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Noob Looking for advice on SSD upgrade

J

Jpalessi

macrumors member
Original poster
Hello all,
My name is Joe, I'm brand new to this forum n not as experienced as most of you with computers so please bare with me.
I just purchased a part No. MC374LL/A off a friend and im looking to upgrade the drive because im sure the 250gb thats in there wont be enough over time.
after doing some searching online i realized youre able to swap out the opti drive. I figure if im purchasing a drive maybe i should go this route with a SSD to make the machine run faster cause if the operating system n heavy work software is on the SSD the 250 thats already in here will be enough for storage. so i guess what im asking for is some advice on what SSD drive I should buy? i have the computer for 1 day n after DL'ing work software its already using like 70gb of my 250...
which bay should hold which drive? i read somewhere about a sensor that you might want to leave the HD drive where it is n put the ssd in the opti drive location. which caddy? any advice or opinions will be appreciated. thank you.
 
Welcome to MacRumors! SSD sizes are really a personal preference, and really depends on what you want to do with them. Because you have the mid-2010 model you can purchase an SATA II SSD and save yourself some cash. SSD's are expensive compared to normal HDDs, but prices are coming down. Intel and Crucial SSD's seem to have the least failure rates, so start there. Good Luck!
 
ahdickter said:
Welcome to MacRumors! SSD sizes are really a personal preference, and really depends on what you want to do with them. Because you have the mid-2010 model you can purchase an SATA II SSD and save yourself some cash. SSD's are expensive compared to normal HDDs, but prices are coming down. Intel and Crucial SSD's seem to have the least failure rates, so start there. Good Luck!
Click to expand...

Thank you for your post. What is the difference between sata II and sata 3.0? some of this stuff is like Chinese to me. lol i just did a quick amazon search for intell ssd 80gb and the results i got say the sata ii is more expensive. I really need help with selection. or just a quick schooling.

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Mainstr...YIYY/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1322949334&sr=8-6

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-2-5-Inc...TE0O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322949334&sr=8-1
 
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Weaselboy said:
I believe it is the Intel 320 everybody was talking about. That and the Samsung 470 you linked seem to be very compatible and reliable.

Give thie thread a read also.
Click to expand...

thanks! i think i know what im getting after researching and shopping yesterday. think i'll get the 830 samsung ssd, the aya group caddy, and i think im even going to get a samsung spinpoint m8 1TB to upgrade the hdd. plus i ordered a 8gb crucial ram kit the other day. this thing should be pretty dialed. 🙂
 
Jpalessi said:
thanks! i think i know what im getting after researching and shopping yesterday. think i'll get the 830 samsung ssd, the aya group caddy, and i think im even going to get a samsung spinpoint m8 1TB to upgrade the hdd. plus i ordered a 8gb crucial ram kit the other day. this thing should be pretty dialed. 🙂
Click to expand...

I don't think the machine that you will be able to take full advantage of the samsung 830 so check out compatibility etc as long as it can use it even if not at full speed should be a solid drive.

If price savings is available on the samsung 470 series might be a viable switch.

Sounds like you know a lot more about computers than you were letting on in your first post!

Be careful doing the caddy upgrade/switch some of the cables are pretty small and can get damaged/broken if not proceeding really carefully.
 
johnhurley said:
I don't think the machine that you will be able to take full advantage of the samsung 830 so check out compatibility etc as long as it can use it even if not at full speed should be a solid drive.

If price savings is available on the samsung 470 series might be a viable switch.

Sounds like you know a lot more about computers than you were letting on in your first post!

Be careful doing the caddy upgrade/switch some of the cables are pretty small and can get damaged/broken if not proceeding really carefully.
Click to expand...

thank John! Great install tip!
I really dont know that much about computers,, really all I know is based off online research, not much first hand experience upgrading and modding. This is only my 2nd Mac, and its my first laptop. after getting some help on another thread i found out the HDD bay is Sata3 but the optibay is only Sata2. so being that the prices are better on sata 3 im going to get a 64gb 830 series. Im just undecided if i should put it in the center to use sata 3, or put it in the optibay... someone was saying lastnight that the center bay was designed to absorb impact from a drop. i think i might just say screw it and put the ssd in the center anyway just cause it'll bother me knowing I'm not running it to its full potential. what do you think about the spinpoint M8 1TB? I read mixed reviews.
 
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Jpalessi said:
thank John! Great install tip!
I really dont know that much about computers,, really all I know is based off online research, not much first hand experience upgrading and modding. This is only my 2nd Mac, and its my first laptop. after getting some help on another thread i found out the HDD bay is Sata3 but the optibay is only Sata2. so being that the prices are better on sata 3 im going to get a 64gb 830 series. Im just undecided if i should put it in the center to use sata 3, or put it in the optibay... someone was saying lastnight that the center bay was designed to absorb impact from a drop. i think i might just say screw it and put the ssd in the center anyway just cause it'll bother me knowing I'm not running it to its full potential. what do you think about the spinpoint M8 1TB? I read mixed reviews.
Click to expand...

Personally I don't think I would do a 64 gb ssd ( my mba has 256 gb ) instead I would think about 128 ... so just think about that part.

So if the HDD bay is sata 3 ( and the 830 series does 6 gb max I think ) I think it can support it all the way. Theoretically sure a 6 gb ssd is faster but on a day to day usability point of view not sure there is going to be any noticeable difference over the ( slightly older ) ssd drives.

Swapping drives in and out of the "regular" ( not optibay ) location is pretty dang easy ... the other location requires a lot more precision.

No idea about the spin point every one has their brand preferences I kind of like hitachi for laptop drives ( non ssd anyhow ).
 
johnhurley said:
Personally I don't think I would do a 64 gb ssd ( my mba has 256 gb ) instead I would think about 128 ... so just think about that part.

So if the HDD bay is sata 3 ( and the 830 series does 6 gb max I think ) I think it can support it all the way. Theoretically sure a 6 gb ssd is faster but on a day to day usability point of view not sure there is going to be any noticeable difference over the ( slightly older ) ssd drives.

Swapping drives in and out of the "regular" ( not optibay ) location is pretty dang easy ... the other location requires a lot more precision.

No idea about the spin point every one has their brand preferences I kind of like hitachi for laptop drives ( non ssd anyhow ).
Click to expand...
thanks for the advice. why do you think i should go for the 128gb? I was considering it but I really only need it to run OS X and all my apps. I'm under the impression a 64gb would be enough. then get a TB for normal storage. opinions please!
 
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