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Replace Optical Drive with SSD

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ReedSkis~
Posts: 2122 - Karma: 98
My computer is running low on disk space, and I have been thinking about replacing my 320gb HDD with a solid state drive of some sort. But currently, the larger SSDs are pretty expensive.

Recently I stumbled upon this article, which explains how to install a SSD as a secondary hard drive, in the space where your optical drive is.

http://lifehacker.com/5541774/how-to-install-a-solid+state-drive-in-your-macbook
Click for larger image

I can't seem to remember the last time I used my optical drive, and if I really need to use one I happen to have an external one laying around.

I thought this was a pretty cool modification, and wanted to hear some feedback on it. Should I try it?

Seriously, does anyone use their optical drive anymore???
Oct 21 2010 10:51PM
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kfilenda
Posts: 509 - Karma: 72
I would just make sure you have access to an external optical drive in case you need to reinstall an os
Oct 22 2010 12:10AM
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123+ski
Posts: 2832 - Karma: 581
y not just buy a 7200 or 10000rpm h500gb+ hard drive, copy your current one, and swap them out. you could keep all your data and your optical drive. also you would gain performance from a higher speed drive (7200 or 10000rpm), or from more ram
Oct 22 2010 4:21PM
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TheGreen
Posts: 504 - Karma: 41
well you probably know this already but doing this will void your warranty, so if it's still under warranty I wouldn't do it
Oct 22 2010 5:59PM
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fsscott
Posts: 4684 - Karma: 114
don't add an ssd. install an os on it then access the files on your hard drive.

boot times are way lower from what they used to be, along with accessing programs and such
Oct 22 2010 11:05PM
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Microcosm
Posts: 4765 - Karma: 153
Reading over those lifehacker comments, it seems like you might have a couple bugs to work out on your own. Some people were saying they had difficulty getting their computer to sleep and wake up from sleep.  There was also talk over whether the SSD will be able to properly carry out maintenance tasks.. You may not have any problems, but basically be ready for em if you do.
Oct 22 2010 11:34PM
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ReedSkis~
Posts: 2122 - Karma: 98
Ya I read over those comments and was initially worried that this was not going to work.

I did some research and found out that the sleep/wake problem is caused by the computer not being able to hibernate, which is the state it goes into before you run out of battery in order to save what ever is going on on your computer. This is apparently fixed if you put the SSD in the original hdd bay, and put the hdd in the optical drive's old location using the optibay. This only seems to work if the hdd you put in the optical bays slot has a built in sudden motion sensor, which i believe my MBPs does (it has a Hitachi HTS545032B9SA02, which is standard with MBPs). I just revived an old thread on macrumors about this, and will hopefully find out more info.

I really want to make this work because I really want an SSD as my startup disk, but don't want to replace my hdd since big SSDs are so expensive!

Thanks everyone,

-Reed
Oct 26 2010 8:55PM
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