Hello everyone,
Lately, I have been wondering if I should replace my Macbook pro's optical drive with SSD.
My mac is almost 3 years old, and it got a bit slower lately (I did everything that can be related to software - repair disk permissions, etc). I would like to speed it up, and I thought that because I already upgraded my Ram, this is the best thing I can do - instead of buying a new mac.
The problem is that after a few days of reading i have some unanswered questions. I was hoping to find some answers here - since I read some threads of users who upgraded their macbooks.
My Mac configuration:
13" MacBook Pro (Mid 2009 - the model is 5,5). I have 8GB of ram, and I recently replaced my HD to 640GB WD Scorpio Blue. The cipset that I have is Nvidia MCP79 AHCI. Currently, I'm getting negotiated link speed of 3 Gigabit on my Hard drive, and 1.5 Gigabit on my optical drive.
I thought about:
* Buying this caddy.
* Buying a sata2 64GB SSD - I read that I will get the same speed if I will buy a sata3, because my logic board supports only up to 3 Gigabit.
* Installing the SSD instead of the optical drive in order to keep using the sudden motion detector sensor.
My questions are:
1 Is that a good idea to use a cheap caddy instead of an expensive OWC one?
2 Will I get 3 Gigabit speed in both of the drives if I will install the SSD instead of the optical drive? I suspect that because it's an old drive it may have a max speed that is lower then 3 Gigabit. I couldn't find a clear answer about this subject, and I think that the answer is dependent on the model. Does anyone know how should I install it in a mid 2009 MacbookPro 5,5?
3 How will it effect the battery life? I would like to install the OS on the SSD, and store all the videos, pictures, and mp3 files on the HD. Considering that I will turn on "put the hard disks to sleep when possible" - will it severely decrease the battery life?
4 Will I get an extra speed if I will buy a SATA 3 drive? I read that it's just a waste of money, but I may be missing something.
5 Crucial V4 / Intel 330 / Crucial M4 - Which one should I buy? It seems that they are quite similar, and all of them will work well on my mac. Does anyone have an experience with any of them? Any tips?
Thank you very much!
Yeho
Lately, I have been wondering if I should replace my Macbook pro's optical drive with SSD.
My mac is almost 3 years old, and it got a bit slower lately (I did everything that can be related to software - repair disk permissions, etc). I would like to speed it up, and I thought that because I already upgraded my Ram, this is the best thing I can do - instead of buying a new mac.
The problem is that after a few days of reading i have some unanswered questions. I was hoping to find some answers here - since I read some threads of users who upgraded their macbooks.
My Mac configuration:
13" MacBook Pro (Mid 2009 - the model is 5,5). I have 8GB of ram, and I recently replaced my HD to 640GB WD Scorpio Blue. The cipset that I have is Nvidia MCP79 AHCI. Currently, I'm getting negotiated link speed of 3 Gigabit on my Hard drive, and 1.5 Gigabit on my optical drive.
I thought about:
* Buying this caddy.
* Buying a sata2 64GB SSD - I read that I will get the same speed if I will buy a sata3, because my logic board supports only up to 3 Gigabit.
* Installing the SSD instead of the optical drive in order to keep using the sudden motion detector sensor.
My questions are:
1 Is that a good idea to use a cheap caddy instead of an expensive OWC one?
2 Will I get 3 Gigabit speed in both of the drives if I will install the SSD instead of the optical drive? I suspect that because it's an old drive it may have a max speed that is lower then 3 Gigabit. I couldn't find a clear answer about this subject, and I think that the answer is dependent on the model. Does anyone know how should I install it in a mid 2009 MacbookPro 5,5?
3 How will it effect the battery life? I would like to install the OS on the SSD, and store all the videos, pictures, and mp3 files on the HD. Considering that I will turn on "put the hard disks to sleep when possible" - will it severely decrease the battery life?
4 Will I get an extra speed if I will buy a SATA 3 drive? I read that it's just a waste of money, but I may be missing something.
5 Crucial V4 / Intel 330 / Crucial M4 - Which one should I buy? It seems that they are quite similar, and all of them will work well on my mac. Does anyone have an experience with any of them? Any tips?
Thank you very much!
Yeho
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