I have had a MacBook Pro Mid-2011 for a couple of years and thought it might be time for an update. After some reading, I though that an SSD update would be of the most benefit. The main reason I didn't get the MBP with an SSD to begin with is that there was just too much of an up charge for the feature, but I was pretty sure the price would eventually go down. The Samsung Electronics 840 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Single Unit Version Internal Solid State Drive was $162.99, so I felt like it was time to jump in.
Before you make this decision, there are definitely some choices that have to be made. Do you want to just exchange your old drive with the new? If so, everything needs to fit on the new drive if you want to do an exact backup. Do you just want to add a drive and keep you old drive? There are more considerations when you go that route.
When Apple started coming out with Macs without disk drives, I wasn't impressed. A millimeter of extra thinness for less functionality didn't seem like much of a trade off. However, I have been using my disk drive less and less and I have a USB Blu-ray drive that I can use in a pinch. I also considered the fact that I am running Windows 7 via Bootcamp/VMWare Fusion and preferred leaving it on the old drive. As a result, I decided to get rid of the optical disc and keep the 750GB drive.
Before you make this decision, there are definitely some choices that have to be made. Do you want to just exchange your old drive with the new? If so, everything needs to fit on the new drive if you want to do an exact backup. Do you just want to add a drive and keep you old drive? There are more considerations when you go that route.
When Apple started coming out with Macs without disk drives, I wasn't impressed. A millimeter of extra thinness for less functionality didn't seem like much of a trade off. However, I have been using my disk drive less and less and I have a USB Blu-ray drive that I can use in a pinch. I also considered the fact that I am running Windows 7 via Bootcamp/VMWare Fusion and preferred leaving it on the old drive. As a result, I decided to get rid of the optical disc and keep the 750GB drive.
Well, now that I decided to replace the optical drive, I needed a Hard Drive Caddy Tray. This allows the hard drive to snap in place and be placed into the slot in the computer. I also needed a Torx T6 tool. I ordered one, but it wasn't here before the weekend, so I decided to just buy a cheap one at Home Depot. I had ordered a magnetic tool from Amazon, but the Home Depot set wasn't magnetized. If you go this route, do yourself a favor and get a magnetic T6. I have some tiny Phillips head screwdrivers laying around, but they also include one (non-magnetized) with the caddy tray.
One of the things I kept reading on the web was that the drive you use to boot the machine should not go in the optical drive slot. I took that advice and moved the old drive to the optical bay and put the new SSD where the old drive was. This required more work, but it only took an extra five or ten minutes.
After installing the drive, I closed up the case and booted my machine with the "option" key held down. I selected the old MacHD and booted up. I then went to Disk Utility and "erased" the new drive ( apparently, I should have gone a different route through RAID, but this worked. When I went to CarbonCopy Cloner to make an exact copy of the MacHD on the new SSD, it made me go back into utilities and create a recovery drive. It took a while to copy, so I left it running and checked on it quite a while later.
Once everything was copied, I rebooted the machine while holding down the "option key". I selected the new SSD drive and it took a minute or so and I was up and running, just like in the MacHD, but a whole lot faster. I then went into "System Preferences" and changed the "Startup Disk" to the new SSD drive and rebooted. Everything was working. I decided at that point to put a copy of the old hard drive on the desktop.
After all that was done, I made a Time Machine copy on a Synology NAS. I am probably going to delete most of the files on the MacHD and then load my entire music collection on it. I was using the Cloud, but I think I would prefer having the ALAC quality.
I found a few articles and videos that helped with the process. I am not sure the video below is the exact video (this is not my video), but the one I watched did not show the battery being disconnected and I don't think the video below does either. I disconnected the battery whenI made the change.
One of the things I kept reading on the web was that the drive you use to boot the machine should not go in the optical drive slot. I took that advice and moved the old drive to the optical bay and put the new SSD where the old drive was. This required more work, but it only took an extra five or ten minutes.
After installing the drive, I closed up the case and booted my machine with the "option" key held down. I selected the old MacHD and booted up. I then went to Disk Utility and "erased" the new drive ( apparently, I should have gone a different route through RAID, but this worked. When I went to CarbonCopy Cloner to make an exact copy of the MacHD on the new SSD, it made me go back into utilities and create a recovery drive. It took a while to copy, so I left it running and checked on it quite a while later.
Once everything was copied, I rebooted the machine while holding down the "option key". I selected the new SSD drive and it took a minute or so and I was up and running, just like in the MacHD, but a whole lot faster. I then went into "System Preferences" and changed the "Startup Disk" to the new SSD drive and rebooted. Everything was working. I decided at that point to put a copy of the old hard drive on the desktop.
After all that was done, I made a Time Machine copy on a Synology NAS. I am probably going to delete most of the files on the MacHD and then load my entire music collection on it. I was using the Cloud, but I think I would prefer having the ALAC quality.
I found a few articles and videos that helped with the process. I am not sure the video below is the exact video (this is not my video), but the one I watched did not show the battery being disconnected and I don't think the video below does either. I disconnected the battery whenI made the change.
A few notes final notes:
You can mess up you computer when you open it, so be careful.
The inside is very dusty. Don't wear your Sunday's best if you attempt this.
I am not a computer tech person. You can ask me questions, but I may not be able to answer them. I had to visit several sites to get all the answers I needed.
I installed TrimEnabler when I was done. I have the free version, but I may add the $10 version down the road. This program is supposed to give the SSD a longer life.
CarbonCopy Cloner does not move the Windows partition (Bootcamp drive), but it does move VMWare Fusion, so I was able to boot into Windows without an issue.
After the update, my fans were spinning like crazy. I discovered that the Mac was re-indexing for Spotlight searches. Once it was done, everything went back to normal.
Be prepared for super fast performance!
You can mess up you computer when you open it, so be careful.
The inside is very dusty. Don't wear your Sunday's best if you attempt this.
I am not a computer tech person. You can ask me questions, but I may not be able to answer them. I had to visit several sites to get all the answers I needed.
I installed TrimEnabler when I was done. I have the free version, but I may add the $10 version down the road. This program is supposed to give the SSD a longer life.
CarbonCopy Cloner does not move the Windows partition (Bootcamp drive), but it does move VMWare Fusion, so I was able to boot into Windows without an issue.
After the update, my fans were spinning like crazy. I discovered that the Mac was re-indexing for Spotlight searches. Once it was done, everything went back to normal.
Be prepared for super fast performance!
RSS Feed