Looking for ways to speed up performance on my Macbook Pro (2.4 Gig processor), I came across an article about Solid State Drive (SSD) performance. I then located an ExpressCard SSD hard disk, for use in the ExpressCard slot on my MacBook Pro. Setting the system up on this card produced fairly impressive results; I will detail here what I did to configure this setup, some of the limitations, and some of the advantages.
I bought a FileMate SolidGO 24GB ExpressCard 34 SSD to use with my MacBook Pro (I have no connection with this company, nor with newegg.com where I bought the drive for $109.00).
This drive is fast -- really fast. But it is only 24GB, so you can't just copy your complete system to this drive and boot up. My solution was to create a new blank user account on my primary drive. Then I used SilverKeeper (free software from LaCie) to copy my system plus the new account (I used the 'exception' tool in SilverKeeper to exclude my primary user account) over to the new drive. Then I booted into the new drive system.
[robg adds: Continue reading for the details, but before you run out and buy something, note that this only works on newer MacBook Pros with ExpressCard slots -- an owner of a 2006 model posted (at NewEgg) that he was unable to boot from the ExpressCard drive, due to the older firmware in his Mac.]
The performance boost was impressive. My boot up time was less than two-thirds of the previous time, applications (booted from the new SSD drive) were substantially faster and crisper, and the delays which I had become comfortable seemed to just disappear.
This solution is not without tradeoffs. The new boot disk is only 24GB, and this creates at least some issues. For example, I have no trouble fitting my install of Parallels onto this drive, but my actual Windows disk image is just a touch too large, so it has to live on the primary drive. The same would be true for any large data set management program.
In addition I have no information as to the long-term durability of these drives. In general, SSD drives should be long lasting, but there is no substitute for real world information as these drives are fairly new to the market.
On the positive side, this setup is fast; in fact, it's really fast compared to the normal setup I was running just 24 hours ago. In addition to the speed, the SSD drive should draw a good deal less power than spinning up the primary drive, and that should translate into longer battery life, as well as less heat buildup. (That's not a big deal on my 2.4GHz processor system, but it was a very serious issue with my first generation 2.0GHz MacBook Pro.)
To be safe, I am setting my system up to sync my new SSD boot drive back to the system folders of my primary drive. That way, if something fails in this new setup, I can revert to the more normal configuration and simply reformat the SSD.
[robg adds: Before reading this hint, I'd never even heard of an ExpressCard SSD. After reading this, though, I thought I'd try it out. While looking at ExpresCard SSDs at NewEgg, I found a 48GB version of theFileMate drive on sale for $130ish delivered (it's now back at $162 purchase cost).
I'll be writing about this in more detail for Macworld, but suffice it to say the transformation is amazing. Boot time is about 30 seconds, and the XBench score for the drive is nearly double that of my 7200rpm 200GB internal drive.
Installation couldn't be much simpler; insert the card, reformat the drive to GUID, and install 10.6. While the SSD gets a bit warm, the hard drive itself is now very cool, so my palms are actually much happier after the switch (as the SSD puts its heat out up by the keyboard, over on the edge).
Finally, you obviously need a MacBook Pro with an ExpressCard slot in order to do this, so you won't be able to do this to your brand-new MacBook Pro, which now has a card reader instead of an ExpressCard slot.]
Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20091203220151255