The one thing I like about having a 240GB SSD is that I have Windows 7 installed and it can be booted in Parallels in about 5 seconds.
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MBP users, can I live with a 128GB SSD for main drive (no opti)
- Thread starter Tydog07
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I have a 120GB OWC SSD in my MBP (without the Optibay). For me it is fine. I have 95GB available, that said, I do keep most of my files on my iMac.
However, a 1TB FW800 (portable) drive would solve your storage concerns. I know for certain that I'd get by with just 120GB if I had a decent portable HDD.
However, a 1TB FW800 (portable) drive would solve your storage concerns. I know for certain that I'd get by with just 120GB if I had a decent portable HDD.
If I want to run bootcamp, how big is the average partition that is required/needed for it to be a useful install?
Get it with the 128 gb SSD - then buy the aftermarket optibay and buy a 500 gb Momentus HDD hybrid and install that in the optibay.
Bring the external SuperDrive the few times a year you would need to read/burn a dvd/cd.
Problem solved
Bring the external SuperDrive the few times a year you would need to read/burn a dvd/cd.
Problem solved
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Agree with some others that 128 can be more than enough if you know what you're doing.
Right now, if I exclude my VMs that I require for work, I'm using about 50GB of my 128 Samsung 470. That leaves me with nearly 70GB left over - more than enough for music files or whatever that require frequent access. And that's the key. Do I need it literally every day? The fact is, if one sat down and really analyzed what on a drive they access frequent enough to warrant carrying it around on an internal drive, they'd find an 80/20 deal going on - 80% of what's on the drive is infrequently accessed and probably better served on an external 7200 SATA connected with a SATA/USB adapter if/when needed. 20% of what's on the drive might need frequent access, and it is this percentage that matters when calculating what size you really need inside the thing.
Some people just are packrats who feel compelled to carry everything around and can't fathom the notion of external drives. They're perfectly fine removing the optical drive from the MacBook Pro and forcing people to use an external, but try to get them to untether the high capacity drive and they're up in arms even though the same effective logic applies - external drive can manage your stuff, you can plug it up and use it when you need it. Yet they won't hear of it. These are the same cats who criticize the optical drive fans. Talk about double standard.
Now I'm not suggesting that one sacrifices space they truly need. TO me a 256GB SSD is the pie in the sky max a person should logically ever need. 64GB is too small given the size of the OS and applications. 128 is smallish, but can work depending on workflow.
Right now, if I exclude my VMs that I require for work, I'm using about 50GB of my 128 Samsung 470. That leaves me with nearly 70GB left over - more than enough for music files or whatever that require frequent access. And that's the key. Do I need it literally every day? The fact is, if one sat down and really analyzed what on a drive they access frequent enough to warrant carrying it around on an internal drive, they'd find an 80/20 deal going on - 80% of what's on the drive is infrequently accessed and probably better served on an external 7200 SATA connected with a SATA/USB adapter if/when needed. 20% of what's on the drive might need frequent access, and it is this percentage that matters when calculating what size you really need inside the thing.
Some people just are packrats who feel compelled to carry everything around and can't fathom the notion of external drives. They're perfectly fine removing the optical drive from the MacBook Pro and forcing people to use an external, but try to get them to untether the high capacity drive and they're up in arms even though the same effective logic applies - external drive can manage your stuff, you can plug it up and use it when you need it. Yet they won't hear of it. These are the same cats who criticize the optical drive fans. Talk about double standard.
Now I'm not suggesting that one sacrifices space they truly need. TO me a 256GB SSD is the pie in the sky max a person should logically ever need. 64GB is too small given the size of the OS and applications. 128 is smallish, but can work depending on workflow.
I set mine at 20GB for bootcamp. Really depends on what you intend to install. Games and such run better on Windows. If its just classwork, 20GB is plenty. Also...with no pictures, music, or videos on my laptop, I use up about 130GB (installed games are SCII and TF2). I could probably knock it down to 100GB or less, but it would involve effort. I don't really want to worry about an issue like this imo. I'd rather my computer "just work" then to shave seconds off opening apps, booting up, etc.
it might be a good idea to store all your music collection on icloud and download the necessary music. it'll save you alot of space especially if you have over 10gb of music.
And i think if you store all your music and photos on your external hardrive, it won't be a problem
And i think if you store all your music and photos on your external hardrive, it won't be a problem
I agree with you on most, but you claim that 128 is smallish, but you have that and say it works well?
Currently, I have no plans to run games off of bootcamp, just small applications that I need for school or cannot find a substitute for. I think I could wager 20GB for it.
But Apeture/FCP be able to see those on a external hard drive without troubles?
Alright, lets do some math here folks:
I have:
11GB Music
3GB Photos
16+4GB= 20GB Lion
6GB Apeture
8GB FCPX (other media contents on external)
30GB Bootcamp with W7 Ult.
That adds up to 78GB. Add MS Office Pro and that should only be a few more! I think I can manage.
I have:
11GB Music
3GB Photos
16+4GB= 20GB Lion
6GB Apeture
8GB FCPX (other media contents on external)
30GB Bootcamp with W7 Ult.
That adds up to 78GB. Add MS Office Pro and that should only be a few more! I think I can manage.
To your previous question, the 128GB works fine for me. It actually forces me to re-assess just what I really need stored on the laptop vs. external drives.
And yes, I think you're perfectly fine with a 128GB SSD.
Can I run Windows 7 (Bootcamp) off the external drive? Will playback be slow/laggy when I try to play HD Movies/TV files off my external drive?
Yes, but it's tricky to install Bootcamp that way. The built-in installer wants to do it on the primary drive and requires jumping through a bunch of hoops. If you think you'll need the 30-40GB for Bootcamp in addition to the 70GB, then you might want to go up one step on the SSD to 160 or 256. Mind, your cost is going to double depending on the model. That's making the assumption that VMs are not an acceptable alternative for whatever reason - since you can run a VM off of anything you want.
5400: Yes, depending on how high res the stuff is. 7200 or greater: no.
What do you mean a virtual machine? Isn't bootcamp and a VM the same thing but apple just calls their VM "Bootcamp"? And I guess if I wanted to play any movie or something, I could just transfer the file temporarily and watch it, then move it back?
Negative. A VM is a virtual environment. It's a bunch of files that are being run such a way as to act like it's a real operating system. You're running Mac OS AND whatever other OS in the same session. The trade off is lower performance, because you're sharing resources.
Bootcamp is running native Windows. When Windows is running, Mac OS is not, and vice versa. The tradeoff is that you can't access Mac programs when running in Bootcamp.
One is concurrent, one is not, if you want to dumb it down.
That is perfectly understandable, so I assume I don't need a partition to run a VM for Windows 7? That could save space....
Get it with the 128 gb SSD - then buy the aftermarket optibay and buy a 500 gb Momentus HDD hybrid and install that in the optibay.
Bring the external SuperDrive the few times a year you would need to read/burn a dvd/cd.
Problem solved
----
Vh/Regards
Claus - TapaTalk on my Ip4
Agreed.... well I use my 750GB HD that came with my MBP and put that in the optibay...
Thinkin of getting the second drive as SSD 128Gb and put it into optibay. Can it be set as primary boot drive even if it will sit in the place I used to have my dvd superdrive?? Anyone?
Don't need a partition to run a VM, but VMs can be fairly large. Most VMs are between 20 and 50GB depending on how you configure it. If you create a small 20GB Windows VM you should be fine, you can always map your external into the VM and store files to and from Windows to the external drive, to keep space in check.
I understand I could do store the VM on the external, but would performance be slow because I'm reading/writing files off a external USB 2.0 drive?
And now it is sort of becoming a affordability problem because I was going to sell the Ipod with the B2S promotion, for about $200, but now we only get $100 and I don't think that I can sell that.
Not if the external drive is a SSD. You can buy an 80 GB SSD for reasonably cheap. Get a USB - SATA adapter, and it will perform as though it were an internal drive.
Fall back is to do a 7200 or even 10k RPM drive; but then you're dealing with noise. The 7200 RPM drive is plenty fast enough if you're on an extreme budget, though you won't really save much over a small SSD.
Yeah, that is what I'm going to do, I can't justify the price right now. 7200RPM internal is what it's going to be for a couples years until the price falls.