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Hello, I’m thinking of upgrading my MacBook Pro with a second drive. I am not sure which i should use and which is the best option compatibility wise. My options are: SSD 850 EVO 500GB Samsung 2.5" Sata III MZ-75E500B/EUSSD MX300 525GB 2.5" SATA3 Crucial CT525MX300SSD1 I am also wondering whether I should place the new drive where my MacBook’s initial HD is positioned and put my current HD in the optical drive bay. And a last question: Since I am running Bootcamp on my MacBook as well, should I install both macOS and Windows on the SSD and just keep the current HD for data storing space? Thanks in advance, Andreas
You might encounter two different issues here. The first is some MacBook Pro’s have a SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) optical drive port. Here’s a good reference: OWC Data Doubler it makes no difference who’s carrier you have as the issue is within the Mac’s logic board. If you have one of the odd systems you’ll need to find a older fixed speed SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) drive for the optical bay. The second issue you can face is the Apple HD does not have crash guard onboard so moving it over to the optical bay does put it at risk if you bounce the system while the drive is running. Only the HD bay has crash guard protection. So I would leave the HD in its current position and put the SSD in the optical drive bay. Frankly, if you have one of the odd systems you might as well just forget the dual drive config and just get a Seagate FireCuda SSHD replacing your current HD. Update (07/27/2017) Here’s some info on SSHD’s: SSDs vs. hard drives vs. hybrids: Which storage tech is right for you? Here’s info on the Seagate FireCuda 2.5" SSHD. Just keep in mind this is a fixed SATA III (6.0 Gb/s) drive. As for which SSD you had listed: I’ve used the Samsung 850 EVO in quite a few systems and I do find they are tops in both quality & performance! The Crucial SSD is also quite good from a performance perspective. I do find their documentation & support is a bit thin. Frankly I don’t have an issue with either. So its more likely an issue of cost and availability. One point I wouldn’t leave the optical drive bay empty. At least get the optical drive carrier so the slot is covered and the stiffness of the system can be maintained. This is important if you grasp the system with one hand where the optical drive would be.
- Have not tested anything so I assume both SSDs would work perfectly fine,
- I would assume the original space in the MacBook is the best so I would place the SSD in the HD bay.
- Yes. I would partition the SSD and install boot camp there and use the old hard drive as a dedicated storage device,
