Upgrading a Macbook Pro

[Arnold F.]

I want to use my 2008 Macbook Pro 2.4Ghz machine as my on-set uploading machine and to run Premiere on. I need to get rid of the 5400rpm drive in there now and am exploring options. One option that seems good is to buy either a 120GB or 240GB SSD from Other World Computing and use it as my primary drive, as well as their kit that allows one to replace the stock Apple superdrive with another hard drive, which could be a 7200rpm drive for storage. Thoughts?

[Jack Shanahan]

I did this with my 2010 Macbook Pro. I have a 240GB SSD running OSX and the original 500 GB drive for storage. It definitely has sped up my machine considerably. Not scientific tests done tho. I can report more once I start shooting some R3Ds and working with Premiere...

[Arnold F.]

Did you purchase all the elements of the transition from Other World Computing? Also, do you miss the Superdrive? Currently, I only use mine for watching movies. I would rather have the storage and, unless I'm mistaken, I can access the superdrive of my mini through my network for movie watching.


I did this with my 2010 Macbook Pro. I have a 240GB SSD running OSX and the original 500 GB drive for storage. It definitely has sped up my machine considerably. Not scientific tests done tho. I can report more once I start shooting some R3Ds and working with Premiere...

[Jack Shanahan]

Did you purchase all the elements of the transition from Other World Computing?

yes I bought the SSD and the adapter to put it in the optical slot from OWC.

[Alex Carr]

It is a good idea, I really can't remember the last time I used a dvd drive in general. I found a cable that goes from the internal sata connector to an e-sata port so you can connect a external drive where the DVD drive used to be. However this requires a hole to be made in the side of your laptop, and it's not hotswap. So any drive you connect must be on during start-up of the laptop. Not a terrible thing.

[Arnold F.]

Do Premiere and the files I'm working with have to be on the same drive? Could I, say, have Premiere on an internal SSD drive and the R3D and other files I'm working with be on an internal (or even external) 7200rpm HDD? The answer to this will determine what size SSD I buy.

[Jack Shanahan]

Do Premiere and the files I'm working with have to be on the same drive? Could I, say, have Premiere on an internal SSD drive and the R3D and other files I'm working with be on an internal (or even external) 7200rpm HDD? The answer to this will determine what size SSD I buy.

I think that is how most people work when editing. The point there is to find the fastest I/O connection possible when using an external drive for the media you are editing with.

That is why I love having two hardrives on my laptop. I use the SSD to run the OS and APPS then the internal 7200 HD to store the media which is connected via SATA which is as fast as I/O gets (maybe thunderbolt is faster i dont know)....

Hope this helps. I am not a pro editor - i mainly shoot - so take what I say fact check it and let me know :)

[Mike P.]

I tried swapping my original 5400rpm with a 7200rpm 2.5" I had laying around and it vibrated pretty substantially... To the point where I put the 5400 back in. It was one of those things where, having used the laptop completely silent and vibration free for so long, I couldn't overlook the buzzing/humming of the 7200rpm drive under my wrist... Know what I mean?

The problem with using an SSD for OS drive is it loads things incredibly fast, but doesn't really make post-loading operations any faster (which is where most of the heavy lifting with video editing is)... So sure, PPro or FCP or the computer in general boots up super quick, but the footage playing back is still limited to 7200rpm, so there really isn't any advantage once you're in the application. I'm kind of hoping someone releases an affordable 1tb SSD soon... like <$200.

In any case, are there any bigger (500gig-1tb) 7200rpm drives that are essentially vibrationless available?

[Brian Merlen]

ssd for apps, 7200rpm drive replacing dvd for scratch disk. or use another ssd for the scratch but that is very expensive. plus when your copying cards i would guess your external port is the bottle neck, not the internal drive your copying to...so i am not sure how much these upgrades will really help when your probably stuck on firewire for hooking up your red mag unless you have an esata?

[Matthew Mann]

Do Premiere and the files I'm working with have to be on the same drive? Could I, say, have Premiere on an internal SSD drive and the R3D and other files I'm working with be on an internal (or even external) 7200rpm HDD? The answer to this will determine what size SSD I buy.

Yeah, I have the latest i7 iMac with an SSD boot drive and a 7200 sata drive internally. premiere is on the SSD and all R3Ds are on a thunderbolt raid 5 tower and scratch files live on the internal 7200. At this point the SSD sizes are too small to be used for any major data storage but they're ideal for boot discs for the OS and applications. It really makes a huge difference!