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MBP w/SSD & HDD: Pros and cons about what to put on which drive?

T

terzinator

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 27, 2011
294
1
If you have an SSD and an HDD in your MBP, how are you splitting up the data?

This is what I'm thinking... (and I'll probably go with the Stock 128GB SSD from Apple and get an aftermarket HDD)

120GB SSD:
  • Boot
  • Apps
  • Windows 7 (and data... 60GB partition using VMWare Fusion)

750GB HDD:
  • Music
  • Photos
  • Videos
  • Other Mac documents
  • A time machine or superduper backup of the SSD

Some have said they would put /USERS on the HDD, and not on the SSD where the boot stuff is... why is that? Wouldn't you want all system-, boot- and app-related stuff together? Any problems having Windows with the Mac boot stuff?

Any other (more experienced) thinking on this?
 
I use XP every day. I run SQL Server, Visual Studio & .NET stuff, SQL Backup/Compare apps. Use Outlook for mail, etc... Lots of work stuff. I've had XP running on my 2007 MBP for three + years now, and I love it. Clean install, no bloatware...

I still have 15GB free on my 60GB windows VMWare Fusion partition on my current MBP... so not thinking I need more than that for the new machine. I'm thinking I can pare down a LOT of stuff and apps I don't use when I do the Win7 install.

The machine is just now starting to show its age, a little slowness here and there... Time to upgrade, that's all... But never have had two drives in a machine before, so just trying to get my head around how best to architect it.
 
I just did this a week ago by replacing my SuperDrive with an OWC kit that included a 120GB SSD (kept my 250GB HDD installed). I kept /Users on the HDD because I couldn't fit everything on the SDD. The OS and apps were all moved to the SDD.

The performance is unbelievable and the machine feels brand new. There is no discernible difference between launching an app or bringing it into focus. Essentially where you see a lag is apps like iTunes: the application launches immediately but takes a few seconds to load my library (from the HDD). You'll also notice improvements in places you don't expect - since the system may write temporary files to the SDD.

I have a blog post that outlined the entire process and some bench marks. I just posted the link in another thread and I don't want it to come off like I'm spamming - let me know if you want me to post it here.
 
ppilone said:
I just did this a week ago by replacing my SuperDrive with an OWC kit that included a 120GB SSD (kept my 250GB HDD installed). I kept /Users on the HDD because I couldn't fit everything on the SDD. The OS and apps were all moved to the SDD.

The performance is unbelievable and the machine feels brand new. There is no discernible difference between launching an app or bringing it into focus. Essentially where you see a lag is apps like iTunes: the application launches immediately but takes a few seconds to load my library (from the HDD). You'll also notice improvements in places you don't expect - since the system may write temporary files to the SDD.

I have a blog post that outlined the entire process and some bench marks. I just posted the link in another thread and I don't want it to come off like I'm spamming - let me know if you want me to post it here.
Click to expand...

i'd like to read your post. if you don't post it here, i'd like you to PM it to me. thanks ;)
 
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