Comments on: SSDs and You: My Dual-Drive Setup

By: Josh Barfield

Josh Barfield — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 20:43:07 +0000

I know I'm late to the game, but I'm pretty much convinced. I figure I have another year and a half in my 2.53GHz C2D 15" MBP. The investment seems worth it for the speed increases. I think I'll put the SSD in the Optibay with a fresh OS install and then symlink everything after the fact.

Exciting to hear about the speed increases. Looking forward to it!

By: Christopher Bowns

Christopher Bowns — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:09:15 +0000

@Jason: That would have required slightly more work, actually; in my current config, the HD is still in the factory installed spot, and I just did a CD —> SSD swap. The data copying would have been exactly the same as well.

@Jan: I'd rather not; it was a very hacked together SuperDuper script, and the changes required to split my user data across the drives is something you should be comfortable doing without having me a write a section called "Here's what a Terminal command is". Sorry.

By: Jason

Jason — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:30:19 +0000

Sounds like you put the SSD in the Optibay enclosure??? Wouldn't this have been simpler (not required the SuperDuper hijinks, etc.) if you had put the 500GB platter in the Optibay, installed the SSD in the standard HDD slot, reinstalled the OS, and then moved the few items (music library, photos) over to the Optibay drive?

By: Jan R.

Jan R. — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:07:08 +0000

I'm thinking about trying this setup with my old MacBook (white). I currently have a 500 GB HD with Snow Leopard installed. Could you elaborate a little on how to make this setup work, like for example the SuperDuper script you used? And also how to make the changes you mentioned in the "RESULTS! I DEMAND RESULTS!" paragraph.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:08:46 +0000

Re: sudo pmset –b disksleep 1 : Entering a command on the terminal does not constitute a hack.

By: Christopher Bowns

Christopher Bowns — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:08:21 +0000

Still loving it. Battery life is negligibly impacted unless I'm actively using both drives. I have all the large storage advantages of the HD, and all the speed advantages of the SSD. I'll be doing this setup until SSDs are large and cheap enough to hold all my bits.

By: Justin M.

Justin M. — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 07:45:08 +0000

I'm still intrigued by this and counting down the days until the end of March when my warranty is up. How are you liking it some months later?

By: Melanie

Melanie — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:24:20 +0000

Thanks for a great article. I have a brand new MBP sitting here and I'm sorting through how to tackle the setup. I needed all the info you've shared here and even some tidbits from your other posts. Keep it up - I enjoy your stuff and you write very well! Cheers.

By: Jake

Jake — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 18:50:54 +0000

Thanks for the details, especially regarding SuperDuper. At some point I may install an SSD in my iMac and move my pictures, videos, and music to an external FireWire drive, and I'm glad you put all this information in one spot.

By: Justin M.

Justin M. — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:55:16 +0000

Wow, this sounds like an interesting setup. I've been tempted to get an SSD, and may even go with something like this, once my warranty's past for this new 17" MBP.