Want to put SSD in early '08 MBP 4,1, but ...DVD is ATAPI! Now what?

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Want to breath some new life into this girl. Optical Drive has been broken for years so it's begging for a SSD. But it doesn't make sense to put a PATA SSD in. Do I have any options for creating another SATA connection? (The internal drive, long already updated, is SATA, though for some reason they left the optical PATA) A PATA/SATA adapter makes no more sense than a PATA SSD in this case (get it? Case?).



Am I stuck with PATA in that slot, or is there a way to fudge a SATA connector from the SATA?



Thanks,



J

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    tubgirltubgirl Posts: 177member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jlandd View Post


    Want to breath some new life into this girl. Optical Drive has been broken for years so it's begging for a SSD. But it doesn't make sense to put a PATA SSD in. Do I have any options for creating another SATA connection? (The internal drive, long already updated, is SATA, though for some reason they left the optical PATA) A PATA/SATA adapter makes no more sense than a PATA SSD in this case (get it? Case?).



    Am I stuck with PATA in that slot, or is there a way to fudge a SATA connector from the SATA?



    Thanks,



    J



    http://www.newmodeus.com/shop/index....dex&cPath=2_27



    there are also other suppliers.
  • Reply 2 of 5
    jlanddjlandd Posts: 873member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tubgirl View Post


    http://www.newmodeus.com/shop/index....dex&cPath=2_27



    there are also other suppliers.



    Thanks tubgirl. But that doesn't address my need.
  • Reply 3 of 5
    tubgirltubgirl Posts: 177member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jlandd View Post


    Thanks tubgirl. But that doesn't address my need.



    I see - you are concerned the ATA bus will limit the performance of the SDD?



    unless your current magnetic HDD is very fast (and loud!) , the speed of the ATA/100 wont be much of a bottle neck. (I get ~75MBps read from my HDD through the 'optical' bus.)

    then you could put whatever SSD you're getting on the SATA-bus, and let the HDD reside in the optical bay.



    it is actually possible to split the SATA channel, but there are typically severe compatibility issues and you'll only get half speed (~75MBps) per channel anyways.
  • Reply 4 of 5
    jlanddjlandd Posts: 873member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tubgirl View Post


    I see - you are concerned the ATA bus will limit the performance of the SDD?



    unless your current magnetic HDD is very fast (and loud!) , the speed of the ATA/100 wont be much of a bottle neck. (I get ~75MBps read from my HDD through the 'optical' bus.)

    then you could put whatever SSD you're getting on the SATA-bus, and let the HDD reside in the optical bay.



    it is actually possible to split the SATA channel, but there are typically severe compatibility issues and you'll only get half speed (~75MBps) per channel anyways.





    Thanks for the reply tg. The bottleneck I was alluding to was more how any SATA SSD would be slowed down by adapting it to the available PATA bus, not really whether it would be faster than the internal. It's a matter to me of it not being worth the expense of mounting a PATA SSD for what it will give me, and the same for adapting a SATA SSD to that bus. The idea would be to be the system and apps on the SSD and just use the internal (500 gig Hitachi) for storage and an alternate boot drive.



    Since it amounts to several hundred dollars with the SSD and the mount, I don't think it's worth doing unless I can get the great performance boost that a system and applications folder on a true SATA SSD gives.



    Best,



    J
  • Reply 5 of 5
    futurepastnowfuturepastnow Posts: 1,772member
    Replacing the SATA hard drive is your only option if you want a SSD.
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