{"id":2073,"date":"2012-08-15T00:57:52","date_gmt":"2012-08-14T15:57:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2012-08-15\/2073"},"modified":"2012-08-15T01:55:17","modified_gmt":"2012-08-14T16:55:17","slug":"adding-a-extra-half-terabyte-ssd-to-my-macbook-pro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2012-08-15\/2073","title":{"rendered":"Adding an Extra Half-Terabyte SSD to my MacBook Pro"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 2500 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nSprucing Up my Laptop<\/span>\nadding a 480GB SSD\n<\/div>\n\n

When I bought my laptop (an Apple MacBook Pro) several years ago, I powered<\/span> it on for a few<\/span> seconds to make sure it at least booted, then shut\nit down and replaced the stock 500GB drive with a 1TB<\/span> drive of my own, then\ninstalled the OS.<\/p>\n\n

It worked great, but after a few years the machine started to feel\nsluggish, as if I was<\/span> suddenly using Windows. The disk I<\/span>'d put in was big,\nbut also slow (5,200RPM), so maybe I'd reclaim some speed by using an SSD\n(solid-state disk<\/a>)? When I\nrealized<\/span> that I could<\/span> replace the DVD drive with a disk,<\/span> and found that\nOther World Computing had 480GB SSDs, I took the<\/span> jump.<\/p>\n\n

After carefully checking the compatibility charts, I got Other<\/span> World\nComputing's DIY\nBundle: 480GB 6G Solid State Drive + DVD-drive-space mounting hardware<\/a>,\nalong with a\nUSB<\/span> enclosure<\/a> to put the laptop DVD drive currently sitting where the\nnew disk will go.<\/p>\n\n

The bracket and disk are beautifully machined metal...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 5600 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

The install instructions, on the other hand, were a bit<\/span> lacking. I kept a<\/span> set of notes on the problems I came<\/span> across, but having let two months\npass before getting around to writing this post, I can't<\/span> find them.\nHowever, I do recall<\/span> a representative<\/span> problem: while the computer was\nsplayed open on the table, with the bottom now the top and the front now\nthe back, the instructions would use directional words (“front”, “behind”,\netc.) with respect to the computer as if it were set up for normal use,\ninstead of with respect to the current view of the thing you were\ninstructed to have before you.<\/p>\n\n

These were slight hiccups... installation was mostly simple. It went more<\/span> smoothly than\nwhen I replaced<\/span> the hard drive on my MacBook<\/a> six years ago. And unlike<\/span> once when I tried<\/span> to fix a hinge<\/span>-wire problem<\/a>,\nI didn't<\/span> end up with an unexpected pile of parts after I was<\/span> “done”. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n

I wanted to use the new SSD as the root drive, so I needed<\/span> the\njust-removed DVD drive to reinstall the OS, so I popped<\/span> it into the fairly\ncheap plastic case, and it worked fine, though its build quality is a bit<\/span>\nlacking... the disk doesn't slide in and out very smoothly.<\/p>\n\n

The machine is now quite fast in many ways... I can reboot<\/span> (invoke a\nshut<\/span> down, then restart back to the login prompt) in 18 seconds<\/b>. I run a<\/span> disk speed test with uncompressable data and see real write speeds\nof about 235 megabytes\/second, with read speeds of 265 megabytes\/second.\nThis compares to hard-disk numbers of about 85 for both read and write.<\/p>\n\n

The app that had gotten the most slow, Firefox, is quite a bit<\/span> better,\nbut still slow. I think<\/span> their “new major version every month” strategy has\ncertain bloatware drawbacks, but considering what I pay<\/span> (nothing), I can't<\/span>\ncomplain. (Earlier this spring, I did a<\/span> test using Google Chrome\nexclusively for a week,<\/span> but I just<\/span> couldn't make it work for my needs, so I\nreturned<\/span> to Firefox.)<\/p>\n\n

Lightroom is also faster, but the develop module can still be really\nslow for me, much worse than a year<\/span> ago. I don't<\/span> know whether the problem\nis related to something bad with my system, or with Lr4 being that much\nslower than Lr3, but I've heard sporadic reports along those lines, so\nmaybe I'm getting bit that way.<\/p>\n\n

Since it no longer has a built-in DVD drive, I need to<\/span> hook up the\nexternal DVD drive (that had been my internal DVD drive) when I want<\/span> to\nwatch a movie<\/span> or burn a CD.<\/span> Two words<\/span> of warning if you go this route:<\/p>\n\n