Optibay for a white Macbook (Early 2008 Penryn)

[Skizoboy]

Hey everyone,

My macbook air was stolen last week and I don't really have the money to replace it right now. (I'd rather buy lenses for my camera)
I still have my "old" white macbook though and I'm using it for my Aperture workflow now but it feels very slow in comparison despite the clean install and the more powerful CPU.
I really need a speed bump!

Since both machines had the same amount of RAM (2Gb) I guess the SSD was what made the air so much faster.
I plan on buying a Crucial M4 64gb SSD for my Macbook tomorrow but I figured If I have to use a bigger and heavier machine I may not have to carry an external drive any more.


-Which Optibay brand and model would you recommend for my computer? I read some cause hibernation problems…?

-I plan on having the SSD in the built-in slot and a 500Gb Scorpio blue in the Optibay.
Is this a good configuration? I think the scorpio has built-in "sudden motion sensor", does it make the Optibay safe for it?

-I understand the SSD Apple puts in the macbook air is actually rather slow. Would the upgrade I plan on doing make it even faster than the air?

-Will there be a point in adding more RAM once I have an SSD?

I know these are a lot of questions but I spent hours reading many forums and they are the ones I couldn't find answers to. Thanks A LOT in advance for your kind advice
Oh and since I'm French, I apologise if I'm not easy to follow.

 

[Skizoboy]

up!

 

[hekokimushi]

Bonjour ~ oui, SSD will do a significant increase in performance.

-Which Optibay brand and model would you recommend for my computer? I read some cause hibernation problems…?

u probably need a PATA Optibay. for your White early 08 MB.
ebay it form Far east. PM me for details. putting the SSD in the original bay theoretically won't have hibernation probs.

-I plan on having the SSD in the built-in slot and a 500Gb Scorpio blue in the Optibay.
Is this a good configuration? I think the scorpio has built-in "sudden motion sensor", does it make the Optibay safe for it?

in your config, u probably then need to switch off your SMS in OSX for your SSD

-Will there be a point in adding more RAM once I have an SSD?

Yes

 

[Skizoboy]

Second opinion?

 

[iThinkergoiMac]

putting the SSD in the original bay theoretically won't have hibernation probs.

Not just theoretically. Using an SSD/HDD in your optibay as your boot drive is what causes the sleep/hibernation issue. When the system wakes from sleep, it looks to the main bay for the sleep image. When the system sleeps, it saves the sleep image to the boot drive. You can see where this would be problematic when the boot drive is in the optibay but the system is looking for the sleep image on the main HDD bay.

Not all Macs have this issue, though, so it's hard to say what exactly makes this happen. Putting your SSD in your main bay and the HDD in the optibay is a sure way to make sure you don't have any issues.

in your config, u probably then need to switch off your SMS in OSX for your SSD

I highly doubt this will be necessary, OS X should figure this one out automatically.

As to why your Air was faster than your MacBook... RAM and SSD aren't the only factors, and shouldn't be used as the sole basis on why one was faster than the other. Certainly, the SSD is why applications launched significantly faster on the Air. But, if the Air has DDR3 RAM and your MacBook DDR2 RAM, that would make a big difference even though they have the same amount of RAM. Your MacBook almost certainly has a more powerful processor and GPU, but since you haven't listed the specs for either it's impossible to say.

Still, an SSD will make a marked improvement on your MacBook, no question about that.

 

[hekokimushi]

Not just theoretically. Using an SSD/HDD in your optibay as your boot drive is what causes the sleep/hibernation issue. When the system wakes from sleep, it looks to the main bay for the sleep image. When the system sleeps, it saves the sleep image to the boot drive. You can see where this would be problematic when the boot drive is in the optibay but the system is looking for the sleep image on the main HDD bay.

i did try moving the sleepimage and pmset command to the other drive in the default disk location. no joy.

with the SSD in optibay, i simply accept when i totally run out of juice from the battery, it will die until i put the plug back in and try to avoid running it flat/dead. i switch off Hibernation totally using pmset, and that way saves 8GB of sleepimage space when hibernation isnt going to work

 

[Skizoboy]

All right guys, I got the M4… and 6Gigs of RAM!!!

My macbook is now so fast it actually blows the MBA out of the water.

I'm still looking for the best Optibay option though… do you think it is safe to go for the cheap stuff on eBay? Will the lack of Sudden Motion Sensor be a problem?

PS: I have the 4,1 "Penryn" macbook (2,1Ghz/x3100)
PPS: Thanks a lot for the advice, upgrading what I already had saved me a lot of money and I plan on getting a Dell U2410 external display with a bookendz dock now…

 

[Skizoboy]

Up!

 

[iThinkergoiMac]

Bumping on this forum is frowned upon, FWIW.

Any optibay with the right connection should do, it's a pretty simple setup so as long as the quality is decent, you'll be fine.