SSD Hard Drive thinking Crucial RealSSD C300 ??? Advise please!

[JodyK]

I have a 15 i7 with 8GB of Ram. I just feel that I should be getting more out of the machine and I have come to the conclusion that my 7200 rpm 500GB hard drive is slowing me down.

I am thinking of going with the Crucial RealSSD or maybe one of the OWC Mercury SSD's. I may go with a 64 GB / 128GB and ditch my Super Drive and put that 7200 there. Thoughts? Advise? Anyone do this or a very similar set up?

I might even spend the $$$ and get a 256GB and keep my iphoto library (currently 162GB and growing daily on the SSD) and everything else that is non OS working on an external when stationary.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Lyshen]

My setup is pretty much what you were thinking... however I have 256GB C300 and kept the superdrive.

If you rarely if ever use the superdrive, going with a smaller SSD (128GB?) and the 7200 RPM drive in optical bay is probably the better solution since a good portion of the SSD would be taken up your photos, which would put the SSD to waste, well kind of, photos would load super fast lol.

 

[snouter]

I have the previous Crucial 128GB model, and I love it. It won't improve your CPU or GPU power, but otherwise, it makes the computer boot, launch apps and just feel really really responsive in general.

I will probably swap out the SuperDrive with a large capacity HDD at some point as well.

For now, I'm getting by with an external FW800 1TB and the internal 128GB SSD.

 

[JodyK]

I have the previous Crucial 128GB model, and I love it. It won't improve your war CPU or GPU power, but otherwise, it makes the computer boot, launch apps and just feel really really responsive in general.

I will probably swap out the SuperDrive with a large capacity HDD at some point as well.

For now, I'm getting by with an external FW800 1TB and the internal 128GB SSD.

Launching apps is where I get hung up! Especially the mentioned 162GB iPhoto library. A lot of beach ball swirls

My setup is pretty much what you were thinking... however I have 256GB C300 and kept the superdrive.

If you rarely if ever use the superdrive, going with a smaller SSD (128GB?) and the 7200 RPM drive in optical bay is probably the better solution since a good portion of the SSD would be taken up your photos, which would put the SSD to waste, well kind of, photos would load super fast lol.

Are you getting the published speeds? How is it over time ... Still as fast? What made you choose that model?

Btw I am north of Atlanta.

 

[mac8867]

I run an 8GB machine with a 250GB SSD as my OS drive in the main drive bay, and then a 320GB WD Black in the optibay. I keep virtual machines, pictures, itunes, movies etc on the WD drive, and limit the usage of the SSD to OS, apps and work files. I love the setup.

Here is my advice:
1) Get the biggest SSD you can afford. As your usage of the machine goes up, the ability of the OS to swap memory pages is critical to performance. This required storage. So, size your usage to about 70% of the maximum of available space on the OS drive

2) IMPERITIVE that if/when you put a second drive in the optibay, if it is a platter drive (not another ssd), be certain to get a drive that has sudden movement detection, or anti-drop detection. The optibay "circuitry" doesn't have this protection for you, so the drive must. I didn't do this with my original optibay drive and it blew within 6 months.

 

[JodyK]

2) IMPERITIVE that if/when you put a second drive in the optibay, if it is a platter drive (not another ssd), be certain to get a drive that has sudden movement detection, or anti-drop detection. The optibay "circuitry" doesn't have this protection for you, so the drive must. I didn't do this with my original optibay drive and it blew within 6 months.

Very good point. I was thinking as mentioned above of putting my current 500GB 7200 rpm drive in the super drive bay if I did the dual set up. I am like 95% + sure that is doesn't have the sudden motion sensor as I remember researching that when I bought it. It was said that if a drive had that built in it may interfere with Apple's sensor.

Do you like the dual drive set up? Do you relie on battery power much and if so how much was it effected? I don't use my battery much but it would be nice to know.

Thanks again everyone for taking the time to chime in!

 

[JasonH42]

I've been running a 256GB C300 with original firmware since March. I rewrite several gigs per day, about 200GB is in use currently and I haven't noticed any slowdown or other issues at all. Best upgrade I ever bought!

 

[mac8867]

Do you like the dual drive set up? Do you relie on battery power much and if so how much was it effected? I don't use my battery much but it would be nice to know.

Thanks again everyone for taking the time to chime in!

I LOVE my dual drive setup. I never feel like I am wasting storage space on my SSD. My battery power really seems unaffected by the dual drive setup. I have the drives set to sleep for power saving, and the SSD is a very low power consumer. BUT, I will say, I bought my MBP on a Monday, and had the SSD in it by the next Saturday... so I have never really run it any other way.

 

[rainkinz]

I have a 15 i7 with 8GB of Ram. I just feel that I should be getting more out of the machine and I have come to the conclusion that my 7200 rpm 500GB hard drive is slowing me down.

I am thinking of going with the Crucial RealSSD or maybe one of the OWC Mercury SSD's. I may go with a 64 GB / 128GB and ditch my Super Drive and put that 7200 there. Thoughts? Advise? Anyone do this or a very similar set up?

I might even spend the $$$ and get a 256GB and keep my iphoto library (currently 162GB and growing daily on the SSD) and everything else that is non OS working on an external when stationary.

Thanks in advance!

I had one of these in my MBP 4,1 and it died within 2 weeks. I got a replacement, but sent it back without trying it again. I'm going to try a Vertex 2 instead I think...but would love to see how you make out.

 

[vsighi]

To be honest a 64 or 128Gb SSD for me was to small. I think you may need the 256 Gb SSD.
Now I am running on a 256Gb Crucial SSD...PLUG and PLAY

 

[mac8867]

I had one of these in my MBP 4,1 and it died within 2 weeks. I got a replacement, but sent it back without trying it again. I'm going to try a Vertex 2 instead I think...but would love to see how you make out.

I purposely avoided discussing makes and models for SSD's, it's really covered all over the site.... so I will simply +1 on the OCZ drives

 

[rainkinz]

To be honest a 64 or 128Gb SSD for me was to small. I think you may need the 256 Gb SSD.
Now I am running on a 256Gb Crucial SSD...PLUG and PLAY

So no issues with the Crucial Drive? What's the sata chip in your MBP out of interest? (About this Mac | More info | Hardware | Serial ATA)

Thanks