I just finished installing an SSD for my MacBook Pro. The results have been pretty great so far. Subtle, but when I really start working again I’m hoping to see a huge difference. I’ve really noticed a performance hit lately especially with Spotlight and opening lots of apps so I’m hoping this solves it.
The first thing I did was bought a SSD from Amazon. I got the Samsung 840 Series Solid State drive. The drive came 2 days later thanks to Amazon Prime. Once it came it was like Christmas. I opened up the box and threw everything away except the hard drive.
Next I attached it to my computer with a SATA wire. I borrowed it from a great guy I know at Mountain States Networking named Justin Kurynny. (He’s the last person in a long line of people that told me I *had* to get an SSD)
From there I just went and downloaded SuperDuper from the web. It works with Mountain Lion too! I’m still on Lion and it worked flawlessly.
I did this on a Friday night and went to bed while it copied. It ended up taking 6 hours to copy 500GB. I woke up the next morning ready to finish up.
First, I watched a video on how to take apart my MacBook Pro. Seemed simple enough, and it was.
I layed everything out, took my old hard drive out and replaced it with the new SSD.
The only thing that got me was that the hard drive needed a special tool (or at least a tool I didn’t have) for the drive mount screws. After a trip to Home Depot with 3 kids who made it take much longer than it should have I had my tool. I came home and finished replacing it.
Once I got it on all was good. Super easy. I turned my MacBook on and it worked just like it did before but with a little more spring in its step. (You know that same feeling you get when you walk through a shopping center and they’re playing Christmas music? …Ok, maybe not)
A great guy I know named Tony Bourke calls SSDs a “Charlton Heston” technology. Because once you try it, the only way you’ll ever not use it again is if someone pries it from your cold dead hands. Awesome.
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