Macbook Pro DVD drive has died - advice for replacement with SSD

[abugintheground]

Hi,

My DVD drive in my late 2008 macbook pro has given up the ghost (in part helped along by my trying to get it working again when it was refusing to accept discs - oops!).

Rather than replace the optical drive, which I probably use about once every three years, I thought I would take the opportunity to add a second hard drive. I currently have a 640gb HDD (aftermarket) which I would use as the second drive, and then get hold of a SSD to use as the Operating System drive.

I've earmarked the following products (on ebay, but available elsewhere also, it would seem):

SDD drive: http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121026940563

Caddy: http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130757823914

Could anyone advise whether these are suitable products, and whether there are any potential pitfalls? I am assuming that it would make sense to put the new SSD in the macbook's primary HDD location, as this will be the 'main' drive, and then put my current hard drive in the caddy.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[COLGeek]

Note that the caddy works in all systems except Apple (and a few others). The MBP uses a slot style of optical drive so its dimensions are different. And I quote from the link:

"Compatible with all universal laptops models except laptop models like DELL HP IBM APPLE MSI. "

 

[abugintheground]

haha. thanks! It would pay for me to read the description before posting here!

Found an alternative here: http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221137195776?_trksid=p5197.c0.m619

Looks almost identical but specifically mentions compatability with the mbp that I have.

I'm after advice too about the wisdom (or otherwise) of putting the sdd in the primary bay and the hdd in the caddy? I'm going to be using the sdd as the OS drive - are both SATA channels the same speed etc?

 

[COLGeek]

Sure, you can swap the devices around in the bays. That is not a problem.

The second adapter appears to be compatible.

Both SATA ports are the same speed. Those older MBPs (I have one too) are SATA2.