http://tidbits.com/ After experiencing the speed offered by the new Retina MacBook Pro — but needing to return the review unit — Jeff Carlson decided to put a solid-state drive into his sluggish MacBook Pro. But because he couldn’t give up its existing storage, he tried something different: he replaced the optical drive with the SSD. en-us Copyright 2012 TidBITS Publishing Inc. Sat, 02 Feb 2013 00:00:00 EST Sat, 02 Feb 2013 00:00:00 EST editors@tidbits.com (TidBITS Editors) editors@tidbits.com (TidBITS Editors) http://tidbits.com/images/tb_logo_152x55.png http://tidbits.com/ 55 152 TidBITS badge http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_17505 Sat, 02 Feb 2013 22:02:35 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_17505 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_15510 Tue, 28 Aug 2012 18:12:44 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_15510 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_15508 Tue, 28 Aug 2012 16:00:50 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_15508 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_15507 Tue, 28 Aug 2012 15:48:39 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_15507 I then started to replace the drives, with no problem, till I discovered that the SSD doesn't fit in my mid-2010 MacBook Pro Optical drive cable. Connector are not equal: the SSD connector is wider than the MBP Optical drive connector and there is no way to fir them.
As I have exactly the same machine, I simply don't get why this is so: how come my MBP does have an internal Optical drive connector that doesn't fit in the SSD, as the Mac has SATA interface, and has the Intel Series 5 chipset.
Did this unpleasant situation happen to anyone else?]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_15461 Fri, 24 Aug 2012 13:03:25 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_15461 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_15460 Fri, 24 Aug 2012 12:57:14 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_15460 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_15459 Fri, 24 Aug 2012 11:49:41 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_15459
I'm waffling between those two options, and getting an external BD drive. "Doing without" seems to be winning at the moment.]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_15343 Mon, 13 Aug 2012 05:02:42 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_15343 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_15342 Sun, 12 Aug 2012 18:26:43 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_15342
Any suggestions?]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_15193 Fri, 03 Aug 2012 11:35:11 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_15193 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_15190 Fri, 03 Aug 2012 10:54:20 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_15190 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_15189 Fri, 03 Aug 2012 10:44:36 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_15189 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_15028 Wed, 25 Jul 2012 05:51:54 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_15028 Macrumors / Forums / Mac Mini / 'I ordered a seagate t-bolt...']]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_15026 Tue, 24 Jul 2012 09:55:31 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_15026 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_15024 Tue, 24 Jul 2012 08:49:08 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_15024
http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-GoFlex-Thunderbolt-Adapter-STAE121/dp/B006P1QWOQ]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_15025 Tue, 24 Jul 2012 08:48:01 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_15025
I'm still using a mid-2010 15" MBP (BTO 2.66 GHz Core i7) and it easily holds up to any current MBP in everyday tasks thanks to the SSD I installed. Originally it came with a 500 GB 7200 rpm drive that I immediately replaced with a 160 GB Intel X25-M SSD. At the time that was a crazy fast SSD. A modern Samsung 830 SSD would be much faster, but compared to any MBP running a hard drive, my MBP will still blow it out of the water in everyday tasks.

My boot time by the way: 9 seconds in Snow Leopard. 15 seconds in Lion. :)]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_15019 Tue, 24 Jul 2012 06:10:56 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_15019 However, all the speed gains are supposed to be possible using an external SSD connected via Thunderbolt, but the only existing drives (LaCie and Elgato) are very pricey, and I have drawn a blank trying to find an SSD/Thunderbolt enclosure in which to put, say, a Crucial 125 SSD. Anyone else solved this?]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_15016 Tue, 24 Jul 2012 02:03:13 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_15016 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_15013 Tue, 24 Jul 2012 00:59:21 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_15013 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_15011 Tue, 24 Jul 2012 00:44:29 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_15011 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_15007 Mon, 23 Jul 2012 20:03:36 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_15007 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_14994 Sun, 22 Jul 2012 14:41:15 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_14994
I didn't spend a ton of time shopping. I just went to OWC since I've been buying from them for years and they've always had good products at good prices. Like Jeff, I bought a SATA3 drive even though my Mac only supports SATA2. But when I installed it, I saw that the negotiated link speed was only 1.5Gbps. It turned out to be a known incompatibility between the mid-2009 MBP and the drive. OWC promptly issued me a refund and I got their SATA2 drive which works at 3Gbps.

Also like Jeff, I find myself restarting my computer every now and then just to bask in the speed. I think this is going to extend the life of the computer by another year.]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_14992 Sun, 22 Jul 2012 11:55:33 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_14992 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_14991 Sat, 21 Jul 2012 21:36:23 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_14991 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_14990 Sat, 21 Jul 2012 20:45:22 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_14990
It also seems to work if you replace the folders in the expected locations with symbolic links to the 'real' folders wherever they are, although this confuses iMovie's estimates of free space on the drives.]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/13133?rss#comments_14989 Sat, 21 Jul 2012 18:57:41 EST http://tidbits.com/article/13133#comments_14989