SSD for 2007 MBPro?

[treatment]

Hey there cats....

I have a 15" 2007 "Santa Rosa" MacbookPro3,1 2.4 Ghz.
OS 10.6.8, 4GB RAM


I'm gonna replace the Superdrive with an SSD.

There are many opinions on WHAT SSD to buy, but the information I need is the basics:

What are the CRUCIAL points I need to "weed-out" the bazillian available options?

ie) I know that the physical SIZE of the drive is important, but what else do I need to keep in mind?
The last thing I want to do is buy an SSD that is totally incompatible, which I have been warned can possibly happen.
Anything you got, much appreciated!
Treatment

[OllyW]

I think the SuperDrive is IDE on the older MacBook Pros so that limits your choice of SSD straight away.

[treatment]

Originally Posted by OllyW

I think the SuperDrive is IDE on the older MacBook Pros so that limits your choice of SSD straight away.

Thanks for the heads up. Does this make any sense to anyone? I believe the SuperDrive is SATA:

HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N:

Firmware Revision: AP09
Interconnect: ATAPI
ATA Bus:

HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N:

Model: HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N
Revision: AP09
Serial Number: K1jhgjhgjgjgj
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal
Low Power Polling: Yes
Power Off: Yes

[Giuly]

Given that your hard drive is probably 120-200GB, why don't you just replace it with a 256GB SSD?

If you still need the HDD, you can then install it in an Optibay caddy with integrated SATA to IDE converter, but do not install the SSD in the Optibay because it would be really slowed down (it should be fast enough for the hard drive, though).

[treatment]

Giuly

Thanks for this!! It took me a little while to figure out what the sam-heck you were talking about. LOL!

It never occurred to me to put the HDD in the DVD tray, and the SSD in the HDD cage.
Thanks a million!
Treatment

[Designer Dale]

I have a late 08 MBP which is similar in physical design to the Santa Rosa but has a Penyrn chip. The DVD slot is in the front and it's not a unibody. I did an ssd/hdd conversion last year using components from OWC and iFixit. Make real sure the optical bay caddy you get for the hdd is specific to the model number of your computer. The connector at the optical bay is PATA and requires a cage that convert to SATA for the hdd. I got mine from iFixit way before I started the project because they are hard to find. Ditto for the DVD drive if you are going to get an external enclosure for it. Make sure it has the same connection as the DVD in your machine. It's not regular SATA.

I have been pleased with the overall performance of my machine since the upgrade. It gets a little glitchy sometimes and will crash on the Restart command but that may have something to do with how I did the apps/OS on the ssd and files on the hdd setup. If I use just the Shut Down or Log Out commands it works fine. Just restart brings it down.

If you intend to keep your machine, look into replacing the PRAM battery while you have the machine torn apart. It runs the internal clock and has a life span of around five years. Things can get strange after that with time resets and color shifts. I broke mine trying to do it myself and it cost an extra $100 for the repair from an independent Mac guy.

Good luck.

Another good source for parts is PowerBookMedic.com

Dale

[treatment]

Dale

Excellent advice, thanks!
I am in Taiwan actually, where parts like this are literally a dime a dozen!
The ifixit site says somewhere around $59 for the cage, but I've seen them as low as $10 over here. HOPEFULLY, as you mentioned, they have one specific to my machine!

FYI: My machine is NOT a unibody either, and the DVD slot is in the front, like yours, not on the side.
My experience with DVD superdrives is that they suck tremendously, and every laptop I've had, I've replaced the DVD at least twice before the Applecare ran out. My DVD drive is definitely toast, so its going in the garbage (#3 on this machine)

I wonder if there is a test for the PRAM battery? My motherboard was replaced a couple years ago, so likely the battery is still fine, but I WOULD like to know, and it might explain why my computer was "stuck in time" forgetting recent items, and the like.
I recently switched to 10.6, and things seem to be fine now. Hmmm....

[lukarak]

Just replaced my 500 GB 7200 hard drive in MacBook 3,1 with an 120 GB SSD from Kingston (V300) + 160 GB 5400 hard drive for a little storage. It was a really simple procedure, especially since i removed the Combo drive it shipped with years ago because it was faulty. I just slid the caddy into the empty space and secured it with two screws.

The caddy is from ebay, PATA-SATA, for 8,89 with free shipping.

It is a pretty old hard drive, and if I copy from and to the SSD it comes in at about 70-80 MB/s. Very nice for storage. Maybe i will try with this 500 GB one which can do over 110 on SATA, but i need it for something else ATM.

[Designer Dale]

Originally Posted by treatment

Dale

Excellent advice, thanks!
I am in Taiwan actually, where parts like this are literally a dime a dozen!
The ifixit site says somewhere around $59 for the cage, but I've seen them as low as $10 over here. HOPEFULLY, as you mentioned, they have one specific to my machine!

FYI: My machine is NOT a unibody either, and the DVD slot is in the front, like yours, not on the side.
My experience with DVD superdrives is that they suck tremendously, and every laptop I've had, I've replaced the DVD at least twice before the Applecare ran out. My DVD drive is definitely toast, so its going in the garbage (#3 on this machine)

I wonder if there is a test for the PRAM battery? My motherboard was replaced a couple years ago, so likely the battery is still fine, but I WOULD like to know, and it might explain why my computer was "stuck in time" forgetting recent items, and the like.
I recently switched to 10.6, and things seem to be fine now. Hmmm....

Glad to be of help. If your motherboard was replaced, the PRAM battery is probably new but you can't really tell. I don't know how to test one of those things as the connectors are really small. I know as I broke one trying to remove it......

You can probably get three years at the least out of it and then go for a new machine and either sell it or keep it as a spare computer. We still use a 2000 G4 Titanium on a daily basis.

Dale