[Peter S.]

Hi all,

Just a quick question, I am thinking of doing a bit of an upgrade on my macbook pro 13". OWC have a product that replaces the DVD drive in these laptops, then you can install an SSD drive in it's place.

Wondering if anyone has tried this and has any feedback?

Ideally the new setup would be to get OSX to boot from the SSD and leave the normal drive for data (music, documents etc... )

Thanks,

Peter

[Ken Gracey]

No I have never done it, but I am very curious, how you will go about installing system upgrades to your Mac book, in the future ?

[Dave Bullard]

Hey, Peter

I can honestly say that all the OWC kits and products are brilliant ... and not just because they advertise with us!

Every reviewer I know who's tried them has raved about them. So, no problems about quality, and OWC's video tutorials are great.

I'm also seriously thinking about doing what you're thinking about. ( Those interested, have a look here, or here for the kits.)

I'd do that, and buy an $80 DVD burner from JB Hi-Fi for the moments Ken's talking about.

Anyway, I reckon the fact that the MacBook Air started using a USB drive for system installers, etc, means we'll be seeing that as an option very soon (hello, Lion!).

Cheers
Dave

[Ken Gracey]

I guess your only other option to install new hardware would be to by a FireWire cable, and instal your updates via target disk mode, but even that it's painful at the best of times.

[BrianB]

OWC are awesome. I recently ordered a new internal drive for my MacBook, and it came quickly and their install videos were very easy to follow. Overall a great experience.

I can eventually see all Macs losing the DVD drive. So I think the idea of installing an SSD is a great idea.

[yabbietol]

I agree OWC are good value.

I have upgraded the memory in my 3 ear old Macbook to 4G for a very reasonable price and then used one of their kits to upgrade my hard disk from 120G to 500G for under $100. This kit also gave me a portable USB drive made from my replaced 120G hard disk.

I look forward to hearing how the SSD upgrade goes and also what size you install.

PS OWC also give good prices on Mac software especially with current exchange rate.

[yabbietol]

Oops sorry, 3 year old Macbook not 3 ear

[Peter S.]

Ken Gracey, on 02 May 2011 - 06:15 PM, said:

No I have never done it, but I am very curious, how you will go about installing system upgrades to your Mac book, in the future ?

I have a Mac pro at the office, I can just use the DVD drive on that over the network.

PS

[Peter S.]

Thanks all for your comments

I'll report back when done, it's in transit already so could be a weekend project!

[murphworxs]

Hi guys,

A week ago I embarked on the seemingly daunting journey of adding a SSD drive to my MacBook Pro (late 2009 model) by replacing the DVD drive. I researched it and purchased the OWC Mercury 115Gb drive from Macfixit. I also found the Macfixit alternative to the OWC data doubler cradle more to my financial liking so I purchased that one.

Step 1 was to open up the back and remove the DVD drive. Fairly easy work with the undoing of a couple of screws and the disconnection of the SATA cable from the board and the drive was out. Now, in with the new! It went in with ease but I did notice three left over screws that used to secure the DVD drive. The SSD drive cradle now covers the holes so no biggy.

Step 2 was to put the cover back on and start it up. Of course it boots back into my existing HDD but automatically recognizes that the SSD drive was not compatible. A slight heart palpitation, but after going to disk utility I performed a quick format into Mac OS Journaled and wholla! There it was. Now for the data transfer.

Step 3 was to get all of my OS onto the SSD but not my 150Gb of media, files etc for obvious reasons. So, the trusty program - Carbon Copy Cloner (free, but donations asked for) which I had downloaded minutes earlier, was fired up and I was presented initially with the option to back up my source drive 'Macintosh HD' to a drive. I selected the SSD but of course it was set to back up everything and presented me with the size difference warning. I changed the setting in the main interface to instead of backing up everything, back up incrementally. The interface changed to give show all the folders etc on the 'Macintosh HD'. I could then select and deselect items. I had everything selected except under the 'Users' drop down item I deselected my home folder (usually the one that is your name or profile name that you log into). This is the folder that contains all your files, iTunes library etc as well as your profile settings for wallpaper etc. Start the clone (I noticed the size difference warning did not go away, even ough I knew there was enough space on the drive, so don't be alarmed by this).

Step 4 was get a coffee and read Macworld magazine on my ipad. The cloning process took 40min.

Step 5 was to re-boot, and upon start up, hold down the option key until you're presented with the option to select which hard drive to boot into. Select the SSD away she goes. However it looks like a factory Mac. So navigate to the settings preferences, and select 'users'. Then command click on Your user account (the settings have been reset to factory default so right click isn't enabled. But this is quicker anyway). Select 'advanced options'. Ten look at where your home directory is located. It will be '/users/'your user account'. Change this by using the browse button and select the original user account that was contained on your original hard drive under Macintosh HD. Restart and again hold down the option key to boot into the SSD. You should now be presented with your new SSD enabled MacBook Pro!

Step 6 was to tidy up and remove the OS from the Old hard drive. This will save you space and remove the option to boot into it. Select the Macintosh HD in the Finder window. You can delete (I copied till I knew it worked) everything except the users folder. It will take a little while. Now when you reboot you will just boot into the SSD.

Step 7 - Enjoy your fast Mac.

I found apps loaded really quick. One or two bounces, even with hints like Adobe Photoshop CS4 and the like. Boot time went from around 56 secs to 25. As for backing up, I just did a software upgrade three days ago. No problems. One thing I did notice was using time machine. I back up to a NAS over wifi and it wanted to back up the whole thing again. I just deleted the old back up and started again. No problems with that as it now just does incremental backups like usual.

Overall, for an investment of $295 and a little time, I believe a worthwhile gain given the snappiness I now experience. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

[murphworxs]

Just to clarify on my last post, the SSD drive was the one that was not recognized and I had to format it, the original hard drive was just fine and is definitely need to copy the data from it, to the SSD. Sorry for any confusion.

[Peter S.]

murphworxs,

Many thanks, you have outlined the whole thing!

I knew the data move was something I had to do but hadn't researched it, so that is great.

Looking forward to doing mine!


PS

[Tim Grey]

Seems like an outstanding idea to me... everything we hear about running Mac OS off an SSD sounds like it totally cooks. Plus, I can't recall the last time I used the optical drive.

I'll definitely be going down this path (when my lotto tickets finally take)

[Dylstra]

I won $12.80 the other week and quit my job. True story.

[Tim Grey]

Dylstra, on 04 May 2011 - 04:04 PM, said:

I won $12.80 the other week and quit my job. True story.

I'm gonna need more than that... it's a start on the SSD though.

[Ken Gracey]

Haha, one of my customers can beat that he won 20.6 mill last week and he is still working how is that for dedication

[Tim Grey]

Ken Gracey, on 04 May 2011 - 05:28 PM, said:

Haha, one of my customers can beat that he won 20.6 mill last week and he is still working how is that for dedication

WHAT? What's his job? Beer-tester? Professional Holidayer?


That's insulting. I could be SO lazy. What a waste....

[Dylstra]

Yeah, if you're going to keep working stop buying Lotto tickets--you're ruining the odds for the rest of us!

[clinton1550]

Peter S., on 02 May 2011 - 05:22 PM, said:

Hi all,

Just a quick question, I am thinking of doing a bit of an upgrade on my macbook pro 13". OWC have a product that replaces the DVD drive in these laptops, then you can install an SSD drive in it's place.

Wondering if anyone has tried this and has any feedback?

Ideally the new setup would be to get OSX to boot from the SSD and leave the normal drive for data (music, documents etc... )

Thanks,

Peter

I took the DVD drive out of my MacBook Pro and replaced it with a hard drive on Monday.

It's really easy, I recommend following the repair guides on iFixit, makes pulling the MBP apart a lot simpler.

So I now have two hard drives in my MacBook Pro, I can boot from either of them. I've got a total of 1.5 TB of space to play with so I won't need to carry extra drives with me. If you get an SSD you'll get crazy fast boot times and applications will launch nearly instantly.

[Tim Grey]

iFixit's pictures meant that even a technical wally like myself could pull apart their laptop without serious injury to self/computer... but I would still suggest being very, very careful...