Data Doubler and SSD

[bird1515]

I have a early 2011 Macbook Pro and im about to rip this thing open and install some things. But before I did, I thought i should talk with people who actually know what their talking about!!

Okay so I bought; OWC Data Doubler, Crucial M500 240gb, 16gb ram and 1TB external Hard drive. I didnt by a 1 TB HDD because I wasnt sure if i needed it? I have 250gb of my 320gb used right now. So if its necessary i can order HDD and wait to install at same time.

So before i install do i back up with time machine on my external hard drive and then restore it to the SDD? or do the clone thing? Ive seen a bunch of install videos but not much about what to do with switching data around.

My friend talked me into upgrading instead of buying a new Computer. So any help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Baunkjaer]

I have a early 2011 Macbook Pro and im about to rip this thing open and install some things. But before I did, I thought i should talk with people who actually know what their talking about!!

Okay so I bought; OWC Data Doubler, Crucial M500 240gb, 16gb ram and 1TB external Hard drive. I didnt by a 1 TB HDD because I wasnt sure if i needed it? I have 250gb of my 320gb used right now. So if its necessary i can order HDD and wait to install at same time.

So before i install do i back up with time machine on my external hard drive and then restore it to the SDD? or do the clone thing? Ive seen a bunch of install videos but not much about what to do with switching data around.

My friend talked me into upgrading instead of buying a new Computer. So any help would be greatly appreciated!!

I´ve used CCC several times, and it just works...

 

[niteflyr]

Many 2011 MBP's have issues with SATA III drives in the optibay. 13" models seem to fare better than the 15's and 17's. I would place the SSD in the main bay and move the original HDD to the data doubler in optibay.

 

[heisenberg123]

Many 2011 MBP's have issues with SATA III drives in the optibay. 13" models seem to fare better than the 15's and 17's. I would place the SSD in the main bay and move the original HDD to the data doubler in optibay.

agreed

I have a Samsung EVO SSD in my main bay and a 1TB Samsung spinpoint HHD in the optical bay and I have not issues

to answer your other question CarbonCopyCloner is great make a clone of your existing hard drive to an external drive, swap out the drive for the SSD

than you can use that external to boot off, while its plugged in restart your MBP and hold option you will see the external drive as a choice, once booted you can now clone from the external to the blank SSD

 

[Mike Boreham]

Many 2011 MBP's have issues with SATA III drives in the optibay. 13" models seem to fare better than the 15's and 17's. I would place the SSD in the main bay and move the original HDD to the data doubler in optibay.

Another agreement, based on much research and personal experience with a 17 inch early 2011 MBP.

However, I also have a late 2011 17inch MBP which works fine with 6G SSD and HDD in the optical bay. I know of at least one other late 2011 MBP 17 inch which is also OK with 6G in the optical bay, but many more reports of ones that don't.

There doesn't seem to be any way of knowing if a particular machine is OK or not, except by trying it. Both my MBP s are spec'd with 6G support for the optical bay (as are most, but a few were 3G I believe) but one doesn't work and the other does.

The machines were designed to have a 1.5G Optical drive in so of course it works fine. Apple don't support SSD and HDD in the optical of course so were not concerned to make the optical support 6G devices.

Any 3G SSD or HDD will work fine of course, but most (all?) current ones are 6G. HGST HDDs can be modified form 6G to 3G with HGST Tools.

 

[heisenberg123]

Another agreement, based on much research and personal experience with a 17 inch early 2011 MBP.

However, I also have a late 2011 17inch MBP which works fine with 6G SSD and HDD in the optical bay. I know of at least one other late 2011 MBP 17 inch which is also OK with 6G in the optical bay, but many more reports of ones that don't.

There doesn't seem to be any way of knowing if a particular machine is OK or not, except by trying it. Both my MBP s are spec'd with 6G support for the optical bay (as are most, but a few were 3G I believe) but one doesn't work and the other does.

The machines were designed to have a 1.5G Optical drive in so of course it works fine. Apple don't support SSD and HDD in the optical of course so were not concerned to make the optical support 6G devices.

Any 3G SSD or HDD will work fine of course, but most (all?) current ones are 6G. HGST HDDs can be modified form 6G to 3G with HGST Tools.

good point, OP click on about this mac, than more info than system report

click on SATA/SATA Express and you will be able to see the link speed on both SATA connections

 

[Mike Boreham]

good point, OP click on about this mac, than more info than system report

click on SATA/SATA Express and you will be able to see the link speed on both SATA connections

Yes but the fact that it says 6G link speed for the optical bay doesn't mean anything, as it may or may not work in practice. As I said before, both my MBPs say 6G link speed but only one them supports it in reality.

If however it says the optical bay link speed is 3G then you can safely put any 6G device in the optical and it will work, but at 3G speed of course. I have a 2010 MBP which is like this.

 

[bird1515]

So step by step I....

-copy hard drive with superduper or CCC to external hard drive.
-put ssd in data doubler and put in place of existing hard drive.
-reboot with option and restore to ssd.

how's that sound? or do i put in ssd/data doubler in optic drive spot?

thanks again for help!!

 

[Mike Boreham]

So step by step I....

-copy hard drive with superduper or CCC to external hard drive.
-put ssd in data doubler and put in place of existing hard drive.
-reboot with option and restore to ssd.

how's that sound? or do i put in ssd/data doubler in optic drive spot?

thanks again for help!!

If your optical bay is one that does support 6G properly (like my late 2011 MBP), or if you are using a 3G SSD you can put the SSD in the Optical bay, and the HDD in the main bay where the Sudden Motion Sensor still protects it.

If your Optical bay does not support 6G properly (like my early 2100 MBP) you are better off putting the SSD in the main bay and the HDD in the optical. If the HDD is a 6G one you may have problems with it in the optical, and you will lose the SMS. However I think the original HDDs in 2011 MBPs were all 3G so will be OK in the optical bay.

I have never set much store on the SMS and have often had HDDs in the optical but never had a problem due lack of SMS, but I don't carry my MBPs around much, or drop them.

You said in the OP you had 250Gb used on the current 320 HDD so cloning back isn't going to fit on the 240Gb SSD. You will need to exclude some stuff and put it on the HDD, e.g. pictures, movies, music. Chosing items to exclude in the clone is easier with CCC than SuperDuper imo.

Alternatively to your suggestion....after cloning your current 320Gb to you new external 1Tb, you could then just put the HDD and SSD in the machine, and then boot from the external, and clone from the 320 HDD to the 240 SSD (with exclusions). Then wipe the 320 and put your excluded user data on the 320 from the external clone. That way your boot drive is only cloned once (320->240) not twice (320->1000-240).

 

[niteflyr]

So step by step I....

-copy hard drive with superduper or CCC to external hard drive.
-put ssd in data doubler and put in place of existing hard drive.
-reboot with option and restore to ssd.

how's that sound? or do i put in ssd/data doubler in optic drive spot?

thanks again for help!!

The data doubler goes in the optical drive bay. To avoid any possible conflicts, place the existing HDD into the data doubler in the optical drive bay. Place the SSD into the main drive bay.

 

[Mike Boreham]

Another agreement, based on much research and personal experience with a 17 inch early 2011 MBP.

However, I also have a late 2011 17inch MBP which works fine with 6G SSD and HDD in the optical bay. I know of at least one other late 2011 MBP 17 inch which is also OK with 6G in the optical bay, but many more reports of ones that don't.

There doesn't seem to be any way of knowing if a particular machine is OK or not, except by trying it. Both my MBP s are spec'd with 6G support for the optical bay (as are most, but a few were 3G I believe) but one doesn't work and the other does.

The machines were designed to have a 1.5G Optical drive in so of course it works fine. Apple don't support SSD and HDD in the optical of course so were not concerned to make the optical support 6G devices.

Any 3G SSD or HDD will work fine of course, but most (all?) current ones are 6G. HGST HDDs can be modified form 6G to 3G with HGST Tools.

An update to the above:

Although my Crucial M500 6G SSD in the optical bay of my late 2011 MBP apparently continues to work fine, I have discovered from Drive DX SMART testing that it is clocking up high rates of CRC errors. This is consistent with a cabling fault which causes data to be have to be re-transmitted.
Fits in to the bigger picture of unreliable 6G support in the optical. Some machines are good enough to appear to work, and some don't work at all.