MacBook Pro 5,1 SSD Upgrade

[ReggieUK]

Hello

Would any kind, experienced MacBook owners give me a few pointers with this?

I have a MacBook Pro 5,1 15" 2.93 4GB 320HD Snow Leopard.

I would like to upgrade the HD to a SSD and then upgrade to Lion.
I am thinking of this SSD which seems like good value in the UK.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-CT1...JKZI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1315124040&sr=8-3

I currently have around 200GB on my HD so will need to move some of it to an external HD. These will be older photos and I probably won't need them that frequently.

Other than that I would like the OS, Applications and the folders I work on most frequently on the SSD. I think it will add up to about 50GB and I will also have music and some newer photos, up to about 100GB.

I am aware that I can swap the DVD drive out and put the older HD in there with a mounting kit but I would like to keep the DVD because it is shared with two MacBook Airs in the house.

Is it worth investing in a Expresscard adapter for the HD or what about a new Firewire enclosure. For occasionally used drives will this make a difference?

Has anyone done the HD and OS upgrade, care to talk me through the steps?

Finally, will swapping to 8GB of RAM be worthwhile following this upgrade?

Cheers

R

 

[Hellhammer]

USB 2.0 should be fine for occasionally used drive.

RAM upgrade depends on your usage but I think an SSD will be enough.

 

[yui4]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-gb) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

I'm trying to decide on the same thing, but not sure whether to buy the crucial sad or samsung 470. Still reading reviews

I'm going to store data not used all of the time on a flash drive

 

[ReggieUK]

It is difficult
I want to be sure I can start the process with a working Lion OS running everything from the SSD.

 

[jpearn]

I've done this on my 5,1, 8GB RAM and went with an OCZ Vertex 2E. Don't forget this model MBP only has SATA2 so has a 300Mbps ceiling. The OCZ / Sandforce option gives a better write time, and better value as they are cheaper per GB now the newer 3 series is out.

 

[ReggieUK]

How easy was it?

 

[snaky69]

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I'm trying to decide on the same thing, but not sure whether to buy the crucial sad or samsung 470. Still reading reviews

I'm going to store data not used all of the time on a flash drive

Do not, ever, rely on a flash drive as a backup. They can fail without a warning at any given time. You have been warned.

OP, the upgrade is extremely easy, if you have an external drive handy with a backup of your important stuff, you can mess around all you want and not lose a thing, dive right in.

 

[jpearn]

How easy was it?

Use Carbon Copy Cloner onto the SSD in a USB case, very easy !

http://www.bombich.com

 

[poppap]

Do not get any SSD with SandForce SF-2xxx series such as Vertex 3
It will only work at SATA-I (1.5Gbps) with MacBookPro5,1

 

[kweston2]

Vertex 3

I put a Vertex 3 in my Macbook Pro 5,1 Late 2008 Unibody and it becomes really really slow. Took about 20 min to boot up and is almost unusable when it finally does boot. The drive works great in my external USB enclosure. Even on USB its faster than my internal Magnetic drive, but on the internal SATA controller its unuseable.

 

[Patriks7]

Do not get any SSD with SandForce SF-2xxx series such as Vertex 3
It will only work at SATA-I (1.5Gbps) with MacBookPro5,1

?
My 5,1 MBP is SATA II with 3.0 Gbps. Were there different ones with different SATA controllers released?