Lately, my pet project has been to try and improve the performance of my 2009 13-inch MacBook Pro as much as possible. I am a speed freak when it comes to my technology. I maxed out the memory at 8 gigabytes which allows me to run multiple things at once, but I find that my processor and hard drive speed are slowing it down.
I can’t upgrade the processor unless I want to buy that new MacBook Pro with Retina Display that I have been drooling over, but what I can change is my hard drive. I happened to have a solid state disk that I installed into my Late-2007 MacBook Pro in conjunction with a regular hard drive to create a fusion drive.
Unfortunately, my SSD, as it’s called for short, is tiny; only 64 gigabytes (the size of my flash drive that I carry around in my pocket). So, I bit the bullet, backed up all my information onto an external hard drive via Time Machine, and installed the SSD with a fresh OS into my MacBook Pro.
Now why I would do such a thing after all the effort I put into creating my Boot Camp system? I didn’t get rid of it; I use an external hard drive enclosure and boot off of it should I need either my full Mac OS system or my Windows installation. This is an exploratory install, and so far, I am enjoying the speed increase. It’s four times faster than my 750 gigabyte hard drive, which means that programs open faster and are ready to run sooner. Plus, installing software and transferring data have been much quicker.
I am the occasional reader of anandtech.com, which has tons of articles about technology. Typically, if you want to do research on something, Anand Shimpi (as well as all the other writers), tries to take a consumer’s standpoint on technology while breaking out some of the tools of a technician to test them.
Of note? The article on SanDisk’s new Extreme II SSD; I might pick up the 240 gigabyte Extreme II SSD at some point. Check it out here.
I have been getting a lot of feedback from readers about my articles and I ask you: what are your experiences with solid state drives? Are you as smitten as I am or do you find you wish you had the space of a traditional hard drive again? Would you be interested in converting your CD drive into another hard drive for additional storage? What drive do you use and why?
We sell several SSDs here at Small Dog, though we don’t keep many in active stock. I would like to know about your experience with solid states and if you are happy with them. Email me!