2011/2012 Macbook Pro Dual Drive (SSD+HDD/SSD+SSD) Setup Suggestions

[Satnam1989]

Before you Read this, please note that you may not be capable of running all the little shortcuts/perks I did/do with my setup. You are more then welcome to try everything I suggest and see the improvements for your self but due to being busy with school I am limited to how much help I can provide in small questions. You are more then welcome to google your questions. Sorry

Here are some points to note and suggestions for anyone looking to try my same setup in any MacBook Pro 2011:

- Firstly You can Buy cheap Optical Bay HDD Caddy/Enclosure from eBay(usually Nimbitz or Fenvi branded), or if you feel expensive = better then you can spend your precious money n MCE optibay or OWC data doubler...any will work 100% because if there is any fault its either cause ur laptop SATA port isn't supporting ur drive that ur trying to stick in there or there is something wrong with ur drive....on extremely rare occasion the connector on the caddy is bad....I currently use Fenvi, Nimbitz just started showing up about a month ago on eBay....before it was all Fenvi

- If you get a SATAIII 6Gb/s SSD Put it in your main Bay not in the Optical Bay

- If you want/need Windows 7. Do so before removing the optical drive(SuperDrive), best is to setup Windows 7 via Bootcamp on your original drive and once done you can put that SSD/HDD in your optical bay drive as I did and install your new drive into main bay and install OSX Lion using the Recovery HD & Internet Connection(Required)[Optionally you may use Carbon Copy Cloner{FREE} to clone your drives to the new SSD but I recommend fresh install and restore with TimeMachine] & then Format the Optical Bay slot drive's HFS+ partition to make it so its no longer bootable and is just a storage drive.

- Put a SATAII or HDD in the Optical Bay with a Data Doubler or Fenvi Branded Optical Bay SSD/HDD caddy(remove the black plastic on the edge facing out towards the slot where u insert disc normally to make it fit) because MBP even tho it has 6Gb/s ports on both slots(Main Bay & Optical) It does not support 6Gb/s SATAIII SSD's in the optical bay(exception of the 13" MBP). I can 100% Confirm this and there is a great article located on OWC forums explaining the results I got.

- Leave Sudden Motion Sensor ON! if you are putting in a HDD in Optical Bay(or leaving it in Main Bay) even tho majority of the aritcles/responses on the net state you should turn it off since it has no purpose as it does not support Optical Bay --- Well that is False! Today when placing my laptop down suddenly while having SMS ON my HDD head would move off and the Video playing would pause and continue instantly as I would stop moving the MBP. So it works 100%, SMS in Optical Bay SLOT!

- Only problem/issue one will notice with any MBP is that it will not sleep if lid is left open no matter for how long even when set to sleep after x number of minutes. This is common with all SSD's I'm pretty sure users with Windows also experience this.

- I have MacDrive 8 installed on my Windows 7 Ultimate Bootcamp partition which allows me to Read & Write natively to my HFS+ Drives(SSD & HDD)

- I have Paragaon NTFS for Mac OSX Installed on my OSX Lion Side which allows me to Read & Write natively to my NTFS(Bootcamp Win 7) Partition/HDD & any other external in NTFS format without any issues.($19)

- MacDrive 8 and Paragon NTFS for Mac OSX allows me to share the following folders between OSX Lion and Windows 7 Ultimate: Dropbox Folder, Music Folder, Torrent Download Folder(I use Vuze on both OS's)(Can find on torrent site free...only MacDrive8 is best to get if u go this route otherwise you can buy the newest one from their site)

- I did not change any hibernation/sleep mode settings. Sleep/Hibernate works like normal without any issues. (Use SmartSleep see below under optional tweaks)

- Boot time I'm getting approx 12seconds from the moment I hit the power button.

Optional tweaks:
- - Another Option is Once you have Bootcamp setup fully, You can download VMware Fusion 4.0+(torrent it if you can't buy it)(there is another program like it called Parallels but I haven't used it so ur more then welcome to try that if u wish), It will let you flawlessly use your bootcamp partition within OSX for the times you don't want to reboot your system and want to run Win7Natively[I set aside 2GB Ram and 2cores out of 8 available in the settings of VmWare].

------ I do this a lot but I keep my Win7Bootcamp partition separate rather then installing through VMwareFusion is because It doesn't take up space n my OSX Partitions since its got its own Dedicated Partition.....and also when I need Win7Natively for intense tasks that will utilize full CPU/GPU its just a restart away.

- Battery life Tips:
- Brightness 20-50% (4-8squares/16)
- Bluetooth Off
- Keyboard Light Off
- Quit applications u aren't using...
- Download Click2Flash -(if u hav adobe flash player installed)- Only loads flash on the webpages when you click on it/want to see it.
- In spotlight preferences I hav alot of things unselected, only the ones I would need to search(IF Ever) I am pretty organized and know where my things are majority of the time, Also go to Privacy Tab and Add your Partition (All) from your 2nd HDD to reducing indexing
- Get gfxCardStatus - Select Integrated Card when on battery...do the switch manually cause sometimes if u set it to auto applications can hang/lag if they are/were running while u switched the cards
- you can make sure nothing is plugged into ur usb ports....
- set any kind of monitoring software u may hav to do so at a longer interval example iStat Pro set to 1hourly..., email checking change to hourly or manual
-Set "Put disk(s) to sleep when possible under Energy Save Preferences. Then Press Command+E to Eject your Optical Bay Partitions when not in use one by one. Make sure iSTAT Pro is not monitoring Drive Temperatures and Storage Capacity. This will cause the Optical Bay Drive to Sleep within 10mins unless you change your Sleep time to <10 mins("sudo pmset -a disksleep VALUE" (insert in terminal without quotes and replace VALUE with # of mins you wish to sleep your drive in)...Doing this will increase your battery life to ABOVE 7HRS on Light tasks since ONLY SSD will be using power.

- To save your SSD life from too many writes Download Smartsleep from Mac App Store, open it and exit it. Then Go to developer website, Download the current version, copy it into your "Applications" folder and choose "Keep both". Thats It, The original version you downloaded from App Store should not work anymore but you have to leave it in there, since developers app update hasn't been approved yet so launch the one called "Smartsleep Copy", set your preferences and exit the app, you will still have control to settings from the menu bar icon incase you want to run insomnia plug-in to keep Macbook pro awake while closing lid. Make sure in preferences you set "Smart Sleep" so your MBP can sleep by saving files to RAM ONLY rather then system default "RAM+HDD/SSD" that way you are reducing the # of writes to your SSD since if you don't change it, each time you sleep your MBP you are writing 4GB or 8GB based on how much system RAM you have installed. I set level for smart sleep to 5(mins I think it means) which is the lowest and is more then enough for when I cycle my battery, It will keep a image of my files for the next boot.

- Thanks to one of the other forum members for sharing about f.lux<- great little tweak, really reduces eye strain for users who spend a lot of time working on their MBP's/PC's/iMac's in general. google it, u won't regret using the program, I have reduced the light from 6500(default) to 6100 during day time and It has been great! some say even improves battery life(can't say it doesn't or does cause its not the reason I use it)

- Download Window Tidy from MacApp store, it gives you the affect of snapping windows in places like how you can do in Windows 7. You can make custom grids to snap windows into those places. Pretty cool and the developer is extremely responsive, and acts on any issues you may have immediately.

- With the SSD SATA 3 6Gb/s in my main bay I'm getting read and write speed of 180MB/s approx with blackmagic drive test app that I got from the Mac App Store. Corsair says I should be getting 5xxMB/5xxMB (read/write) but even tho I'm not getting those speeds because I think blackmagic app reports real world performance I'm extremely satisfied.

- I use KeyRemap4 Macbook to remap my "Eject" key to bring up dashboard as I do not use my dashboard as a space, this allows me to access my dashboard widgets on any "Desktop" space I am without to scroll through them.....its the only useful purpose i could find for that key, you may reassign/try different tweaks and If you do please share. Thanks

- SIDE NOTE: YOU ARE MORE THEN WELCOME TO SETUP OSX AND WIN 7 VIA BOOTCAMP ON THE SAME SSD, I JUST DID MY SETUP LIKE THIS IN THE EVENT MY SSD WERE TO FAIL, I WOULD HAVE A BACKUP OS TO CONTINUE DOING MY WORK WITH SINCE MAJORITY OF MY IMPORTANT DOCS ARE STORED ON MY HDD IN OPTICAL BAY HFS+ PARTITION AND MY BOOTCAMP ON THE SECOND PARTITION ON MY HDD IN OPTICAL BAY SLOT.

What I listed above is my exact setup and it is pretty flawless as well as 100% functional. I been reading about people's experiences on doing the dual drive setup but a lot of them didn't simplify the settings enough in details. I will continue to update the above list over time as I will test more settings, once confirmed 100% will add them to the list. <-- As of June 2012 I will no longer update the thread with new settings/feedback as I no longer have my Macbook Pro 15, Its been replaced and I have moved onto something lighter

 

[ahdickter]

This is a really comprehensive review. Thanks! Does the drive have to be SMS compatible for SMS to work? I was thinking of a Scorpio Black I have...

 

[Satnam1989]

This is a really comprehensive review. Thanks! Does the drive have to be SMS compatible for SMS to work? I was thinking of a Scorpio Black I have...

To be honest I do not have an answer for that. I'm pretty sure majority of the drives don't come with Sudden Motion Sensor built in.....I think its more like built into the laptop rather then the HDD.....I am just using the Toshiba 5400RPM HDD that came with my laptop. because its a storage drive you don't want a 7200RPM, It will reduce battery life plus be louder.......MacBooks barely make any fan noise majority of the time so you do notice the HDD drive spinning I'm sure you have experienced this already"the buzzing noise" I find it kind of annoying but I live with it no choice. Working to figure out a way to sleep the second HDD so my laptop is completely silent when I'm not accessing HDD since it just stores my movies, torrents and music.

HDD noise is more noise is noticeable in the Optical Bay slot compared to when it was in the main bay, others have reported it as well. Im sure u can imagine a 7200RPM would be a lot more noticeable/louder....

 

[Cedthebeast]

Very helpful thread. thank you!
I am currently trying to buy a 128 ssd and put it in where my hdd is now. And put the hdd in the superdrive area. Can I put both osx lion and windows on the brand new ssd and just put files in my hdd? i need serious help lol i got a thread on this too but no luck on how.since I'm a noob.

 

[Satnam1989]

Very helpful thread. thank you!
I am currently trying to buy a 128 ssd and put it in where my hdd is now. And put the hdd in the superdrive area. Can I put both osx lion and windows on the brand new ssd and just put files in my hdd? i need serious help lol i got a thread on this too but no luck on how.since I'm a noob.

As far as I know both Win7 and OSX have their share of dislikes towards SSD's (Nothing major just minor quarks) I would not recommend you put OSX and partition that SSD to install Win7 on it as well because they both use different type file systems (HFS+/NTFS) and they both maintain SSD's in different ways and i wouldn't want you to be running into problems and then be frustrated and turning away from SSD's lol.

If you follow my tips its as simple as life can get with all the added bonus performance and satisfaction. With everything related to computers in life there are endless possibilities of tweaks but going any other route then mine will also come with headache if something goes wrong. People say you could store your home directory on your HDD. I don't recommend that I'd rather just store it all on SSD and Store Music, Movies, Torrents and other not often accessed files on HDD(make Alias by right clicking on your folder stored on the HDD, its the same thing as a short cut in windows and move that Alias to your desktop which is part of your SSD so you can access files quicker while they are still stored on your HDD rather then SSD).

Reason is your not making more work for later and plus if you move your home directory to HDD while having just OS on SSD+applications......later on if you reinstall OSX you can run into some problems like I did, not always do things work out as others say or you plan when moving system files around. My laptop started getting beachball's and freezing So i had to revert these settings and start all over again. The setup i described above is VERY STABLE with all the added performance and satisfaction along with piece of mind that its all good. Bootcamp for me takes almost 1min to load from first startup because its on HDD which is normal for it, cause i don't use win7 as much maybe once every 1-2 days. If i need to use it for continuous use i just put my MacbookPro to sleep so it resumes within 3-7 seconds and i can continue working on windows without delays.

Goodluck, again just refer to my review its really simple shouldn't leave you wondering about other questions because I spent a whole month and read over 5000 reviews/replies/guides before I did this on my own as like you I also had lots of questions in my mind but no one to get answers from.

 

[Cedthebeast]

Thank you very much for your specificity. I just bought my first mbp so yeah. You think I'll be doing this right:

1) First off I got my mbp with lion so now I will partition probably 120 gb for windows.
2) I have a few files on here i'd like to keep, so once I put this hdd into my optibay I don't have to worry about wiping/losing anything right?
3) I will next buy an ssd (still debating about 3gb or the 6gb as some people had problems with the 6gb, but it worked for you) and place that in the where my hdd is.
4) Once I boot up for the first time a recovery thingy should pop up and I should do disc utility ? and then what?
5) Not sure what I do after..

I might have to bug (TEEHEE) you a little since you're the most helpful person and know what I'm going through..

 

[Minhthien]

When you format your apple HDD for storage...Can I ask for your step by step?

 

[psykick5]

256GB SSD (128GB partitions for W7/OS X Lion)
750GB 7200 rpm in Optibay

 

[Satnam1989]

Thank you very much for your specificity. I just bought my first mbp so yeah. You think I'll be doing this right:

1) First off I got my mbp with lion so now I will partition probably 120 gb for windows.
2) I have a few files on here i'd like to keep, so once I put this hdd into my optibay I don't have to worry about wiping/losing anything right?
3) I will next buy an ssd (still debating about 3gb or the 6gb as some people had problems with the 6gb, but it worked for you) and place that in the where my hdd is.
4) Once I boot up for the first time a recovery thingy should pop up and I should do disc utility ? and then what?
5) Not sure what I do after..

I might have to bug (TEEHEE) you a little since you're the most helpful person and know what I'm going through..

#3) I would go with 6Gb/s why not? ur gonna put it on a SATA3 controller its worth it plus SATAII is already old
#4) do time machine backup of your hdd and then finish installing the HDD in optical bay and SSD in Main bay, close it all up n boot ur mbp Hold Option key immediately after u press power button(when the grey screen appears) until you see "Recovery HD" select that and go disk utility, then select your SSD, name it something like MYSSD or Macintosh SSD....w.e you like, Format it to HFS+Journaled. ONce done get out of disk utility, click install lion, then follow steps and wen u get to drive selection select your ssd from there let it do its magic.
#5 once lion done, it should reboot, hold option again, select the ssd this time then follow steps and when it give you option for "restore from time machine" select that, make sure disk that ur backup is on(external) is connected and then let it do its magic form there on.

finally once ur done all that, make sure all ur files are on ssd(i hope your ssd is big enough to do a first time restore of your whole hdd) otherwise its ognna get complicated, then go into disk utility, select the HDD(NOT SSD) format it by naming it something like "Storage" or Macintosh HDD and thats it your done. Now just move the large files off of the SSD that u placed such as music, movies, and what not onto HDD since it will be ur storage. for programs like torrent downloading clients in the preference find where it stores the files that u download and change that to a folder on your HDD. for rest please refer to my info above, sorry the response is messy but i can't really do much on the spoon feeding side then this because i am very busy with studies For Future readers please read above, if you are unsure google is your bible i figured all this out on my own(my first mac in my whole life(I'm 22) I googled just about everything i listed above and then tested it before sharing it carefully.

----------

When you format your apple HDD for storage...Can I ask for your step by step?

My settings are Listed above but here is breakdown:

- 180GB SSD (Lion OSX)
- 500GB HDD (350GB Partition OSX Storage|150GB Partition Bootcamp Win 7)(You can put in 750GB or 1TB rather then 500GB if you like, I just didn't have the need to spend more money to upgrade and rather use the original that came with my laptop)
- I recommend at least 150GB put aside for Bootcamp Windows 7 for anyone who is a casual to moderate user/has the need to use Win 7.....Better to have more space because later on it will be a mess to remove HDD, reinsert Optical Drive to do the windows 7 set-up cause its a whole new ball game if you want to install Win7 bootcamp via External DVD Drive and I'm saying this because those of you that can do it in seconds please do consider other peoples knowledge base as we are all good at some things but not others

Rest of info is above once gain about how i share the space and folders between the OS's.

I do not recommend putting OSX and Win 7 on partitions on the same SSD.....thats my opinion based on a full months worth of research I did reading repots, blogs and comments from users in the past year. But you are free to do what you wish

I cannot provide step by step guides, as i mentioned above Studying is my #1 Priority, There are plenty of small info and guides on youtube. What i provided was the detailed part that one will need to have success in setup, rest is minor information about how to format, how to install etc. etc.

 

[Minhthien]

I have install 2 ssd in mbp in the past so yes I do know how to format it before installing OS X! But my question to you is... How do you format the HDD in the optibay? Is it the same as formatting to install an operation system? I remember these is so many options. But Yes I did follow the step on youtube for it! I search on you tube and many places but still couldn't find my answer!

 

[Satnam1989]

I have install 2 ssd in mbp in the past so yes I do know how to format it before installing OS X! But my question to you is... How do you format the HDD in the optibay? Is it the same as formatting to install an operation system? I remember these is so many options. But Yes I did follow the step on youtube for it! I search on you tube and many places but still couldn't find my answer!

Just use Disk Utility, Select the HDD on your left but select only the mac partition if you have Bootcamp installed....and click "Erase" tab(second tab once you have selected the disk you wish to format. see my pic.

 

[Satnam1989]

updated with a new option to run Bootcamp within OSX(without restarting) via VMware Fusion, I provided info above, that is all I can provide due to limited time.

quick note: It is pretty simple straight forward, Once done you just select Bootcamp from one of the programs icons, let it do its magic, read and follow the instructions that come as the process takes about 10mins to setup and have your Bootcamp running within OSX. **make sure to install VM tools via VMware from the status bar menu and select "install VM tools" and then go to "My Computer" and launch the setup from the Virtual CD drive you see in there. Your done.

Please research any further questions on how to setup/install VMWare on google.com

Everything Described above works for me, May work for you if you do similar/exact same/ setup. I'm just about done with new tweaks, I hope my thread lives on and helps people hopping on the Dual Drive Bandwaggon. I do not have information on other version of the Macbook/Pro/ (ex 13", 17" or even older 15") but you are more then welcome to try it out and report your results.

 

[macfan74318]

I have a question, do you think that 60 GB will be enough for the OS (Lion) and CS5.5 (Photoshop, Illustartor, InDesign, After Effects, Premier Pro) Final Cut Pro X, Motion 5, Compressor 4. iWork, and iLife?

Also could I install Windows on my Bootcamp on my HDD and then when I put it in the optical bay just erase the OSX partition? Would it boot?

Finally, is this a good SSD? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233194#

Thanks,
Macfan

 

[Satnam1989]

I have a question, do you think that 60 GB will be enough for the OS (Lion) and CS5.5 (Photoshop, Illustartor, InDesign, After Effects, Premier Pro) Final Cut Pro X, Motion 5, Compressor 4. iWork, and iLife?

Also could I install Windows on my Bootcamp on my HDD and then when I put it in the optical bay just erase the OSX partition? Would it boot?

Finally, is this a good SSD? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233194#

Thanks,
Macfan

The SSD is good its the same brand and spec'd I'm using except mine is 180GB, yes you can do the bootcamp setup, what your thinking about is exactly what I have setup....its in the tips above....

Personally at least get 80GB-90GB....to be on the extra safe side....

 

[ArmanUV]

- Leave Sudden Motion Sensor ON! if you are putting in a HDD in Optical Bay(or leaving it in Main Bay) even tho majority of the aritcles/responses on the net state you should turn it off since it has no purpose as it does not support Optical Bay --- Well that is False! Today when placing my laptop down suddenly while having SMS ON my HDD head would move off and the Video playing would pause and continue instantly as I would stop moving the MBP. So it works 100%, SMS in Optical Bay SLOT!

Thanks. This one worked for me (2011 MBP with OWC 6G Electra in Optibay)
It is weired that most people even on this forum believe that sms only works for the main bay hdd. I guess apple quietly added sms support for optibay in one of the recent firmware updates.

- Only problem/issue one will notice with any MBP is that it will not sleep if lid is left open no matter for how long even when set to sleep after x number of minutes. This is common with all SSD's I'm pretty sure users with Windows also experience this.

I never had that problem. I believe it is not very common. It may be unrelated to the SSD.

I have a few recommendations to add here:

1. Buy and install SmartSleep from the Appstore. It automatically manages the sleep mode and prevents writing the RAM contents to the SSD unless your MBP's battery life is running low. This has two advantages : it prolongs your SSD's life and decreases the amount of time it takes for the MBP to go to sleep.

2. If you are not getting the advertised speeds, it is probabely due to FileVault 2. I was getting speeds around 80Mbps with FileVault 2 enabled. As soon as I disabled it, I started to see the advertised speeds in the benchmarks (~450Mbps).

3. If you have a 120GB or bigger SSD, I would say you should definitely install Windows on the SSD. It makes a huge difference especially in startup speed. From the moment I launch Solidworks 2011 or Matlab from the dock, it takes 13 seconds for Windows to resume and the program to become function. If you enable Crystal Mode in Parallels, It doesn't even show the Windows boot process. The program launches just like a mac app.

4. If you do not need to access your HDD frequently, you can use a script like this to increase batter life and prevent frequent hdd spin ups:

set myVolumeLabel to "PARTITION NAME GOES HERE"

tell application "Finder"
	set diskDev to do shell script "diskutil list | grep \"" & myVolumeLabel & "\" | grep -o 'disk[0-9]*' "
	if not (disk myVolumeLabel exists) then
		do shell script "diskutil mountDisk " & diskDev
	else
		do shell script "diskutil unmountDisk " & diskDev
	end if
end tell

 

[Ramasjang]

Thanks

 

[macfan74318]

The SSD is good its the same brand and spec'd I'm using except mine is 180GB, yes you can do the bootcamp setup, what your thinking about is exactly what I have setup....its in the tips above....

Personally at least get 80GB-90GB....to be on the extra safe side....

Thanks, I got the SSD (60GB).

MacFan

 

[Satnam1989]

updated with Smart Sleep (new tweak I tested)

 

[Satnam1989]

would be nice if mods made this into a sticky....since majority of the new threads seem to be asking the same questions.....it makes sense, i put in good time to type up my notes/suggestions/recommendations for Macbook Pro Dual Drive setup as this can apply to all Macbook Pro Unibodies that have Optical Bay Drive HDD Caddy's available for them.

 

[Ant.honey]

Thanks from me also for writing this up.

If you have a chance, I have a couple of questions regarding the life of an SSD.

How long can one expect an SSD to last? In your opinion, is Smartsleep necessary (I have 16gb of ram & a 6G SSD) to extend the drives life? I mean, if the drive is warrantied for 5 years and it fails before then, can't I just get another with the warranty for instance?

 

[Artagra]

3) I will next buy an ssd (still debating about 3gb or the 6gb as some people had problems with the 6gb, but it worked for you) and place that in the where my hdd is.

#3) I would go with 6Gb/s why not? ur gonna put it on a SATA3 controller its worth it plus SATAII is already old

Great thread Satnam, I've been playing around with dual drive setups for 3 years so it's cool to read about other's experiences! It's awesome that your Force 3 is working so well Unfortunately, that seems to be the exception - many people are having problems with Sandforce based drives. They seem to work better on the 13", and then worse on the 15" and 17", and it seems to be different based on when your machine was manufactured. It's my guess that Apple has made some changes to the cables, but it's only a guess.

Cedthebeast, I'd suggest going for a Crucial M4 or Samsung 830 - they aren't as quick as the Sandforce 2 based drive that Satnam has, but they are very close, and reliability is almost as good.

 

[Satnam1989]

Thanks from me also for writing this up.

If you have a chance, I have a couple of questions regarding the life of an SSD.

How long can one expect an SSD to last? In your opinion, is Smartsleep necessary (I have 16gb of ram & a 6G SSD) to extend the drives life? I mean, if the drive is warrantied for 5 years and it fails before then, can't I just get another with the warranty for instance?

Honestly this is my First SSD and Macbook Pro, but you could expect your SSD to last at least 3 years(knock on wood) it doesn't fail due to some other reason(your hardware, the sand force controller or something else?). I have only 8GB ram and I put my laptop to sleep at least 3-5 times a day, so having smart sleep does help only when my laptop battery drops well below my set limit because then it just saves the RAM content to SSD which is better then every time.

in my day i do document typing, image viewing, surfing the net, watching videos for my school from my internal HDD rather the SSD. All in all my activity monitor says about 3-5GB read/written(average) on my SSD in about 15hours of uptime....now if i were to sleep with default it would be 8GB/sleep (3-5times..that would be insane)

I also don't keep many applications open/in background so 90% of the time only Mail, Safari, Skype,Media player (VLC or MPlayerx), mission control, and my tweaks(SmartSleep, Window Tidy, gfxCardStatus and F.lux in menubar). Time Machine backups I do manually every weekish when i plug in my external.

So for me its worth having these little tweaks, I have had my MBP for 1.5months and SSD for about 2.5weeks and so far loving the bits, PS I'm a bit obsessive about tweaking things lol do it with everything I own, I enjoy fiddling with settings and finding the ones that are just right(at least for me)

 

[Ant.honey]

Honestly this is my First SSD and Macbook Pro, but you could expect your SSD to last at least 3 years(knock on wood) it doesn't fail due to some other reason(your hardware, the sand force controller or something else?). I have only 8GB ram and I put my laptop to sleep at least 3-5 times a day, so having smart sleep does help only when my laptop battery drops well below my set limit because then it just saves the RAM content to SSD which is better then every time.

in my day i do document typing, image viewing, surfing the net, watching videos for my school from my internal HDD rather the SSD. All in all my activity monitor says about 3-5GB read/written(average) on my SSD in about 15hours of uptime....now if i were to sleep with default it would be 8GB/sleep (3-5times..that would be insane)

I also don't keep many applications open/in background so 90% of the time only Mail, Safari, Skype,Media player (VLC or MPlayerx), mission control, and my tweaks(SmartSleep, Window Tidy, gfxCardStatus and F.lux in menubar). Time Machine backups I do manually every weekish when i plug in my external.

So for me its worth having these little tweaks, I have had my MBP for 1.5months and SSD for about 2.5weeks and so far loving the bits, PS I'm a bit obsessive about tweaking things lol do it with everything I own, I enjoy fiddling with settings and finding the ones that are just right(at least for me)

Cool. Thanks again. This is also my first SSD and MBP. I use it with an external and ac power 93% of the time except on photo shoots (still on ac though). I've had mine (working) about the same time as you more or less.

Wouldn't a Sandforce controller failure constitute a drive failure?

 

[jon08]

So what's the consensus on Bootcamp & OS X on the same SSD? I'll be placing a 120GB OWC Mercury Extreme PRO 6G into my MBP next week and was planning to have both Bootcamp and OS X on it, but now I really don't know if it's ok to have both on the same SSD or not??

@Satnam: in one of your posts you mentioned something like transferring music and other data to the SSD first and only then transferring it to the HDD in the optibay? Why?

I'm planning to put a HDD in the optibay also and was going to simply transfer all my music, pics, movies and other data from my external HDD to the HDD in the optibay -- would that not work?

 

[Satnam1989]

So what's the consensus on Bootcamp & OS X on the same SSD? I'll be placing a 120GB OWC Mercury Extreme PRO 6G into my MBP next week and was planning to have both Bootcamp and OS X on it, but now I really don't know if it's ok to have both on the same SSD or not??

@Satnam: in one of your posts you mentioned something like transferring music and other data to the SSD first and only then transferring it to the HDD in the optibay? Why?

I'm planning to put a HDD in the optibay also and was going to simply transfer all my music, pics, movies and other data from my external HDD to the HDD in the optibay -- would that not work?

Im not sure of what errors you may face, but knowing both systems optimize the SSD differently, I just personally wouldn't put it.

When I said put your data on SSD first and then only transfer to HDD is I tried to move the user folder on to SSD(including library and all for the user) and it gave me lag(beach ball) for some apps. So I had to revert the settings and then I finally moved the files I do not access (Documents, Folders, and Music files) to the HDD, Then I went into HDD and made "Alias" to those files/folders and placed them in the "Documents" Folder of the user on SSD so the files are accessed as if they are stored on the SSD.....if you get what i mean, sorry I'm not amazing at explaining it.

Also 120GB is a bit less for OSX+Win7Ultimate.....Widows takes almost 30GB just on its own....Applications are big like Office 2010.....and the list goes on, Games are big so you going to run out of space quick. To be on the safe side go with 160GB+ SSD unless you plan to waste money now and then again in a few months down the road to upgrade size and do the installation all over again....I Went with 180GB as its MORE then enough for me.

Another Primary reason I kept Bootcamp on my HDD is that SSD are still new to market and the rate of them failing is still greater then HDD's as manufacturers try to iron out the small issues that cause big problems for users. Leaving Bootcamp on HDD, sure its slower to boot and use compared to my OSX on SSD, It gives me the security and option to have a working laptop ON-THE-GO incase my SSD ever fails, if you read I have macdrive 8 installed in Bootcamp so I can access all my important files from my HFS+ storage partition for my OSX from Win7 because I really don't walk around with my backup drive with me, I'm not sure if you do....some people are crazy enough to carry around a suitcase worth of things everywhere they go but I like to pack light.

All in all my setup is kind of fool proof, no matter what happens because a lot of my files are shared between the OS's I have access to all my important files no matter which OS I'm on and in the event my SSD fails, Ofcourse if HDD fails I'm kinda out of luck lol hence i mention "Kinda foolproof"


You are more then welcome to try your setup and always good to hear how things went for you