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Macbook Late 2011 13 Inch SSD - Replace Superdrive With 1TB HDD

M

mr-ska-jr

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 24, 2013
9
0
Hi,

I bought myself a new macbook and would hopefully like to replace the disk drive with a 1TB HDD but unsure of the best configuration. I have searched the internet and found lots of information on it but still not fully sure which is the best setup for me.

The specs of laptop now -

Macbook Pro Late 2011 13 Inch
2.8Ghz i7 Processor
121GB Flash Storage
Superdrive
8GB Ram

121GB isnt really big enough and ideally I would like all my music and films stored internally. I don't use the superdrive much so can live without that.

So first question I guess is which is the best bay/caddy for the hard drive to sit in? I have looked at optibay and HD Caddy can anybody shed any light on these?

And I am unsure which HDD to go for, will any 5400rpm 2.5" be suitable or are some better than others?

And 1 last question, is it easy to setup once installed. Would I have the OS and Apps and system files on the SSD and everything else on the HDD?

Thanks for any help in advance, as you can probably see I'm a bit of a newbie so any advice is greatly appreciated!
 
I can't comment on caddy replacements as I haven't bought any.

As to HDD, I would get 7200 rpm, if budget allows. Samsung, Toshiba, or Western Digital.

Given the size of your SDD, I would run the OS and apps off of it, and put your iTunes library etc. on the drive you put in the bay. It is very easy to move your iTunes library to another location.
 
I replaced my optical drive with an OWC data doubler and haven't had a single issue with it. As for hard drives I reccomend either the HSGT 1TB 7200 rpm or if you can swing the 20 extra or so dollars get a Samsung M9T 2TB. That will be enough storage to hold you over for years. The Samsung is only a 5400 rpm drive but due to the platters higher storage density it has performance that rivals most 7200 rpm drives such as the WD black 750gb and the HSGT 1TB.
 
I used the data doubler from OWC also been in 1 year now in 2 2011 MBP's one early and one late 2011. Just a note as per installation instructions you cannot put the SSD drive into the Optical bay on these models due to speed requirements. It will fit in to the bay but the speeds you get will negate the benefits.

I installed a 500GB SSD into the HD bay and my original 500 GB drive into the Optical drive bay. Then used CCC to clone onto the SSD drive. Only issue was the Adobe products did not like being moved and requested to be found when launching them for the first time on the SSD drive.
 
7200 RPM drive is really unnecessary for a second data drive, it's just added noise and battery drain. I would go with the OWC data doubler, that's what I have and I like it.
 
I bought a standard caddy on amazon based primarily off the good reviews. I plan to install a Spinpoint M9T 2TB and an SSD for the OS and programs.

As for the above drive: I recommended looking at the reviews for these types of things, as only real world experience will give you a good idea of how they'll behave.
 
mr-ska-jr said:
Hi,

I bought myself a new macbook and would hopefully like to replace the disk drive with a 1TB HDD but unsure of the best configuration. I have searched the internet and found lots of information on it but still not fully sure which is the best setup for me.

The specs of laptop now -

Macbook Pro Late 2011 13 Inch
2.8Ghz i7 Processor
121GB Flash Storage
Superdrive
8GB Ram

121GB isnt really big enough and ideally I would like all my music and films stored internally. I don't use the superdrive much so can live without that.

So first question I guess is which is the best bay/caddy for the hard drive to sit in? I have looked at optibay and HD Caddy can anybody shed any light on these?

And I am unsure which HDD to go for, will any 5400rpm 2.5" be suitable or are some better than others?

And 1 last question, is it easy to setup once installed. Would I have the OS and Apps and system files on the SSD and everything else on the HDD?

Thanks for any help in advance, as you can probably see I'm a bit of a newbie so any advice is greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...

I have the exact same machine as yours:
Late 2011 MBP 13" i7 2.8Ghz
16GB RAM
256GB SSD in main bay
1TB Hybrid HDD in optical bay

I bought this caddy
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0058AH2US/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And this HDD
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007PG25UU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Then removed the Superdrive and put it in there.

I let the OS and programs run from the SSD for obvious reasons. I use the HDD for storage of media and other files.

It's been working beautifully. I've hard it for over a year now with these upgrades.
 
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