SSD and Optibay Install in mid-2010 15" Unibody

I recently purchased a new base model 15" Macbook Pro with the firm intention of upgrading the main drive to a SSD. Historically, there has been some issues with a do-it-yourself upgrade to SSD using Mac hardware and I happy to report that I have had no issues, save those caused by myself in the doing the swap.

I decided the best course of action was to use a SSD for my main application and OS drive, and use a standard 2.5" mechanical HD for my files. The downside is, of course, you lose your internal Superdrive. However, as I was contemplating this, I realized that I rarely use my optical drive outside of software installs. It then became an easy choice. Of course, you can always just swap the standard internal drive for a SSD, but space and cost quickly become deciding factors. Keep in mind that if you plan to install Windows 7, you need at least 20GB of space just for it, before any other Windows software. Snow Leopard takes around 8GB and some of the higher end software can take gigabytes on their own (The Final Cut Studio suite alone takes around 50GB).

After a ton of research with some conflicting information I decided on the Crucial M225 128GB SSD. It uses the Indilinx Barefoot controller with 64MB of cache and is price competitive at around $325. The Kingston V-series is cheaper, but uses a modified J-micron controller (meh - sorry J-micron, too much history there). Another choice, and one I nearly made, is a Corsair series drive. Note that apparently the Nova series has some issues with the Macintosh notebook line, so the P series will be your best bet there. Of course, you could go for the gold and choose an Intel based SSD. Most Mac guys seem to have the best luck with these drives, but I decided I like the price/performance of the Crucial better.

A few things to note:

PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Though the process is pretty straightforward and relatively easy, opening your notebook is not the same as opening a desktop. The pieces are much smaller and the tolerances much greater. The outer surface is easy to scratch and dent. Doing any of this may void your warranty. You have been warned.

Disassembly

I used the iFixit.com guide as a starting point:

Installing MacBook Pro 15" Unibody Mid 2009 Optical Drive Replacement - iFixit

You will need:

• An SSD drive, any size. I feel the 128GB size is ideal for price/space at this time.
• (Optional) A Superdrive bay converter - I chose the Optibay by MCE.
• A T-6 Torx Driver.
• A #0 and/or a #00 Phillips head driver
• A soft surface.
• A Windows desktop computer with an internal SATA connection free and a CD-ROM

Next: BACKUP. Nothing worse than losing files, trust me. Even if you are just swapping drives around, make sure you back the files up before any formatting. Its easy to get confused about what is where when you have an open Macbook Pro in front of you and you are concentrating on simply not dropping a screw under the motherboard.

Shutdown the notebook and remove the power supply. At this time, keep in mind that the notebook still has power, and plenty of it, from the internal battery. Its not likely but serious injury could result from shock so BE CAREFUL.

Flip the Macbook over on a soft surface. I chose the old cloth bag my old MBP came in:





Next remove the bottom case screws with the phillips head driver. Note that three of the screws are much longer than the others.

Once they are removed, grip the bottom cover near where it meets the screen (the vent access). Carefully pry up and towards you. The bottom is press fit into grooves and will pop out. This can be a little disconcerting the first time you do this.

(BTW, this is SO MUCH EASIER than the older MBPs)



As you can see, everything is nicely exposed. The battery looks to be an easy swap once it dies (assuming we can even buy these things as consumers). You can see the optical bay in the upper left corner here. The hard drive is in the lower left corner and removed by unscrewing the two black phillips head screws. THEY DON'T COME ALL THE WAY OUT of the bracket.





Once the drive is out, remove the small studs that are used to mount the drive. This is done with the T-6 torx wrench.

Now. Stop. The new SSD drive you have may not have the latest firmware. Mine didn't even though I purchased it 3 months after the last update. Crucial (and most SSD manufacturers) provide updated firmware utilities only for Windows PCs (more specifically, the older BIOS type computers as opposed to the newer EFI type, like the Macs have). Checking the firmware of the SSD and the process involved in updating it varies depending on the manufacturer, but typically envolves booting the computer from a CD. You will need to plug the new SSD into a Windows box and burn a CD with the latest firmware from the manufacturer if only to be sure which firmware your drive has. Failure to do so may mean that your drive doesn't perform up to expectations. In the case of these Crucial drives, the firmware update does NOT erase any data, but some do! Anyway, why not do this now while you have everything apart?

Once the firmware is up to date, you can install your new SSD. Do so, by swapping out the mounting studs from the original drive re-install.



Re-install (Single Boot)

If you are just swapping the original HD out for the SSD, you can now reinstall everything in the opposite order. Reboot your MBP with an install DVD (either Retail or the Restore discs that came with your MBP). Once you get to the install screens, Choose Disk Utility from the menu. Select the SSD and then the Format tab.

(Note that here I have selected my second drive as I didn't take these screen caps during the install process)


Then click on the Security Options button:



Select Zero Data as I have here. SSDs are tricky in the way they read and particularly write data. This step may not be 100% necessary, but it took my machine about 12 minutes to complete (it has taken hours for me on a standard HD) so again, why not? Perform the format and install the OS as normal. I elected to get rid of the Language Packs and Extra Fonts. I did include the Printer Drivers, and that would save another 2GB if you turned them off. Once you reboot, it should be very apparent, very quickly that you are moving much faster.

Re-install (Dual Boot, Windows 7)

Assuming you go the same route I did and want to install Windows, you want to reinstall everything BEFORE removing the optical drive. The reason is that Bootcamp + MBP + Windows 7 does not like to be installed from an external DVD. It looks like it will load, but hangs right before the actual install of Windows starts. This means that you need to install Windows 7 from the internal Superdrive before you throw the Optibay into the mix. There was some information out there stating that in some of the older versions of the MBP, installing Windows onto a third-party SSD was difficult. Not the case for me, but I did have to reformat the Bootcamp generated partition to NTFS before continuing. I think this has to do with TRIM support, but am not sure. The Windows 7 install was painless and works as expected. Complete it, and then shut the computer down again.

Remove the back again and then start the removal of the optical drive It is a bit tricky. There is a small black plastic shelf along the very upper left corner of the MBP as we see it here. Two black phillips head screws secure this shelf to the chassis. TAKE NOTE. Both of the screws are unique. The right one looks very similar to the ones that hold the optical drive in place, but it is a different thickness. The one on the left is longer, so it would be harder to confuse with another screw. Take these screws out to give you enough room to get the first of the screws holding this optical drive in:



Next remove the other two screws - one on the opposite corner near the HD bay:



The other on a bracket directly next to the motherboard:



You should now be able to gently pry the optical drive up by the edge closest to the hard drive bay. The other side of the drive is partially blocked by a small bracket so you cannot just pull straight up. Once you remove the optical drive, swap the small metal bracket on the motherboard side of the drive to the Optibay.





Then you can install the hard drive into the Optibay and install the entire assembly back into the MBP:



You can now close the MBP back up and reboot. I would advise reformatting the mechanical drive as well, though you shouldn't need to do a Zero Data format on it. Before installing a ton of software on the machine, you might consider moving you accounts folder to your secondary drive. This allows the SSD to focus on the System and Applications and your actual documents to live on their own physical drive. It's seamless and it may even have the benefit of extending the life of both drives. Note that I have seen a few comments that suggest moving the entire user folder might degrade speed. I certainly haven't seen that...

...my Mac now cold boots to a working desktop in 23 seconds. If I blink I can miss the little circular disc working indicator under the gray Apple during the boot. Apps launch with a noticeable improvement. In some cases this is a ridiculous improvement. Both DVD Studio Pro and FCP are such beasts. I would say under 5 seconds for both. Jumping in and out of apps is like turning pages in a magazine. I haven't seen anything quite like it and it makes me grin every time it happens. This is a worthwhile upgrade for anyone considering it.

Xbench gave me anywhere between 275 and 290 on a test of just the SSD. Write speeds are exactly as Crucial advertised, with read speeds showing a bit slower...but only a bit Atto's Benchmarking software in windows showed a read/write speed of around 200MB/sec for both for any block size higher than 32.

Woof.

SSD / Mac OS Tweaks

I decided to break this section out by itself as there doesn't seem to be a convenient central repository for this info. I pulled these hints from all over, and have tested them all before posting them here. Just like the original warning above, some of these tweaks involve the core of the operating system. They require at least basic understanding of the Terminal. Use at you own risk, you have been warned (again). It should also be noted that there are plenty of people out there that have been using their SSDs normally for some time without doing any of these tweaks, so YMMV.

Disable Spotlight

This is something of a controversy. Spotlight (and Windows Search) continually indexes the disk in an effort to speed up searches. This method may have a detrimental effect on the life span of SSDs, so disabling them has become something of a given. It made me pause though, because you lose some great functionality when you do this. Make you own decision here, but the easiest way to accomplish this is to add the SSD to Spotlight's privacy list. You can find this under System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy. I also add my Windows partition here as I can't see the value of letting Spotlight search that volume.

Disable Sudden Motion Sensor

The Sudden Motion Sensor mechanism in the Apple notebook line is built into the motherboard. This means that any HD or SSD that is plugged into the computer can benefit from the feature. Designed with the delicate and fast moving read/write heads on mechanical hard drives in mind, this can also tell SSDs to perform an immediate idle state - thereby decreasing performance. SSDs have a shock rating something like 1500Gs, so the SMS is nothing but a hinderance. However...if you also have a mechanical drive installed, suddenly you have to make a choice, absolute security or improved SSD performance. I have mine set to off.

Here is the command line used to disable this function:

Code:

sudo pmset -a sms 0

You can check the status with this command:

Code:

sudo pmset -g

And turn it back on with this:

Code:

sudo pmset -a sms 0

Enable 'noatime'

Ready for an advanced one? Very briefly, normally OS X wants to write a tiny amount of data every time it reads something from the disk. This is in place for a reason, but no one can figure out exactly why, especially with the entire file system being journaled. This is a hold over from Unix and is yet another thing we can do to optimize the OS in general and the potentially the life of the SSD. It does take a few steps to set up.

First, Launch Text Edit, change the document type to Plain Text and paste in:

PHP:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.my.noatime</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>mount</string>
        <string>-vuwo</string>
        <string>noatime</string>
        <string>/</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Save this file anywhere convenient. I used my Desktop. Open the Terminal and change to the directory where you saved it. If it was the Desktop use:

Code:

cd ~/Desktop

Then, change the owner of your file to the system:

Code:

sudo chown root:wheel myfile.txt

Now, using the Terminal we want to move this file to the LaunchDaemons folder in System > Library

Code:

sudo mv myfile.txt /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.my.noatime.plist

For those not familiar with *nix speak. The last command both moved and renamed the file, changing it to a plist type the OS can understand.

Reboot.

Once you are back, check the status in the Terminal:

Code:

mount | grep " / "

You should get something like:

Code:

/dev/disk0s2 on / (hfs, local, journaled, noatime)

Told you it was advanced

Put Hard Disks to Sleep when possible

Again, controversial, especially for those of us that want both a SSD and HD. You can change this setting easier in System Preferences > Energy Saver

Turn Hibernate Option off
When the Mac goes to sleep (as in, close the lid), it turns off all the power to the system, save a tiny bit for the RAM. Once the battery fully dies, you lose whatever is in RAM as well. To remedy this, the Mac defaults to a hibernate state. When the power gets critical, it will write the RAM to the system disk and then shutdown. However, this takes up as much space as the RAM you have in your system and can have a detrimental effect on the lifespan of an SSD. Plus, I can't remember then last time I left my computer asleep that long. I would rather have the 4GB of space:

Code:

sudo pmset hibernatemode 0

Enter your password and hibernate is off. Of course, you can turn it back on with:

Code:

sudo pmset hibernatemode 0

If you want the space back remove the actual sleepimage file on the computer.

First change directories with Terminal:

Code:

cd /var/vm/

Then delete with file in question with the 'rm' command

Code:

sudo rm sleepimage

There you go. More SSD space and maybe lifespan!

Give up some rep if this guide helped you! Don't hesitate to ask any questions.

Peace.

 

Can I just say how thankful I am for this guide and the posting is unelievably convenient. I am awaiting my MBP 13 and have purchased an Optibay and the same Crucial SSD...uncanny.

As I am new to OS X being still one foot in the Windows world could you expand on the movement of the "USER" profile to the HDD rather than the boot SSD. Do I need to set up folders first then browse to that in preferences ??

One other question please...would you recommend putting the stock HDD that comes in the MBP in the Optibay assuming that it has a built in Sudden Motion Sensor (SMS) or if it does not have such a facility buy one that has rather than risk a non SMS drive on the Optibay side or alternatively place the SSD there AFTER installing Windows etc in the HDD side before physically moving the SSD to the Optibay side?

Thanks again and rep for a fantastic guide.

 

This should be stickied. I don't need a cd drive that sounds like a jet plane taking off!

 

First, the moving of your home folder. In OS X, the Home folder holds absolutely everything that you do in the OS. Files, media, preferences, user specific fonts, you name it. Before I started this process, I knew there was a way to move it, but didn't know how easy it had become.

Go to System Preferences > Accounts (4th line under System).

You will need to unlock this control panel. Do so by clicking on the lock icon in the lower left corner

Control Click (or two finger click, or right-click) on the name of the user you want to change. You will get a one-line menu that says Advanced Options.



Choose that and you will get this screen:



The line that says Home Directory is what you want to change. You can Browse to a new place on your secondary drive and select anything you want. My structure is _User>"my name" By naming it this way, I am sure that that folder stands out among the crowd.

Once you have done this, the Mac will want to reboot. When you get back into the Mac it might look a bit different at first, especially if you have made a lot of changes or installs. This is why I would recommend doing this step immediately after an install. Up in the original post there is a link for a more advanced copy/move that would be appropriate for someone that has been using their computer for some time.

When you disable the sudden motion sensor, it does so system wide. The SMS circuitry is on the motherboard itself and therefore it doesn't matter which drive you get (or how many drives you have). If you are nervous about running without that safety net, just leave it enabled. I have been contemplating turning it back on to see what happens (if anything) to the speed.

Thanks, but if every good article on here was stickied, it would be pages deep before anyone got to any content!

 

Freaking sweet - I know I'll be doing this sometime this summer.

 

Thank you very much for this!

+1 for sticky!

 

Thanks again...you the man (or woman)

 

Not a problem. Be sure to check the guide again when you go to do it as I consolidated all the tweaks into their own section.

As to the question of my gender...do those hands look like they have ever seen a manicure? Or for that matter, any attention besides soap?

 

I have a script that takes the USERS folder from the main drive, moves it to another drive named USERS and then creates an alias in the original spot.

 

Just a quick update on this. I have been using this guide myself the past few days as I have swapped in a new OCZ Vertex 2 SSD. In my original setup, I had moved the entire User folder to the mechanical drive. I have since decided to keep my Users folders on the SSD, but place iTunes, movies and pictures on the mechanical storage drive. This seems to make the system a touch more responsive.

Also, another suggestion would be to use the AJA System Test here in lieu of Xbench which has given me WILDLY different results.

Sorry for the image loss. Its been fixed Enjoy

 

I wish I did a search here for Optibay installations about 2 weeks ago when I setup my MBP13 with dual hard-drives (non-SSD ).

+1 Rep coming your way!

 

Umm.. You zero'd out your drive, I thought that was a no no

 

It seems to be something of a debate, with one side saying it has a detrimental effect on the drives ability to Garbage collect, and the other that its the only way to see the proper speed from the drive.

FWIW, I did this on my Crucial SSD as well as the new Vertex 2, and my 500GB mechanical and have seen no issues. My benchmarks on the Vertex are within 20MB/sec of the advertised speed through AJA.