Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with ssd

Moving to SSD, moving iTunes, overthinking beans

Admiral Haddock — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:08:03 -0800

I am adding an SSD as a boot drive in my Mac Pro. I am comfortable installing it, and intend to clone the existing boot drive onto it with SuperDuper! However, I'm confused about how and WHEN to move my documents, iTunes library, etc. in the process. Can you help? I am adding a 512GB SSD as a fifth drive in the Mac Pro using the spare optical bay. Right now, this is the setup:

Drive 1: 640GB Boot drive, with all programs and documents (inc. iTunes, etc.)
Drive 2: 1TB photo drive
Drive 3: 2TB photo drive
Drive 4: Time Machine.

I'm using about 540GB of the current boot drive, of which about 200GB is iTunes, documents, pictures, and videos. Ultimately, I'd like to separate all of those from the SSD boot drive, either locating them on Drive 3, or the current Drive 1 (which will no longer be the boot drive).

I don't know how to proceed though--I don't have enough room on the SSD to do a straight clone without moving those directories, but I know some of them (iTunes library) can't just be moved willy nilly. (I DO want to keep playcounts, etc.) And, again, to complicate things, I probably would ultimately want them to stay where they are (Drive 1) and just move the boot drive and applications to the SSD.

Would it be better to try to take the time to move everything but the iTunes library to another drive (which could theoretically get me below 512GB (yes, I realize it will be smaller once formatted)), and then clone Drive 1 with the iTunes library where it is, and THEN target iTunes back to Drive 1? Maybe I should just dump everything into Drive 3, which has 1.4TB free?

And how do I move the documents and downloads folders?

Bonus Question: I've been backing up to Time Machine (which I know can back up multiple volumes) and to a SuperDuper! clone on an external drive. What's the best way to use SuperDuper now that I'm splitting off the boot drive from all my documents?

Blerg! Thanks!

My new Samsung SSD cloning software doesn't work

noonknight — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 02:37:15 -0800

I have a problem with my new Samsung SSD cloning software - it doesn't work. I keep getting the following error message: "external exception EO6D7363". The new drive is recognized by Win 8. I have my old HDD running Win 8 and wish to clone it to the new SSD.
I have read that I must change SATA in the BIOS to AHCI from IDE, but when I do this, my computer won't boot with the old HDD.
I have tried Norton Ghost, but it doesn't work with Win 8.
The Samsung software is supposed to be Win 8 compatible. Others that have posted reviews of the Samsung SSD on Amazon seem to have had no trouble, even with old computers.
My computer is a Gateway DX4710-UB002A from about 4.5 years ago. It has 6 gigs of memory and an Intel quad-core CPU.

This should work.

I would like to avoid a fresh installation of Win 8 to the SSD with the need to copy and reinstall all of my files, programs and settings.

Any ideas?

TIA

SSD for a mid 2010 MacBook Pro

sbutler — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 23:16:11 -0800

Just did my taxes, and I'm getting a refund! Help me pick out the right SSD for my aging laptop... I have a mid 2010 MacBook Pro, 17" (MacBookPro6,1). I'm not going to upgrade the laptop because I really love the 17" and Apple isn't offering any 17" laptops at the moment. It's working fine, 8GB RAM, and I figure I can easily squeeze another couple years out of it with an SSD upgrade.

I want at least 500GB, reliability is the top priority, then speed. Normally I'd just go out and by the best one rated, but I realized I have SATA II, not III. A lot of reviews seem to be assuming SATA III.

I'd rather not waste my money by putting in a much faster drive than my interface can support (3Gb/sec). So what do you guys recommend for someone with this limitation?

OS X 10.8.3 if it matters. I run Windows 8, but always in VMware and not through Bootcamp. So that shouldn't matter.

Mountain Lion, New SSD - what's destroying my battery life?

running order squabble fest — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 08:53:08 -0800

So, I've made the fatal mistake of performing several upgrades at once, and I could do with some advice on where to go now... is my problem with charging time and battery life my new SSDs, my new OS, or something else entirely? Generic snowflake details to follow: Recently, I've been experiencing excessive hard drive spin noise in my (Early 2011) 15" MacBook Pro, along with what felt like excessive fan spin-up. Hoping to kill two birds with one stone, I decided to swap the HDD out for an SSD. After due consideration, I bought the Samsung 840 basic model (500GB).

Then, since I was going to be taking the bottom off the laptop anyway, I thought why not also put an SSD in the little-used optical drive bay? I had a 256GB Crucial M4 SSD kicking around from the death of my last laptop, which had up until that point been doing duty as a very expensive sneakernet solution, so I bought an OWC OptiBay drive caddy and installed that also.

To save time, I cloned my old 500GB HDD onto the 500GB SSD using SuperDuper, and did a straight swap.

So far so normal, but when I booted back up, after a long and slightly terrifying pause, it booted as normal, indexed the new drive and I was back in business.

However, I then got cocky, and decided, since I was making changes, to upgrade the OS as well, from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion, right after booting up.

This all happened yesterday. Everything was fine until I unplugged the laptop, at which point it registered one hour of battery life (although actually it lasted for more like two, and that figure jumped up to 1:24 and froze in place at various points). Although the Early 2011 Pro is not supposed to have a user-replaceable battery, and thus also is not supposed to need calibration, I let it run down overnight (using Caffeine) and am now charging it - a process which the system is telling me is going to take a full day (it's at 32% now, and saying it will be 3 1/2 hours until the charge is complete, but again that needle is sticking and jumping - in fact, a few hours later, it is at 65% but still saying 3 hours, so...).

I don't know what the run-down time will then be, because I want to give it a full charge before I try it, but at this point I'm not optimistic.

Now, because I used SuperDuper I still have the (bootable) mechanical Hard Drive, with Snow Leopard and all my files, currently one day out of date. I am wondering if it would be sensible to either admit defeat and swap that back in, or to swap it in, reclone the HDD onto the SSD and then swap the drives again (thus rolling back to pre-Mountain Lion, since it seems impossible to roll it back without restoring the cloned HDD), leaving me with the SSD in the machine. However, because I was an idiot and made three changes without stopping and benchmarking, I am not sure where the problem lies, and I'd like to minimize my corrective steps. I'm also wondering if this is something weird about SSDs, and I would be better off with a clean install and the back-aching procedure of redownloading and installing my applications from there...

So, does anyone have experience of this kind of issue? What is most likely to be the issue, and is there any chance it will sort itself out over a few charges? I expected that taking the HDD motor out of the system would _increase_ battery life, but am I missing something obvious? As it is, I figure the problem is logically either the new hardware, the new OS or (outside chance) failing to reconnect the battery properly (but I can't see how that would cause this, rather than a total failure to power up). There seem to be a number of complaints online about Mountain Lion borking power management, and because I bought it a while ago and never got around to installing it I am on 10.8.1, but 10.8.2 would need to be a dramatic update to make this workable... does anyone have experience/secret knowledge of this kind of situation, before I start making and testing further system changes?

(Further totally generic snowflake addenda - the battery is a standard came-with-the-machine Apple battery, which originally had 6900 mAh, and is now registering 6199 after 342 cycles, according to Battery Health. The MBP is a 15" unibody: was on 10.6.8, now on 10.8.1. Both SATA connectors are Intel 6 Series, enabling 6 gigabit throughput, and both SSD are 6 gigabit models.)

Speeding up Lightroom on Mac Pro

Admiral Haddock — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 09:39:47 -0800

I use a mid-2009 Mac Pro for photo editing / cataloging in Lightroom. Performance has been increasingly unsatisfactory. Looking for your advice re: upgrades to the Mac Pro, or perhaps getting a new Macbook Pro. Specs inside. The Mac Pro is a 2 x 2.26 quad core Xeon running 10.6.8 with 14 GB of physical RAM (I can't remember how the sticks are configured--but it's not perfectly matched (maybe 2 6s and a 2gb?)). Main hard drive (i.e., where applications reside) is a 640 GB 7200 RPM WD Caviar Blue. All my drive bays are filled (one with a Time Machine volume, and the other two with drives for the Lightroom catalog). I'm running LR 4.1 (build 829322).

I'm editing full-size RAW files output from a 5dMKIII. Maybe 25MB+ each. I increased the size of LR's cache, but I can't remember to what. I have LR set to render full size previews.

LR is really laggy, whether switching between images in the catalog, using the mask brush, the spot healing tool--really anything. It's getting really annoying.

Obviously, I haven't upgraded to the newest OS or the newest version of LR. I've been reluctant, given that each version of LR has gotten (IMO) progressively laggier.

What's the best way of getting some (go on, say it) snappiness back? More RAM? Increase the size of the LR cache? Upgrade to LR 4.3? SSD (and if a SSD is the way to go, do you have a particular model to recommend for a desktop)? Or is this just throwing good money after "bad," given that this is coming up on a four-year old machine, and should I just get a new retina Macbook Pro?

Thanks!

Hoping to make my hdd time travel forward

peacay — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 06:55:33 -0800

I moved an SSD to a new system. Now I can't access files on the old hdd that were created during the time the SSD was a part of that old system. Can they be brought back to life? I got a new pc a couple of days ago. I took the SSD off the old system and put it on the new one. Win7 and all the progs were reinstalled on that SSD.

I had used the SSD with the old hdd for about a year. The old hdd works fine but it also had win7 installed (since I first bought that pc) and when I boot this old system up on that hdd, I'm finding everything the way the pc was a year ago, prior to installing the SSD : in other words, I've lost a LOT of stuff in this transition these last couple of days.

Nothing really happened to that old hdd during this change, so I'm wondering if I - being possessed of only modest tech knowledge - can make the old hdd spit out recent files created in the last year and if so, how would I go about doing that?? Thanks.

Offsite / Offline Data Storage

Admiral Haddock — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 09:02:45 -0800

I would like to keep an offsite backup of certain files (various financial docs, my iTunes library, and some photos)--say, 200 gigs total. I've considered storing them online with Crashplan, but the cost of the unlimited plan for multiple computers (mine and SO's) and the bandwidth to push that data out leave me meh. Thinking of getting another HD and keeping it at work. Can I run something by you? The plan overall is that I would keep the drive at work and bring it home overnight, update changed files and then take it back the next day. I realize that, for one night a week (or month/whatever), all the backups would be in the same location. Currently, all my backups are in the same location 365 days a year, so this is a significant risk mitigation. I'm an employee (with a locking office with locking drawers)--it's not my own business, fwiw.

I have a stack of HDs on my desk that I could use, but they're all platter based, and I'm thinking that if I were to carry a traditional hard drive in my bag and then unthinkingly run for the bus or something, that would be bad. Is that just superstitious thinking? Or should I get an SSD?

On SSDs, do they really need to be in an enclosure? I'm thinking of something like this Crucial model that comes with a SATA to USB cable. I thought I might just keep it inside an anti-static bag inside a small Pelican case when I take it to work. Is that OK, or should I buy an enclosure and put the enclosure in the Pelican case?

I plan to encrypt the drive.

Has anyone actually done this? Is this just a dumb idea?

Choices, Choices, Choices!

Fuzzy Dog — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 15:53:07 -0800

[MAC FILTER - Follow Up] Upgrade the HDD and RAM? Buy a new-but-used MBP? By New MBP? What would you do? Intermittent Flurries Inside This is a follow-up to this question.

Having done a fair amount of research on the SSDs available for my mid-2009MBP 17, I find myself at the cross-roads-of-decision!

I use my MBP all day for work and in the evenings for entertainment. It's on ALL the time and gets 7-15 hours of use 5-6 days a week--editing video, photoshopping, coding, NetFlix marathons--you know the deal.

I love my 17 inch screen when it's not plugged into my even bigger 24-inch screen at work.

So I see three options:
1. Upgrade the existing MBP's RAM to 8Gb and HDD to SSD--Thinking the OWC Mercury Electra 3G because the according to the OWC rep the 6G drives get downclocked to 1.5 by my MBP5,2 (Mid-2009) SATA2 Connection!
Cost: ~$650

OR

2. Sell the Current MBP (for about $800-1000) and buy referb Late-2011 MBP17, max the RAM and swap the drive for a 6G HDD.
Total Cost: ~$1800

OR

3. Throw caution to the wind and buy a new MBP15--upgrade the RAM and HDD to SSD after the fact--and admit defeat and suffer the smaller screen while traveling--which I expect to do much more of in the coming year.
Total Cost: ~$2700 (Retina) Could be ~$1900 assuming I sell the 17MBP rather than give it to Mrs. FuzzyDog for her next laptop..assuming she wants it.

What I am after is the biggest bang for the buck. Thoughts?

Coffee is a work expense because it just is

angrycat — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 16:49:56 -0800

What, if any, are some good free legal resources for those wanting to understand how ssd counts work expenses? I'm a retired lawyer, but without the library access or contacts to figure some things related to ssd and working while receiving. One example is how to justify work expenses. I have costs that are tangentially related to my most obvious disability, but they are real necessary costs, and I need to know how to explain this to ssd

My ssa office is not a bastion of helpfulness, either, got workers there telling me stuff contrary to the law.

I've looked at the Red Book, which sounds like soft porn for used cars but offers great info -- anything else? Thanks!

HDD replacement macbook walk-thru

Brian Lux — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 16:39:36 -0800

SSD Filter: Macbook Pro running 10.5.8 WLTM Solid State Drive, NSA Apologies for a very similar thread to those posted before but I haven't been able to find an answer on askmefi or elsewhere.

I have a 2009 MBP (5.5) running OS 10.5.8 (Leopard?). I'm also semi-permanently plugged into an external 1TB disc where I keep my itunes library and Time Machine back up.

I have a Samsung 830 256 SSD and an 8gb RAM Upgrade sitting on my desk which I am about to install but I'm a bit nervous about what to do first. I want to do this properly, I don't mind doing it the long way if it means it will all happen without problems. I could do with a numbered step-by-step walk-through but only up to the physical replacement of the drive, which I'm fairly confident about.

my questions:
- Before I start cloning drives should I upgrade my OS? What is a "clean install"? I probably have the original DVD that came with my MBP - why would I want to reinstall that? Doesn't reinstalling the OS wipe all your docs and files?
- To clone the drive should I use the bundled Norton ghost or superduper, or carbon copy or just the apple OS native drive cloning utility? Why use one rather than the other?
- Are Samsung 830's safe to use with Macs now. Did they have some sort of firmware problem?

Best practices for upgrading MBP RAM and HDD?

Fuzzy Dog — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 17:01:34 -0800

[MACFILTER] Best way to upgrade my Mid-2009 MBP? I have a 17-Inch mid-2009 MacBook Pro that has been a true workhorse and champ over the past 3 years. I use it all day for work and in the evenings for entertainment. It's on ALL the time and gets 7-15 hours of use 5-6 days a week--editing video, photoshopping, coding, NetFlix marathons--you know the deal.

It's starting to get the random-spinning-beach ball a little to often and cleaning up the permissions is having less and less effect. The local Mac Guru say I should reinstall the OS on a clean slate and reload all the stuff I am using.

All the work of reinstalling and such on a clean install of the OS got me thinking, why not add an SSD and max out the RAM?

So my questions are:
Is this a good idea? Or a total pain in the ass?

Can I bring my apps and data back from my time machine backup? How?

Can you recommend online dealers and brands for SSD and RAM that you've had positive experiences with?

Can you point me to a complete walk through for swapping the drive and reinstalling 10.6.8?

If you're one of those master-tinker types, what suggestions and advice do you have for this endeavor?

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Replicating drives

wilful — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 01:20:50 -0800

Could you please step me through replacing my current HD with an SSD? I have a hard drive with my OS (which is windows 7) and all my programs on it, and I have (or rather will soon have) a shiny new SSD. How do I go about easily making the seamless switch, so the OS particularly doesn't need reinstalling? At a fairly basic though not utterly hopeless level of tech understanding.

I have another hard drive in the other slot, which can of course be removed temporarily, or if relevant it also has more spare capacity vacant on it than each of the other drives.

Thanks!

Can you help me upgrade my MacBook Pro (late-2008) hard drive?

barnone — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 13:23:15 -0800

Need advice on how to update an older MacBook Pro with a new hard drive. I have a late-2008 MacBook Pro: 2.53 GHz, 320GB hard drive, 8GM RAM (4GB in two slots). My drive is getting full and I don't have the cash at the moment for a brand new laptop. Should I replace the optical drive with a SSD? Or just upgrade the regular hard drive with a new one with 750GB or 1TB? If I swap my optical drive for a SSD:
- Looking at a 120GB ($120) or 240GB ($225) replacement
- Do I move my applications onto that drive?
- Would my documents and files be kept on the new SSD drive or would they remain on the older one?
- Given the higher cost, what's the benefit to this solution?
- Anything else to consider with this scenario?

If my current SATA 320GB hard drive is swapped for one with a larger capacity:
- Looking at a 750GB option ($59) + DIY kit to use the old one as an external drive
- Will the weight be about the same?
- Should I make sure to get a 7200RPM rather than 5400, or does it matter much?

In terms of use:
- Rarely, if ever, use my optical drive
- I'm on my laptop about 12-14 hours a day, every day, and always have many windows and applications running, including Photoshop, Illustrator, multiple browsers, music, image management apps, random other apps throughout the day
- At the moment, yes, I do need the additional storage on the actual laptop. I've already deleted a ton of unnecessary files, and do enough travel without access to the internet that the files need to be on my actual computer and not just the cloud
- I'm also too lazy to have half of my regularly-accessed files on an external drive, which then has to be connected each and everyday, and which must be remembered when leaving the house for work or travel

Looks like my options are about $100-$250 - I'll probably get another laptop next year so I'd prefer to spend the $100 unless you think the SSD gives much better performance.

If you could do one of these options, which would you suggest? Anything I'm not considering here? Thanks in advance for your advice!

1 SSD & 2 HDD (One of the HDD isnt showing any more). Need help!

spinko — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 07:39:57 -0800

I've just upgraded my rig with a 256gb SSD card for the main C:. This is primary used for the OS, apps and my work files. I previously had 2 HDD's one for OS and the other for backups. However I've got the SSD working with a new copy of Windows 8 Pro. Only one of my HDD drives is showing. I've copied over the work files but cannot access my other drive. I swapped the sata cable to the other drive and violla, it shows. But the other drive doesnt show.

I've checked the leads and swapped them around, so no fault with the lead itself. Even swapping the DVD writer Sata lead works.

I remember in the good ole' days you had to put a bracket to show if its a master or slave. Is this the case? or could it be a bios setting?

So just to clarify:

· Both HDD's do work
· All the Sata leads work
· Checked Admin tools (drives only showing is the DVD, SSD and one of the HDD)

Its baffled me so far why it isnt showing both HDD's.

How do I upgrade the SSD I boot from?

nickhb — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 18:52:12 -0800

What's the best way to upgrade my hard drive on my desktop? I have a 40GB SSD that I boot from, and I want to upgrade that to an 80GB SSD. What's the best way to move all of my information from the old drive to the new one, and then have the computer boot from the new drive? If I just copy everything from the old drive to the new one, and plug the new one into the motherboard, will everything still work?

Best way to upgrade to a Solid State Drive?

Rhaomi — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 13:18:22 -0800

What's the best way to go about installing a solid state drive in a new laptop? (And is this even a good idea?) After six years of solid service from my workhorse Dell Latitude, the combination of wonky ports, depleted battery, slowing performance, and an intermittent Disk Click of Doom has convinced me it's time to finally upgrade. Luckily, I found a great deal on a snazzy new IdeaPad Y580. According to this exhaustive review, it's got everything I'm looking for: decent screen, powerful CPU and GPU, similar form factor, and priced hundreds less than comparable machines elsewhere.

The only real flaw is storage. I've heard phenomenal things about SSDs -- lightning speed, low heat/noise emissions, shockproof, etc. -- and definitely wanted to make one the centerpiece of any new laptop purchase. But the Y580 only ships with a standard mechanical drive, which the review identifies as a significant performance bottleneck in an otherwise speedy package.

One potential solution is to go for the premium model, which includes a 32GB "caching" SSD as a supplement to a whopping 1TB mechanical drive. But I get the impression that such a set-up isn't nearly as responsive as an all-SSD environment -- faster boot-up, maybe, but not a "Best. Upgrade. Ever." system-wide turbo boost. I'd also like to avoid, in light of aforementioned Disk Click of Doom, returning to the relative frailty of physical drives for storing all my files. (And frankly, I don't fully understand how one manages a hybrid set-up. Installing the OS in one drive and media files in another? Where do programs go? It sounds awkward.)

Given these misgivings, what I'd really like to do is just buy a lower-tier Y580 with a small HDD, use the savings to acquire a full SSD separately (256GB sounds good), and swap it in when the new laptop arrives. But this has complications of its own. So here are my core questions:

- What's the most reliable ~256GB drive available today? Not necessarily the fastest -- the difference between SSD models is peanuts compared to the step up from HDDs -- but the one most likely to last at least a few years, given reports of perilously high failure rates in earlier years. Intel is the most respected name and offers a five-year warranty, but they're relatively pricey at well over $1 per GB, so I'd be interested in hearing about other brands with respectable track records (as well as those with high failure rates to steer clear of)

- What's the best way to install a new SSD in a new laptop? Should I clone the stock hard disk to the SSD with a migration tool, or would it be better to just install Windows 7 on it fresh? What about transferring files from my old laptop? What's the process for swapping out the drives themselves? Also, are there any tweaks I should do to the SSD that would normally be done by Lenovo pre-shipment in order to optimize it and prolong its lifespan?

- Is there any reason I shouldn't prefer a large SSD over the hybrid HDD+caching SSD? Apart from sheer cost, obvs. I'm really trying to "future proof" this purchase and get the biggest possible performance leap that will last a good number of years, but if a hybrid drive offers ~90% of the speed of an SSD or avoids some major pitfall, then I might be willing to settle. I'd really like to shockproof my data and reduce noise/heat/power consumption, though, so it would have to be a pretty big pitfall.

SSD Capacity and Cost predictions

coffee and minarets — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 13:58:12 -0800

I'm interested in getting an SSD drive for my MacBook but the storage capacity isn't big enough and they are too expensive. Are there some Moore's Law type indicators for SSD technology that might help predict at what point in the future, say, a 750GB drive might cost less than $500?

How to transfer OS to a new drive but preserve current data?

_DB_ — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 17:47:39 -0800

How can I go about transferring my OS to a new SSD but leave my other programs without totally breaking everything? My current system has my Win7, program files, documents, etc all on one drive. I picked up a SSD with the intent of moving my OS there (let's call it C:) but still having my program files (lots of steam games - maybe 120GB that I don't want to redownload) and whatnot on the original drive (let's call it D:). What is the easiest way to do this without losing all kinds of links/references/etc?

These are the options I can think of:

1) Install Win7 on the new blank drive and boot from it; mount D: as a slave and remove all the old OS stuff from it, effectively making it a storage drive (as it should be). Somehow I'd need to tell the new C: Win7 to use the program files on the D: drive, not sure how to do that.

2) The D: drive has less stuff on it total than the C: drive. I could make an image of things as they are now, image it to the C: drive, then restart the computer as if nothing has changed. At that point, how do I remove all the stuff from C: that I want on D: (which will still be on D:) and make sure the OS finds it?

3) _.,-~"~-,._ MAGIC! _.,-~"~-,._

Any help is greatly appreciated :)

I need to send images and stop sending drives.

Sunburnt — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 22:19:32 -0800

PC Tech filter: What's a common disk-image format that I can use for storing images of bootable flash media? Sending new media to customers so slow and expensive. My company is an OEM that ships rack-mounted devices containing PCs running Windows Embedded from either a CompactFlash (CF) or Solid State Drive (SSD). Because of changes in components, primarily motherboards, over the years, we have a few dozen disk images around that're currently stored in an old Norton Ghost format. I mention it's old, because the latest Norton Ghost can't use them-- compatibility ended around version 11.

Now that we're shipping on SSDs instead of CFs, the cost of the physical media is way way higher (practically negligible for CFs, compared to the order of $100 for the SSDs we use), that on the occasions where we just need to re-image the drive, we don't have an image to send the customer.

Most people want something like an .ISO, but my attempts at making ISOs from flash media failed-- .ISO applications assume that you're using optical media, every time, and I don't see a good way around that. There may be hacks, but we don't want the customer to have to hack anything to restore function to his machine.

I'm looking for a good, preferably free/open image or clone format can image a bootable flash-based OS drive of some kind, and write to CF or SSD drives to make them bootable when mounted. Put another way, writing the images should be free to our customers; it's a bonus if creating the images is also free. And Open, because I don't want to pay a license to use the format, if at all possible.

Most of our customers will be Windows users, but if Mac applications that can be made to use the format too, that would be great.

Please help me go from one drive to two.

4ster — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 12:52:31 -0800

I have an early 2011 Macbook Pro. I am installing a 64GB SSD (for OSX Lion and applications) and and then repurposing my stock HDD as my drive for my Home folder (documents, etc) using an OWC Data Doubler (installed in my optical drive spot). I have a bootable SuperDuper backup and many Time Machine Backups (on external drives). Once everything is installed, how can I transfer everything from backups to their new locations without losing all my preferences, bookmarks, etc. Thanks, as always.

Can I put an SSD in my MBP?

4ster — Fri, 04 May 2012 13:58:56 -0800

I'm just curious, but if I install something like this, would it invalidate my (purchased separately) AppleCare on a year-old MacBook Pro? Thanks for your help!

Err, BIOS? I thought that was a kind of break in WoW...

Decimask — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 19:32:28 -0800

I've order a bunch of computer parts from Newegg and am going to build my own computer, hopefully not wrecking anything in the process. (I even picked up an antistatic cuff and mat today, to be safe) Thing is, I'm thinking of adding an 100-120gb SSD to the parts list to go along with the 1TB spinning hard drive. How do I set up having two hard drives like this, with the OS and other often-used essential programs on the SSD and everything else on the "slow" drive? I'm new at all of this--I don't think I've ever even looked at a BIOS before, let alone assembled a system. It's more-or-less the "Dolphin" build from this MMO-Champion post.

Bonus points: Besides the obvious video card drivers, what else should I be looking to update as soon as I have the operating system (and anti-virus) installed?

Thank you, oh glorious hivemind!

MacBook Pro w SSD?

Hobbacocka — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 05:35:14 -0800

Any Mac gurus out there ready to predict when we can expect a MacBook Pro with a solid state drive, like the Air, as a standard feature? Should I hold out for this item? Or is it years off?

OS on SSD, Users on HDD: Did I break Win7?

caution live frogs — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:28:41 -0800

I have a brand new Windows 7 system with a small SSD and a large HDD for data. OS is installed on the SSD. I manually moved the ProgramData, Program Files/(x86) and Users folders to the HDD. Wondering what I might have broken in the process, and how to fix it. System is set up to run a microscope in my lab, needed a fast computer with a ton of RAM and a lot of drive space (all images get saved as uncompressed TIFFs, so it fills up fast). The sales rep delivered on all counts - except that all programs and user folders are on the SSD rather than the large hard drive (SSD is C: drive, large spinner is D:). There's a mostly identical microscope down the hall, also running Windows 7, but with the Users folder on a separate drive.

I know that such a setup isn't officially supported or even recommended by Microsoft, but I feel this is a stupid, backwards stance to take - small fast SSDs are becoming quite common, and not giving consumers an easy, built-in way of keeping the OS and programs/user data separated is ridiculous.

Rather than reinstall I tried to make this change manually. I booted to command prompt using the OS install CD "Repair" option, used robocopy to move the Users, Program Files, Program Files (x86) and ProgramData to D: drive. I then renamed the four original folders. Finally, I used the junction command to drop symlinks to these folders on the C: drive, with the idea that doing so would keep all links in the Registry intact without needing to do any edits with Regedit. (Also recreated the symlinks inside ProgramData folder too - I didn't forget those!).

After reboot, everything SEEMED to be OK, so I dropped back to command line and killed the (renamed) original folders from C:, recovering quite a bit of space. All programs and user folders are now on D:, but appear to the user as if they were on C:. Programs open up and run just fine, all users can log in properly. Great, right? But I feel I am missing something.

Specifically, I tried to run the Windows component setup utility to make some changes - removing some of the junk that Windows installs by default, and adding in a few things (OK, Minesweeper and solitaire, but these are ESSENTIAL right?). But this failed - got an error saying Windows couldn't complete the changes.

Any ideas? Did I break something, overlook something, or what? Hardware seems to install fine, but I haven't tried installing or uninstalling software aside from the Windows components. Can I just run a repair install to fix any issues, or will this junk my junctions and just place everything back on the C: drive? If I need to do anything, now is the time to do it - aside from adding a couple of user accounts and running software updates, the system is clean and unused, but I will need to be SURE it will be operational (and reliable!) in the near future.

Any help is appreciated. After four years of running OS X I am losing my touch with Windows I guess. (And no I can't use the microscope software with a Mac, or I would be doing so.)

Help me speed up my SSD in my MBP!

smitt — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:13:01 -0800

I installed an SSD into my early-2011 13" MacBook Pro. It's working great, but the benchmark tests don't come close to advertised speeds... I recently purchased an OCZ Agility 3 90GB SSD drive. I then bought OWC's Data Doubler, and once that arrived, got to work.

I have taken out the optical drive. In its place, I installed the Data Doubler with the stock 500GB 5200rpm drive that the computer shipped with.

I installed the SSD where the HDD was, in order to maximize speed (and negate the reported won't-wake-from-sleep issue when drive installed in the optical bay).

Cloned the original hard drive, minus the USERS folder and rebooted. I then turned on TRIM support in Lion according to instructions located online.

Success! Fantastico! Works very well, and it's extremely fast.

However, in benchmarking I'm only seeing 70MB/s read and 140MB/s write (I may have that reversed, but those are roughly the numbers). I believe I should be seeing much closer to 500MB/s??

Is there a step I missed, or is this normal? Should I have enabled something somewhere that I haven't to get the most out of my MBP with SSD?