bootcamp with internal HDD and SSD

[eiknarf]

I just started running windows through bootcamp (on my mid-2009 2.26 Macbook Pro) to have access to a large and graphics intensive MMO, and it would seem that I am in need of a bit of a speed boost. I've been thinking about replacing my HDD, or adding a second in the optibay, and I'm looking for a little help in which way to go.

My first thought was to just buy a 7200 rpm 750 GB HDD to replace my 5400 rpm 500 GB, and leave the optical drive in place.

The other idea I had (after reading around on HDD options) is to pull the optical drive and replace it with a 120 GB SDD. The question I have is, if I go this route, can I partition both the HDD and the SDD so Mac and Windows can both take advantage of the higher speeds associated with the SDD and the storage space on the HDD? I definitely need the speed boost on Windows, but it would be nice to have it on the Mac side too.

thanks so much for your help!

 

[dusk007]

Pretty much any sane person would do it that way.
You just need to split the SSD into an HFS+ Partition for OSX and an NTFS for Windows. The size depends on what amount of space you need for applications and improtant working data in each.
You can than just format the other drive in exFAT to make it easily compatible with both OS and use as a universal data drive. For a data drive 7200rpm is imo unnecessary and just noisy but knock yourself out.
You can also format it in HFS or NTFS if you install the necessary write capable drivers but in my experience that doesn't work as flawless as just using exFAT.

 

[miker2209]

Pretty much any sane person would do it that way.
You just need to split the SSD into an HFS+ Partition for OSX and an NTFS for Windows. The size depends on what amount of space you need for applications and improtant working data in each.
You can than just format the other drive in exFAT to make it easily compatible with both OS and use as a universal data drive. For a data drive 7200rpm is imo unnecessary and just noisy but knock yourself out.
You can also format it in HFS or NTFS if you install the necessary write capable drivers but in my experience that doesn't work as flawless as just using exFAT.

That's exactly what i did, i have my HDD in OptiBay and my SSD in main. Just make sure u install Windows on 1 of the drive ( probably your current HDD ) before you take out the SuperDrive because after you do, it's a pain to install. I installed Windows on my HDD before i took it out, and now i have my HDD with Bootcamp running in the OptiBay and my SSD is my main OS drive. I Formatted the SSD ( Journaled and NTFS ) i also installed a MMORPG on my NTFS Partition on the SSD and let me tell you the speed is tremendous because HDD speed has always been the bottleneck of most MMORPG.

 

[dusk007]

On a 2009 MBP I'd recommend putting the SSD into the Optibay and not do it like miker on his 2011.
Installing windows is indeed a bit annoying. Because it doesn't work with the optibay drive in an external enclosure. Instead of long trouble shooting or creating an Windows install USB falsh drive.
I just cut the HDD down to a size that copies over to the SSD. (Put all unnecessary data on an external drive). Add the Windows Bootcamp partition, installed windows.
Took out the Optical drive. Installed the SSD. Copy everything with Carbon Copy Cloner. Option restart. Delete the entire HDD reformat to whatever like exFAT. Copy back all the data from the external drive.

 

[eiknarf]

thanks so much for the response, much appreciated!