Upgrading my 2010 Macbook Pro to SSD

I recently upgraded my 15" 2010 Macbook Pro's 500GB HDD to a 512GB SSD. The directions you find in this blog post, you should easily be able to find using a search engine. I just want to document what I did, hoping to help fill the Internet with something useful, maybe.

The didn't have a problem with the CPU or even memory. Well, I do constantly run out of HDD space every two-three months, but I do regular backups to an external USB 3.0 1 TB hard drive. But this is due mainly to the large image files from my photography. I don't keep many applications open nor do I install apps left and right.

The problem I was having was with the speed of my hard drives. My apps were taking too long to open up and to read/write files. So I took it upon myself to invest about $400 to breathe some new life into my two year old hardware.

Here's what I bought:

1. Crucial 512 GB m4 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s CT512M4SSD2 (~$384)
2. Maxtech 16521MX 32-Piece Precision Bit Set (~$10)
3. 2.5 inch SATA Hard Drive to USB 2.0 Adapter Cable with Silicon Protective Case (~$10)

The SATA to USB 2.0 adapter and cable with the SSD attached.


Next, I cloned my current hard drive over to the SSD. I used a free cloning app: Super Duper. Install it and just choose to backup all files. This may take a while, depending on how much data you're transferring over. Interestingly enough, the USB adapter used two USB connections.

Transferring my files over to the SSD via USB, aka cloning the hard drive.


Next, I needed to remove the screws. As shown in the picture, the three screws on the top right are longer than the others. A Phillips Head #00 is required (in the screw set I recommended above).

Preparing the take the screws out.


With the bottom lid removed, the hardware is exposed. The hard drive is on the bottom left. To remove that, you'll need the Torx T6 screwdriver (also found in screw set I recommended).

I also recommend getting a dust remover to help clean the inside of the Macbook Pro. It's amazing how much dust got into mine!

Removing the hard drive




Then I simply attached my SSD, and screwed everything back in, and ta-da, done! Well, I also recommend to enable Trim with Trim Enabler.

My Macbook Pro runs considerably better-- it boots faster, the larger apps like Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom open up lighting fast. Smaller apps I don't notice anything faster. When I work with RAW files, it's also nicer than before.

I should note that I opted to clone because I just had the hard drive replaced and did a clean install just a year ago. It's pretty much better to do a clean install if you have everything in place and are willing to. I'm still using OS X Lion (10.7.5).


I recommend the following youTube video: Crucial M4 SSD 2010 MacBook Pro Install for detailed instructions. It's what I used as a reference to upgrade my MBP.

Mobile Camp LA

I picked up a free ticket to Mobile Camp LA earlier this week and decided to attend. Overall I wasn't too impressed with the event. It may have very well been the first of it's kind aimed at developers, designers, and business folk. Anyway, I thought the venue was a bit of a mess as many things went wrong.

1. Earthquake drill at 10:15am (slightly distracting, but out of their control-- I understand)
2. A lot of sessions held in a one big open space separated by cloth dividers. Too noisy!
3. Microphone problems-- couldn't hear some sessions at all!
4. Power outages-- no presentation slides or projectors!
5. Cancelations and running behind time (somewhat normal, but there seemed to be quite a few).

Anyway, it was still enjoyable and I shouldn't complain since it was free for me. 

One more complaint in general, here was one session I ended up not enjoying where the speaker was more interested in promoting his own product than talking about technology or problem solving. I just do not like sitting through some kind of product advertisement for an hour.

The interesting thing I walked away with was how many new products/services Adobe was coming out with for not just designers, but also developers. Check out html.adobe.com to see all these brand new stuff. They are definitely pushing the Creative Cloud. Something I'll have to keep my eye on since I use Photoshop and Lightroom pretty heavily these days.

Prashant Sridharan (from Facebook) presenting on Native iOS Development.


Cross-platform MObile HTML5 Apps by Max Katz


SASS/LESS by Jake Johnson






Windows 8 Tablet by Daniel Egan


Backbone with mobile backend by Sid Maestre


Fund Your Start-up by Glang Biscan

SoCal Code Camp at USC

Last weekend I attended SoCal Code Camp held at University of Southern California (USC). Had a good time learning about new stuff as usual. The prizes here are pretty spectacular, but once again I won absolutely nothing. Nothing!

Like the one I went to earlier this year, this one was also a bit heavy on the .Net side of technology with little representation from Android and iOS, and nothing from Ruby/Rails/Java/etc. Not that I'm saying it's the organizer's fault or anything, they actually did a great job. Sometimes I wonder if other tech communities here in Los Angeles care to organize something under one event/banner at all, as each tend to have their own community to care for. Oh well right?



Dylan Campbell, one of the organizers I talk to.


Hattan Shobokshi presenting on ASP.net MVC Topics: The Model Binder




Free tacos for lunch


Prize and schwag giveaway at lunch. There was another giveaway at the end of the day.




Joe Enos on Improving your ASP.NET build and deployment process with build scripts and continuous integration.


Jon Flanders presenting Native iOS programming for .Net developers


Lee Salazar on From Codemonkey to CEO.


Related:

• Pictures from SoCal Code Camp (held at California State Fullerton earlier this year)