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    Hard Drive Caddy for 15" MBP / SSD & HDD power and performance and logistics questions

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by masterchef341, Aug 19, 2012.

  1. masterchef341

    masterchef341 The guy from The Notebook

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    So I'm thinking about picking up an SSD (~160 GB) for a 15" MBP and having two drives.

    I'm also thinking about installing OS X on the SSD and Windows on the regular HDD.

    Questions:

    1) Does the hard drive power up and start spinning automatically when booting into OS X?

    2) Does the HDD need to go into the caddy and the SSD into the main drive spot?

    3) Does anyone have a recommendation for a decent, budget oriented SSD at about 160 GB?
     
    masterchef341, Aug 19, 2012
    #1
  2. Karamazovmm

    Karamazovmm Overthinking? Always!

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    1) dunno

    2) its up to you, some put the HDD in the bay and the ssd in the caddy due to vibrations

    3) 160gb is intel only, you could try 120gb or go all the way to 256gb (this is to avoid sandforce controlled drives), the crucial m4 being usually the cheapest one of the reliable drives, they can be found for less than 200 and from what I saw you can grab one of the m4 256gb at around 160

    its quite possible to install windows on the HDD, since I never used a multiple drive system Im unable to inform if there is some hack on bootcamp that needs to be done.
     
    Karamazovmm, Aug 19, 2012
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  3. Karamazovmm

    Karamazovmm Overthinking? Always!

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    I actually read this today, the way to install bootcamp is simple, make a bootable win 7 usb thumb drive or go for the dvd, put the HDD that you are going to use for windows in the HDD bay, boot into the dvd/thumb drive, install windows. Remove the HDD and the dvd insert the HDD in your preferred spot and you are done.
     
    Karamazovmm, Aug 20, 2012
    #3
  4. masterchef341

    masterchef341 The guy from The Notebook

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    masterchef341, Aug 21, 2012
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  5. EpicBlob

    EpicBlob Notebook Evangelist

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    What I did was buy a cheap housing for my superdrive then used it as an external dvd drive. Also, windows 7 is a PAIN dual booted. Don't do what I did and try for a week. I'm not 100% sure (its been a while) but this is how to get windows 7 to boot without the black screen.

    place "windows drive" into the main drive slot. Place mac drive into the caddy.
    This will then correctly install windows 7 on the windows drive
    Once complete, just switch the drives again (or keep them there).

    It's really weird and a Lion issue, but the windows drive must be in the main slot for it to install.
     
    EpicBlob, Aug 22, 2012
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  6. nizmoz

    nizmoz Notebook Evangelist

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    nizmoz, Sep 6, 2012
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