Upgrading a MacBook Pro hard drive to an SSD

My MacBook Pro has been a constant source of joy to me since I got it. It's got a fast processor, has an awesome screen, runs Lion perfectly. It's got all the connectivity I could want too. I'm not new to Macs by any means, but this one is a little stormer. Well, mostly. It could have been a little quicker on the disk front. Waiting a few seconds for an App to load is ok, but when you're running a number of virtual machines in VMware Fusion, it could get a little wearing. The disk IO was actually slowing down processing sometimes and that's not good.

Apple don't tend to skimp on the hardware that they put into their computers but, like most if not all laptops, they come with a 5400 RPM 2.5" harddrive. It's a Seagate drive in the MacBook I bought, so not a poor standard disk at all. But 5400 RPM really doesn't cut it. Considering that I'm used to working with servers and SAN equipment that mostly contain 15,000 RPM SCSI disks, it's pretty poor.

I'd previously upgraded the RAM in my MacBook to 8GB which is a very cost effective plan. I really mean cost effective in the truest sense - it's not expensive and it's very, very effective. Maxing out the memory in any Mac is a great idea, but it won't address the disk IO problem. I was still seeing very slow disk when working with a number of VMs at the same time.

I did my research and ordered what appears to be one of the fastest SSDs (Solid State Disk) that you can get at a decent price. I've bought a 120GB OCZ Agility:

In theory, this baby can manage over 500 Megabytes per second read and write, producing some 50,000 IOPS. We'll see.

In this guide, I'm going to show you how to swap your MacBook Pro drive for one of these. You'll need some tools and a USB SATA caddy. I got a cheap USB caddy from Amazon like this one. It's useful to have this anyway, as you'll want to redeploy your original hard drive as a handy external drive, perhaps for Time Machine?

You'll also need two screwdrivers. One is a standard "Jewellers" screwdriver. The other is a tiny Torx T6 driver. I managed to pick up a set of Rolson Torx drivers for less than a couple of pounds on Ebay.

We're getting ahead of ourselves here though. First, lets get a bootable copy of your Mac OS X system onto that SSD. To do this, simply put it into the USB caddy:

When you plug it into a USB port on your Mac, you'll see the following. You need to initialise the disk and then open Disk Utility:

We need to Erase the entire disk to create a useable partition. I called mine SSDTemp so that I can be sure I'm working with the correct drive! Ensure that it is being created as a GUID type partition or it won't boot.

Once the drive has been formatted - a very, very quick process - you can'll need to open up a suitable drive copy program. I used SuperDuper, but you could use Carbon Copy or something similar. I've realised now that I've not applied my full serial number to my copy of SuperDuper since reinstalling my Mac in readiness for Lion. That means that you can make this whole process work with a piece of evaluation software. (If you like it, buy it.)

NB: It would be sensible to shut down all the active programs on your Mac before attempting the copy. Also, don't try to use it for anything. That way, the cloning process has a good chance of ensuring that every single file is copied exactly a you last left your Mac.

In SuperDuper, choose the existing Macintosh HD as the source and the new SSDTemp (or whatever you called yours) as the destination. You'll be warned that it will be wiped clean. That's fine of course, so go ahead:

Don't expect the copy to be quick. Mine took about two hours for 90GB. That's because the SSD is at the end of the USB2 bus. Don't worry, the speed will come. Just to show you how it looks a while down the line:

Once the copy process has finished, you should try a test boot from the SSD. Restart your Mac and at the "Mac Sound", press and hold the "Alt" (Option) button. You'll be presented with a choice of boot device. If SuperDuper has done it's job correctly, you'll then be able to boot from the SSD:

With a bit of luck, the Mac will boot just fine, but not particularly quickly yet. Remember, we're still on the end of a piece of USB string. Once the Mac has booted, and if you're running Lion, you may be asked for a password to access the internal drive. In my case, the whole drive is encrypted, so needs a valid user to unlock it. If you are running an older OS or haven't enable FDE, then you'll not see this dialog:

If you're happy with the way your Mac came up, then it's time for some surgery. Shutdown the Mac (don't just sleep) and find something soft to put it on. I used my microfibre cover. The Mac goes up-side-down on your soft protective layer:

A word of warning while we're talking about protection. Wield your screwdrivers carefully and precisely. You don't want gouges and scratches out of even the underside of your lovely MacBook do you? Be careful with the screws and make sure that you don't force them. Use the correct sized screwdriver too or you risk ruining the heads. When you're putting them back, do them up tight, but not over tight. I've noticed that if you're not exactly straight, you can end up with a little bit proud of the surface. This won't damage your Mac, but will probably cost you a new coffee table...

Undo the screws, but don't remove them. Then you can lift the whole underside away, screws and all, and place it to one side. This will simplify it's return, trust me:

Now, sit back for a moment and have a good look at your MacBook. It's a wonder to behold how much computer they got into such a neat package. Sigh.

We need to use the jewellers screwdriver one more to to undo two screws as shown here. You can then gently pull our the black plastic piece that they are holding in. (Apologies for the low quality photo, but I forgot to take this shot.) I can see no need to touch the other two screws at the bottom of the photo that also seem to be to do with holding the drive in.

Once done, you can pull (gently) the plastic tab that is stuck to the drive. The drive will sort of hinge out of place. You'll see what's holding it in there in a moment. Replacement will be the reverse procedure. This is a much better photo showing the drive cover removed:

Ok, you've got the hard drive out. Carefully detach the SATA cable. Now you'll need your Torx T6 screwdriver because Apple have put four little nubs onto the drive. You need to remove these and attach them back onto the SSD in the same locations.

I also detached the plastic tab and stuck it back onto the SSD. In that way I can remove it later with the same ease as the hard disk came out.

Reattach the SATA cable first. Then, slotting the SSD back into the MacBook is exactly the reverse of getting it out. Slot the two nubs into the holes nearest the front of the case, then lower the back part into place. Finally, replace the black plastic drive holder and screw into place. Replace the bottom of the MacBook carefully and do up all the screws.

Boot the laptop and, all things being equal, you'll have a fully working MacBook to play with. It will be so much quicker than you'll believe. I used a disk testing freebie (from the App Store) and it's rather nippy. :-)