Buying an SSD/Data Doubler

[josephmccutchen]

I am thinking of buying an SSD and a Data Doubler soon, and I have a few questions:

1. Right now I have a Western Digital Scorpio Black 750GB 7200RPM HDD in the main bay. When I buy the SSD/Data Doubler, I'm thinking of taking the WD and putting it in the opti-bay. Is that a good idea?

2. I'm new to this whole SSD thing, so I'm thinking of buying only a 64 or 128GB SSD for now; I have about 400 GB of files, but I can put all of those on the HDD, and use Time Machine to back up as well. Is that a good idea?

3. Kind of the same idea as #2, but in a different way: how will the performance be if I keep all of my files on the HDD, and just use the SSD for applications?

4. The biggest reason why I want to buy an SSD is performance. I have around 30,000 photos in iPhoto, and it takes time to open.

5. Last question: which SSD to get? I have a mid-2010 MBP 15", so I'm pretty sure that the SATA 6 is no use to me. Just not sure what would be the best.

Any help in this matter is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[chscag]

If you decide to go with a data doubler, you should remove the standard hard drive and place it in the data doubler bay. The SSD should be the primary drive and contain the operating system. You would want to do it that way in order to provide speed for the operating system to boot and run. In my opinion you need at least a 128 GB SSD.

For the best SSDs and the data doubler, I recommend Mac Sales (Other World Computing). They stock the very best in Mac equipment and have an 800 number for speaking with a live support person.

 

[Bob_Stan]

That is what I did and it has worked out great. The 128 GB for the primary drive has been adequate. The HDD gives me plenty of room now for other files.

 

[josephmccutchen]

That is what I did and it has worked out great. The 128 GB for the primary drive has been adequate. The HDD gives me plenty of room now for other files.

Do I need to keep my pictures on the SSD, or they can be accessed from the HDD and leave the iPhoto app on the SSD? Same with movies: when I'm rendering a movie with iMovie, if the app is on the SSD, but rendering to the HDD, does that decrease performance? Perhaps these sound like silly questions; this is how much I don't know about SSD's.

 

[Aptmunich]

I have this setup as well and it works really nicely.
Regarding performance, remember that when rendering movies etc. often the CPU is the bottleneck, not the harddrive.

I have all my apps and the OS on the SSD, along with documents and other smaller files. Most of my media is on the internal harddrive and I just told the relevant apps to look there for the files (both iPhoto and iTunes give you this option).

My only complaint is that I went with a 60GB SSD - if you have a few apps, it's too cramped for comfort and I'm constantly running out of space. Definitely go for the 128 if you can afford the difference.

 

[josephmccutchen]

I have this setup as well and it works really nicely.
Regarding performance, remember that when rendering movies etc. often the CPU is the bottleneck, not the harddrive.

I have all my apps and the OS on the SSD, along with documents and other smaller files. Most of my media is on the internal harddrive and I just told the relevant apps to look there for the files (both iPhoto and iTunes give you this option).

My only complaint is that I went with a 60GB SSD - if you have a few apps, it's too cramped for comfort and I'm constantly running out of space. Definitely go for the 128 if you can afford the difference.

Just been looking at the Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD; I have a mid-2010 MacBook Pro. Will I get the full benefit of the 6G, or should I stick with the 3G model?