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Quick question about SSD install?

I actually have an OptiBay and an Intel SSD on the way. I too will be using the same guide. From my research, the process for Lion will be exactly the same as it is in this guide for Snow Leopard. However, I cannot tell you for sure until my items arrive and I try it out myself.
 
Yes I have the optibay ready, Im going to purchase a Crucial 64gb SSD at the weekend hopefully!!

If you could let me know how you get on that would be great thanks mate!
 
I have done the same recently on a late 2008 MBP. My 2 cents:
- eBay optibay are worth it and really less expensive than the MCE optibay. Mine costed me around 15 $
- Leave the HD in place and put the SSD in the optibay.
- Check iFixit for a more detailed guide than the lifehacker one.
- You should do a totally clean install with manual reinstallation of apps and files
- Don't bother with USB enclosure for the DVD, they are crap and you can find USB DVD writer for almost the same price
- Overall, it's really worth it. It's like I have a new MBP.
 
monsieurpaul said:
I have done the same recently on a late 2008 MBP. My 2 cents:
- eBay optibay are worth it and really less expensive than the MCE optibay. Mine costed me around 15 $
- Leave the HD in place and put the SSD in the optibay.
- Check iFixit for a more detailed guide than the lifehacker one.
- You should do a totally clean install with manual reinstallation of apps and files
- Don't bother with USB enclosure for the DVD, they are crap and you can find USB DVD writer for almost the same price
- Overall, it's really worth it. It's like I have a new MBP.
Click to expand...

Any particular reason you're suggesting we keep the stock drive in its place and put the ssd in the optibay instead? Also, how is the external enclosure that comes with the optibay different than one you are suggesting?
 
monsieurpaul said:
I have done the same recently on a late 2008 MBP. My 2 cents:
- eBay optibay are worth it and really less expensive than the MCE optibay. Mine costed me around 15 $
- Leave the HD in place and put the SSD in the optibay.
- Check iFixit for a more detailed guide than the lifehacker one.
- You should do a totally clean install with manual reinstallation of apps and files
- Don't bother with USB enclosure for the DVD, they are crap and you can find USB DVD writer for almost the same price
- Overall, it's really worth it. It's like I have a new MBP.
Click to expand...

Yeah I got my optibay from ebay for very cheap and it looks quite sturdy!!!

You said to put the ssd in the optibay? Has this no caused any problems when waking from sleep as reported in the lifehacker guide?

Have you got a link to the ifixit guide as i couldnt find it?

many thanks!
 
Considering the SSD in optibay:
- I have no problem from waking from sleep
- I think the problem is more that the SSD won't "hibernate" when the battery is drained. I haven't tested this case yet.
On the other hand, there are several cons to put the HD in the optibay:
- it may be too thick (mine was)
- it won't be as much protected and will generate more noise and vibrations than in its original place.
iFixit guides can be found here. Be sure to check this is the correct model though.
@agent-P
I don't know what kind of enclosure came with your optibay. I bought mine on ebay (this model) and I'm really disappointed. My point is that if I could do it again I wouldn't bother with buying such an enclosure and would buy an USB external drive instead.
Hope this helps and, again, you won't regret it.
 
monsieurpaul said:
Considering the SSD in optibay:
- I have no problem from waking from sleep
- I think the problem is more that the SSD won't "hibernate" when the battery is drained. I haven't tested this case yet.
On the other hand, there are several cons to put the HD in the optibay:
- it may be too thick (mine was)
- it won't be as much protected and will generate more noise and vibrations than in its original place.
iFixit guides can be found here. Be sure to check this is the correct model though.
@agent-P
I don't know what kind of enclosure came with your optibay. I bought mine on ebay (this model) and I'm really disappointed. My point is that if I could do it again I wouldn't bother with buying such an enclosure and would buy an USB external drive instead.
Hope this helps and, again, you won't regret it.
Click to expand...

Okay, I can see where you're coming from and I get what you are saying. However it was my understanding that the SATA port where the optical drive is connected is slower than the port where the stock HDD is. So wouldn't I be losing SSD speed by putting it in the optical drive spot? Sorry for my ignorance, but I'm not too good with this kind of thing. I'm just now dipping my feet into the computer parts repair waters.
 
Agent-P said:
However it was my understanding that the SATA port where the optical drive is connected is slower than the port where the stock HDD is. So wouldn't I be losing SSD speed by putting it in the optical drive spot? Sorry for my ignorance, but I'm not too good with this kind of thing. I'm just now dipping my feet into the computer parts repair waters.
Click to expand...
Indeed, you have a point here. My MBP is SATA II (3 Gb/s) and the SSD in the optibay has 3 Gb/s bandwidth, but for SATA III (6 Gb/s) MBP the optibay could be a bottleneck.

I'm not sure there is so much difference between SATA II and SATA III in the real world. I don't know if actual SSD can use a 6 Gb/s bandwidth yet. This has to be confirmed by somebody else though.

[EDIT]: it seems that only 2011 MBP have SATA III controller, so you shouldn't have any bottleneck problem with a 2010 MBP. To be sure, you need to check this in About my computer > Advanced > Serial ATA Controller
 
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Agent-P said:
Okay, I can see where you're coming from and I get what you are saying. However it was my understanding that the SATA port where the optical drive is connected is slower than the port where the stock HDD is. So wouldn't I be losing SSD speed by putting it in the optical drive spot? Sorry for my ignorance, but I'm not too good with this kind of thing. I'm just now dipping my feet into the computer parts repair waters.
Click to expand...

Mine is SATA 3 on both ports..

Put the in the HDD in the HDD slot and put then SSD in the Optical..

Even if you were to get a slowere speed you loose the sudden motion sensor if the HDD is in the optical.
 
GermanyChris said:
Mine is SATA 3 on both ports..

Put the in the HDD in the HDD slot and put then SSD in the Optical..

Even if you were to get a slowere speed you loose the sudden motion sensor if the HDD is in the optical.
Click to expand...

This isn't directed at you in particular, but everyone reading this. I found this thread which makes it seem like the stock HDD has sudden motion sensor built into it. So wouldn't that mean it doesn't matter where you out each drive?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1117836/
 
Agent-P said:
This isn't directed at you in particular, but everyone reading this. I found this thread which makes it seem like the stock HDD has sudden motion sensor built into it. So wouldn't that mean it doesn't matter where you out each drive?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1117836/
Click to expand...

If thats true, which I have no reason to doubt you still don't get the vibration dampening or shock protection..mounting a spinning drive in rubber is the way to go no matter how you slice it...

Like I said before i have the same computer and I'm SATA 3 on both ports.

When I had the '10 that this SSD come out of I had it in the optical and the TB HDD in the HD because it was a 12.5mm HD. I had none of the issue that you hear about.

Try the sad in the optical and the HDD in the normal bay i.e. leave it alone and see if it causes issues you can always swap them if it does.
 
GermanyChris said:
If thats true, which I have no reason to doubt you still don't get the vibration dampening or shock protection..mounting a spinning drive in rubber is the way to go no matter how you slice it...

Like I said before i have the same computer and I'm SATA 3 on both ports.

When I had the '10 that this SSD come out of I had it in the optical and the TB HDD in the HD because it was a 12.5mm HD. I had none of the issue that you hear about.

Try the sad in the optical and the HDD in the normal bay i.e. leave it alone and see if it causes issues you can always swap them if it does.
Click to expand...

So my OptiBay is scheduled to arrive on Friday. I think I will try putting the ssd in the OptiBay and leaving the stock HDD alone. Like you said, if I have any problems I can always just swap the drives. I'll post back here to let others know how it goes.
 
Agent-P said:
So my OptiBay is scheduled to arrive on Friday. I think I will try putting the ssd in the OptiBay and leaving the stock HDD alone. Like you said, if I have any problems I can always just swap the drives. I'll post back here to let others know how it goes.
Click to expand...

I thought the optibay only runs on SATA II? If you put a SATA 3 SSD in there it would not benefit from it, right? The point is I'm going to put my Vertex 3 into the main HDD bay and use it as the boot drive, and buy the Momentus XT and put it in the optibay.

One quick question, have you had any experience with the Vertex series or any other OCZ's SSD's? I heard they are unreliable and has hibernate issues. Although they are currently one of the fastest solid states out with up to 500mb read/write speeds.
 
from what ive read, that is true. using the ssd in an optibay will cripple your speeds because of sata ll and sata lll
 
neenja said:
from what ive read, that is true. using the ssd in an optibay will cripple your speeds because of sata ll and sata lll
Click to expand...

13" never had the issue of a SATA 2 in the optical that I can find..mine doesn't thats for sure. The early 15" had that problem
 

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http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Unibody...placement/dp/B0058AH2US/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_cart_4

I bought that and I have it installed...its amazing! Quality is unbelievable! It was easy to install as well. I have a 2010 13" MBP with dual 250GB HDD's and 6GB's of RAM. I'm planning on putting an SSD in the main bay when I get the funds...I have a WD 1TB external USB 2.5" HDD but its the new model where there is pretty much no way to hook it up to a SATA link :mad::mad:
 
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nateo200 said:
http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Unibody...placement/dp/B0058AH2US/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_cart_4

I bought that and I have it installed...its amazing! Quality is unbelievable! It was easy to install as well. I have a 2010 13" MBP with dual 250GB HDD's and 6GB's of RAM. I'm planning on putting an SSD in the main bay when I get the funds...I have a WD 1TB external USB 2.5" HDD but its the new model where there is pretty much no way to hook it up to a SATA link :mad::mad:
Click to expand...

Again put the SSD in the optical...
 
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Legion93 said:
Are you sure? I wasn't aware of that.. Anand didn't mention that the new MacBook Pro's use SATA III in the optibay, or so I think. I might be mistaken, could you provide a source or link that confirms this?
Click to expand...

Early ones don't, newer ones do. You need to check your system profiler to be sure. Eg, I don't.

Either way, I think only the 13" 2011 MBP has a reliable enough SATA 3 port on the Superdrive to use this for the SSD. 15" and 17" are a no-go, according to OWC's tests. Unless there's more recent post-Firmware update tests that say otherwise.

2010 model is obviously another story, as it only has SATA 2.0, assumedly in both main and secondary bays.
 
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