Adding an SSD Drive to a MacBook Pro?

[freaky]

I have a MacBook Pro that I purchased new in Feb 2010.

Do I need to buy any additional parts besides the solid-state hard drive to replace the hard-disk drive?

Will it simply go in the place where the old hard drive was or do I need to install it where my optical drive is?

Can anyone recommend some good drives?

 

[DeltaMac]

No, you don't need any additional parts. You would simply replace your original hard drive with the SSD.
No, you don't need to install it where the optical drive is now. Unless you want to _add_ the SSD in addition to the hard drive that's already installed. Then, yes, it can go in place of the optical drive.
You can find all that info here: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/2.5
They also have a good variety of SSDs, as well as installation videos - or, you can call that company for answers to your questions. OWC is a reliable company, and they know Macs.

 

[djackmac]

I wouldn't do it. I had a macbook pro in with an aftermarket SSD installed. The guy came in complaining he couldn't copy to firewire. Turns out it was something with the drive causing it. I told him it was not under warranty because the drive was causing it. He didn't want to believe it and said he was going to investigate himself and he would be back. I haven't seen him since and its been over 2 months.

 

[fryke]

But that's a _very_ specific case. Generally, the user still has warranty for the whole machine from Apple (exception: the SSD) and warranty for the SSD by the maker of said SSD and for the installation of the SSD from the technician doing it. (If that's yourself, then that's your thing.) I've heard many, many success stories with aftermarket SSDs in MBPs and have installed a couple of them for clients myself.

For the case you're mentioning:

1.) *IF* the SSD is faulty, simply have it replaced under warranty.
2.) If it's a configuration problem, find out what the problem is and solve it.

Of course that's not covered under Apple's warranty, but such a problem's still solveable.

 

[djackmac]

But that's a _very_ specific case. Generally, the user still has warranty for the whole machine from Apple (exception: the SSD)

That's what I meant. It wasn't an Applecare issue.

and warranty for the SSD by the maker of said SSD and for the installation of the SSD from the technician doing it. (If that's yourself, then that's your thing.) I've heard many, many success stories with aftermarket SSDs in MBPs and have installed a couple of them for clients myself.

I didn't install it for him and most likely wouldn't just for incompatibility issues like this. If I did, I'd make them sign a waiver saying I'm not responsible for backing promises made by the drive manufacturer.

For the case you're mentioning:

1.) *IF* the SSD is faulty, simply have it replaced under warranty.
2.) If it's a configuration problem, find out what the problem is and solve it.

Of course that's not covered under Apple's warranty, but such a problem's still solveable.

I'm not going to go through specifics, but I know what I'm doing. This guy brought the machine in assuming it was an Apple hardware issue. Maybe it was or wasn't, but the machine was obviously out of spec beyond what Apple would cover or gaurantee, so essentially it wasn't Apples problem. As far as me going any further with it, he wasn't going to pay anything and Apple surely wasn't going to reimburse me for trying to figure it out. Beyond that, how is it solvable or a configuration issue at the chip level? Even if I had passed on it and sent it to the Apple depot for them to figure it out, it would have came right back not repaired with an excuse of "issue caused by third party part". That's also if the guy was lucky and they didn't void the warranty and charge us (the customer) an $120 diag fee for wasting their time.

 

[ElDiabloConCaca]

That's also if the guy was lucky and they didn't void the warranty and charge us (the customer) an $120 diag fee for wasting their time.

It's illegal for a computer company to void the warranty on an entire computer because of an upgrade performed by the end-user (kind of like cars: the manufacturer can't void the warranty on the transmission because you replaced the radio).

The warranty on the original hard drive can be voided by replacing it, but it's completely legal to upgrade RAM, hard drive, and video cards without affecting the warranty on the rest of the machine.

Apple may "persuade" you against it (and some misinformed Apple employees may actually refuse to help you), but it's perfectly legal.

 

[djackmac]

It's illegal for a computer company to void the warranty on an entire computer because of an upgrade performed by the end-user (kind of like cars: the manufacturer can't void the warranty on the transmission because you replaced the radio).

The warranty on the original hard drive can be voided by replacing it, but it's completely legal to upgrade RAM, hard drive, and video cards without affecting the warranty on the rest of the machine.

Apple may "persuade" you against it (and some misinformed Apple employees may actually refuse to help you), but it's perfectly legal.

You don't have much experience with the repair depots, do you? Frankly, it doesn't make any difference to me because I'll support the equipment. But by Apple standards, if a desktop or laptop needs more than one part within 30 days, our service scores take a hit. So in some cases with laptops, its just less headache to send a laptop to the depot. As far as the Apple store is concerned (whom also sends their laptops to the repair depots) I suppose it depends on who you talk to on a given day. Many times at either the Houston or Tennessee depot, it depends on who gets a hold of the machine on a given day. But most of the time, they will void the warranty until its put back in spec. The only exception most of the time is with RAM.

 

[ElDiabloConCaca]

"Voiding" a warranty is an irreversible action -- once it's voided, it cannot be reversed. Kind of like how you can't "un-void" a voided check.

Maybe we're using different terminology to describe the same thing... Apple will, in many cases, not honor a warranty repair if enough modification has been done to the machine that they're no longer comfortable working on the machine.

I've had plenty of experience with repair depots to know that swapping out the RAM, hard drive, and/or video card (in the case of Apple towers) will typically not raise any flags by the tech, but then again, in Apple's retail stores, they seem to be more stringent with their policy. Enough barking up the right tree will, in fact, get you a warranty repair on a Mac mini that has had both the hard drive (be it an SSD or platter-based hard drive) and RAM upgraded.

I was just stating a fact that exists by law in the United States (that a manufacturer cannot void the warranty on, say, the RAM or motherboard if the user upgraded, say, the hard drive, unless damage was done to those modules in the upgrade process), not trying to express my experience with repair depots or start an argument.

Apple has never said nor stated anywhere on their website that upgrading the hard drive or RAM in either a Mac mini or Apple-branded laptop (two computers that may or may not be harder to upgrade those components in) will void the warranty on the rest of the computer.

I'm not going to go through specifics, but I know what I'm doing.

You don't have much experience with the repair depots, do you?

Neither fryke nor I are questioning your repair abilities or knowledge about Mac computers. No need to get defensive.

 

[fryke]

We're an official Apple Service Provider ourselves, and I _do_ know about how Apple can be b*tchy about these things. And it _is_ a problem if two parts simply don't like to work with each other. It's a typical case of rock and hard place: The _rest_ of the notebook is covered under Apple's warranty and the drive is covered under the warranty of its maker. But if the notebook works fine with its original harddrive installed and the drive works fine in a different computer, then there's not much good each warranty will do... Software issues are _not_ covered by the warranties, so actually _finding_ the problem is best left to the customer, i.e. he should try a complete clean install first, replace the drive again (installing the original drive if that's still working correctly). If copying to a firewire-connected drive fails in all these tests, the fault can be pointed towards Apple, and then it'd be best to send it in in its original state. These things _are_ a b*tch.

We usually inform the customer of the inherent problems, but as I've said: I've yet to see such a problem stemming from installing an SSD drive. It's success stories all over. Yours is the first bad case I've heard of. (The other "bad" cases are when inexpensive SSDs are bought and don't give the advantages a more expensive model would give.) I don't take offense with your argument of sending the customer away (although I might have handled it differently), I take offense with the generalisation. "Don't install SSDs!" is simply going against all _my_ personal experience. I've seen so many harddrives die in the last three years and have _not_ seen an SSD fail so far. (Granted, the SSDs only make a very small percentage of our customers' notebooks so far, so they're probably not statistically relevant yet.)