Tricks to managing with a 128GB SSD (vs 256GB)

[donstenk]

Related, if not entirely

In case you needed more options in your choices, FYI I work on a four year old white MacBook that has been maxed out with 4GB ram and where I replaced the HD with 64GB SSD and I replaced the optical drive with a 500GB HD using Optitray.

This setup is very fast because OSX and all programs boot near instantly from the SSD, and big space eating files are stored on the HD - the best of two worlds until SSD come down in price. It is of course nowhere near as light as an MBA but for those occasions where that matters I have treated myself to an Ipad 2 paid for with the money saved on not buying an MBA which is not powerful enough for my purposes as I work a lot in Aperture with 18MP pictures. The MacBook itself is mostly docked to a Cinema Display nowadays.

If you have an hour of two and are not afraid of following the excellent guides over at iFixit.com this is all really easy and worth the effort. Backup before you do anything however!

Dennis.

 

[RDRoe]

I purchased the bare minimum 11" MBA because of a great $$. I faced similar challenges with using a 64gb ssd. Here is what I have done and it works quite well. First I have a MPro 8 core as my main system as well as a MBPro 15 i5 to cart with me for development remotely. I am a developer by trade. I use the MBAir for notes in meetings, for access to remote files and to manage remote systems. I run email and other basic needed software like a mind-mapping software, the iWork suite, etc. DropBox is my cloud of choice with over 42gb of storage. Now here's the beauty. I only use 33gb of my 64gb. I use the selective aspect of DropBox. When I need a customer folder, I use the browser to setup the folder to be downloaded. 20 seconds later, I have the files that I need. It's plenty fast and a good price as well. Only other option is I wish that MBAirs had built-in / optional 3g broadband like the iPad's.

My .02 ...

 

[ZipZap]

Brought my MBA to the genius bar for a warranty question. My MBA had been dropped before I bought it but everything worked fine. I wanted to know if they could somehow note that everything was working so that if I had a problem in the future then they would know that the bent corner wasn't something new that caused the problem. Reason for my question was because I want to get AppleCare before the end of the first year.

I told the person that I had changed the drive to an Apple 256gb. He asked how I got one and I told him that I had bought it from someone that had upgraded his drive. Not only did he not care (his only concern was if I had backed up my info), but he proceeded to the paperwork needed to replace the outer shell, palm rest, and bottom cover for free.

I think this answers the question of voiding the warranty.

If the drive wasn't intended to be user replaceable then why does it only take the removal of a few screws to replace it? BTW, for those afraid to remove their bottom cover, there is no void if removed sticker on the hard drive

I think its answers it in your case for the repair you wanted. But, I have to believe that Apple has the right to void your warranty if the upgrade was not performed by an Authorized Service Center.

Do they do this in practice? Perhaps not...but they can, and if they do on a MBA...well thats a pretty serious SOL on a very expensive to repair product.

There is a reason that you cannot readily buy these SSD's and I dont think that Apple see's them as user-upgradable.

I do want to buy the OWC product..its better..but I am concerned that Apple will take any opportunity to say SOL on these MBA's.

 

[Greg M]

I think its answers it in your case for the repair you wanted. But, I have to believe that Apple has the right to void your warranty if the upgrade was not performed by an Authorized Service Center.

Do they do this in practice? Perhaps not...but they can, and if they do on a MBA...well thats a pretty serious SOL on a very expensive to repair product.

There is a reason that you cannot readily buy these SSD's and I dont think that Apple see's them as user-upgradable.

I do want to buy the OWC product..its better..but I am concerned that Apple will take any opportunity to say SOL on these MBA's.

Then keep your original drive and swap it if you ever need service. This warranty thing has been beat to death over the years. I know from experience that when I open any unit as long as I don't physically damage something the warranty is still in tact.

 

[ZipZap]

Then keep your original drive and swap it if you ever need service. This warranty thing has been beat to death over the years. I know from experience that when I open any unit as long as I don't physically damage something the warranty is still in tact.

That's the issue...I would want to sell it to defray the cost.

 

[blow45]

I think you have to make your storage strategy evolve to something more "cloudy". As an example, here is how I do:
- Music on Spotify
- Files on Dropbox
- Documents on Evernote
- Mail on Gmail
- Archive files stored on an Amazon S3 bucket
- Movies on Vimeo

I have not found a good solution for pictures though. I could go for Flickr but I don't want my pictures on a social website...

isn't amazon a tad expensive? how does the bucket work anyway?

 

[lasuther]

Now I just hope I don't regret the decision to buy if a new MBA with some major enhancement comes out in the next couple of months.

Lion is definitely coming out this summer. I would expect 4 Gigs RAM standard and a significant processor bump to Sandy Bridge. The update should happen by August.

 

[yuanmoons]

Actually no, this is why I raised this issue. But I would like to get rid of iphoto to something more cloudy so your feedback is interesting. Can you download a bulk of all your pictures from Flickr or Photo Bucket as a backup ?

I'm not aware of a backup facility within Flickr or PhotoBucket. For me its about having copies off site. Right now i dont see any need to have these photos on my hard drive. Photobucket offers me a way (viewable archive), if necessary, to look at them over the web (private setting) and iDisk offers me an archive of the original files. But if its important ill keep it in a dropbox folder synced, eg. some old family photos i class as important are kept on my local harddrive in a dmg, in a folder named "Archive" synced to the dropbox cloud.

I FEEL better not having files i dont need on my hard drive - its one less thing to manage & sync blah blah - i get brain strain easy! This is why iDisk is great. Its the equivalent of having digital loft (or basement) storage - a place to put stuff you dont need to hand but might need sometime or just cant commit to throwing away.. and but if it gets destroyed its not a big deal. The risk online will always be there no matter how good the service provider.

I think you do what is good for you NOW and if things change then you change accordingly. Its alright trying to make the perfect decision but at some point you realise you cannot foretell the future with any great certainty so you may need to adjust your strategy......

My 2p.

 

[maclaptop]

68G can be relieved solely by using the external hard drive.

You didn't mention OS space.

160-68 = 92G

Offload the old mail material to that external hard drive. How often do you need to access that???

ALSO, you can buy a nice 16 or 32G USB thumb OR SD card, that will bring your 128G hard drive to 160G.

Don't spend the extra $400. You can get by with the 128G.

the 4G ram is more important!

I agree. As conventional hard drives have increased in capacity, users have filled them with anything and everything. This is a bad practice especially if a failure occurs.

Get a good external drive and use it. Only keep active working files on your laptop and you'll have no problem.

I keep a very active routine combining and external drive and an NAS backup system. It's very fast, safe, and cost effective.

Its also a great way to move files between my, MBP, MBA, iPad & iPhone.

 

[Angelo95210]

isn't amazon a tad expensive? how does the bucket work anyway?

Actually I think it's the cheapest cloud storage you can get. Look: