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The best way to have both an SSD and HDD working together

I have ordered a 500Gb SSD and am considering using a 1TB HDD in the optical drive housing. I understand you can use the SSD for the OS and applications and the HDD for files. Can anybody please help? What files are best stored on the HDD

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It comes down to a couple of determining factors.

If you need the data loaded into RAM swiftly, you will want it on the SSD. If the item is read occasionally, or only at start-up (example Excel document when opened loads to RAM and works in RAM until saved. It does create backups in the OS drive, though) then the platter drive is best.

If you are a gamer, you could benefit from storing your most RAM intensive games on the SSD, as well. If you are a creative, things like Adobe Scratch Disk files would be best on the SSD.

IMHO:

SSD: OS, Apps, Games, Scratch Files (Virtual memory files) for some apps

HDD: Long-term storage, items that are small, backups, archives, etc.

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Well almost! You want the HDD in the HD bay and then put the SSD in the optical drive bay. Prep up the SSD as your boot drive with your macOS.

The reason you want to leave the HDD in the HD bay is related to the special crash guard services the HD bay SATA port offers. If you put the HDD in the optical bay you risk the drive from a head crash!

The I/O speed is the same between the two SATA ports. Both are SATA III (6.0 Gb/s)

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Thanks. So reformat hdd to wipe off OS etc. its actually a macbook pro purchased from ebay for me to learn how to do it.

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So its the first time and as often in my mind it seems easy but i'm an expert in messing things up

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I've occasionally had issues updating the operating system on storage drives mounted in the optical bay. I've heard there may be problems when installing firmware updates. Do you know anything about that Dan?

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@zpl - The 2012 model is very different than the older 2011 model and different again to the 2010 and older models! Let me explain...

The 2012 model has a true dual SATA III (6.0 Gb/s) for both drive ports. The 2011 models have a clean SATA III interface on the HD port but a messed up port in the optical port which can only support SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) fixed drives! The 2010 and 2009 systems are only SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) for both ports and the 2008 models have a SATA I (1.5 Gb/s) HD port and a PATA interface on the optical port.

So what we have here is someones generic statement implying all have MacBook Pros have a problem. Clearly, each group I've outlined here are different!

So let's focus on yours! The HD SATA cable often needs replacement due to wear or being an older version which only supports SATA II data rates Your Hard Drive Cable Is A Ticking Time Bomb and flow this guide to replace it MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2012 Hard Drive Cable Replacement the needed part is listed in the guide. This is only an issue if you put a SATA III drive in the HD bay.

As far as install OS's or updates I've never had an issue but then again I don't recommend installing anything higher than Sierra on a SATA based system and if you must go higher than stop at Mojave as Catalina won't let older 32bit apps to run and is also still! Quite buggy!

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OK, thanks for the feedback Dan!

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