would say it didn't run this good when I bought it new, really a night and day difference as to how it performs now.

The only reason I rated this product 4 stars instead of 5 is because the replacement cable wasn't configured the same as the original cable. The original cable had a L bend where two small screws held it down (before the cable goes under the SSD). So, I just held the cable down and installed the SSD over the cable and booted up and everything was good. Hopefully you can see this L bend in the old/original cable pictures. The new cable was completely flat. Still can believe the performance now. Thanks OWC

And again, thanks to everyone who took the time to write excellent reviews on this product!

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: VirgilR Location: Windsor, CA Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Failing data interface cable December 13, 2019 My 2012 MacBook Pro started to hang during time machine backups to an external drive via USB. Also when doing Mac-to-Mac data transfers via ethernet cable. Restarts would occasionally hang with a white screen having a circle with a line through it - indicating the OS on the drive is incompatible with the hardware. Apple Genius Bar was no help. Discovered DriveDx, an in-depth disc drive diagnostic. It showed a very high CRC error count during data transfers via the interface cable (see screen capture). Replaced the cable and have had no problems since.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: otetz Location: Petah Tikva, Israel Age: 45-54 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 It was the cable October 23, 2019 My new SSD wouldn't be recognized by the Disk Utility while others would. I wasn't sure the problem was the cable but after I spoke with support I decided to give it a try. I didn't regret. Now the SSD is being seen with the Disk Utility and working just fine. It turned out to be that it was the cable in the end!

Thank you OWC.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: LJT11 Location: Chicago, Illinois Age: 45-54 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Solved my MBP (mid 2012) problems October 7, 2019 My hard drive was failing so i purchased a 1 TB SSD Electra (great drive! - after i got it to run) and no matter what I did, I could not get it to work. I did everything from reseting the PRAM, SMC, trying to system restore from Time Machine, to reinstalling the OS and nothing was working properly. It would either take forever or just get an error and fail. I was about ready to give up and was thinking of buying a new MBP. I decided to try a couple more times and see if i could figure the problem out. I went to different forums and youtube researching what the problem could be. I found one mentioning the hard drive connector could be the issue.

After I ordered and installed this myself (thanks OWC videos!), installing the OS went thru, Time Machine went thru as well as migration assistant. I replaced my ram to 16GB and now my mid 2012, 2.9 ghz I7 is better than it was before! Took a few days but I saved myself from buying a new MBP! Can't thank OWC enough for all my MBP supplies (thru the past couple of years bought charger, battery, SSD 1TB Electra, HD connector and 16GB ram). You guys are my go to and would recommend you to my family and friends.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: AlwaysLearning Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Hard drive 'failing'? Maybe, maybe not...... January 17, 2019 Hi Fellow MBP fans! I have an early 2011 Macbook Pro (MBP), 13". Through the system status pages found under the apple menu I discovered that the hard drive was listed as "failing". Okay, sounds reasonable the computer was running slow and would occasionally quit, so get a new hard drive. Did some research and decided to go with an SSD and up the space, 1TB. Came across a comment that you should replace the ribbon cable at the same time, but didn't want to just throw parts at the MBP thought I'd try the hard drive first. Mistake. Installed the new hard drive and started the time machine restore. 10 days, yes, 10 days later the time machine restore was complete. I had a couple of failed starts, my fault. First time I was curious what would happen if I removed the charging cable, the battery was showing full charge. The MBP went blank, start time machine restore again! Next time, two days in, I came across the comment that if you started with the time machine back up plugged into your usb port it would transfer data at the slowest rate. I couldn't remember, so I restarted it hoping it would be faster. No, it was not. 3rd time I figured if it was 'working' I'd just let it go and see how long it took. I had also read the time estimates can be "wildly off". Well 10 days later I had a complete time machine restore. Now to use the MBP! Nearly unusable, very slow, wouldn't shut down, pinwheels on every click, very slow restarts, disconnect the power and it went blank, and more. The time machine restore had worked, but obviously there were still problems. Ordered the cable, installed it and yea! Now my MBP is back and faster than ever. I also installed max RAM (16g) since I was in there. Oh btw, I bought an empty hard drive enclosure from OWC as well and put the old hard drive in it, it works! Now I have a spare back-up drive. So, all along I had a bad cable. Always learning!

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: JustinK Location: Atlanta, GA Age: 25-34 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: over 6 months

Rating: 5/5 Perfection March 4, 2018 Was in search of a hard drive comm cable for my 2012 MBP. This site came highly recommended. As soon as it arrived, I was pleasantly surprise to find it came in a proper sized box so as not to bend or fold the new cable. This was a concern as I had found other sites ship the cable folded in half, possibly compromising it from the start. Within a few minutes, I had my Mac back up and running.

Thank you for helping to get my MBP back up and running so quickly!

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: JimL Age: 18-24 Experience Level: Hobbiest Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Try this before HDD replacement!!! March 1, 2018 So I recently put in a new SSD in my MacBook Pro 13' (Mid-2012) and it worked great. However, after about a month, i noticed it starting to slow down. Then it finally couldn't recognize the drive for extended periods of time and when it did boot, it had a large lag. So, I decided to give this a try before buying a new computer. This install is easy and works great. My computer works like new.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: jt101 Location: california Age: 35-44 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Worked like i hoped! January 28, 2018 I swapped in an ssd on my MacBook pro 2012 and had problems with the cable. I ordered another cable off amazon and still had problems with the ssd but not the regular hd. Ordered a cable this cable and new ssd worked perfectly ! Don't buy the cheaper cables off Amazon. Get this one and be done!

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: PAULg Location: Smithville, nj Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Noob Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 SSD CABLE October 11, 2017 Very easy to install. I did call customer support before I started. The support rep gave me a couple of tips , made the installation easier.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: MrFixit Location: Vancouver, WA Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 fixed macbook pro problem! July 26, 2017 After spending 3 days, tearing my hair out, trying to diagnose the problem with my son's 2012 13" MacBook pro (A 1278 unibody), I stumbled across a forum that said that the original HDD connector was a bad design.

I had been attacking the problem, as if it was a hard drive issue, corrupt OS, resetting PRAM, resetting SMC etc etc etc. I even tried 3 other working hard drives out. One hard drive (a 320 GB HDD booted up every time, whereas, all of the other hard drives and an SSD drive weren't even recognized! Then, after finding the forum where the people identified the problem as being a faulty end on the original ribbon connector, it all made sense. The 320 GB drive had a slightly different design on the connection that made the pins fit tighter on to the connection. When I installed the new ($12) replacement connector from OWC It was a much firmer connection making all of the drives recognized by the laptop.

It is a real shame that Apple didn't bother to notify owners of this model about this defect and/or offer to replace the bad part.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: ConvertedMacguy Location: New York City Age: 45-54 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Thank you MacSales.com July 25, 2017 After installing my SSD a month later I get a folder with a question mark in it. I find out its either the Hard drive went bad (Doubt that since it was only a month old or the cable. After chatting with Mac sales. We decide to get the cable. Priced right cable is in NY in 2 days. Replace cable. Boom! All is working properly. Thank You Mac Sales.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: KenW Location: Asheville, NC Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 OWC saved me over $1000! July 23, 2017 A recent previous order of a replacement internal hard drive for my old MacBook Pro didn't fix the problem. I replaced the hard drive with an OWC SSD and, alas, the old MBP still wouldn't work. I called OWC/MacSales and explained my problem and the representative quickly replied: "Oh, your HD cable is defective." I never would have suspected that. Seems it's a common problem, so common in fact, that OWC sells a replacement cable and for only $15! The final upshot is that this cable saved my MacBook Pro from recycling AND the laptop is running much faster now due to the new SSD. THANK YOU OWC! And thank you for the wonderful installation videos on your web page.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: MacUser1989 Location: california Age: 25-34 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 SSD working now! January 30, 2017 I had installed a new SSD into my mid 2012 MBP and was having a hard time getting it to run, I actually went through two SSDs thinking the first one was defective. I went through every troubleshooting step and it still ran very very slow. Purchasing this cable was a last resort to get it to run and it worked! My computer is now faster then it was brand new 5 years ago!!! Thank you MacSales.com for your' amazing customer service. I will definitely be purchasing through you in the future.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

Apple Hard Drive Cable For 13-inch MacBook Pro (Mid 2012) Mfr P/N: 821-1480 OWC SKU: APL8211480 Replacement hard drive cable for Apple P/N(s): 923-0104, 923-0741, 821-1480-A, 821-2049-A 60 Day OWC Fulfilled Limited Warranty Ships: Same Day

Reviews (21)

Only ~~$44.95~~OWC Price $14.99

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