I’m always looking for ways to get more speed out of my MacBook Pro.
Last month, Mac OS X Hints published a hint about using an ExpressCard SSD in a MacBook Pro. Then early this month, Rob Griffiths of Macworld (and the Mac OS X Hints guy) posted both an article and video on how he bought and set one up with his MacBook Pro. The speed improvement seemed pretty impressive, so I ordered one myself (from TigerDirect). Specifically, I ordered the FileMate SolidGo 48GB ExpressCard Ultra SSD.
I usually order tech gear like this from NewEgg, but TigerDirect had a better price ($140 vs. $170) so I thought I’d give them a try. I had no problems with them and it arrived quickly. Unfortunately, it appears that TigerDirect is now out of stock.
The packaging and the ExpressCard itself are quite tiny. I’d never used an ExpressCard before so I’m happy to be able to take advantage of this MacBook Pro feature (at least on my 2008 model).
Setup was simple. I plugged the card in (it sits flush with the case) and partitioned it using Disk Utility using GUID Partition Table. I then popped in my Snow Leopard DVD and started the installer. A short while later, Snow Leopard was up and running and I was able to boot from the ExpressCard. This is amazingly fast!
I then changed by user account to point to the user account on my internal hard drive. You do this by right-clicking on your name in the Accounts preference panel and selecting “Advanced Options” There you change the Home directory value to point to the folder on the internal hard drive. After changing this and rebooting, I could easily access all my documents and settings.
I then reinstalled a few commonly used apps onto the ExpressCard so that they would launch faster. Other apps that I don’t use as often I keep on the internal drive and simply run them from there. I use Overflow to run most of my apps, but I could have just as easily created Aliases on the ExpressCard to the apps on the internal drive.
All in all, I’m quite pleased. The performance is pretty amazing. Apps start in just one bounce, the system boots incredibly fast and overall everything just seems “snappier” to use a Mac cliché.
The Mac itself doesn’t seem to run any hotter (at least according to iStat Menus), but the case does feel a lot hotter, particularly near the upper left corner (around the ESC and F1 keys). This doesn’t affect me since it’s usually just sitting in its stand anyway.
I’ve had no trouble with the MacBook Pro sleeping and in fact it sleeps even faster now since it can write everything to the SSD much faster than the internal HD. This was a pleasant surprise because my MacBook Pro has always been a little finicky when it comes to sleeping.
I don’t generally use the MacBook Pro on battery all that often so I haven’t had a chance to test if battery life is affected at all, not that I would notice.
SSDs are the future of storage and if you have a MacBook Pro with an ExpressCard slot, getting an ExpressCard SSD is a low-cost way to get in on the fun. And it’s a lot easier than installing an expensive 2.5 SSD as a replacement for the internal hard drive.
10 Responses to “ExpressCard SSD in MacBook Pro”
I got one and had similar experience. Remember to use the GUID partitioning. It won’t work unless you do that.
The problem I had was that it freezes occasionally (maybe every other day with light use). Hard freeze, requires hard reset. I contacted the manufacturer and they said that they see this on a small number of units and don’t know the cause. So I went back to the hard disk and, basically, I have a $200 paperweight..
That stinks about the freezing. So far mine has not had that problem.
I would think that the manufacturer would replace it for you since it does have a 1 year warranty.
Will these work in my 2006 MBP?
@Bertie: From what I’ve read you can use an ExpressCard SSD in a 2006 MBP but you cannot boot from, which negates most of the speed boost.
You might want to check the comments on the original Mac OS X Hints article. I believe some folks there note which models this will work with.
“I then reinstalled a few commonly used apps onto the ExpressCard so that they would launch faster.”
Do you mean that you reinstalled some apps somewhere other than your applications folder? Did you just make a new folder on the SSD for these apps? Are apps typically “OK” with this?
Thanks!
No. Since I installed OS X on the SSD, that is where the Applications folder now is. For the apps that I use often, I reinstalled (or just copied) them into the SSD application folder.
For apps that I don’t use as often, I left in the HD application folder and simply launch them using Overflow. None of the apps really seems to care *where* they are, but they do launch much faster when they are on the SSD.
Thanks, got it.. Did you take any steps to remove Snow Leopard from your HD? Also, when you reinstalled, did you have to be careful to choose the same name/short name from your previous os?
I’m also considering not installing snow leopard on the SSD but instead using it just as scratch drive for photoshop.. during use, photoshop can sometimes it can take 15-20 gigs off my HD, which is about all I have left.
@JoeyN: No, I did not remove Snow Leopard from the HD. I may still need to boot from it occasionally.
I did use the same name/short name for the account, but I don’t know that I had to do that. The important thing is to point this new user account to the user account on the HD (as described in the original post).
Of course all this is moot if you’re just going to use it as a scratch drive.
Got my ExpressCard SSD today and installed Snow Leopard.. Definitely quicker, but I’ve run into one big issue: None of my Adobe CS4 products will run. When I try to launch any product, a popup says “Licensing for this product has stopped working.”. I tried to use Adobe’s license recovery tool and I also called their tech support. They suggested uninstalling all the products then reinstalling. So, I’m currently downloading the 5GB install file from their website
Just a warning for anyone thinking of booting off this ExpressCard and keeping their CS4 apps on their internal HD.
I have no idea if the ExpressCard SSD will ever show signs of slowing down, but this web site had some good tips for how to restore an SSD’s performance:
http://macperformanceguide.com/Storage-SSD-Reconditioning.html