Upgrading macbook pro 13" with new ssd

Mr.RangoTango

Mr.RangoTango

Experienced
Hi! For a long time, I've wanted to upgrade my macbook pro 13" with a new ssd instead of the noisy and slow hdd.

I'm thinking about replacing the dvd slot (optical drive??) with my current hdd as extra space and then a medium size ssd as primary memory.

Is this the right way to do it? And simply, how do I do this? Do you guys have any experience with this?
 
I'm a real rookie at this, but I have an external hard drive with 2 terabytes. How do I copy my entire computer to the hard drive and then only copy the important stuff back onto the new SSD?
 
The SSD will generate less heat than the HDD so I'd leave the HDD where it is to get the proper ventilation and install the SSD in the optical drive space.

You also then will have the benefit of having all your files still on the hdd to copy the required ones across to your SSD once it has been formatted with Drive Utility and had OSX installed and designated as the startup/system drive. (You should still do a complete Time Machine backup of your current system to your external drive first before beginning as a precaution perhaps).

You will need a new caddy to fit the new SSD into so it fits into the Optical bay

A few helpful tutorial vids out there on YT - this one shows the hardware needed and the process of removing the optical drive and fitting the SSD - How To Add Second A SSD to Replace Optical Drive MacBook Pro 2012 - YouTube
 
maxdown said:
The SSD will generate less heat than the HDD so I'd leave the HDD where it is to get the proper ventilation and install the SSD in the optical drive space.

You also then will have the benefit of having all your files still on the hdd to copy the required ones across to your SSD once it has been formatted with Drive Utility and had OSX installed and designated as the startup/system drive. (You should still do a complete Time Machine backup of your current system to your external drive first before beginning as a precaution perhaps).

You will need a new caddy to fit the new SSD into so it fits into the Optical bay

A few helpful tutorial vids out there on YT - this one shows the hardware needed and the process of removing the optical drive and fitting the SSD - How To Add Second A SSD to Replace Optical Drive MacBook Pro 2012 - YouTube
Click to expand...

Agreed this is a good approach - or you could keep the optical drive if you use it, put a SSD in the HDD slot and mount your HDD as an external disk in a ext.case.

If you are using your MBP to make music on another good approach and my preference if budget allows is to install 2 SSD's in your MBP (1 in the HDD slot and 1 in the optical drive slot), use one for your system drive and another for your audio content.
If you use a lot of VI's consider a third drive 7200rpm or SSD as an external drive for the VI's.
I can see you are located in Denmark - check proshop.dk - the Samsung Pro and EVO series are good options - i.e. Samsung 840 EVO SSD Laptop - 500GB MZ-7TE500LW | På lager | Billig

Hope this helps
RB
 
I've just bought a new MBP 15". I replaced the 500Gb HDD for a 512Gb SSD, I also removed the DVD drive for an optibay and bought a second 512Gb SSD (The're both Samsung 840 Pro's). The only downside was having to do some creative coding in the system files because Apple's external USB Superdrive is only compatible with Macs that do not come with an internal DVD drive as standard, ie; Macbook Air and Retina. The long story short is that the USB drive works a treat BUT my battery life has suffered because im running 2 SSD's all the time, even though they use a lot less power. Having said all that, My new MBP is like lightening and is worth the battery life loss.

Go figure
 
All of you SSD upgraders installing non-Apple branded SSDs should run TRIM Enabler, otherwise OSX won't use TRIM feature of your SSD and it'll get slower over time. You should also re-run it from time to time after every system update. Other than that, any SSD works fine. The best upgrade I've ever done. Moreover, if you need a ton of fast storage without spending a fortune, you can configure SSD to work in tandem with your much larger HDD as a "Fusion Drive". You will get HDD-size storage with SSD speeds (most of the time, anyway), and it'll all look like a single drive to you. TRIM Enabler caveat still applies.
 
Although, Fusion drive setups are notorious for failure. Also, it requires are complete reinstall of the OS, so you would have to start from scratch and reinstall everything.
 
Thanks for the comments! I appreciate it!

So how should I do it then? Is it the "fusion way" if I'm installing the SSD in the optical drive?

How do I do it from scratch?
-time machine total back up. I've already done that

-a caddy
-Samsung 840 Evo

So there's nothing else to do than just run a simple backup, replace the drive and then what? How do I configure the use of the SSD? How do I choose where the SSD kicks in.. I'm a little confused ;)

I can't afford two SSD's though. I just want the most out the SSD so that I can record my music in logic without latency and without the hdd heats up to 100 degrees
 
You don't need to configure anything. The Optibay enclosed SSD is connected to the Logic board via SATA a ribbon cable, so OSX recognises it as just another drive and mounts it to the desktop once you log in and format the drive to MAC OS Journaled in Disk Utility. The other thing that you will need is some TRIM support, so your newly installed SSD doesn't lose write space over time.
 
The short steps to going Fusion from one drive is:

Make a bootable backup of your existing drive with CarbonCopyCloner: Mac Backup Software - Carbon Copy Cloner -- that's your safety net. Use your external drive for that.

Also make sure Time Machine has a recent back up of everything you love.

Now make a DIY Fusion drive: How to make your own Fusion Drive | Macworld

You're going to create the Fusion drive from Recovery Mode. When you do this, you'll lose all the data on your old, mechanical drive as creating it formats both the SSD and the HD.

You reinstall Mavericks or whatever version of the OS you want and point in the installer at your Fusion drive. And when you boot the OS for the first time it'll ask you if you want to import your settings from a Time Machine back up. Do that and just like magic you're back in business but running on a super speedy Fusion drive setup.

If you run in to trouble you can back out of the whole thing, undo the Fusion setup, and the clone your old drive back to the HD and it's like you never left.

I've done this to my old 15" MBPro and my wife's 13" MBPro and it was worth every penny -- super speedy boot times and the most frequently used stuff is always on the SSD so you get fast access to it.
 
Iaresee that is exactly what I want! Thanks for the explanation. I will try it out and if i'm lost at it i'll just post the questions here ! thanks
 
Rocket Brother said:
Agreed this is a good approach - or you could keep the optical drive if you use it, put a SSD in the HDD slot and mount your HDD as an external disk in a ext.case.

If you are using your MBP to make music on another good approach and my preference if budget allows is to install 2 SSD's in your MBP (1 in the HDD slot and 1 in the optical drive slot), use one for your system drive and another for your audio content.
If you use a lot of VI's consider a third drive 7200rpm or SSD as an external drive for the VI's.
I can see you are located in Denmark - check proshop.dk - the Samsung Pro and EVO series are good options - i.e. Samsung 840 EVO SSD Laptop - 500GB MZ-7TE500LW | På lager | Billig

Hope this helps
RB
Click to expand...

Hi I actually work at Panasonic where we buy electronical stuff from Actebis. We get some discount there so that's where i'm gonna buy it :)
One thing, Isn't it enogh with 250 gigs if i have the hdd too? I would dedicate my music, games, booting and all that to the SSD.
 
The only things that you should run from an SSD are OS critical files and programs. Music and movies can go on the HDD, because speed is not a salient factor, when streaming either.
 
Jakobscortum said:
Hi I actually work at Panasonic where we buy electronical stuff from Actebis. We get some discount there so that's where i'm gonna buy it :)
One thing, Isn't it enogh with 250 gigs if i have the hdd too? I would dedicate my music, games, booting and all that to the SSD.
Click to expand...

250Gb is enough for most people, but you'll never be sorry you put in 500Gb.
You might hit the ceiling with 250Gb when doing projects in Logic, depending on the size and complexity of said projects.
If it was me I'd definitely go with 500Gb.
 
With a Fusion drive setup you don't need to break the bank on a huge SSD. The OS automatically shuffles files to the HD when they're not used frequently. More space is great if you can afford but don't go hungry because of it.
 
Just replaced the drive in my 15.4" Macbook Pro with the Samsung EVO 840. Fastest SSD on the market, also the most affordable, and it couldn't have been easier. Literally plug and play. Copying my old HD took like an hour. And everything works great now, and is lightning fast.
 
Trainwreck1446 said:
Just replaced the drive in my 15.4" Macbook Pro with the Samsung EVO 840. Fastest SSD on the market, also the most affordable, and it couldn't have been easier. Literally plug and play. Copying my old HD took like an hour. And everything works great now, and is lightning fast.
Click to expand...
The Samsung 840 Pro is a faster drive, if we're splitting hairs. Personally, I wouldn't bother with a fusion setup. Keep all samples/libraries/music and photos on the HDD and programs and the OS on the SSD. If one drive fails, it doesn't take the other with it.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1642217
 
I put a SDD in the optical drive spot and left the original HD in its location. It was very easy to do... although the SDD was a little small for the holder. I ended up using some foam weather stripping to keep it from flopping around. Setup was easy. You just have to tell the system which drive you want as the primary drive. I forget the key sequence to do that.

There is no comparison when it comes to speed difference. From pressing the power button until it's ready to go is about 15 to 20 seconds.

... and just so I didn't have to swap out the SDD for the optical, I got an external optical USB drive.
 
i have a question...i'm considering swapping out the internal hd for an ssd in my 2010 macbook pro. i currently have the hd partitioned, so the larger partition has all the apps and system stuff on it and the smaller partition has the audio files for current logic projects on it. i used to have those on an external hd (connected via firewire 400) but it was too slow when the projects got quite large. i was planning to partition and use the new ssd in the same way, but Fabio says "The only things that you should run from an SSD are OS critical files and programs". does this also hold true if it's partitioned? surely it would be better to have the audio files on the superfast ssd, rather then on a slower external hd?
 
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