So i finally sprung on doing an upgrade to my (sometimes slow as shit) 2009 13" Macbook.
So this is what i picked up
60 GB OCZ Vertex 2 SSD
1tb 5400 rpm Samsung HDD
4 gb ram ( )
Now, I am well versed with computer repairs from my old PCs and my Dell Laptop, but have never even attempted to open up my Macbook since i got it over 2 yrs ago. so i wanna make sure i know what im doing before i go in there and start messing with shit. (and im getting excited cause the Hardware came today and im just waiting on the optibay cause i had to order it from another vendor)
Now, the plan is to replace both drives with the new ones, ive heard many things about not having your start up drive (which would be my SSD) in the optibay slot, so in regards to how i should set it up, should i put the SSD in first -in optibay - close it up and clone my orginal 250gb hd’s OS to the SSD… then open it back up, replace the SSD with the original and pop the 1tb into the optibay slot? (btw, all i know about doing this i got from the video that was posted with the article on the main page)
another lil snag too.. i dont have an external Harddrive… what would be the best way to copy everything over? do the 1tb drive first, clone it? then pull it and put the SSD in?
im just kinda confused. any insight you guys could give me would be awesome.
so your sayin pull my 250, pop it in the external case, pop the ssd into the “regular” HD spot and the 1tb in teh optibay, teh plug the 250 in as an external and time machine that shit?
how do i just get the OS onto the SSD and not onto the HD as well if i was to clone the old drive? (as my 250 is pretty full and dont want all the garbage clogging up the 60gb ssd) as cloning to the 1tb main drive shouldnt be a huge issue
If you care about performance, I would suggest returning the samsung and getting a WD Scorpio Black 750g… The 320g scorpio blacks have long been held to be one of the fastest and most reliable laptop drives out there, and the new 750g drives are just as good.
I’m currently doing the same thing on my g/fs mbp… just waiting for the optibay to arrive.
yeah i compared the two of em, i liked the idea of a tb in my macbook cause i have alot of tunes yet to put on my computer.
psy, how are you going about doing it? are you replacing both drives? youve done this before? wanna do a step by step thing? im so scared of breaking my baby ( i fucked up alot of computers in the past while upgrading them and what not – cant really afford to have that happen with my macbook as i dont have the time to fiddle with it for hours on end)
I’ve heard the scorpio blacks absolutely rape your battery life. I’ve got a 750GB scorpio blue on the way along with a 240GB Vertex 2. Looked at the Vertex 3 but those things cost a BOMB.
In terms of method I’m gna flash drive the snow leopard disk, put the SSD in the optibay, clone the whole thing over (after doing a full time machine onto my 1TB WD external HDD for safety). Then like you said OP, put the SSD in the boot slot and the Scorpio blue in the Optibay, then move all my music and shit over, along with all the movies I have on an external.
This is gonna be a godsend for my laptop, I’ve been running with about 5GB free for as long as I can remember. My last laptop was a VAIO and had an 80GB HDD, when I bought my MBP I thought 250GB would be plenty. How wrong I was!
Step 3.
Boot from USB 250gb (Hold Option on Boot)
Create a new user profile in your existing OSX copy
Step 4.
Clone your Disk to 1TB (install Carbon Copy Cloner)
Step 5.
Install a fresh copy of OSX to your SSD (you are now booting only from SSD).
Step 6.
Using file transfer wizard transfer your applications from your newly created profile (this should retain all the serials etc of your old applications).
Step 6.
Create an account in OSX for yourself on the fresh install (or use the one thats already there).
Step 7.
Right click the profile in account settings and change the home folder to target your 1tb
Just read that, cool, so if I were to clone everything onto my SSD could I then just move the home folder to the new drive and keep all the file paths for traktor/itunes etc intact?
So long as your existing drive has under the capacity of the new disk used yeah It makes life ALOT easier.
I was working on the assumption that the existing drive was over the capacity of the SSD.
If that isnt the case though, yeah, just clone to SSD, and plonk your home folder on the second drive. choose the new home folder in the acc prefs, reboot and job done
NOTE: if your SSD is big enough probably better JUST to point to the itunes library to the HDD in optibay rather than the entire home folder, should be faster as the only thing being accessed from the “slow drive” would be the MP3’s / Wavs / Movies
I’m planning on putting the WDSB320 she has in an external enclosure into the mbp as main os drive, and the WDSB750 as secondary. Reinstall OSX from scratch.
The guide deevey posted looks good, I’ll be following it myself.
I’ve never opened a macbook, but from working on many other laptops, here’s some tips:
-Patience, do not rush it
-No force. If you’re using too much force, you’ll break it. There’s probably a screw or latch that you missed
-A set of precision screwdrivers or jewellers screw drivers. Those screws are small
-In order to not loose those tiny screws, toss them in a bowl or cup so they don’t go evaporating off your desk
Yeah, they do… the higher the rpm, the more juice they suck back. Curious to see what a 10K rpm velociraptor would do to a battery. But personally, we don’t care about battery life as we’re always plugged in… drive performance is more important to us since my gf vjs w/ the mbp.
what do you mean man? my ssd is only 60, the original drive was 250 gb, so its obviously bigger… so the way you described is the way i should go about doing it? using the old drive as an external and backing everything up that way?
and as for your note, what should i theoretically be putting on the SSD? ive heard only OSX, and heard i could put other things on there as well (but 60gb isnt huge so i dont wanna get close to maxing it out) but without TRIM support i cant keep writing/reading the SSD without losing data? am i correct in that?
guys this is really helping me out, im not too worried about the installation of the hardware (as ive played with swapping hardware outta other computers – only one laptop tho), more the data swap and re installation of the OS and making sure everything works the way it should (or does now) ya know?
i love this place. getting me away from doing actual work and helping me make my computer a beast in teh meantime
aiight thanks man. if anyone else has any tips or tricks or has done this before it would be cool to hear about what you ran into doing an upgrade like this.
Nah, I’m not going to, but you guys reminded me that I had thought of upgrading RAM and HDD (and then of course the SSD thing in combination with a normal disk in the optibay sounds very attractive). Nothing for right now though - I’m also somewhat keen on getting another controller (probably a DN-SC2000) for T2 as a single X1 doesn’t seem sufficient.
lol sorry dawg. i cant wait to get it up and running. been waiting 3 days on the optibay caddy to get here… its killing me. didnt come today so hopefully monday.
quick question tho, as i dont have an external, would it be possible to pop the 1tb in teh optibay like i was planning on (with my 250 gb hdd still as the boot drive) – and copy all the files to the 1tb drive. shut it down, open er up and pop the ssd in as teh boot drive and install the OS from my 8gig flashdrive then copy applications over to the SSD from the 1tb??
