Q: Upgrading MBP 13" with an SSD

Usually in dual drive installations such as you are contemplating, the SSD should have the OSX installed on it and located where the current HDD is located.  The HDD is then placed in the DVD drive location.  But the final choice is always yours.

Backup your data on an external HDD.

Since the SSD will not have the capacity to hold all your data, I recommend that you format the SSD, install the OSX and install it into the MBP.

Then you have decisions to make.  What data do you want on the SSD and what data to remain on the HDD in the DVD location?  Since the internal connectivity is much faster than USB (unless you have a Thunderbolt connection available), I would install the backup drive in the DVD drive location and 'drag & drop'  data to the SSD.

Depending upon the capacity/performance of the HDD and the backup HDD, you can keep them where they are or swap them.  If you keep them where they are, erase the outboard/back up drive and backup both internal drives to it.  If you swap the drives, clone the drive that is now outboard to the internal HDD (it has all of your data and the OSX on it) and then erase the outboard HDD and backup the two internal drives to it.

Life would be simpler if you could afford a 500 GB SSD. 

Ciao.

Hi Subodh92:

Before installing a new hard drive download and install  OmniDiskSweeper

OmniDiskSweeper will sort your files by size and show you where they are located. See the following video on OmniDiskSweeper. Using OmniDiskSweeper

This will allow you to move some of your bigger files off your hard drive and maybe allow you to use a smaller SSD.

Note: Before doing anything, you should first make a complete backup. Things happen.

You should definitely try to buy an SSD which will hold all your data. First because it can hold all your data and seconds because your existing HDD is 5 years old. That is about the life span of an HDD. Here are some prices from OWC, and there is not much difference between 240GB and 480 GB.

I upgraded my Early 2011 13 inch Macbook Pro using a Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB SSD and I have seen a dramatic speed increase. I also installed my old hard drive in something similar to Data Doubler from OWC OWC Data Doubler.

OWC is a good place to go for upgrading your Macbook Pro.

OWC SSD's: OWC SSD's

Once you decide on an SSD, I suggest that you install it in an enclosure OWC external case or using a USB to SATA adapter USB to SATA adapter and connect it to your MBP via USB.

Open Disk Utility>Erase and format the SSD to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and a GUID partition.

Then use a third party application such as Carbon Copy Cloner Carbon Copy Cloner (Not free, but worth the price) or Super Duper to copy all data from the internal HDD as well as the recovery partition.

The clone will be a exact copy of your hard drive and it will be bootable.

Boot the MBP with the OPTION key (Startup Manager) and select the new SSD. How to choose a startup disk on your Mac

If it boots the MBP, perform the physical swap of drives.

Also now that you have your computer open you may want to upgrade the memory. It is very easy.

OWC OWC memory or crucial Crusial Mac memory are good places to get memory.

You could look at a video guide to see how much is involved.

OWC install videos

Note the model identifier of the computer you have as most applications are shown in page.

Check this link to identify your MacBook Pro model.

• How to identify MacBook Pro models - Apple Support

Kim

There are multiple ways that you can set up a MBP with two internal drives.  Since Adobe is a resource intensive application, I certainly would think that using it on the SSD in lieu of the HDD would be to your advantage since that will be the faster option.. 

This link will give you an good idea how you might choose to set up the twin drive MBP:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DDAMBS0GB/

Ciao.