So I just bought a Mid-2012 MacBook Pro with 8GB Ram and a 750GB HDD. I am planning on doing the following upgrades...
1- Upgrading RAM with Crucial 16GB DDR3 1600
2- Installing Samsung 840 Pro 512GB SSD in main bay
3- Installing stock 750GB Toshiba HDD into Optibay
4- I will also have an external Samsung SE-506BB USB 2 Blu-ray Drive to use if necessary
I am pretty confident on the hardware installation, what I have questions on are how to properly configure the system once everything is installed.
I would like to have the following setup and wanted opinions & tips on if this is good, bad, or ugly, and how you think it would be better to configure.
A) SSD has OS X and any applications. I work as an occasional DIT for television and so I plan on using some pretty hefty programs like Avid, After Effects, and Da Vinci Resolve. So I want my SSD to be completely dedicated to OS X and any scratch files I want to access quickly.
B) HDD will be partitioned into 600GB HFS+ Journaled for most of my media, scratch files, etc. The remaining 150GB I want to partition to BootCamp and install Windows 8. I don't do much with windows but I would like the option to reboot and use it if necessary. Also, I heard that the only way to update the firmware on a dual drive without optical slot is to run Windows (can someone please confirm or deny this and let me know what EXACTLY I need to do in order to update the firmware on the Samsung 840 Pro SSD?).
So here are my questions in no particular order:
If I want the HDD to be partitioned this way, would it be best to use bootcamp to partition it first before installing the hardware, then switch the drives internally, then format the Mac partition and keep the Windows partition? Would the OS on the SSD be able to recognize the bootcamp on the HDD? I have heard that you can't install Windows 8 without a disc, so once I remove the Optical Bay would I be able to install Windows 8? I do have an external Blu-Ray reader/writer so I could use discs, but I have heard Windows won't let you install from an external reader?
As the Mac is brand new and I have my old mac with all my data, what is the best way to clean install the OS onto the SSD once I have it in place? My plan was to boot from a USB Flash stick initially and then install my programs from the files I have on my backup drive. I want to do this as cleanly as possible and would prefer not to boot from a backup the first time. I want to install the operating system and then install all apps and plug-ins manually so it's as clean as possible.
How do you update the firmware on the SSD?
When should I use Trim Enabler? Immediately after installing OS onto SSD or after installing apps and getting Windows running on the HDD?
Are there any issues that anyone is aware of with these hardware components in this setup? Like, will the 16GB RAM be compatible and work within this SSD+HDD configuration.
Thanks for helping a noob!
1- Upgrading RAM with Crucial 16GB DDR3 1600
2- Installing Samsung 840 Pro 512GB SSD in main bay
3- Installing stock 750GB Toshiba HDD into Optibay
4- I will also have an external Samsung SE-506BB USB 2 Blu-ray Drive to use if necessary
I am pretty confident on the hardware installation, what I have questions on are how to properly configure the system once everything is installed.
I would like to have the following setup and wanted opinions & tips on if this is good, bad, or ugly, and how you think it would be better to configure.
A) SSD has OS X and any applications. I work as an occasional DIT for television and so I plan on using some pretty hefty programs like Avid, After Effects, and Da Vinci Resolve. So I want my SSD to be completely dedicated to OS X and any scratch files I want to access quickly.
B) HDD will be partitioned into 600GB HFS+ Journaled for most of my media, scratch files, etc. The remaining 150GB I want to partition to BootCamp and install Windows 8. I don't do much with windows but I would like the option to reboot and use it if necessary. Also, I heard that the only way to update the firmware on a dual drive without optical slot is to run Windows (can someone please confirm or deny this and let me know what EXACTLY I need to do in order to update the firmware on the Samsung 840 Pro SSD?).
So here are my questions in no particular order:
If I want the HDD to be partitioned this way, would it be best to use bootcamp to partition it first before installing the hardware, then switch the drives internally, then format the Mac partition and keep the Windows partition? Would the OS on the SSD be able to recognize the bootcamp on the HDD? I have heard that you can't install Windows 8 without a disc, so once I remove the Optical Bay would I be able to install Windows 8? I do have an external Blu-Ray reader/writer so I could use discs, but I have heard Windows won't let you install from an external reader?
As the Mac is brand new and I have my old mac with all my data, what is the best way to clean install the OS onto the SSD once I have it in place? My plan was to boot from a USB Flash stick initially and then install my programs from the files I have on my backup drive. I want to do this as cleanly as possible and would prefer not to boot from a backup the first time. I want to install the operating system and then install all apps and plug-ins manually so it's as clean as possible.
How do you update the firmware on the SSD?
When should I use Trim Enabler? Immediately after installing OS onto SSD or after installing apps and getting Windows running on the HDD?
Are there any issues that anyone is aware of with these hardware components in this setup? Like, will the 16GB RAM be compatible and work within this SSD+HDD configuration.
Thanks for helping a noob!