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Upgrade to SSD and possible RAM on MacbookPro 2010

S

shaneshane1

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 11, 2013
5
1
First,
Let me say thanks for all the posts contributing to this forum. Lots of good information.

I have a mid 2010 macbookpro with 4gb ram, 500gb hard drive. I really would like to upgrade to something larger like a 1TB SSD hard drive. I require the space, with consideration to stability. Truth is, the only high capacity SSD i could find on amazon is a Crucial M500 960GB. Im not familiar with the brand or anything so I'd like some input on this if possible.

Ive read about people switching out the DVD drive for another hard drive, is this relatively the same process as swapping out the hard drive for a larger one? If thats the case, I could go for the Samsung 840 pro so I could have a total of 1.5 tb, man would that be ridiculous!

I'm very excited to hear some feedback!:D
 
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shaneshane1 said:
First,
Let me say thanks for all the posts contributing to this forum. Lots of good information.

[...]

Ive read about people switching out the DVD drive for another hard drive, is this relatively the same process as swapping out the hard drive for a larger one? If thats the case, I could go for the Samsung 840 pro so I could have a total of 1.5 tb, man would that be ridiculous!

I'm very excited to hear some feedback!:D
Click to expand...

Yes it is very possible. The solution is called Opti-Bay. Pretty much remove your optical drive and install that bay. In it, you place an extra HDD or SSD and that's it!
 
shaneshane1 said:
First,
Let me say thanks for all the posts contributing to this forum. Lots of good information.

I have a mid 2010 macbookpro with 4gb ram, 500gb hard drive. I really would like to upgrade to something larger like a 1TB SSD hard drive. I require the space, with consideration to stability. Truth is, the only high capacity SSD i could find on amazon is a Crucial M500 960GB. Im not familiar with the brand or anything so I'd like some input on this if possible.

Ive read about people switching out the DVD drive for another hard drive, is this relatively the same process as swapping out the hard drive for a larger one? If thats the case, I could go for the Samsung 840 pro so I could have a total of 1.5 tb, man would that be ridiculous!

I'm very excited to hear some feedback!:D
Click to expand...

There is a 1TB SSD that is from Samsung http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147251 and it's like $640.

As for removing the DVD drive. You remove it from the laptop and install this caddy thing to add another hard drive into your laptop, it's will be 2 separate drives that your laptop will recognize for you to use.
 
thanks for the responses everyone. So the speed wont be much of a difference... not so much worth the SSD route then?
 
shaneshane1 said:
thanks for the responses everyone. So the speed wont be much of a difference... not so much worth the SSD route then?
Click to expand...

When you mention speed. What are you comparing it to? If you are comparing a regular mechanical hard drive to a SSD, then it is definitely worth it!
 
Speed will be a huge difference from a normal HD - the speed will be less than it is capable of - those are sata III drives - you will be running them sata II

The difference between sata II and III in real world use is not much.
 
I understand now. So really I could purchase that hard drive you suggested, replace it with the one I'm running now, and if i run out of room, go with the caddy option. This is really something!
 
shaneshane1 said:
Im referring to this response. I'm a bit concerned now that I wont see much of a difference in speeds of opening closing programs, retrieving files, etc.
Click to expand...

When I say there wont be a huge difference in speed I am referring to sata II vs. sata III

See my post above for clarification.
 
shaneshane1 said:
I understand now. So really I could purchase that hard drive you suggested, replace it with the one I'm running now, and if i run out of room, go with the caddy option. This is really something!
Click to expand...

Definitely upgrade to a SSD if you have the money. I did that for my 2008 MBP and it breathe new life into it.
 
Not to sound like a broken record, SSD is worth the upgrade. I switched to a 120gb SSD on my Late '08 Alum MacBook and it gave my machine new life :D that and the RAM upgrade, of course :)
 
You can always raid 2 SSDs to improve speeds and essentially double storage space. This is also bad because if one hd fails, all of your data will be gone, but you can have time machine or w/e as backup.

Edit: add words to improve clarity
 
4zuresky said:
You can always raid 2 SSDs to improve speeds and essentially double storage space. This is also bad because if one hd fails, all of your data will be gone, but you can have time machine or w/e as backup.

Edit: add words to improve clarity
Click to expand...

If you have a Time Machine disk, then disk failure shouldn't be a problem.
 
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