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Installing an SSD drive by myself

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  • 21-12-2010 5:23pm
    #1
    silvine
    Registered Users Posts: 3,132 ✭✭✭


    Has anyone here fitted a SSD by themselves to their iMac or Macbook pro? If so how easy is it and can offer me any tips? Also what drive would you recommend?


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    #2
    jester77
    Registered Users Posts: 11,262 ✭✭✭✭jester77


    I put one in my mb last year. Very easy, takes about 5 mins, would be very hard to do anything wrong. SSD drives are installed in exactly the same way. Just involves removing the screws holding the bracket in place and sliding off the cable and doing the reverse to install the drive. I think there might have been a sensor attached, this just peels off and you can stick it to the same location on the new drive. The one I have is an Intel x25, good drive but there may be better ones on the market since then.

    If you are unsure then have a look through youtube, there is most likely a video of someone installing a drive in the system you have. That will give you a good idea of what is involved.


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    #3
    whiterebel
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 14,860 Mod ✭✭✭✭whiterebel


    silvine wrote: »
    Has anyone here fitted a SSD by themselves to their iMac or Macbook pro? If so how easy is it and can offer me any tips? Also what drive would you recommend?

    Depends on which model MBP, I would imagine. Are the unibody MBP user-serviceable? I don't think they are. If its one of the previous ones with the battery bay, it is literally a 2 minute job.


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    #4
    alexlyons
    Registered Users Posts: 2,182 ✭✭✭alexlyons


    On the other hand, iMac's are a completely different story. You have to remove the glass and LCD before you even get near the HD.

    As the previous poster said, the unibody MBP's with a battery access door are very easy. One screw, as well as changing over the torx screws that hold the drive in place. If you don't have a torx screw set, you can extremely gently use a vice grips (leatherman crunch is idea) to gently turn them, once they are loose, use your hands. Very gently with the vice grips so you dont deform them, although they only slot into holes so a slight deformity isn't as bad as deforming the thread of a normal screw.

    I have a Corsair 120GB SSD. Great drive at a reasonable price.

    You want the latest Sandforce controller
    Without it, if you delete a file on the ssd, it merely tells the computer it can be deleted if the space is needed, so once you fill the drive once, or even use it for a month or two with reasonably heavy usage, write ties will decrease dramatically. This is because of the block system with SSD's.
    An example to simplify this dramatically. Figures are wrong, it's just so you get the idea:
    The block size is 100MB
    You have filled the entire drive before (thus using each block) and now have a 50MB file you want to put on the drive.
    In order to free space, the computer has to clear an entire 100MB block, just to fit a 50MB file.

    Now that was blown way out of proportion. It is far more complicated and the figures are different, but that's the principle.
    People may say "oh it won't be noticeable to the human eye". It will. Maybe not immediately, but if you are buying this thing for speed, you don't what to be getting write speeds of 80MB/s rather than the 275MB/s the drive could be capable of (depending on what drive you get)

    The new sandforce controllers basically clear the space on the fly, so you can always write at full speed.

    The new Corsair drives have this, as well as a new feature called TRIM, which is not yet supported by OSX. The OWC mercury drives also have this, as well as a few other drives. Just be careful


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    #5
    silvine
    Registered Users Posts: 3,132 ✭✭✭silvine


    I have a unibody 13 inch Macbook. I'm guessing it's a lot more difficult to upgrade this model then?


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    #6
    greglo23
    Registered Users Posts: 1,028 ✭✭✭greglo23


    Have a look here http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-MacBook-Unibody-Model-A1278-Hard-Drive-Replacement/816/1

    I fitted one of these to my Mac Mini recently and it's like a new machine. I have all my music and photos on an external drive so 60 GB is plenty of space. It also has the Sandforce controller so happy days. http://www.memoryc.com/storage/solidstatedisk/60gboczvertex2sataiissd.html


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    #7
    yer man!
    Registered Users Posts: 1,648 ✭✭✭yer man!


    The hard drive is simple to take out of a MacBook Pro 13" unibody, just unscrew all the screws underneath, pop out hard drive, put in new on with same screws on the old HD, then put bottom back on and screws in, done. It explains everything in the instruction booklet that came with the machine


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