Successful surgery on my MacBook Pro...

[FMiguelez]

Yesterday I got my 2 GB RAM, a 750 GB 7200 RPM HD, and tool kit from OWC.

At first I wasn't sure I was up to opening my Mac's guts like that, but following their awesome instructional video it was pretty easy.
It took me a while. And it was a little nerve-wracking taking all those screws off and even the keyboard.
When my girlfriend saw me she asked: "What the hell are you doing?!? Are you going to be able to put it back together?"...

Then it was funny because when I started installing Snow Leopard (yes, I fell for it and bought it), the DVD drive was spinning and making this mice-like crying noise. The way she looked at me... "Are you SURE you didn't miss anything? That noise doesn't sound right to me..." After a few minutes, I was up and running.

I chose NOT to use Migration Assistant either. I wanted a really FRESH system, so I'm installing everything manually now. PITA, but hopefully worth it.

All I can say is my old MacBook Pro is FLYING now (at least in comparison). It almost feels like a fast car (instead of an old donkey).
I haven't encrypted my Home folder yet. I know performance will diminish when I do so, but I'm hopping the extra fast HD and extra RAM will make up for it.

So this way I'll be able to squeeze the last drops out of this great machine. It'll last until Apple (and 3rd party vendors) stops support for SL.

Life is good.

I love my Mac

[Dwetmaster]

If I may add on the MBP surgery tips:
I went further and got the "replacing the optical Drive by a 2nd HD" toolkit
It comes form owc also and I know have a small SSD as an OS Drive and a 7200 750GB HD as a data drive. Even faster than before. I don't use the optical drive anyways aside from when I'm installing a software int my computer. For that I got an "optical drive USB enclosure" works great.

[FMiguelez]

That was certainly a very nice addition, DuetMeister.

This thing is soooooo fast now. Those extra HD spins and memory really speed things up!

I think I'll also need to buy something like this MIDI connector (so I can integrate it with my MTP AV). What do you think? Has anyone tested something similar?
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/M-Audio/99005071700/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[craigw]

If I may add on the MBP surgery tips:
I went further and got the "replacing the optical Drive by a 2nd HD" toolkit
It comes form owc also and I know have a small SSD as an OS Drive and a 7200 750GB HD as a data drive.

Dwetmaster, sounds like a great system. I have been considering doing the same thing to my older (Fall 2008) MBP. Did you put your system and applications on the SSD drive? Also, does the 750GB HD run hot? Currently, I have a 500GC HD installed and it can get pretty warm. Thanks!

[Dwetmaster]

Dwetmaster, sounds like a great system. I have been considering doing the same thing to my older (Fall 2008) MBP. Did you put your system and applications on the SSD drive? Also, does the 750GB HD run hot? Currently, I have a 500GC HD installed and it can get pretty warm. Thanks!

The computer does get hot indeed but not hotter than my older MBP. My small SSD (60GB) runs the os and the apps. The larger Drive, is a home folder and a sample drive. You can google about changing the home folder'S location if you want.

[Gravity Jim]

Thank you, Surgery Bot.

[bayswater]

Dwetmaster, why did you put your home folder on the second drive? Do you write project files on it? Any noticeable increase in noise from the 7200 rpm drive?

[Dwetmaster]

Dwetmaster, why did you put your home folder on the second drive? Do you write project files on it? Any noticeable increase in noise from the 7200 rpm drive?

Yes my home folder is on the 2nd drive. Only the OS is on the SSD
I'll locked any files I want to but I won't systematically locked everything...
I didn't use my MBP long enough BEFORE I did the upgrade to be able notice a difference. Aside from the fan, I believe my MBP is dead silent.

This is a great upgrade that's worth every penny. Now If I go make a recording on location, I don't have to carry an extra drive for audio, and I'm still confident OSX won't mess with my audio drive while it's writing.

[Todzilla]

I'm thinking of buying a MacBook Pro and trying this.

A couple quesitons:

If I have an SSD and a platter based HD, which is best for apps, which for data?

If the SSD is a lot faster, will I even need a second drive?

If the single SSD drive is insufficient for both data and apps, how will that be manifest? crashes? beachballs?

Thanks

[cuttime]

http://gizmodo.com/5884734/the-next+gen ... k-pro-2012

[mikehalloran]

>I think I'll also need to buy something like this MIDI connector (so I can integrate it with my MTP AV). What do you think? Has anyone tested something similar?<

Huh? My MTP AV uses a usb cable.