Some information about an extra SSD drive in MacBook Pro I have a MacBook Pro (6,2; mid 2010; 4GB DDR3, 2,66 i7) And for a while now, I've been thinking about building in a SSD in my Mac.   

My first plan was to switch my 512GB drive with a 512GB SSD, but the prices of those things made me think again.
Then I learned about OptiBay, a company which allows you to switch your optical drive with a secondary hard drive.
So I came up with the plan to switch my drive with a 128GB SSD where I'll install Mountain Lion on and by so keeping my 512GB drive for all the data. 

But the world of SSD is fairly new to me. So I've got some questions for those who are more familiar with this topic.


Which method would you use to switch the drive with the SSD? (OptiBay,...)
I heard some rumors about the performance of the SSD, something about limited times you could read/write the drive. Are those rumors true?
Is there a way to recover my optical drive and use it as an external drive (I think OptiBay offers such a way)
When will I gain the most performance gain? Installing only my OS on my SSD or when I install all my extra software on the SSD as well? Or which combination will give me the most performance gain?
Crucial. They've got a 4.5-star average review out of 810 reviews on Amazon. Further, their 128GB model only sets you back $104.97.
OptiBay is the only option I've heard of for this type of modification, and I have yet to read anything negative about it.
I've never heard any such rumor, and I've actually gone and installed the 256GB variant of that same Crucial drive I linked in my own 2011 17" MacBook Pro with nothing but outstanding results.
This post at MacRumors would go along with your idea to use an enclosure from OptiBay:



  First, I ordered a kit from Optibay, you can google their site. The
  base kit comes with the "frame" for the SSD to fit into your Macbook
  Pro, as well as a USB enclosure for a slot load SuperDrive. The cost
  of the kit is $99, a bit pricey, but it was well worth it and came
  with the enclosure.


5.As far as performance is concerned, you're gonna find the most bang for your buck by installing the operating system on the SSD for sure, as well as any apps that you find yourself using most often.