MBP 2011 Looking to get SSD to replace Superdrive

MarkCooz · Oct 5, 2013

Hey guys. I already looked at the SSD Guide that's sticky in this forum but I just have a few questions...

Question I'm really looking forward to answering are..

What's the best deal for a 250GB+ SSD? (performance/price)

Also how do i go about increasing my overall performance on my laptop?

Here's my specs

15" High Res AG MBP | 2.3GHz i7 Quad | 16GB RAM 1333MHZ | 750GB HDD | AMD Radeon HD 6750M 1GB

Looking to get an overall speed boost without spending so much money.. If i were to replace my Superdrive and install OS/Apps on the SSD and have all my media on my HDD would that be a good choice?

I do mostly video editing/grading and a few heavy graphics here and there.

Any suggestions and opinion will help.

Thanks so much

Spink10 · Oct 5, 2013

Samsung 830/840

Starfyre · Oct 5, 2013

Samsung 840. More speed, less power than the 830.

davidlv · Oct 5, 2013

MarkCooz said:
Hey guys. I already looked at the SSD Guide that's sticky in this forum but I just have a few questions...

Question I'm really looking forward to answering are..

What's the best deal for a 250GB+ SSD? (performance/price)

Also how do i go about increasing my overall performance on my laptop?

Here's my specs

15" High Res AG MBP | 2.3GHz i7 Quad | 16GB RAM 1333MHZ | 750GB HDD | AMD Radeon HD 6750M 1GB

Looking to get an overall speed boost without spending so much money.. If i were to replace my Superdrive and install OS/Apps on the SSD and have all my media on my HDD would that be a good choice?

I do mostly video editing/grading and a few heavy graphics here and there.

Any suggestions and opinion will help.

Thanks so much

It is considered better to put the SSD in the HD bay and your existing HD in the optibay.
See the following (backed up by countless people - many posts in the SSD buying guide too):
Quoted from OWC's HP:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DDAMBS0GB/

"Special compatibility notes related to use of this product with 6Gb/s SSDs in the following machines:
2011 MacBook Pro 15" (Model ID MacBookPro8,2)
2011 MacBook Pro 17" (Model ID MacBookPro8,3)
OPTICAL BAY: The optical bay interface in these machines may either be SATA Revision 2.0 3Gb/s OR SATA Revision 3.0 6Gb/s. There is no way to specify/order this data interface with Apple, but you can confirm what interface/link speed version your optical bay offers via the Apple System Profiler.  Testing has demonstrated that Apple factory hardware does not reliably support a 6G (6Gb/s) Solid State Drive or Hard Disk Drive in the optical bay of 2011 MacBook Pros (ModeI ID8,1; 8,2; 8,3). If your OWC Data Doubler bundle comes with a 6G drive, you should ONLY install that drive in the main drive bay and utilize the Data Doubler to re-task your existing drive or install a new 3G SSD or HDD in the optical bay. PRE-2011 models can utilize a 6G drive in the optical bay, but will do so at a reduced 3G (3Gb/s) speed.  

MarkCooz · Oct 5, 2013

Starfyre said:
Samsung 840. More speed, less power than the 830.

So what would you prefer? If you were to use heavy apps like Premiere Pro/After Effects and want crunch time. Would you prefer 840 or 830?

davidlv said:
It is considered better to put the SSD in the HD bay and your existing HD in the optibay.
See the following (backed up by countless people - many posts in the SSD buying guide too):
Quoted from OWC's HP:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DDAMBS0GB/

"Special compatibility notes related to use of this product with 6Gb/s SSDs in the following machines:
2011 MacBook Pro 15" (Model ID MacBookPro8,2)
2011 MacBook Pro 17" (Model ID MacBookPro8,3)
OPTICAL BAY: The optical bay interface in these machines may either be SATA Revision 2.0 3Gb/s OR SATA Revision 3.0 6Gb/s. There is no way to specify/order this data interface with Apple, but you can confirm what interface/link speed version your optical bay offers via the Apple System Profiler.  Testing has demonstrated that Apple factory hardware does not reliably support a 6G (6Gb/s) Solid State Drive or Hard Disk Drive in the optical bay of 2011 MacBook Pros (ModeI ID8,1; 8,2; 8,3). If your OWC Data Doubler bundle comes with a 6G drive, you should ONLY install that drive in the main drive bay and utilize the Data Doubler to re-task your existing drive or install a new 3G SSD or HDD in the optical bay. PRE-2011 models can utilize a 6G drive in the optical bay, but will do so at a reduced 3G (3Gb/s) speed.  

Thanks for the input! I would love some links to the products. Honestly this is all new to me. Never really messed with harddrives. So it's better to put my HDD where my superdrive is and the SSD+DataDoubler in my main HDD Slot?

Is there a specific model data doubler I need in order to pop in an SSD in my main drive?

Links to products and all of that info would be so helpful!

davidlv · Oct 6, 2013

MarkCooz said:
Thanks for the input! I would love some links to the products. Honestly this is all new to me. Never really messed with harddrives. So it's better to put my HDD where my superdrive is and the SSD+DataDoubler in my main HDD Slot?
Is there a specific model data doubler I need in order to pop in an SSD in my main drive?
Links to products and all of that info would be so helpful!

Already gave you a link to the OWC site, follow that and find the DataDoubler
(= OWC's brand name for an optibay bracket, which can be found elsewhere too, ebay, etc.) which replaces the optical drive with a bracket for a hard drive. The SSD just replaces the HD, you will need a high-quality #00 Philips head screwdriver for the screws holding the back plate and a #6 Torx driver for the lugs on the sides of the HD. Take out the HD, remove the lugs and put them on the SSD before you install it. The ifixit site has good guides to doing all this.
Use Google to find the links (gotta do some of the work yourself

).

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MBP 2011 Looking to get SSD to replace Superdrive

MarkCooz

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Spink10

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Starfyre

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davidlv

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MarkCooz

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davidlv

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