SSD/HDD dual drive on MacBook Pro late 2011

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SSD/HDD dual drive on MacBook Pro late 2011

So I finally finished setting up my dual drive on my MacBook Pro late 2011. I ended up putting the SSD where the optical drive was, since research has told me that the MBP late 2011 is the lucky model with an optics drive that supports Sata III. If anyone can give me a reason to switch my SSD and HDD, please let me know.

Anyways, now I am asking for some help regarding setting up my macbook pro to utilize both drives. I have copied everything over to the SSD, and the SSD is set to boot my computer up. I can already tell this thing is so much faster now. However, I basically just have two exact copies of my all my stuff on both drives. How do I set my computer to know which drive uses what? I want some things to use my HDD and other things to use my SDD, not everything on both. Where are these settings and what do I do?

Thank you in advance!

MacBook Pro, late 2011

Posted on Feb 17, 2016 2:57 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 17, 2016 6:24 PM in response to jdsr4c

Hi Jdsr4c:

I have an Early Macbook Pro 2011.

I have installed a 500 GB Samsung 850 EVO in place of the HD.

I moved the HD to the Optical bay.

The Optical bay has a speed of 3 Gigabit. The HD space has a speed of 6 Gigabit.

See the screenshots from my mac.

The old HD, I would reformat it so it is not bootable.

I use my old HD for storage of Movies, etc.

So as an example, I will download a movie and then move it to my old hard drive. I will put it in a directory called for example Movies.

On the SSD I will make an "Alias" pointing to the directory Movies on the old HD. (In windows it would be a shortcut).

Anyway, hope this helps.

Kim

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Answer 2

jdsr4c Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 17, 2016 6:23 PM in response to KimUserName

Nice! I installed the same exact SSD from Samsung.

I am assuming from what I've read and what I see here my late 2011 MBP does in fact put out 6 GB from the optical drive. But yes, you did help and thank you for the reply! So from here I will can restore my HDD, and then just drag my media stuff from my SSD to my HDD. I don't have to have OS X on the HDD anymore correct? I can literally just use it as storage as if it were an external HDD? And thank you for the "Alias" tip also. Definitely a help bringing these to my attention.

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Answer 3

Feb 18, 2016 3:40 AM in response to jdsr4c

Hi Jdsr4c:

I think I may have confused you.

The optical bay is the slow one at 3 Gigabit.

Where the original HD was mounted is faster at 6 Gigabit.

In my configuration the old HDD is now in the optical bay.

I put the SSD where the old HDD used to be mounted so I would get the faster 6 Gigabit speeds.

Kim

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Answer 4

Feb 18, 2016 4:02 AM in response to KimUserName

Hi Jdsr4c:

Just reread your post and from your screen shots it looks like you are getting 6 Gigabit speed with your SSD.

I guess both ports are capable of 6 Gigabit.

Sorry, my mistake.

Kim

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Answer 5

gcribz

Level 1

4 points

Oct 18, 2016 8:12 AM in response to jdsr4c

Hello,

I've got a late 2011 15" Macbook pro, I bought a data doubler and a SATA III 6Gb link speed SSD. will this work in the 2011 model? All ive been seeing all over the web is "don't install SATA III in the optical bay". Is this true of the 15" late 2011? thanks.

Gary

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