newbie question about Macbook drives

[CultHero]

sorry for the newbie question, I have searched and seem to be a little more confused because of it.

I am an iMac user considering a Macbook Pro for my next computer and have been caught up in all this SSD talk and wanted to clarify some things.

I understand the logic behind an SSD for your OS, but does the Macbook Pro only come with the one SSD drive? Everything I can see indicates that is the case, so upgrading to even a 500 GB SSD drive is costly.

I also see some articles on the web about converting the optical drive to a HD bay and putting a reg HD there for storage etc and then using the SSD for boots etc.

Is this a popular upgrade and if not why not? All the talk on here seems focused on upgrading the SSD.

Thanks!

 

[GGJstudios]

I understand the logic behind an SSD for your OS, but does the Macbook Pro only come with the one SSD drive?

Yes. You can upgrade the MBPc with any 3rd party SSD, which will be less expensive than Apple's prices.

I also see some articles on the web about converting the optical drive to a HD bay and putting a reg HD there for storage etc and then using the SSD for boots etc.

Yes, search this forum for "optibay" for many threads discussing this option.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

If you are talking about the MacBook Pros without Retina Display (also called "classic MacBook Pro - cMBP), they come with a platter based HDD as standard and can be built to order with several SSD choices, though it is highly recommended to buy the SSD yourself and replace the HDD with an SSD yourself, as that is much cheaper than paying Apple prices for "their" SSDs.
And yes, the cMBP only comes with one slot for the HDD and one slot for the optical disk drive (ODD), but as you already have found out, one can use the ODD slot for another HDD or SSD.

I have replaced my ODD with a 120 GB SSD and have put it into one of the many optibay adapters out there and left the 500 GB HDD in the HDD bay for backing up the SSD and having extra storage.
There is no clear statistics how many people use this kind of setup, but on this message board you will find several dozens of members doing so.

The SSD is for storing the OS and the applications and all the supporting files and the HDD for additional files that do not need to be access with SSD speeds.

As for which SSD to get, there are plenty to choose from, nowadays the Samsung 830, Corsair M4 and OCZ Vertex 4 are recommended ones.

SSD Buying Guide by Hellhammer​

MacBook, MacBook Pro: Replacing the Hard Disk Drive, transferring data to the new HDD

the guide includes:

• 0. Identify your MacBook or MacBook Pro
• 1. Getting a new HDD
• 2. Guides to replace the internal HDD with a newer one
• 3. Transferring data from the old HDD to the new HDD
• 4. Using the optical disk drive (ODD) slot for placing an SSD or HDD inside the MB/P (OPTIBAY)

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