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Can I add an SSD drive to my current laptop?

S

soapage

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 26, 2009
65
0
I currently own a macbook pro (see below specifications). I would like to know if I could change my current hard drive (Hitachi HTS545050B9SA02 500GB @5400) to an SSD. Here are some concerns

1. Can i copy my exact hard drive with all the programs over without having to reinstall anything
2. What is the best 500gb SSd Harddrive for this laptop?



Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro6,2
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 8 GB
Processor Interconnect Speed: 4.8 GT/s
Boot ROM Version: MBP61.0057.B0C
SMC Version (system): 1.58f15
Serial Number (system): W80150U5GD6
Hardware UUID: D3142A38-4F10-56FE-910E-F298BD4C664F
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled
 
I have the same model (except I still have the stock RAM, and went with a glossy display) and will be looking to do this myself. I believe the procedure I have read about on this forum is to clone the existing drive to the new drive and then just swap it, when you boot up the computer everything should still be there and everything will be faster.

How are the prices on 3rd party 500GB SSDs?
 
croooow said:
I have the same model (except I still have the stock RAM, and went with a glossy display) and will be looking to do this myself. I believe the procedure I have read about on this forum is to clone the existing drive to the new drive and then just swap it, when you boot up the computer everything should still be there and everything will be faster.

How are the prices on 3rd party 500GB SSDs?
Click to expand...

A 500GB SSD will be over $1,000USD. Why in the world would you do that?

Otherwise, to answer your question, yes you can put a SSD into your MBP no issues at all.

Download carbon copy cloner (CCC) and copy your entire HDD now to an external... the external will be boot-able. I would then boot from it, then open disk utility and erase your current HDD (if you plan to sell it or whatever, if not, then don't). Then, while booted on the external HDD, clone that HDD to the SSD once you have installed it into the machine.

Note that you will need to format the SSD before you can use it. Again done in disk utility.

The entire process, teardown and all, will be painless and quick.
 
millerb7 said:
A 500GB SSD will be over $1,000USD. Why in the world would you do that?
Click to expand...

:confused:Why would I want an SSD that is 512GB or why would I spend over $1000?:confused:

I wouldn't spend that much money (which is why I went with a HDD and not Apple's 512GB SSD) and I would like to be able to store a lot of data on my laptop (a 256GB SSD is not enough for my needs) and have the benefits of an SSD. Why wouldn't I want that?

Prices will come down, as they always do...
 
No article has ever said dramatically reduced price for the new 600gb ssd. Thats all stupid user speculation. The 25nm drives won't change the price much. I think crucial just announced 25nm SSDs at the CES yesterday, and made no mention of price. My guess is you might see a 15-20% reduction in price. Your drive will probably be like $1000 still
 
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It's likely that SSD doesn't really cost that much, but it's relatively new to the computer world so the companies that do sell them will likely charge more than it costs because it hasn't been adapter as much yet. Point is, it is very possible that Intel is making cheaper SSDs because if everyone buys Intel SSD, then Intel will be the leader of the market; the earlier you lower your prices, the more widely you will be adapted.
 
neondrgns said:
No article has ever said dramatically reduced price for the new 600gb ssd. Thats all stupid user speculation. The 25nm drives won't change the price much. I think crucial just announced 25nm SSDs at the CES yesterday, and made no mention of price. My guess is you might see a 15-20% reduction in price. Your drive will probably be like $1000 still
Click to expand...

25mm has already shown price reductions

Also, SandForce is coming out with a controller in the ballpark of 500MB/s, which will theoretically drop the price on many current models.
 
Replace HD for SSD but still use old HD as a bootable backup

I have a MBP 15 mid-2010 with 500GB and I would like to get a SSD to improve speed and reliability. However, I would like to able to use the HD as a backup or a bootable disk whenever I need it. But it seems that it is this HD has SATA connection, so I do not know if it is possible to connect to the MBP externally and if does, will it be possible to boot from it?

Thanks



millerb7 said:
A 500GB SSD will be over $1,000USD. Why in the world would you do that?

Otherwise, to answer your question, yes you can put a SSD into your MBP no issues at all.

Download carbon copy cloner (CCC) and copy your entire HDD now to an external... the external will be boot-able. I would then boot from it, then open disk utility and erase your current HDD (if you plan to sell it or whatever, if not, then don't). Then, while booted on the external HDD, clone that HDD to the SSD once you have installed it into the machine.

Note that you will need to format the SSD before you can use it. Again done in disk utility.

The entire process, teardown and all, will be painless and quick.
Click to expand...
 
...

Your best bet imo is to figure out how much space you need for applications and how much space you need for data (music, movies, photos etc). I am sure you won't need much for applications at all and most of your space is consumed with media. If that is the case you can get a SSD the size you would need for your applications (likely 80-120gb will be fine). You can buy a mount that you can use to replace your optical drive with the hard disk. You can keep your current 500gb hard drive in its current location and take out the optical drive and replace it with an SSD. Then you will have huge data storage for your media, as well as all the speed benefits of an SSD. All you lose out on is the optical drive which if you are like me you only use to reinstall the OS anyway, if you need an optical drive either get an enclosure for it so you can use it over USB or if you have another computer just share its drive over the network
 
I agree with newdeal and am about to attempt a similar upgrade using the procedure listed here: Best SSD for Macbook Pro

I have read however that some people are experiencing sleep issues with putting their boot drive in the optical bay slot. That is why I am putting the Boot Drive (SSD) in the original hard drive bay as per the attached instructions. Any sleep issues for anyone here?
 
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