Apple wants MobileMe customers to make the jump to iCloud and their dangling a free copy of OS X Snow Leopard in front of them to kickstart the upgrade. This offer only applies to MobileMe customers running the two and soon-to-be three generation old version of OS X Leopard.

Apple will cut off MobileMe on June 30th replacing it with the new iCloud that debuted last year with OS X Lion. A few MobileMe customers resisted the move because they felt the new iCloud service doesn’t match the capabilities of MobileMe. Specifically iCloud doesn’t sync your passwords and operating system settings like MobileMe among others.

Apple offered Snow Leopard because that puts them just one $29.99 upgrade away from Lion, the minimum version of OS X that supports iCloud. Users have till June 15, just two weeks before the June 30 shut down of MobileMe, to take advantage of the upgrade. MobileMe users can do so by going to Apple’s site (the MobileMe site).

An image of the message sent to customers and posted at Macgasm reads, “Get your Mac ready for iCloud.” It reminds users that they must run Lion to use the new service and offers three steps to get ready.

1. They can take advantage of the free copy of Snow Leopard. Apple will send them a DVD to install the upgrade.
2. Upgrade to Lion for only $29.99 in the Mac App Store.
3. “You’re ready to move to iCloud,” said the message. You do that by going to me.com/move.

The differences between MobileMe and iCloud are many. Here’s a list of the things iCloud doesn’t include that MobileMe customers may miss with the upgrade.

• Weaker Online Document Access
• iDisk
• iWeb Sites
• Password Synchronization through Keychain
• Operating System Synchronization

iCloud offers document sync and you can download files, but MobileMe had better access built into the OS through iDisk.

Some users will miss these features, but iCloud offers a lot that MobileMe didn’t, including:

• iTunes Music Match for an added fee
• Backup of App, Book and most Movies purchased
• PhotoStream
• Backup and Restore for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad

For more information about moving from MobileMe to iCloud see Apple’s website. It includes links on how to back up your iWeb sites and how to back up your photo galleries among other things.

Apple Offering MobileMe Customers Free Copy of Snow Leopard is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

The OCZ Agility 3 120GB SSD really cooks! With it, my MacBook Pro feels like a screaming speed demon. The system boots faster and the environment responds instantly. As upgrades go, this one change radically improves using my 2011 15″ MacBook Pro. When I reviewed the MacBook Pro I called it the nicest workhorse notebook I have ever used. Then, I upgraded it with a Momentus XT Hybrid Hard Drive and thought that was a nice speed bump. However, nothing compares to running your system with a fast SSD as the main boot and OS disk.

Quick Specs

The OCZ Agility 3 is a 120GB SSD with a SATA 6Gbps rating. The drive stores your data on MLC NAND Flash memory and has native TRIM support. Seek times are rated at .1ms. That’s right! Not one millisecond but one tenth of a millisecond.

The drive itself even looks nice with a black case and green markings labeling it. The 2.5″ drive fits well in the MacBook Pro. I got the 120GB model, but it comes in sizes of 60GB and 240GB as well.

The rated speeds of the 120GB drive are as follows from OCZ:

• Max Read = up to 525MB/sec
• Max Write = up to 500MB/sec
• Random Write = 4KB: 50,000 IOPS (input/output operations per second)
• Maximum 4K Random Write: 85,000 IOPS (input/output operations per second)

This drive is compatible with Windows 7, Vista and XP. It also works with Mac OS X and Linux. The drive has RAID support as well.

Benchmarks

I used Xbench to test three drives: the stock 5400 Toshiba hard drive that came in the MacBook Pro, the Seagate Momentus XT which we upgraded to previously and the OCZ Agility 3 SSD drive. Here are the results of the overall average scores (higher being faster):

• Stock MacBook Pro Drive from Apple = 52.74
• Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid hard drive = 83.09
• OCZ Agility 3 SSD = 361.56

As you can see the OCZ kicks the other two the curb. The Seagate was a modest upgrade, but the OCZ drive was more than seven times faster.

The other two measurements we performed were boot times and times to load and move files around. Boot times with the SSD were fast, three to four times as a fast when compared to the other two drives. With the stock hard drive my MacBook Pro takes a little over a minute and a half to load. With the Seagate it takes about 45-50 seconds on average. The OCZ boots in under 18 seconds.

Moving large folders of information is also fast, although not as big an improvement. Reading files from the  drive is faster than writing files to the drive. Either way it is still fast. Copying a 2.3GB folder of documents from the SSD to an external hard drive connected via FireWire took a minute. Copying back to the SSD from the drive took nearly 90 seconds.  Both times are three times as fast as our Hybrid drive.

Video: How to Replace MacBook Pro Hard Drive

In the video below I show you how to replace a MacBook Pro hard drive. This was originally done for my review of the Seagate Momentus XT.

Battery Life With the Drive

Last night I decided to see how long it would take to drain my battery with the drive. Previously this test only took about 3 hours since I crank up the screen brightness to 100%, turn on Wi-Fi, surf for a while and watch video on the Internet. I was also writing and copying files around the drives. The result was not that much of an improvement at 3 hours 20 minutes, but it was still better. And my results may not be typical.

Previously the computer was running a hard drive and an optical disk drive, although I didn’t use the SuperDrive during the whole three hours before. The whole purpose in installing the OCZ drive was to test out an MCE Optibay unit that lets you put a second hard drive where your SuperDrive goes. Instead of a seldom-used DVD, that spot now has a fast hard drive that spins up often, since it contains my OS X home folder. As a result, it looks like the battery savings an SSD would normally offer was cancelled out by the battery being used more by the second drive instead of an optical drive.

Others have tested this drive in a typical setting (where it was either the only drive or included in a system with an optical drive) and found that it sips the battery power instead of draining it.

Below is the video I shot describing the MCE Optibay upgrade:

Conclusion and recommendation

I’m very pleased with this upgrade. The combination of the fast OCZ Agility 3 drive and a large second hard drive thanks to the MCE Optibay offers a perfect combination of speed with the space needed to house all of my files locally. For the money, this is the best upgrade I’ve performed on a laptop. Swapping hard drives on notebooks is not something for computer neophytes to tackle, but if you don’t mind cracking open a case, then go for it. Follow my video above and you can do it and it will be well worth the expense and effort.

Pros

• FAST!
• Boot times reduced by a third
• Programs launch almost instantly
• Files open instantly
• Quiet
• No moving parts means it should be more reliable in the long run than a spinning hard drive
• Longer battery life with the drive

Cons

• Limited storage capacity for the price

OCZ Agility 3 is a Screaming Fast SSD [Review] is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

The MCE Optibay opens up the options for MacBook upgrades by replacing the Apple SuperDrive with a hard drive or SSD, depending on your needs and bank account. I was pleased with the results! Combined with the OCZ Agility 3 SSD I reviewed as part of this upgrade process, I have a fast flash drive to run OS X 10.7 Lion on and the capacity of a 500GB drive for file storage.

Installing Process and Prep

The process of installing the Optibay will challenge beginner notebook hardware hackers. I was able to perform the upgrade thanks to a decent guide included on the DVD in the kit. I tested the process out before I turned on a video camera and decided this was too complicated to repeat. So, video below is only a description of what I already did along with a demo of how to assemble the external SuperDrive case.

Take off the bottom of the computer and touch some metal to discharge electrostatic build-up. In my case, I also upgraded my hard drive with an SSD, so I had to remove the hard drive before putting it into the Optibay. To do that, follow the video below.

Replacing the Hard Drive

To perform this upgrade you will need a very tiny Philip’s head screwdriver and a special Torx T-6 screwdriver, something you can get at any hardware store. MCE provides them in the kit. Finally, it is a good idea to perform this on a smooth or soft surface. The lid of your MacBook Pro is easily scratched.

Follow the steps in the above video or an article I posted about replacing the stock drive. This is a fairly simple part of this complex upgrade process.

Boot the system with the bottom cover placed over the bottom of the MacBook Pro. You don’t need to screw it into place (unless you are really paranoid about such things). If the computer boots and seems to recognize the drive, then shut it down again, since you are just testing it. You are ready to remove the SuperDrive and install the Optibay with your old hard drive installed in it.

Installing the Optibay

The Optibay comes with a decent PDF file that walks you through the process for the various kinds of MacBooks. Here are the basic steps:

1. Remove the bottom
2. Disconnect the Bluetooth/Airport assembly by disconnecting a ribbon connector and two screws
3. Unscrew the SuperDrive by removing three or four screws (depending on the model MacBook you have) that connect it to the frame (see right)
4. Disconnect the SuperDrive from the motherboard by taking the SATA cable off the motherboard
5. Carefully lift out the SuperDrive
6. Follow the help guide for removing the bracket and SATA/Power connector from the SuperDrive and install them on the Optibay adapter (see below)
7. Install your drive using the included screws from MCE
8. Put the Optibay back into the MacBook Pro and screw the three or four screws into place
9. Reconnect the SATA cable to the motherboard
10. Reconnect the Bluetooth/Airport assembly cable and two screws
11. Install the bottom of the case

Restoring the Operating System and Your Files

Boot the system again and if it works, reinstall OSX and restore your files. In the article about replacing the MacBook hard drive with the Seagate drive I describe this process, so follow those steps. If you are upgrading to Lion, consider making a USB install disk and then install Lion on the clean hard drive and copy your files and apps using the Lion Migration utility.

Assembling the SuperDrive and MCE Enclosure

Assemble the MCE external SuperDrive housing that comes in the kit following my instructions in the first video above. It is as easy as attaching a tiny logic board to the drive’s SATA connector and carefully placing the drive in the bottom of the black housing. Place the top half on and slide it till it clicks into place. You can now connect the included USB cables to the SuperDrive and your MacBook Pro and it should work. This process is not described in the PDF MCE sends, so be sure to watch the video.

Flimsy Materials

The MCE Optibay housing is made of a very lightweight aluminum. You will have to be careful. I think the material is both a good and bad thing. The Optibay won’t add much weight to your computer, but it is flimsy enough that it is easily bent while installing. Once you get it into place this won’t be an issue, so just be careful with everything in this process.

The external SuperDrive housing is made of low quality materials too. It works, but the case is a flat black rubbery material that easily collects fingerprints that are hard to clean off. It looks and feels flimsy. The drive seems very slow compared to using the SuperDrive internally. USB 2.0 is just not as fast as an internal SATA connection. MCE has higher quality external DVD drives but you have to pay extra for those. It might be worth the money to get one from MCE or a third party.

To watch DVD movies using the SuperDrive in the enclosure you have to install an app from the included disk. Without it, the DVD player in your MacBook will not recognize the drive and won’t play your movies.

Benchmarks

The upgrade is definitely wroth your time if you want to run Mac OS X on a smaller SSD and store your personal files on the second drive in the Optibay Drive Kit. I ran Xbench on the SSD, a 7200rpm Western Digital Scorpio Black 500GB notebook hard drive in the Optibay Drive Kit, and on the original 5400rpm hard drive that came with the MacBook Pro. The results proved that this upgrade is worth the hassle because of the drastic speed bump you gain over the stock hard drive or the 7200 rpm WD hard drive.

The overall disk test scores were as follows, with the fastest in bold:

• SSD = 361.56
• WD Black 7200 = 83.09
• MacBook stock 5400 = 52.74

The average sequential read/write scores were as follows:

• SSD = 214.05
• WD Black 7200 = 126.20
• MacBook stock 5400 = 127.05

The average random read/write speeds were as follows:

• SSD = 1163.13
• WD Black 7200 = 61.94
• MacBook stock 5400 = 33.27

The SSD killed the other two drives in the random read/write test, which is where SSDs really shine. The write test was a more modest improvement.

Recommendation and Price

I am extremely pleased with this upgrade, even despite the quality of the SuperDrive enclosure and the flimsy aluminum used to make the Optibay. Having both an SSD and a second drive for my files and music adds a lot usefulness and enjoyment. I loved my 15″ 2011 MacBook Pro before, but thanks to OCZ and MCE it is a screaming fast system with plenty of room for all my photos, videos, music and documents. I’d like higher quality materials, especially with the SuperDrive enclosure. That said, I can recommend this upgrade kit with a few considerations:

1. This is for people who are used to working on a notebooks computer’s internals – if that is not you, pay to have this done for you by one of the technicians MCE recommends.
2. You can either by a new hard drive or SSD from MCE or get one on your own – do the latter as you can find a better deal.
3. If you use your SuperDrive a lot, you might find it annoying to have to carry around an external drive and the included enclosure might not hold up to constant use, so plan to ditch the disk or buy a higher quality external DVD drive.

There are several buying options. The basic setup that I was given to test by MCE is $99, and that is what I recommend for the do-it-yourself upgrader. It includes the Optibay housing for the second internal hard drive and the cheap enclosure for the SuperDrive. Other optional add-ons include:

• Get your new hard drive or SSD from MCE – not recommended as they are more expensive than other outlets.
• 8X external SuperDrive for $79.
• Higher quality 24X drive USB 2.0/eSATA drive for $99 – not recommended because it is large desktop drive.
• Have MCE install the drive for you for an additional $49 if you pay for shipping your MacBook to them or $99 if MCE sends you a pre-paid shipping box.

The basic $99 kit which is what we recommend includes the following:

• Optibay enclosure.
• Toolkit with screws and drivers.
• Installation guide PDF and DVD player activator software utility needed to watch DVDs.

Pros

• Clear installation instructions in PDF guide
• Optibay fits well in system
• Offers ability to add second drive so you can have both speed and capacity
• Basic kit is a good value

Cons

• Materials are flimsy
• Free External SuperDrive enclosure won’t likely hold up to heavy use
• Add-ons are over-priced

MCE Optibay Puts 2nd Hard Drive in SuperDrive’s Seat [Review] is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

OS X Lion is finally here with many new features and a fresh new OS X experience. The new version of OS X is available in the Mac App store for $29.99, but if you purchased a Mac since June 6th, 2011 you can get a free upgrade to OS X by submitting some purchase information to Apple.

The OS X Lion Up-To-Date program is easy the official name of the Free OS X Lion upgrade program. If you purchased a qualifying system, essentially any MacBook, Mac Pro, Mac Mini or iMac since June 6th you can fill out an online form to get the latest Apple OS.

To participate in the OS X Lion update program you will need to know the following;

• System Type
• Date of Purchase
• Serial Number
• Place of Purchase (Name, City and State)

The offer is good for systems purchased at Apple Stores, the Online Apple Store, or Authorized Apple Resellers  including Campus stores.

This deal is designed mainly for Apple purchases made before Lion was released, but if you have purchased a Mac without Lion after July 21st, you can get an upgrade for free as well. You just need to complete a different form.

Both of these free OS X Lion upgrade offers are also compatible with Apple Certified Refurbished systems, like the $749 MacBook Air 11.6 October 2010 model, which is on sale at the online Apple Refurb Store right now.

After filling out the appropriate form you will get a code to use in the Mac App Store to download OS X Lion. Learn what you need to do to be ready to download in our OS X Lion preparation post.

Purchased a Mac Recently? Find Out How To Upgrade to OS X Lion for Free! is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Apple has announced the availability of Mac OS X Lion in July in the Mac App store for the relatively low price of $29 as an upgrade. The OS X Lion update will arrive in the Mac App store in just a few weeks allowing users to update their MacBook, MacBook Pros and MacBook Air notebooks to the latest Apple operating system.

We have covered many of the new OS X 10.7 updates, but Apple went into more detail, naming the top 10 features of OS X Lion and showing off more about the new operating system.

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion In Action Video

Mac OS X Lion Top 10 Features

1. Better Multitouch Gestures – Momentum based scrolling, new gestures and more integration.
2. Full Screen Apps – iLife and other apps are optimized to go full screen and deliver a better user experience.
3. Mission Control – Put Expose and Spaces together and you gain the new Mission Control which gives you fast access to your open apps and desktops.
4. Mac App Store – Apple will be moving more and more of your software purchases to the Mac OS X App store. The App store is built right into OS X Lion.
5. LaunchPad - With a simple gesture, you can gain access to your favorite apps. In Launchpad you will have a collection of app pages, similar to your iPad homescreens.
6. Resume - When you are using applications, and need to close them or restart, the apps know where you left off and will open right back up to that same location, even keeping your text highlighted.
7. Auto-Save – You no longer need to save every ten seconds. in OS X Lion, the operating system will autosave your documents for you, preventing lost files.
8. Versions – In addition to saving your documents automatically, OS X Lion will also save versions so that you can hop back and forth between versions of a document in a Time Machine like interface.
9. Air Drop – easily share documents with your friends by dragging a document to their image after you choose Airdrop from the menu.
10. Mail – The new Mail app is optimized for OS X Lion with a full screen optimizations and conversation view.

If you want to know more, you can check out the 200+ new OS X Lion features from Apple.

Mac OS X Lion Pricing and Availability

Mac OS X Lion will only be available in the Mac App Store which limits the upgrade to users on OS X Snow Leopard. The OS X Lion update will be available for purchase in July and will require a 4GB download. We don’t have any specifics, but we are hoping Apple will allow users to make a bootable USB drive with this download in order to do a fresh install and keep a backup of OS X Lion handy.

If you don’t have Snow Leopard installed and you want to upgrade to OS X Lion, you will need to purchase an upgrade to Snow Leopard so that you have access to the Mac App Store. Your Mac must be powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor to work with OS X Lion.

Mac OS X Lion: Features, Details, Pricing & Release Date (Video) is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

If your 64GB 11.6″ MacBook Air is filling up with your content and software, OWC has a solution. They have released an upgrade path for both the 11.6″ and 13.3″ 2010 MacBook Air ultraportables.

These computers come with fast SSDs instead of hard drives. That is what gives you your system’s speed. The drives also limit your storage capacity because solid state storage is much more expensive per gigabyte than traditional optical spinning hard drives. For a pretty penny you can crack open the MacBook Air and upgrade that SSD to one of a higher capacity thanks to OWC and their new SSD upgrades. Just one warning. This likely will void your warranty with Apple, but they also likely won’t notice if you have to return it and put back the stock SSD. The Mercury Extreme Pro SSDs come in capacities of either 240GB or 480GB. We tested and will demonstrate the upgrade to the 480GB model.

We upgraded a 13.3″ MacBook Air that came with a 256GB SSD to 480GB thanks to the OWC 480GB Mercury Aura Pro Express Solid State Drive.

Why Upgrade?

One might wonder why anyone would bother to open their computer and upgrade. The first reason is as we said above – space. Many MacBook Airs only came with 64GB of storage. Others have 128GB or 256GB of storage, but even that 256GB can get cramped quickly.

Another reason to perform this upgrade is to avoid carrying around an external drive. We’ve been carrying around a slow 500GB WD external USB drive. It is a little annoying to keep up with another drive. Of course that drive did only cost us $100, but it is slow.

Speed is the third reason to upgrade. The OWC drive is much faster than any external drive, even if it is an SSD or a large capacity flash memory stick. It also offers a bump over the stock Apple SSD, although we were surprised to find that the speed increase was not as drastic as we hoped.

Finally, the upgrade will conserve battery life since the user will not have to plug an external USB drive into their MacBook Air. USB ports suck power draining the battery faster.

The drive comes with a Philips head screwdriver and a Torx head screwdriver

How to Install

Installation is simple. The OWC drive comes with the two tools you will need to perform the upgrade. First, backup your system using an external drive and Time Machine. This not only preserves your data in case something goes wrong, but it also makes restoring the system after the upgrade much faster.

Unscrew the bottom plate in place on the MacBook Air.

Use tape with sticky side up to keep screws from rolling onto the floor

I like to put a piece of tape sticky side up on my work surface to hold the loose screws. Once the screws are out, the bottom plate will pop off.

Pop off the bottom plate by prying up from the side with the black vent

Now take the Torx screw driver that came with the drive and unscrew the tiny black screw that keeps the old Apple SSD in place. After the screw is removed and placed on the tape, just carefully pull the drive up from the end where the screw was holding it in place.

Use the Torx head screw driver to both remove and install each drive

Discharge any static electricity by touch the chassis of the computer. Then pull the drive out. It may take a little wiggling, but don’t wiggle too much or you may bend or break  something.

Once the old drive is out, place it in a safe spot. Take the new OWC drive out of the package being careful to discharge any static electricity before touching the drive.

Life the drive and pull slightly, then push new drive in same slot carefully

Carefully insert the drive in the slot where the old drive was. We found that it was a much tighter fit than the stock Apple SSD. You may have to push a little to get it into the slot. Also be careful not to try to put it in upside down. Fortunately it is keyed and will only fit one way. Once it is in place, be sure the screw hole lines up. On ours it was not perfect but close enough to get the screw in and the drive worked fine.

Now replace the Torx screw that was removed and also replace the bottom plate and all the screws that were removed.

Boot with USB OS install disk and run Disk Utility to erase new drive

At this point you will be ready to start it up and install Mac OS X. Hit the power button and hold down the Option key until you see the boot options for hard drive or USB drive. Click the USB drive and the arrow below it to boot using the OS X installation disk.

Now you have two choices. You can install the OS and reinstall your software and put your files back into place from a backup. A faster way is to just use Time Machine to restore the previous backup. The benefit of the second option is a faster upgrade. The benefit of the first option is that it is good to start from scratch about once a year to clean out clutter and old files that are no longer wanted or needed. We did the second option because it was faster.

After selecting your language in the OS X install program, from the menu find the Disk Utility and erase the OWC drive. Then from the same menu choose Restore System From Backup …. Choose the most recent back up and restore it to the new disk and shut down. Reboot and it should load OS X from the new OWC drive.

Installation Video

Below is a video showing you how we installed the OWC Auro Pro Express 480GB SSD:

OWC Auro Pro Express 480GB SSD Benchmarks

We ran two kinds of benchmarks. First we did informal tests. We copied a folder of video files that was 4.84GB both to and from the MacBook Air using a slow external 5400rpm WD USB 2.0 drive. Next we encoded a 33 second video using iMovie exporting it to a 720p m4v file. That is mostly a processor task but it can be affected by hard drive write and read speeds. Finally, we did a boot speed test timing the number of seconds it took to boot from full off state till the menu bar first appeared on screen. Below are the results of the tests. The red highlighted numbers are the ones that stood out.

OWC Auro Pro Express 480GB SSD informal test results:

Notice that the two biggest differences were in the read speed and the boot time, which is also a read function. A read function is where the computer is accessing information that is already on the drive. Write is where it is saving information to the drive. In our informal tests, the OWC Aura Pro Express SSD is much faster at read functions than the stock Apple SSD that ships in the original 2010 MacBook Air.

For a more synthetic but also objective test we ran Xbench on the MacBook Air with each drive in the system. Below are the results. Remember that with the Uncached Read and Write scores the higher the number of MB/sec the better.

It is interesting that despite the informal tests above consistently showing that the OWC drive was faster, in our more objective tests result using Xbench, the Apple stock SSD is actually faster with some things and slower with others. The overall score gives the nod to the Apple SSD, but not by much. In reality, these two drives performed similarly in these Xbench scores.

Value

Synthetic tests are seldom the best real world results. We definitely felt like the OWC Aura Pro Express SSD was faster. The difference was not huge and not worth $1,579.99 if that was the only thing you were looking for in this upgrade. However, that is not the main reason people buy these drives. Speed is an added benefit that comes along for the ride. The real value is in the extra storage space. With this 480GB drive you get nearly twice that of the highest capacity stock Apple SSD. If you absolutely need it, then you will have to decide if almost $1,600 is worth it. Right now, OWC is the only game in town for MacBook Air upgrade drives.

If you need a storage upgrade for your MacBook Air and you don’t mind paying for it, then the OWC Aura Pro Express Solid State Drive is a great upgrade, offering a nice little speed bump in most tasks, and we can promise you that it is easy to install for the tech savvy user. While our benchmarks show that synthetically the drive is not that much faster, it does boot much faster. It also just feels faster. OWC promises a 68% speed bump and that is just not the case in our experience. It is faster, but not that much faster. The two biggest benefits are extra space and add on storage without draining your battery life.

We bet you could sell your old Apple SSD to defray the costs of the upgrade. Two sellers on eBay did just that getting nearly $500. You might want to remember that if you need warranty repair, you will have to reinstall the stock Apple SSD to get it.

The drive is available at OWC right now for $1,579.99. A 240GB option is also available for $559.99.

Pros:

• Fast
• Doubles, triples or quadruples internal capacity depending on original drive
• Easy to install for the tech savvy person
• Comes with tools needed

Cons:

• Expensive
• Requires some technical knowledge of notebook upgrades
• Limited help
• The drive is not a perfect fit like Apple SSD

How to Replace the MacBook Air SSD with OWC Auro Pro Express 480GB SSD [Review] is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

If you want the storage space of a traditional hard drive and the speed of an SSD (solid state drive) you should look into a hybrid drive like the Seagate Momentus XT, which combines the best of both worlds. This review will show you how the hybrid hard drive performs and how to upgrade your Mac or Windows notebook to a faster hybrid hard drive.

I just upgraded the hard drive in my new MacBook Pro with the Seagate Momentus XT. I bought it knowing that I would likely do so. Getting such a drive from someone other than Apple is often a money saver. In this case a MacBook Pro upgraded to a faster 7200 rpm 500GB hard drive from Apple only costs another $100. But it also is not a hybrid hard drive like the Seagate Momentus XT, and that’s where the real benefit comes. With this drive there is a nice performance boost.

Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid Hard Drive

Benefit of Seagate Momentus XT over Most HDs Pre-installed

The Seagate Momentus XT is a special kind of notebook hard drive. It is a 7200 rpm drive, which means that is faster than the stock drive that comes in the base model MacBook Pro or MacBook. That drive is only a 5400 rpm (revolutions per minute). It is the speed at which the drive spins while the computer is reading the drive. Think of a record player or a CD spinning as the music is played. It is the same concept.

The Solid State Flash Memory is the key - image from AnandTech

In addition to spinning faster it has 4GB of solid state flash storage built-in. An SSD is a new kind of hard drive that is very fast and requires less power because it has no moving parts. In small quantities, like those in USB flash drives that most people use to carry around documents, the memory is not that much. But in hard drive sized quantities they can be hundreds of dollars. The average 128GB SSD, which is small when compared to 320 or 500 GB drives in most basic notebooks, is at minimum about $150. You can get the largest notebook hard drive available in the traditional spinning form for less than that – a 1TB Western Digital Scorpio Blue internal notebook hard drive can be purchased for as little as $118 at Newegg.

Western Digital Scorpio Blue 1TB Notebook Hard Drive

The Seagate Momentus XT brings both the capacity of a traditional spinning optical drive together with the speed of an SSD. The result is a hybrid of the two, which is why it is called a hybrid hard drive. Installing it in the MacBook Pro or any laptop is not that difficult and results in a nice speed boost.

The Speed Boost from Upgrade

Notice below how similar it is in speed to an SSD, the fastest drives available:

Benchmarks from Seagate of the Momentus XT speed compared to an SSD

We timed the boot up speed of this new drive in comparison to the old one that came with our machine. Boot times were reduced to a third of the time, from around a minute and a half on average to less than 40 seconds with the Seagate Momentus XT installed.

The other boost is starting applications. On a Mac we often judge the speed of app load times by how many bounces the dock icons perform while loading. With the stock drive, one program I have that takes forever to load would bounce a dozen or so time. With the new drive it reduced the bounces to about three or four. Other applications bounce only once or twice where they used to bounce two or three times. By comparison, on the MacBook Air with an SSD drive, the same apps load in 1 bounce or instantly. So the hybrid drive is closer to an SSD than a traditional drive.

The last performance bump is in loading Internet pages. The biggest bottleneck of surfing is usually your network connection. But a fast hard drive will help your browser download the data to the temporary folder on the hard drive and then load it into the browser for display faster. With the Seagate Moments XT installed, pages pop on-screen faster.

Below is a video demonstrating the speed of the Seagate Momentus XT from the company’s website.

Warnings

There are a couple of warnings regarding this drive. Some have reported having problems with the drive in older MacBooks at Apple’s support forums. Even failures have taken place. But the only other report about using it in the newest MacBook Pros said it was a good experience. And we haven’t had any problems in the short time we’ve had it installed. So, if you install this drive, be sure to run Time Machine backups on the Mac side or a similar Windows backup solution to be safe. And remember to hold onto your old manufacturer installed hard drive. I will be keeping the drive that came with my Apple in the box that my new drive came in to be safe. That way if I have a failure I can just install it and boot up the system and restore from a recent backup.

Preparing for the Upgrade – Backup on a Mac

To do the hard drive upgrade, the first step begins before you ever even shut down the system and open it up. We’re talking about backup. Whatever your backup solution is, do it now! The best way on a Mac is to use Time Machine. If you have the menu item in your menu bar, just click on it and choose “Back Up Now”.

If you’ve been running Time Machine all along, it should not take long. For those who have not, just open Time Machine preferences from the System Preferences window. That can be found under the Apple menu in the upper left. Make sure it is set to ON. Here’s our guide to setting up Time Machine on your Mac.

It should now be in the menu bar and you can click on it and back up the system. If this is the first time you have done it, it will take a while.

Preparing for the Upgrade – Backup on Windows

On the Windows side of things, we like the idea of starting fresh when doing a hard drive backup. The reason is over time a Windows PC gets filled with software and hidden “kludge” that can slow it down. It’s a good idea on a Windows computer to start fresh once a year.

So instead of doing a complete backup, just get your personal stuff. One way to do this is just copy the user folder to an external USB hard drive. That way you have everything from documents, music, pictures, videos and a lot of system preferences and software preferences. Also make sure you have a way to reinstall Windows and your software. Go through the My Programs folder on the Start menu and take inventory. Do you have discs or install files for each one. This is also a good time to get rid of software you are not using. Just don’t reinstall it.

There are only a few reasons to not follow the above advice:

1. You have a new system and don’t suffer from the “kludge” that slows down the system
2. You don’t have a Windows install disc or your software installation discs or files
3. You just don’t want to be bothered – you want to just install the hard drive and restore the system like it is

In this case, the best way is to make a bootable restore disc with a program like Acronis True Image. It will cost you something, but will create a disc that will put everything back just as you left it pre-upgrade. It is $49.99 direct or less than $37 at Amazon. But for that you have a great backup solution even after the upgrade. We really like the program for Windows backup and restoration. The result will be a DVD or set of DVDs that can be used like a Windows restore disc only with all your programs and documents in place.

We do not have the space or time to take you through the steps of using Acronis. Their web site has a PDF with plenty of information about how to run the application.

If you choose to go the first route and reinstall Windows, make sure to get the drivers for your computer. Go to the manufacturer’s website and find the drivers in the support section. Download them to an external USB drive. I put mine in a single folder. The primary things to look for are:

• Chipset drivers
• Video card drivers
• Network drivers (especially wireless)
• Other special drivers for unique hardware like finger print readers, special button controls, etc.

Removing the Old Hard Drive – MacBook Pro

Here’s what you will need:

• New hard drive
• Torx T-6 screwdriver
• Very small Philip’s head screwdriver
• Piece of tape

On the MacBook, removing the hard drive involves taking the entire bottom plate off the system. You will use a Philip’s head screw driver to do this. We recommend a jeweler’s screw driver with a very tiny head. Turn the MacBook over and rest it on a flat surface that won’t scratch the lid.

Turn over MacBook Pro and unscrew 10 screws

Take a large piece of tape and stick it to the surface of the work space sticky side up. This will hold the screws so they don’t roll of the table onto the floor never to be seen again.

Use tape to hold loose screws

Now remove the ten screws. I like to put the loose screws on the tape in a pattern exactly like they would fit in the computer. That is because three of the screws are longer. This helps you remember which goes in which spot.

After all ten screws are removed, pull the bottom off the computer. It is easiest to get at it by pulling up on the side with the black fan vent. Put the bottom plate in a safe place.

The MacBook Pro hard drive is fastened in place by a plastic bar and two screws or posts that hold it into place. Use the Philip’s head screw driver to loosen the screws. They can stay in the bar. Once it is loose, pull out the bar with the screws in it and place it on or next to your tape.

The hard drive will have a plastic tab. Pull up on it carefully.

Pull up on tab to remove drive

There is a connector with a thin and delicate ribbon. You will have to carefully remove this connector without damaging the ribbon. If you do you will likely have to pay to fix it, as Apple will probably not give you warranty service on it since you damaged it.

Carefully remove connector

There are four posts or screws on drive. Unscrew them with a Torx T-6 screw driver. We got one from our Lowe’s store cheap.

Torx T-6 Screwdriver

It has to be the T-6 size. These have a star shape on the end. Once removed place these on the tape.

Remove the Torx screws from old drive and put them on the new one

Removing the Old Hard Drive – Windows

On a PC this is usually not that hard. On the bottom of the computer you will usually find a plat that fits over the hard drive compartment. It will have a symbol that looks like three circles stacked on top of each other. With a tiny Phillip’s head screw driver (we like jeweler’s screw drivers) unscrew the tiny screw or screws. Take a piece of tape and stick it to your work surface with the sticky side up. Place the screws on it to keep them from rolling off onto the floor never to be found again.

Unscrew any screws for the bottom plate on Windows PC

Inside the compartment is likely a hard drive with a plastic tab connected to one side. Usually you can just pull the tab and lift the drive out. Sometimes the drive will be secured by a bar, screws or some other mechanism to keep it in place. If it does, unscrew it.

Once you are able to lift the drive, pull it out carefully. There will be a connector that will usually be connecting the hard drive to the computer. Sometimes the drive just rests in the compartment with a piece attached to the drive that can be removed. Other times there is a connector with a thin ribbon attaching it to the computer. Whichever it has, carefully remove it. If it is a loose piece put it near or on the tape. If it is a ribbon rest it carefully in the computer. Don’t damage it whatever you do.

Installing the New Hard Drive – Mac

It is now time to put the new hard drive into the system. The Seagate Momentus XT comes in a wrapper. Rip it open and take the drive out. Put the four posts that you removed from the MacBook’s hard drive onto the sides of the drive with the Torx T-6 screw driver. Don’t over tighten them.

Reconnect the ribbon connector. The plastic connector can only go on one way. Make sure to connect it with the ribbon under the drive and the printed side facing you. The connector will be closer to the edge of the system.

Case has four holes in which posts on hard drive are inserted

Insert the two side posts into the tiny holes in the hard drive compartment along the edge closest to the front of the MacBook. Let the drive drop into place and then replace the black plastic bar that had the two screws in it. Tighten them snuggly.

While you are in here, you might want to upgrade the memory, but we will save that for another post.

Now it is time to replace the bottom plate. You may want to check one last time to be sure the connector is secure. Put the plate back down and screw in the screws being careful to put them back in the right place. The three long screws will go into the holes closest to the back of the system. If the system is upside down and the black fan vents are on your right the three screws go into the three holes on the long right side closest to you.

Installing the New Hard Drive – Windows

The steps on the Windows PC will be similar to the Mac. Attach any connectors or any thing else you had to remove from the old drive. Insert it exactly like you took it out and replace any hardware that was used to hold it in place if there was any.

Video Tutorial

Here is our video tutorial on how to replace the hard drive in a MacBook Pro:

Restoring the Operating System – Mac

If you did a full Time Machine backup just before the project, you have an easy restoration process. Boot the system to make sure it works. If it starts up giving you the familiar boot up tone and you see a folder icon with a question mark in it, then you did everything right. Put the Mac OS X Install disc into the drive and then shut it back down again by pressing the power button. We will use it to restore the backup.

Plug in the external drive used to make the Time Machine backup. Reboot with the disc in the drive. At first it will show the typical Apple symbol on the white screen. Then it will have a folder with a question mark again. This means it cannot find the operating system. That is normal. It will boot from the DVD instead.

Time Machine Restoration - image from MacLife

Once the system boots from the DVD, it will ask you what language to use. Choose your language and click the arrow in the lower right. Wait till you see the menu across the top of the screen. Choose Utilities and then “Restore System from Backup”. Follow the directions choosing the right backup and let it restore. It will take a while, so go do something else. When it is finished, reboot. You should see your system just like you last left it before you started the upgrade.

In the video below we take you through the steps of restoring the OS from a Time Machine backup using the OS X installation DVD and our external hard drive with the backup on it.

Restoring the Operating System – Windows

To get back up and running you will have to either reinstall Windows or boot with the Acronis True Image recovery disk you created. Follow the information in the Acronis PDF to learn how to do that.

To restore with Windows just boot with the Windows install disc and follow the instructions. Microsoft has a guide on how to do this. Follow the instructions there. When finished, there are a few things you should do first. Find the external drive where you saved all the files you downloaded from the manufacturer’s support site. Run each file in this order:

1. Install the chipset driver for your computer and reboot
2. Install the video card drivers and reboot
3. Install the network drivers, if needed (including wireless and wired)
4. Install other drivers
5. Install all operating system updates before you install software like Office and other applications
6. Install programs
7. Restore your files by copying form the hard drive or USB drive backup you made

You can find additional resources in our guides that show you how to move Windows 7 to a larger hard drive, how to reinstall Windows 7 from scratch and how to reinstall Windows 7 with an upgrade DVD, without installing your old OS.

What to do with your old hard drive:

You can easily turn your old hard drive into extra storage by following our guide to installing your old hard drive in an external hard drive case.

Conclusions

Upgrading almost any stock manufacture’s notebook hard drive to the Seagate Momentus XT should result in a nice performance boost. The only way this wouldn’t be true was if you had an SSD or a fast 7200 rpm hard drive from the factory. In the case of the latter, it will still likely help a little.

We did this upgrade and got a faster 500GB drive than you can get from Apple. We bought it at Best Buy for $150, but Amazon has the Seagate Momentus XT for $100 and we should have gotten it there.

Amazon has the Seagate Momentus XT for under $100

Upgrading to the Seagate Momentus XT was well worth the cost and time. We recommend it. We are slightly concerned about all the bad warnings we found online about drive failures with this model. So we are going to be very careful about continual backups. The other thing to remember is you need to wait a little while before seeing the most performance boost as the hard drive adapts to your system usage. But after just a short time we are seeing enough of a boost to describe our upgrade with one word: “Winning!”

Technical Specs

How To Upgrade to a Fast Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid Notebook Hard Drive (Review) is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

Apple has released iOS 4.3, a new software update for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad devices which delivers improved home sharing, hotspots and other features to the collection of Apple devices. The upgrade process will take some time depending on how much data you have on your device, so you shouldn’t do it right before you need to run out the door.

iOS 4.3 is definitely an update you want to install. Not only does it deliver faster browsing, but you can also stream movies and music from your iTunes library over WiFi to your iPad or iPhone. Additionally Apple has improved AirPlay to allow for streaming from apps on the marketplace and has finally allowed users to set the preference for the iPad switch to mute or orientation lock.

How To Update your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad to iOS 4.3

Check for the latest version of iTunes:

Step 1: Make sure that you have the most recent version of iTunes. Apple just release a new version this morning, which addresses some bugs with iTunes 10.2. To Upgrade to iTunes 10.2.1 you should open iTunes and click Check for Updates.

Step 2: You Will be prompted to update iTunes and the system will download iTunes 10.2.1. Alternatively, you can  download the installation file from iTunes.com.

Step 3: Exit iTunes and allow the installation to finish.

How to Upgrade to iOS 4.3:

Step 1: Open iTunes

Step 2: Connect your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad to your Computer.

Step 3: Make sure you have an up to date backup of your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch.

Step 4: Click on the device’s name in the right hand iTunes sidebar.

Step 5: Under the Summary Tab, click, Check for Update.

Step 6: The update will download. If you are attempting to upgrade right away, the download may take some time.

Step 7: When prompted, accept the user agreement and click “Next” where applicable.

Step 8: When finished you can look under Settings ->General -> Version to see that your device has been upgraded to iOS 4.3.

iOS 4.3 Release Notes, Features and Bug Fixes:

iOS 4.3 Software Update

This update contains new features and improvements, including the following:

• Personal Hotspot*

- Share iPhone 4 cellular data connection with up to 5

devices (combination of up to 3 Wi-Fi, 3 Bluetooth,

and 1 USB)

• iTunes Home Sharing

- Play music, movies and TV shows from a shared iTunes

library on a Mac or PC (requires iTunes 10.2)

• New AirPlay features**

- Play videos from the Photos app including the Camera

Roll album, iTunes previews, enabled third-party apps

and websites on Apple TV

- Play slideshows from Photos on Apple TV using

transitions available on Apple TV

• Faster Safari performance with Apple Nitro JavaScript

engine

• HD video out using the Apple Digital AV Adapter***

- View 720p HD videos from Videos app, iPod app,

Photos, YouTube, Safari, Keynote, and enabled

third-party apps on an HDMI display

• Ping features

- Push notifications for comments and follow requests

- Post and Like songs directly from the Now Playing

screen

- Parental controls

• New Settings

- Messages setting for number of times to repeat an

alert

- iPad side switch setting to lock screen rotation or mute

audio notifications and sound effects

• Single tap conference call dialing with a pause to send

a passcode

• Bug fixes

Products compatible with this software update:

• iPhone 4 (GSM model)

• iPhone 3GS

• iPad

• iPod touch (4th generation)

• iPod touch (3rd generation)

*Requires iPhone 4 with tethering data plan

**Requires Apple TV (2nd generation) running software

version 4.2 or later

***iPhone 4, iPad, iPod touch (4th generation)

For information on the security content of this update, please visit:

<http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222>

How to Upgrade your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad to iOS 4.3 is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

If you own a late 2008 vintage MacBook or MacBook Pro and aren’t satisfied with the 6GB RAM limitation, take note. Apple released a “secret” firmware update in late 2009 which by chance enabled 8GB RAM support on select Macbook and MacBook Pro models from 2008.

You don’t have to take our word for it, Other World Computing, sellers of all kinds of MacBook upgrades and accessories put the claim to the test with late 2008 MacBooks and MacBook Pros. After some testing and checking, OWC found that an EFI Firmware Update from 2009 allowed Snow Leopard to use the full 8GB RAM.

The catch, is that you need to install the newer version of this firmware update, which means doing things manually if your MacBook had the original EFI Update. OWC has you covered though, with instructions for figuring out if you have the firmware update that supports 8GB RAM, or the old version. The also provide the download for the MacBook Pro and MacBook Firmware updates so that you have a one stop shop.

The affected MacBook and MacBook Pro models include;

• MacBook 13.3″ 2.0GHz and 2.4GHz
• MacBook Pro 15″ 2.4GHz (All)
• MacBook Pro 15″ 2.53GHz model w/ExpressCard Slot (Late 2008)
• MacBook Pro 15″ 2.8GHz model w/ExpressCard Slot (Late 2008)

If you want to upgrade, you can purchase 8GB of RAM from OWC for $108, which is much cheaper than upgrading the RAM direct from Apple when you purchase a notebook.

How To Enable Support for 8GB RAM in Late 2008 MacBooks & MacBook Pros is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Apple has announced the iPad 2, and if you plan to pick one up, you should get ready by upgrading iTunes to the latest version, iTunes 10.2. The update will also be needed if you upgrade your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch to iOS 4.3.

Why You Should Upgrade to iTunes 10.2:

If you want to sync your iPad 2 with your computer you’ll need the new version, and it also brings one really cool new feature to the iPad and iPad 2 — Home Sharing, which allows you to stream music and videos from your computer to your iPad. Home Sharing will also work on iPhones and iPod Touchs updated to iOS 4.3.

You’ll also need iTunes 10.2 if you want to sync an iPad, iPhone or iPod running iOS 4.3 to your computer. In short, this is one iTunes upgrade you would be well served to do it before you go pick up your new iPad 2 or before you update your iPad to iOS 4.3 so that you don’t have to wait to use your new gadget.

iOS 4.3 will be available to download on March 11th, but you can download the iTunes 10.2 update right now.

How to upgrade to iTunes 10.2 on Mac:

To upgrade to the latest version of iTunes, click on the Apple icon in the upper left of your Mac and choose Software Update…

OS X will check for all outstanding updates and present a list of updates you can install. You will see a screen like that shown below. You can install all of the updates, or you can place a checkmark next to the items you want and the others will wait until next time. Make sure you have iTunes 10.2 checked.

Click on Install in the lower right. When prompted, accept the iTunes agreement. If you are note connected to power you will be asked if you want to proceed, if you have sufficient battery life go ahead and upgrade, if not plug into a power source. OS X will download and install your update and you’re ready for iOS 4.3.

How to Upgrade to iTunes 10.2 in Windows:

To upgrade iTunes in Windows, open iTunes and click on Help, then choose Check for Update.

When Windows ask you if you want to update, click Update Now and iTunes 10.2 will be downloaded and installed on your Windows Computer.

When prompted, choose to install the update and then click on the Windows UAC prompt which will appear when your screen dims. Agree to the iTunes license and you’re ready to go.

If you have any issues, you can download iTunes 10.2 direct from Apple and install without using the upgrade steps.

How to Upgrade to iTunes 10.2 and Why You Should Upgrade is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.