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Any risks / problems and does HDD have a temp sensor? Update (04/30/2019) lot of people report kernel_task and fan problem even after replacing with same cable but are those more often caused by forgetting to reset the smc or by motherboard damage (temp sensors)? tnx
I would not do that especially if you are using anything other than the original hard drive. The data path is not as wide. That’s why Apple upgraded the cable. I also protect the cable with additional padding to prevent the bottom case from comping in contact with it.
Hold on here! You have some bad information here. First your model is a A1278 (EMC 2554) 2012 13” MacBook Pro Unibody. It is not a retina model which has other issues. You also appear to think the A1286 (EMC 2556) 2012 15” MacBook Pro Unibody parts are interchangeable they aren’t! The problem you are likely facing here is the HD SATA cable has had a few revisions and the first two had issues. Which is why we often need to replace them. In addition we’ve discovered the machining of the uppercase interior is still quite rough so over time the cable gets abrated so it fails. Lastly, newer more powerful drives are being installed like SSD’s which can encounter issues with the older cables as they where not rated to run at SATA III (6.0 Gb/s), full out the I/O flow can encounter issues causing the system and drive to overheat as the CRC errors cause multiple retries in the thousands per the same data block and can cause corruptions in your data when you shutdown your system. So you want to use the correct cable MacBook Pro 13" Unibody (Mid 2012) Hard Drive Cable. You want to place a strip of electricians tape on the uppercase where the cable crosses over to help protect it from the rough surface and lastly and also very important! Don’t fold the cable, instead you want a nice arc at the bends. Creasing the cable damages it! I use the ink straw of a Bic pen or you could use a bamboo cooking skewer to help roll the radius. As to your question: Does the HDD have a thermal sensor. It depends on the drives manufacture. Most do and most support S.M.A.R.T. which is a drive information system within the drive that can be accessed. As an example DriveDX will allow you to read it.
