2012 Macbook Pro,installing SSD in DVD slot?

[fourthtunz]

I have a 2012 Macbook Pro I7 Quad that I use with protools, just saw a video on youtube where a guy puts in 2 SSDs , one in the HD spot and one in the DVD slot..he ran them in a raid, not sure I want to do that but for protools in a boot and record drive situation..seems like a great idea.

Have you done it?

Ive been using an SD card as boot drive for protools and recording on the 960 gig SSD I have as record drive and its been working fine.
I just think for long term and larger sessions rather than running an external drive I'll put one in the DVD slot.
Thanks for any input!

[VRW]

Originally Posted by fourthtunz

I have a 2012 Macbook Pro I7 Quad that I use with protools, just saw a video on youtube where a guy puts in 2 SSDs , one in the HD spot and one in the DVD slot..he ran them in a raid, not sure I want to do that but for protools in a boot and record drive situation..seems like a great idea.

Have you done it?

Ive been using an SD card as boot drive for protools and recording on the 960 gig SSD I have as record drive and its been working fine.
I just think for long term and larger sessions rather than running an external drive I'll put one in the DVD slot.
Thanks for any input!

This should be no problem actually. Thousands of PT users have done that successfully.
What you will need is the adapter and the right tools (+ the second drive).
OWC offer a kit (adapter, tools+SSD) which might be the best solution.
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DDMBS6X480/

You can select the size of the SSD though.
OWC also provides the installation tutorial video on the dedicated site (just scroll down).

If you do not want to use the OWC SSDs but rather Samsung SSDs or other brands you
still can use the OWC adapter+the tools.
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DDAMBS0GB/

If you do not use OWC SSDs but Samsung SSDs or other brands you might not forget to
enable Trim support for these. For OWC SSDs you do not have to enable Trim support in
your macOS because they got their own system onboard.

Btw it is recommended to use the internal drive of the MBP for your system and the 2nd
drive in the DVD bay for the Pro Tools audio drive, just from experience.

And forget Raid for this kinda configuration. You just want 2 separate, fast SSDs for the
successful work with Pro Tools. 1 for the OS and 1 for your Pro Tools sessions+audio files.

The best of success to you.

[fourthtunz]

Originally Posted by VRW

This should be no problem actually. Thousands of PT users have done that successfully.
What you will need is the adapter and the right tools (+ the second drive).
OWC offer a kit (adapter, tools+SSD) which might be the best solution.
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DDMBS6X480/

You can select the size of the SSD though.
OWC also provides the installation tutorial video on the dedicated site (just scroll down).

If you do not want to use the OWC SSDs but rather Samsung SSDs or other brands you
still can use the OWC adapter+the tools.
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DDAMBS0GB/

If you do not use OWC SSDs but Samsung SSDs or other brands you might not forget to
enable Trim support for these. For OWC SSDs you do not have to enable Trim support in
your macOS because they got their own system onboard.

Btw it is recommended to use the internal drive of the MBP for your system and the 2nd
drive in the DVD bay for the Pro Tools audio drive, just from experience.

And forget Raid for this kinda configuration. You just want 2 separate, fast SSDs for the
successful work with Pro Tools. 1 for the OS and 1 for your Pro Tools sessions+audio files.

The best of success to you.

Thanks for taking the time to respond!
Just wanted to make sure adding the 2nd drive would work ok with Protools before I bought it! Thanks and happy recording!

[cwsand]

I just did this with my 2011 MBP. Bought the Data Doubler kit from OWC and installed a 250GB SSD for the system drive and moved the old hard drive to the optical bay position. That along with a memory upgrade to 16GB and a thunderbolt SSD external drive and it's like a new computer! You can also buy the optical drive kit that let's you use the CD/DVD burner with a USB connection.

BTW - using the old hard drive for Pro Tools should also be fine as long as it's at least 7200 rpm (or SSD, of course).

[WarrenG]

Hi:

One word of warning. I have a 2011 MBP with the OWC Data Doubler and it works at treat, but you have to be careful which drive you attach to the Data Doubler.

I have a Crucial M500 1TB SSD and a Samsung Evo850 (MUCH better) in my MBP and the M500 drive will only work when it's attached to the main SATA port, not the Data Doubler. Yes, I've updated the BIOS so that the DVD port can run at 6Gb.

[fourthtunz]

Thanks for the help all!
No huge sessions right now so I'll wait for the drives to come down some more.
Funny I bought the 960 gig Sandisk ultra2 and its been great but on Amazon its gone up $70 since last October!
I want another one gig but I'll wait a bit!
Happy Recording!

[Drewmix]

Originally Posted by cwsand

I just did this with my 2011 MBP. Bought the Data Doubler kit from OWC and installed a 250GB SSD for the system drive and moved the old hard drive to the optical bay position. That along with a memory upgrade to 16GB and a thunderbolt SSD external drive and it's like a new computer! You can also buy the optical drive kit that let's you use the CD/DVD burner with a USB connection.

BTW - using the old hard drive for Pro Tools should also be fine as long as it's at least 7200 rpm (or SSD, of course).

Hey Chris,

I was wondering how your computer was working with Pro Tools before your upgrade. I have a MBP late 2011, and I was thinking of doing basically exactly the same thing as you.

My current set up uses ~120% CPU on playback, and is causing my laptop to overheat, which isn't allowing me to mix/record (even when I freeze the tracks/remove plug-ins). Recently my laptop actually restarted while I was in the middle of recording... I was wondering if applying the upgrades you did would help solve these problems. I've been researching day and night only to find mixed reviews on the benefits that can be provided to CPU usage by upgrading RAM and switching from HDD to SSD.

If you have any advice for me, I'd be glad to hear it! I'm not really technologically inclined, I'm just trynna make solid songs/mixes...

[Panacci]

Did it with my 2011. Works great here. Kept the 500 gig original disk. I use that to record on and system on the SSD. On the 500 gig drive I try new systems on it with my programs to see if they work or any major conflicts. The MacBook Pro I use to record live music with.