More about Networking • • • • Well, when you have a less than three-and-a-half year-old MacBook Pro that's packed with an Intel Core i7 and 8 GB RAM and is otherwise running perfectly, I recommend replacing the failed drive with an SSD. The hard disk in my mid-2012 MacBook Pro (purchased very late in 2012) gave up the ghost. Instead of tossing the laptop, I purchased a $65 240 GB SSD and had the MacBook Pro back up and working faster than when it was new (with a 750 GB 5400RPM traditional drive). Only about an hour's work was required. Here's how I did it.

November 15, 2016. 15th 2016 8:06 am PT. How to find web browser version for mac. The first MacBook Pro with Touch Bar models are arriving, and if you were encouraged by the removable SSD.

Image: Erik Eckel/TechRepublic After ensuring I could easily replace the hard disk, I found and ordered a on Crucial.com. After ordering the replacement drive, which cost just over $78 including a three-dollar surcharge for expedited shipping, I downloaded the using another Mac, since I now had the MacBook Pro in pieces.

Next I found a 16 GB thumb drive. Using my other Mac, I connected the thumb drive and opened Disk Utility. I selected the thumb drive and clicked the Erase button that appears along the top Disk Utility's top menu. I made no changes to the Disk Utility's default settings, leaving the format set to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and name as Untitled.

Once the El Capitan installer was downloaded to my Mac's Applications directory and the thumb drive finished formatting, I opened a Terminal window and typed the following command, which I found on (they credited with sharing the command): sudo /Applications/Install OS X El Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install OS X El Capitan.app --nointeraction As Mashable notes, Terminal prompts the user for the administrator password. When the correct password is supplied, the command erases the thumb drive media, copies installer files to the drive, and configures the thumb drive to serve as bootable media. Upon receiving the SSD, I moved the screws from the side of the old disk to the same locations on the new drive, and then installed the drive in the MacBook Pro. I also reconnected the battery to the motherboard and replaced the hard drive retention piece, as well as the bottom cover and all screws.

I connected the thumb drive to the MacBook Pro, booted up the laptop while pressing the Option key, and then chose to boot from the thumb drive that read Install OS X El Capitan. I selected the SDD as the disk to which I wanted to install the operating system, and then I marveled at how easy the process was. Next, the installation process failed. I was greeted with a nonsensical error that read 'This copy of the Install OS X El Capitan application can't be verified. It may have been corrupted or tampered with during downloading.' The file was fine; it wasn't corrupt, nor had it been tampered with. I found the problem's answer thanks to YouTube's, who's posted a for this issue.

The problem occurs, as the video notes, because disconnecting the battery causes the laptop to revert to an old date that confuses the OS X installer. I corrected the problem by opening Terminal from the MacBook Pro's boot screen and typing 'date 16,' which instructed the Mac to set the date as March 23, 2016 and the time as 1:53am. That did the trick, and the installer continued to walk me through a regular OS X installation. I ended with a faster-than-new MacBook Pro and a refreshingly clean install. I could have chosen to recover applications and settings from a Time Machine backup, but for this installation I sought to start from scratch with a fresh new install. For $78 and an hour or so of work, the laptop should provide another two years of reliable service.