Need help installing new hard drive

mikedgolf40505 · Jun 23, 2011, 06:00 PM

I am looking at buying a Seagate Hybrid drive. It is 500GB 7200 RPM HD and 4GB SSD. You can make the 4GB SSD the boot drive and therefor cut your boot time in about half. So can anyone give me some instructions on doing this. I have complete backups on a Time Capsule, so that is not an issue. I am not sure how to install the new drive or how to partition the SSD as the boot drive. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

simsaladimbamba · Jun 23, 2011, 06:10 PM

4GB will not be enough to hold Mac OS X.
Where have you read the part about using the SSD part separately? The Momentus XT combines the SSD and HDD and it will show up as one disk.

MacBook, MacBook Pro: Replacing the Hard Disk Drive, transferring data to the new HDD

How to format a new HDD/SSD to install Mac OS X or make a bootable copy onto

riptideMBP · Jun 23, 2011, 06:10 PM

The momentus XT actually puts the most used files into those 4GB, and as far as I know, there is no way to change that, so you would treat it as any other replacement hard drive.

ThirtyThr33 · Jun 23, 2011, 06:10 PM

I don't mean to ask another question on top of your question but can the 4gb sad hold the entire OS? I thought the newest version of OSX was ~5-6gb?

Edit: NVM someone already replied before I posted lol

riptideMBP · Jun 23, 2011, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThirtyThr33

I don't mean to ask another question on top of your question but can the 4gb sad hold the entire OS? I thought the newest version of OSX was ~5-6gb?

Edit: NVM someone already replied before I posted lol

I'm not sure about lion, but you can easily get SL down to 5-6GB using the custom install options, and trimming programs

Dresevski · Jun 23, 2011, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by riptideMBP

I'm not sure about lion, but you can easily get SL down to 5-6GB using the custom install options, and trimming programs

But, bottom line is you'll want at to go for the 8GB range. Since nobody knows how Lion will be installed yet (download then install over or clean install) you might want that extra leeway

Sam2lucky13 · Jun 23, 2011, 07:06 PM

I didnt read the hold thread but that 4gbs is not something that you can designate to put anything in particular on...on its own it uses that bit of flash for things you access the most.

mikedgolf40505 · Jun 23, 2011, 07:26 PM

Apparently I was mistaken about using the SSD for the boot drive. I went to the Seagate site and it apparently uses it's own algorithm to determine what goes on the SSD and also controls the boot time. Supposedly these drives are faster than both HDs and SSDs, although I am not sure how they could be faster than SSDs. With that question out of the way, what do I do to install this drive properly?

simsaladimbamba · Jun 23, 2011, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikedgolf40505

Supposedly these drives are faster than both HDs and SSDs,

Where has that been stated?

Quote:

With that question out of the way, what do I do to install this drive properly?

Read the links I posted in my first reply. They include guides on how to do it.

mikedgolf40505 · Jun 23, 2011, 07:32 PM

Thanks so much for the help!!

dsio · Jun 23, 2011, 08:35 PM

Its actually not a bad way of handling it, as while OSX may be more than 4GB, only a tiny fraction of that will be read at boot or general usage. The standard install includes all of the additional cruft and applications that are a part of OSX and not used frequently.

The hard disk has no knowledge of where files are, or even what filesystem its running, it simply copies the most frequently accessed sectors of the disk into the flash memory, so it may in fact copy part of a file if not the whole file.

Also means that if in a RAID 0 array, it should still cache the most used sectors correctly across both disks and in effect act as an 8GB flash cache (or more given more disks).

That's what I'm aiming for for my laptop once I get the second 500GB disk and Optibay.

Sam2lucky13 · Jun 23, 2011, 09:18 PM

ive used one its now in an enclosure and i have an ssd...its no where near as fast as an ssd

Jun 23, 2011, 06:00 PM	#1
mikedgolf40505 macrumors newbie Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Lexington, KY	Need help installing new hard drive I am looking at buying a Seagate Hybrid drive. It is 500GB 7200 RPM HD and 4GB SSD. You can make the 4GB SSD the boot drive and therefor cut your boot time in about half. So can anyone give me some instructions on doing this. I have complete backups on a Time Capsule, so that is not an issue. I am not sure how to install the new drive or how to partition the SSD as the boot drive. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
	0

Jun 23, 2011, 06:10 PM	#2
simsaladimbamba macrumors Core Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: in front of it	4GB will not be enough to hold Mac OS X. Where have you read the part about using the SSD part separately? The Momentus XT combines the SSD and HDD and it will show up as one disk. MacBook, MacBook Pro: Replacing the Hard Disk Drive, transferring data to the new HDD How to format a new HDD/SSD to install Mac OS X or make a bootable copy onto __________________ This is not
	0

Jun 23, 2011, 06:10 PM	#3
riptideMBP macrumors 6502 Join Date: May 2011	The momentus XT actually puts the most used files into those 4GB, and as far as I know, there is no way to change that, so you would treat it as any other replacement hard drive. __________________ 2010 15" MacBook Pro \| 2.66GHz i7, 8GB RAM, 40GB Intel 320 in Optibay, 1TB Scorpio Blue \| OSX & Windows7
	0

Jun 23, 2011, 06:10 PM	#4
ThirtyThr33 macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Boulder, Colorado	I don't mean to ask another question on top of your question but can the 4gb sad hold the entire OS? I thought the newest version of OSX was ~5-6gb? Edit: NVM someone already replied before I posted lol __________________ Disregard Females, Acquire Currency
	0

Jun 23, 2011, 07:26 PM	#8
mikedgolf40505 Thread Starter macrumors newbie Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Lexington, KY	Thanks for the information Apparently I was mistaken about using the SSD for the boot drive. I went to the Seagate site and it apparently uses it's own algorithm to determine what goes on the SSD and also controls the boot time. Supposedly these drives are faster than both HDs and SSDs, although I am not sure how they could be faster than SSDs. With that question out of the way, what do I do to install this drive properly?
	0

Jun 23, 2011, 07:06 PM	#7
Sam2lucky13 macrumors regular Join Date: May 2011	I didnt read the hold thread but that 4gbs is not something that you can designate to put anything in particular on...on its own it uses that bit of flash for things you access the most.
	0

Jun 23, 2011, 07:32 PM	#10
mikedgolf40505 Thread Starter macrumors newbie Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Lexington, KY	@simsaladimbamba Thanks so much for the help!!
	0

Jun 23, 2011, 08:35 PM	#11
dsio macrumors regular Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Australia	Its actually not a bad way of handling it, as while OSX may be more than 4GB, only a tiny fraction of that will be read at boot or general usage. The standard install includes all of the additional cruft and applications that are a part of OSX and not used frequently. The hard disk has no knowledge of where files are, or even what filesystem its running, it simply copies the most frequently accessed sectors of the disk into the flash memory, so it may in fact copy part of a file if not the whole file. Also means that if in a RAID 0 array, it should still cache the most used sectors correctly across both disks and in effect act as an 8GB flash cache (or more given more disks). That's what I'm aiming for for my laptop once I get the second 500GB disk and Optibay. __________________ Early 2011 Macbook Pro 13" - 2.7Ghz i7 - 8GB RAM - OCZ Vertex 3 240GB (HDD) Samsung Spinpoint M8 1TB 9.5mm (Optibay) - iPad 3G 64GB - iPhone 3GS 32GB
	0

Jun 23, 2011, 09:18 PM	#12
Sam2lucky13 macrumors regular Join Date: May 2011	ive used one its now in an enclosure and i have an ssd...its no where near as fast as an ssd
	0

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