Upgrade to SSD with Snow Leopard?

[SirJ]

Hi everyone

I've never updated an OS before, so this probably appears to be very noob-ish.

I currently have a refurb 2.4 al macbook. I can't return it, so instead of whining and complaining (past that stage) I'm looking at it as thus: I'm one of very few people to have an aluminum macbook. lame, but not my point.

I want to upgrade to a SSD when Snow Leopard is released in September. How do I make this happen? Is it as simple as swapping the hard drive and then booting from the SL install disks? Almost seems too easy.

Also, do you guys think it's a good idea to swap the stock 250GB HDD for an SSD (120GB Vertex) and use the HDD as an external? Just wondering if that's a reasonable idea.

Thanks!

 

[Kat King123]

Hi everyone

I've never updated an OS before, so this probably appears to be very noob-ish.

I currently have a refurb 2.4 al macbook. I can't return it, so instead of whining and complaining (past that stage) I'm looking at it as thus: I'm one of very few people to have an aluminum macbook. lame, but not my point.

I want to upgrade to a SSD when Snow Leopard is released in September. How do I make this happen? Is it as simple as swapping the hard drive and then booting from the SL install disks? Almost seems too easy.

Also, do you guys think it's a good idea to swap the stock 250GB HDD for an SSD (120GB Vertex) and use the HDD as an external? Just wondering if that's a reasonable idea.

Thanks!

first of all a lot of people still have to unibody macbooks an SSD would be a good idea with SL only thing im not sure about is if you'll have to install leopard first and then snow leopard or just install snow leopard i dont think anybody knows quite yet but SSD are really fast and you'll feel like you have a new computer and yes there really easy to install just slide it out and slide the SSD in plus there should be guides all over youtube for you to double check good luck

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

If you don't use your optical drive that much, you can always switch your stock 250gb with your optical drive and move your home folder(guides can be found here) on it. Then use your SSD to store all of your system files and applications.

This will net you the best performance and make everything snappy.

 

[Kingcodez]

That's exactly what I'm going to do, 120GB Vertex and a 500GB HDD.
Probably a 60GB Vertex since I don't need 120 if I have a second HDD in the computer...

You should be able to move your user folder to the second HDD, and even use it as a TM for backups..

SL is a 'new OS' type of thing, I don't know much about Macs, but I do know that all major Revisions came with a brand new disc. 10.4 Tiger(?) 10.5 Lepoard, and 10.6 SL all had their own install disc.

I just put a new HDD in here and grabbed a 10.5 disc and installed OSX. I expect to do the same with Tiger, especially since I'll be installing on a blank SSD. When you reformat your computer boots from the CD, so it dosen't matter what's on the HDD.

Anything else wouldn't make sense. It's like having to own a copy of XP before you install Vista lol. That's called a Upgrade License, but IIRC I don't think Apple uses licensing crap.


EDIT:
Also google 'install HDD in optibay" some company makes a $100 adapter... When I get the new MBP I'm going to open it up and see if I can jury rig some foam tape and probably Lego's. lol.
If not I'll just buy the damn adapter. It depends if the HDD has a flat surface to rest on, or if the adapter boosts the HDD up a few MM.

Mod wise, once you rip the Optical drive out, you should be able to install a USB hub, then cool stuff like GPS, More Temp sensors, better speakers or something, a FM transmitter, just look up some modded EEE PCs, and check all the junk they stuffed in there..
Maby even a Espress card slot, if you can get it to mate with USB fine. Internal 3G modems, a thing for a wireless mouse, anything. If it can fit in the EEE PC (7") then it can fit in a Mac lol..

But most people are too scared to do stuff like that, I'll do it after a few months to make sure nothing is wrong with my unit, then it's on.

 

[aleksandra.]

Probably a 60GB Vertex since I don't need 120 if I have a second HDD in the computer...

You should be able to move your user folder to the second HDD, and even use it as a TM for backups..

Anything else wouldn't make sense. It's like having to own a copy of XP before you install Vista lol. That's called a Upgrade License, but IIRC I don't think Apple uses licensing crap.

Please tell me you don't mean having a backup on the same drive, and a hard disk in a laptop...

Apple announced Snow Leopard as $29 for Leopard users and available in $169 box (with iLife & iPhoto) for Tiger users. So, yes, it looks like an upgrade license crap.

 

[gnasher729]

Please tell me you don't mean having a backup on the same drive, and a hard disk in a laptop...

Apple announced Snow Leopard as $29 for Leopard users and available in $169 box (with iLife & iPhoto) for Tiger users. So, yes, it looks like an upgrade license crap.

Well, they had to do something like that. Either you have Leopard, then buying an upgrade-only license is fine. Or you don't have Leopard, then you can't expect Apple to give you Snow Leopard for $29 when you had to pay $129 for Leopard. So you really get Leopard + iLife (+ iWork? I'm not sure) + Snow Leopard upgrade for $169, where you would have paid $129 for Leopard alone. Not a bad deal at all.

 

[Joruus]

For Indilinx Users.. http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58120 what gives?