Flash SSD for Mac Book pro 15''

[deanbob]

Originally Posted by deepvisual

any reason why you moved the original HDD? couldn't you have just left it where it was?

Early 2011 unibody MBP have 3 Gigabit link speed via the Super Drive, which suites the original HDD perfectly with no negotiation. Putting an SSD there would just gimp the drive.

Putting the SSD in the normal hard drive bay, which is 6 Gigabit, enables the full link speed on the Crucial M4. This also means that it would be pointless having two SSD's in an array because of the 6 - 3 balance on the chipset.

Some early 2011 [Later production] and Mid 2011 + have a 6 - 6 balance but even then it is still best to have the boot drive in the original hard drive bay as people have reported issues with having the boot drive in the superdrive enclosure. However an SSD array would be stupidly fast in these models.

Thinking back I also believe that original unibody MBP around 2009 [Previous models before i5 & i7] only have 3 Gigabit link speed on both ports [Maybe even 3 - 1.5] so again the SSD would be seriously gimped where ever you put it. [Don't quote me on that but I don't think I'm not far off].

[deanbob]

Originally Posted by zejuju

But a question comes just now to me, won't it be slower if the OS is not on the SSD ?

It was a choice I made as at the time as SSD's were really expensive, to compromise I installed the SSD [128 Gb] for speed and replaced the Superdrive with the original HD for extra [much needed 500gb] storage.

You can migrate/ clone your orignal HD onto the SSD but fresh is always better in my opinion, but definitely only use the SSD for your OS and apps etc.

If you can afford a large capacity SSD and want to keep the superdrive, go for it... but tbh who uses DVDs & CDs these days

[kitt]

Originally Posted by zejuju

Well no, no reason, in fact this is a smart observation...
Didn't thought about it yes... I didn't imagine to get rid of the Super/ CD drive that we don't really use, true.

Well you suggest, as deanbob made for him, that i had the new SSD instead of the cd drive and keep the hardrive I have now and do nothing on it ?

Is it possible ?
Wich would be quite a good idea, then i won't have to install my os again
If it works, it's clever yeah.... Sometimes we complicate ourself...
You confirm this can be made ?

And after I'll just have to put all my vjay project on resolume on it...
But a question comes just now to me, won't it be slower if the OS is not on the SSD ?
Sorry i'm not a technician and not english (for the mistakes)

Not sure exactly what this guy was saying but to answer part of your question Many MBP models have only 3gb throughput caddys for hte optical drive, so if you want to get optimum SSD speed you need to install it in the 6gb HDD caddy, not the optical caddy.

Also installing an SSD drive in the optical caddy can apparently take a hit on battery life.

I am also curious as to whether putting your OS on the SSD will improve computer performance while undertaking tasks like Vjing...

Right now I am just using the SSD for clips, and it has improved dramatically.

[alfaleader]

A SSD in your optical slot won't take a hit on your battery life, SSDs don't use a lot of energy.

[vanakaru]

I have pre-unibody MBP with 120gb SSD in main slot and 750gb HDD in optibay. When I run a show I put needed media in SSD for faster pull-up. After the show it goes back to HDD.
I have had the earlier SSDs and while these make everything snappier they do not perform any better than the drive in optibay(BlackMagic speed test). Only recent Corsair Force runs twice as good results with the tester.
So maybe for older MBPs fast HDD would do as good as SSD.

[jimmyogenic]

just done this with a late 2011 macbook pro..

put in a 512gb ssd into the main drive and took the old hd out and put it into an optical drive holder i bought from ebay for about a tenner. then put the optical drive into a caddy and hey presto all sorted... the ssd drive i bought was a m4 from crucial and i paid the extra to get a cable and sw to do the cloning..

the cloning took about 6 hrs as there was around 450gb on the original drive..
the taking apart and refitting took about 15 mins and was a piece of piss..

one thing it did do with the ssd is create a 2nd partition of 50gb 'just in case' i ever fancy doing bootcamp or having a 2nd os on there etc..

boot time went from 30 secs to less than 10.. editing hd is much quicker and i'm very happy!

[deepvisual]

isnt the cloning something you could do with time machine???

anyway I'm going to order the bits now. you've convinced me its a smart move..

[jimmyogenic]

i guess you could do time machine, but for the extra £7 to get a bit of software and the cable so you can just plug it in to usb as a kit with the drive and do it, made it very appealing! or if you want i can chuck it in the post and you can borrow it with the software..

just prep'd up a 2nd drive to do the same to another macbook tmrw...

one thing i would say is be careful with the screws, especially the internal ones as i de-threaded one and had to cut a bit of plastic... oh well still works and its outside apple care anyway!

there's stacks of tutorials on youtube as well... makes picking which screws etc to undo v easy..

[bernielomax]

yeah I got an OCZ SSD vertex 4 on my MBP 2007 and it rocks.... its really fast. it boot in about 10 seconds....
and vdmx performance is great.... mixing 2 layers of 1080p video and some effects really well now.... quicktime h264...

but its and overall performance really good....

[devonmiles]

has the TRIM issue been adressed in Snow leopard since then?