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Mixed Drive Setup (SSD+HDD) in Macbook Pro

can someone here teach me how to get this setup to work?

i hav the SDD in, i have the HDD in the opitical bay.

i restore everything from my original stock HDD to the new 1TB HDD, i boot from the SSD which only has the OS in there right now, i need itunes to look for the media files in the HDD not the SDD, i would like itunes to have all the records of track plays, playlists, etc from the original back up.

does anyone understand what im saying or trying to do?
 
itunes is easy the rest is not.
iTunes just open prefs cmd+;
go to manage libraries and select the new location.

You might have to delete the current library so itunes doesn't get confused.

You can also manually manage libraries but itunes isn't good at it. Uncheck all the checkboxes and simple drag&drop the folders into itunes. It will index them but leave them where they are.
New files you have to handle yourself obviously or will be saved to whatever is the default location.

What kind of data do you have in other folders and how big is it?
How big is the SSD?
Unfortunately relinking the homefolder partially is purposely prohibited by Apple. It works but not that easily.

You can use iPhoto library manager (find with google) to manage multiple and also displaced libraries.
Movies I would just handle manually. I keep recent ones on the SSD. Archived on the HDD.
Documents and everything else in the home folder should stay on the SSD. That is caches and all such stuff that apps need at launch and while running. It saves battery life, it keeps speed high and usually doesn't take all that much space.
 
screwdrivers?

So before I go and start pulling my computer apart, just want to make sure I have all the right tools. Read that a Phillips #00 (magnetized) is used for the screws on the bottom. Anything else I'll need? (read something about potentially needing a t6 for pulling out the optical drive, but then some said they didn't).

Have a mid-2009 MBP.
 
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eiknarf said:
So before I go and start pulling my computer apart, just want to make sure I have all the right tools. Read that a Phillips #00 (magnetized) is used for the screws on the bottom. Anything else I'll need? (read something about potentially needing a t6 for pulling out the optical drive, but then some said they didn't).

Have a mid-2009 MBP.
Click to expand...

I don't believe you do... only if you want to pull the internal hard drive. Ifixit recommends you pull the battery to disconnect the power source and you need a tri-wing tool for that but I didn't. Do at your own risk!

When you pull the screws to the optical drive, you'll have to press down pretty firmly to not strip the screws... helps to have the right size phillips.
 
aaronlam said:
I don't believe you do... only if you want to pull the internal hard drive. Ifixit recommends you pull the battery to disconnect the power source and you need a tri-wing tool for that but I didn't. Do at your own risk!

When you pull the screws to the optical drive, you'll have to press down pretty firmly to not strip the screws... helps to have the right size phillips.
Click to expand...

thanks for the reply!

No reason to pull the hdd it seems, as both are SATA 2 connections from what I've read. I need to buy the small phillips head anyway, so I think I'm just going to buy a precision set from amazon along with the caddy... it's pretty inexpensive, and probably a good thing to have anyways.

And thanks for the tip on the screws to the optical drive, would hate to strip them!
 
I wanted to give this thread a little bump for two reasons...

1. I see a lot of questions on this forum that are answered in the OP, so being on the front page might help some people out!

2. I did this last night! I added a Samsung 830 (256) to my new 15 inch MBP and it was super easy. I've never worked with such tiny screws before, and I only ran into trouble getting one of the screws back in (I had accidentally stripped it), but fortunately the caddy I bought came with a bunch of extras.

I then used Carbon Copy Cloner to copy my OS over to the SSD, reboot, wipe the HDD and reboot again. Everything seems to be working perfectly now and the SSD boots up super fast!

This is also my first time using an SSD for anything, and my god are they tiny.

Anyway, for anyone worried about doing a setup like this, I found the OP to be amazingly helpful, and I was able to do the whole thing with a 101 degree fever, so you can definitely do it too.

Next up on my to-do list is to set up bootcamp for windows.

Cheers!
 
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Problem with this setting

I have a 2010 macbook pro so I followed the first option and put my SSD (that came with my laptop as it was customized) in the optibay. However, since I did that I constantly had file system errors (which resulting in much more serious problems even like having 100% CPU active and crashing and complete OS failure). I had to repair my disk every time I restarted it.

Yesterday I swapped the drives and put the SSD back to its original place and HDD in the optibay and sine then my drive has been working completely fine. I am not sure the optibay I bought does not work completely fine, I have any other hardware issue, or it's a common problem.

In conclusion, I know that having your SSD in the optibay is better (lower noise, less heat and …), but I would recommend you never do it or if you did and see that your file system gets corrupt (in Disk Utility), then switch to the second option even if you have pre-2011 macbook pro.
 
So I already have a dual HD/SSD setup, with Documents, Downloads, Music folders Symlink to the HD while the OS runs in SSD.

I want to change the HD to a higher capacity one.

If I just name it the same and copy the files from my old HD to the new HD the symlinks will still be funcional? Or I will have to create them again?
 
Yes... I believe if you want to just upgrade your HD that doesn't house the OS... you should just be able to copy all the files over.
 
Problem with a mixed SSD + HD

I have purchased a SSD which is installed into the HD bay of my MAC book pro (late 2011) and I have put a Seagate Momnetum XT 750gb into an optical bay caddy. The laptop now boots up in 3 minutes I can't read the Seagate drive although I can see it in the disk utility. When I try and erase or verify the disk I get the following errors:-

Patition map check failed because no slices were found

Some information was unavailable during the internal lookup

I have run Seagate tools on the drive and it seems to be fine and I have also sucessfully install a fresh copy on M/lion on the drive when it is in the HD slot.

Are there some drivers I am missing ?

Please some one help me !!!!!

Thank you
 
dutchmch said:
I have purchased a SSD which is installed into the HD bay of my MAC book pro (late 2011) and I have put a Seagate Momnetum XT 750gb into an optical bay caddy. The laptop now boots up in 3 minutes I can't read the Seagate drive although I can see it in the disk utility. When I try and erase or verify the disk I get the following errors:-

Patition map check failed because no slices were found

Some information was unavailable during the internal lookup

I have run Seagate tools on the drive and it seems to be fine and I have also sucessfully install a fresh copy on M/lion on the drive when it is in the HD slot.

Are there some drivers I am missing ?

Please some one help me !!!!!

Thank you
Click to expand...

While there have been driver issues with these drives, I suspect that you have the issue of a SATA III 6g drive, even if backward compatible, on a slot that really wants nothing more advanced than SATA II 3g.

read this down the entry for more information

http://blog.macsales.com/11895-2011-macbook-pro-sata-problems-resolved
 
All,

(cross posted in Apple Support Communities)

Hi. I'm unable to get my Macbook Pro to recognize a Samsung 830 SSD in the optical slot using an Amazon caddy. Can you help?

Here's what I've got:
Mid 2012 Macbook Pro, 13", base model (MacBookPro9,2 ; 2.5GHz, 4GB DDR3)
OS X V10.8.2
EFI Firmware (2.9?, I just downloaded and installed it yesterday 10/4/2012)
Used Migration Assistant to copy data from old MB (2006), running Snow Leopard.
BrainyTrade Hard Drive Caddy from Amazon
Samsung 830 SSD, 256GB, with Jan 2012 firmware
SuperDuper​

Done so far:
1) Before upgrading OS and EFI firmware
1a) Put SSD in external USB/FW enclosure (using USB, no FW800->FW400 cable yet, sigh), Initialized single partition, GUID, copied HDD to SSD using SuperDuper, made bootable, checked out ok.
1b) Put in Caddy, swapped out optical drive, put SSD in caddy inside, rebooted, got "Disk is not recognizable, Initialize...".
1c) I tried to initialize but it wouldn't
1d) Removed SSD, replace optical drive
1e) Checked optical drive read/write, all good.

2) Downloaded and installed OS X update and new EFI firmware
2a) Put SSD in external USB/FW enclosure (using USB), initialized single partition, GUID, put some sample files on drive, checked out ok.
2b) Same as 1b
2c) Same as 1c. Got "Waiting for the disks to reappear" for > 20 minutes in Disk Utility.

A few thoughts:
Bad caddy sample/model?
Bad SSD sample/model for this machine?
Bad EFI firmware by Apple at this point?

Can anyone get this SSD (or perhaps an M4??) to work in the optical slot on a Mid 2012 13" MBP?

Should I just swap the HDD and SSD locations? (I originally selected this configuration to get the HDD damping and motion sensor active on the HDD, so kept the HDD in the stock position). If you recommend a location swap... is that an issue I should be concerned about?

Thanks,

Dan
 
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You can just temporarily put the HDD into the optibay caddy and see if it boots. That would tell you if there are any issues with the caddy.

What was the point of 1a.
If you intend to install the ssd into the optibay. Simply put it in. Boot up from HDD install and carbon copy from the HDD to the SSD.

If it doesn't recognize the SSD that is a problem I got a similar one with my M4 since I upgraded to the newest firmware. Today it simply refused to boot. Grey screen and nothing. Only after entirely removing the SSD from the system could I boot my internal HDD clone. Seriously annoying.
I tested the SSD in a Windows PC plugged it in live. Didn't recognize it. But after some 2 minutes it showed up again. Back in the MBP it worked fine again.
Weird **** those SSD controllers. I never had such problems with HDDs ever.
 
Thanks for the advice. I'll try the HDD in the optibay next.

I did 1a mostly because the directions at the start of the thread recommended that, but I think it was also useful in confirming the SSD was working.

I'll report back mid week when I get the opportunity to swap stuff out again.

Just to confirm - your M4 is mostly working in the optibay? Is it a new 13"?

Thanks,

Dan
 
Dan-- said:
Thanks for the advice. I'll try the HDD in the optibay next.

I did 1a mostly because the directions at the start of the thread recommended that, but I think it was also useful in confirming the SSD was working.

I'll report back mid week when I get the opportunity to swap stuff out again.

Just to confirm - your M4 is mostly working in the optibay? Is it a new 13"?

Thanks,

Dan
Click to expand...


please tell us how everything works out for you. I just got my new 13" and want to run with an optibay. It would be great to keep the oem where it's at, but if there are reliability issues I would definitely go through the extra work to make sure everythings perfect.
 
Mid 2012 MBP 13"+Samsung 830 in optibay=Fail; Success in HDD loc

Dan-- said:
Here's what I've got:
Mid 2012 Macbook Pro, 13", base model (MacBookPro9,2 ; 2.5GHz, 4GB DDR3)
OS X V10.8.2
EFI Firmware (2.9, downloaded and installed 10/4/2012)
Samsung 830 SSD, 256GB, with Jan 2012 firmware
BrainyTrade Hard Drive Caddy from Amazon

Used Migration Assistant to copy data from old MB (2006), running Snow Leopard.
SuperDuper​
Click to expand...

I finally got the Samsung 830 working (boots, runs great) in the primary HDD location, and the HDD works fine (boots, runs well) in the optibay using the Amazon/BrainyTrade Caddy but the SSD would not work the other way around.

To recap the failure:
1) Upgraded OS and EFI firmware
2a) Tried initializing SSD in external USB/FW enclosure, single partition, GUID, copied HDD to SSD using SuperDuper, made bootable, checked out ok. Put in Caddy, swapped out optical drive, put SSD in caddy inside, rebooted, got "Disk is not recognizable, Initialize...".
2b) Tried initializing SSD internally after confirming external operation of SSD and wiping, got same error. During attempt to initialize, got "Waiting for the disks to reappear" for > 20 minutes in Disk Utility.
3) Confirmed proper operation of Optical drive and cable

To recap the success:
1) After having previously upgraded the OS and EFI firmware...
2) Put SSD in primary HDD location
3) Put stock HDD in optibay using same caddy
4) Booted fine to HDD in optibay by default actions (took a little longer)
5) Initialized SSD in the primary HDD location (single partition, GUID)
6) Copied HDD to SSD using SuperDuper, made bootable, (took about 1/3 the time as via USB)
7) Set MBP to boot from SSD, checked out ok. Initial impressions are "nice and quick".

So, the Mac works, the caddy works, the HDD works, and the SSD works. Only thing that wouldn't is the SSD while in the optibay - for me, it won't initialize or be recognized as initialized.

It appears that the architecture is sufficiently different between the primary drive location and optibay, and that Apple's EFI firmware (v2.9) is not currently sufficient at this date (early Oct 2012) to support a Samsung SSD in the optibay of a 13" MBP.

Has anyone gotten any SSD (perhaps an M4) to work in the optical slot on a Mid 2012 13" MBP? It appears that OWCs caddy and Mercury SSD drive are working according to their website. EFI Update 2.9 Resolves 6Gb/s Drive Performance Issues In 13" 2012 MacBook Pro

Any others?

And lastly, I originally selected the other configuration to get the HDD damping and motion/drop sensor active on the HDD, so wanted the HDD in the stock position). If I keep the HDD in the optibay as it is now, is that an issue I should be concerned about?
 
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what to delete

Alright I have a 2008 Macbook 2GHz 8GB RAM running 10.8.2
500GB HDD (previous main drive) in Amazon caddy
128GB Samsung 830 SSD in main drive location

I was having problems with iTunes but solved them by installing OSX via USB onto the SSD. I thought this was going to wipe everything but it just fixed all my permission problems and I now have it exactly the way I want it.

I still have these folders on the HDD:
Applications
Library
private
System
User

and on my SSD I have these folders:
Application
Library
System
Users

I know I need to keep my User file on HDD and Applications, Library, and System on my SSD.

Can I delete everything except the User file on the HDD?
Can I delete the User file on the SSD?

Thanks
 
can someone link me a cheap ebay or amazon caddy that will work in my 2009 17" MBP -- specifically i need one that has screw holes to allow re-attaching the bluetooth module onto the caddy that is currently attached to the optical drive. i've emailed a few sellers and they're saying theirs don't have that. thanks
 
On my old Macbook I had a 500HDD and did boot camp partitioning 100gb for windows. My new 2012 Macbook I already replaced the stock HDD with a 120 SSD and plan on putting a 750GB HDD in the optibay. My question is, can I have the OSX on the SSD and possibly partition the HDD (750) for boot camp?
 
bootcamp

cheezeit said:
On my old Macbook I had a 500HDD and did boot camp partitioning 100gb for windows. My new 2012 Macbook I already replaced the stock HDD with a 120 SSD and plan on putting a 750GB HDD in the optibay. My question is, can I have the OSX on the SSD and possibly partition the HDD (750) for boot camp?
Click to expand...

Yes you can. I have a bootcamp partition running on my HDD in my optical drive location.
 
I recently bought a caddy of ebay for 15$, I installed everything no problem however I am having trouble getting it to work now.

I put the SSd in the main drive on my macbook and a 500GB Harddrive in the caddy. The only problem is, when I connect the HD caddy to the board my laptop wont boot, it stays on the white screen. If it does boot it hangs a lot and the hard drive in the caddy keeps getting mounted and unmounted.


Any ideas what could be wrong?
 
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