What is the best way to upgrade my Early 2009 Macbook Pro 17"?

My Macbook hasn't been working well and I'm worried about things getting worse when going to Yosemite. My system has some hardware problems (CD drive doesn't work, needs a new battery), but I'm looking to upgrade the whole system now. I'd like to up the RAM to 8GB, put in a new hard drive (solid state?), etc...
Here is my EtreCheck-- I am looking for advice about what needs to be done to get my system back up and working? Thanks!
Problem description:
slow processing, freezing, crashing
EtreCheck version: 2.2 (132)
Report generated 5/4/15 6:27 PM
Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck
Click the [Click for support] links for help with non-Apple products.
Click the [Click for details] links for more information about that line.
Hardware Information: ℹ️
    MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2009) (Technical Specifications)
    MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro5,2
    1 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU: 2-core
    4 GB RAM
        BANK 0/DIMM0
            2 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok
        BANK 1/DIMM0
            2 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok
    Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported
    Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
    Battery: Health = Check Battery - Cycle count = 693 - SN = 9G91301DJ4M0A
Video Information: ℹ️
    NVIDIA GeForce 9400M - VRAM: 256 MB
        Color LCD 1920 x 1200
    NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT - VRAM: 512 MB
System Software: ℹ️
    OS X 10.8.5 (12F45) - Time since boot: 1:50:40
Disk Information: ℹ️
    ST9500325AS disk0 : (500.11 GB)
        disk0s1 (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
        Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / : 499.25 GB (31.65 GB free)
        Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
    MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-868
USB Information: ℹ️
    Apple Inc. Built-in iSight
    Apple, Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
    Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
    Kensington      Kensington Expert Mouse
    Broadcom Corp BCM2046A
Configuration files: ℹ️
    /etc/hosts - Count: 15
Gatekeeper: ℹ️
    Mac App Store and identified developers
Kernel Extensions: ℹ️
        /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/kexts
    [loaded]    com.vmware.kext.vmci (3.0.0) [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.vmware.kext.vmioplug (3.0.0) [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.vmware.kext.vmnet (3.0.0) [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.vmware.kext.vmx86 (3.0.0) [Click for support]
        /System/Library/Extensions
    [not loaded]    com.Avid.driver.AvidDX (5.6.0 - SDK 10.6) [Click for support]
    [not loaded]    com.SafeNet.driver.Sentinel (7.5.2) [Click for support]
    [not loaded]    com.paceap.kext.PACESupport (5.8) [Click for support]
    [not loaded]    com.paceap.kext.PACESupport2 (5.8) [Click for support]
    [not loaded]    com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.master (5.8) [Click for support]
    [not loaded]    com.seagate.driver.PowSecDriverCore (5.0.1) [Click for support]
    [not loaded]    com.silabs.driver.SiLabsUSBDriver (1.0.1) [Click for support]
    [not loaded]    com.sony.filesystem.prodisc_fs (2.0.0) [Click for support]
    [not loaded]    com.sony.protocol.prodisc (2.0.0) [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.squirrels.airparrot.framebuffer (3 - SDK 10.7) [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.squirrels.driver.AirParrotSpeakers (1.7 - SDK 10.7) [Click for support]
    [loaded]    net.telestream.driver.TelestreamAudio (1.0.6 - SDK 10.6) [Click for support]
        /System/Library/Extensions/PACESupportFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns
    [not loaded]    com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.leopard (5.8 - SDK 10.4) [Click for support]
    [not loaded]    com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.panther (5.8 - SDK 10.-1) [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.snowleopard (5.8 - SDK 10.6) [Click for support]
    [not loaded]    com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.tiger (5.8 - SDK 10.4) [Click for support]
        /System/Library/Extensions/Seagate Storage Driver.kext/Contents/PlugIns
    [not loaded]    com.seagate.driver.PowSecLeafDriver_10_4 (5.0.1) [Click for support]
    [not loaded]    com.seagate.driver.PowSecLeafDriver_10_5 (5.0.1) [Click for support]
    [not loaded]    com.seagate.driver.SeagateDriveIcons (5.0.1) [Click for support]
Startup Items: ℹ️
    PACESupport: Path: /Library/StartupItems/PACESupport
    Startup items are obsolete in OS X Yosemite
Problem System Launch Agents: ℹ️
    [failed]    com.apple.accountsd.plist [Click for details]
    [failed]    com.apple.coreservices.appleid.authentication.plist [Click for details]
Problem System Launch Daemons: ℹ️
    [failed]    com.apple.wdhelper.plist [Click for details]
Launch Agents: ℹ️
    [not loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist [Click for support]
    [running]    com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.adobe.CS4ServiceManager.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.hp.messagecenter.launcher.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist [Click for support]
    [running]    com.seagate.SeagateStorageGauge.plist [Click for support]
    [not loaded]    com.teamviewer.teamviewer.plist [Click for support]
    [not loaded]    com.teamviewer.teamviewer_desktop.plist [Click for support]
Launch Daemons: ℹ️
    [loaded]    com.adobe.versioncueCS4.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.bombich.ccc.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.google.keystone.daemon.plist [Click for support]
    [running]    com.memeo.Memeod.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist [Click for support]
    [running]    com.paceap.eden.licensed.plist [Click for support]
    [not loaded]    com.teamviewer.teamviewer_service.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.vmware.launchd.vmware.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    PACESupport.plist [Click for support]
User Launch Agents: ℹ️
    [not loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.digitalrebellion.SoftwareUpdateAutoCheck.plist [Click for support]
    [running]    com.spotify.webhelper.plist [Click for support]
User Login Items: ℹ️
    RED Watchdog    Application (/Applications/REDCINE-X Professional/Utilities/RED Watchdog.app)
    iTunesHelper    UNKNOWN Hidden (missing value)
    Skype    Application (/Applications/Skype.app)
    Google Drive    Application (/Applications/Google Drive.app)
    AdobeResourceSynchronizer    Application Hidden (/Applications/Adobe Acrobat XI Pro/Adobe Acrobat Pro.app/Contents/Support/AdobeResourceSynchronizer.app)
    Google Chrome    Application Hidden (/Applications/Google Chrome.app)
    MemeoAgent    Application (/Library/Application Support/Memeo/Memeo Backup/Agents/MemeoAgent.app)
Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
    o1dbrowserplugin: Version: 5.41.0.0 - SDK 10.8 [Click for support]
    OVSHelper: Version: 1.0 [Click for support]
    OfficeLiveBrowserPlugin: Version: 12.3.1 [Click for support]
    Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: Version: 2.4.1.4 [Click for support]
    AdobeAAMDetect: Version: AdobeAAMDetect 2.0.0.0 - SDK 10.7 [Click for support]
    FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 11.1.102.55 [Click for support]
    AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.0 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
    DivXBrowserPlugin: Version: 2.1 [Click for support]
    Flash Player: Version: 11.1.102.55 Outdated! Update
    AmazonMP3DownloaderPlugin: Version: AmazonMP3DownloaderPlugin 1.0.15 [Click for support]
    googletalkbrowserplugin: Version: 5.41.0.0 - SDK 10.8 [Click for support]
    LogMeIn: Version: 1.0.465 [Click for support]
    AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.0 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
    iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0
    QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.1
    Silverlight: Version: 5.1.30317.0 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
    JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 7 Update 51 Check version
User internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
    CitrixOnlineWebDeploymentPlugin: Version: 1.0.60 [Click for support]
Safari Extensions: ℹ️
    DivX HiQ
    DivX Plus Web Player HTML5 <video>
Audio Plug-ins: ℹ️
    DVCPROHDAudio: Version: 1.3.2
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
    Adobe Version Cue CS4 [Click for support]
    DivX [Click for support]
    Flash Player [Click for support]
    Flip4Mac WMV [Click for support]
    Growl [Click for support]
    Java [Click for support]
    Perian [Click for support]
    REDcode [Click for support]
Time Machine: ℹ️
    Skip System Files: NO
    Auto backup: YES
    Destinations:
        Eileen Backup Drive [Local]
        Total size: 0 B
        Total number of backups: 0
        Oldest backup: -
        Last backup: -
        Size of backup disk: Excellent
            Backup size 0 B > (Disk size 0 B X 3)
Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
        97%    Google Chrome Helper(9)
        13%    mdworker(3)
         2%    Google Chrome
         1%    WindowServer
         1%    mds
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
    1.73 GB    Google Chrome Helper(9)
    111 MB    Google Chrome
    86 MB    mds
    70 MB    iTunes
    61 MB    WindowServer
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
    151 MB    Free RAM
    3.85 GB    Used RAM
    1.60 GB    Swap Used
Diagnostics Information: ℹ️
    May 4, 2015, 04:32:04 PM    Self test - passed
    May 9, 2010, 04:57:04 PM    /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Kernel_2010-05-09-165704_[redacted].panic [Click for details]

1. Increase your RAM to the maximum 8 Gigs.
2. Replace your 5400 rpm hard drive with either a SSD or, if price is an obstacle, a hybrid 7200 rpm drive.
3. Buy a new battery, recommend the genuine Apple one.
4. Replace the DVD drive, if you need it.
Recommended part sources:
https://www.macsales.com
https://www.ifixit.com
http://www.powerbookmedic.com

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JQ

oh mighty Hatter, I knew you'd have helpful guidance to offer! And thank you. You've confirmed my anxieties about the Sonnet card; kind of a 'too much, too quickly' sort of thing. And it's not that Sonnet's not a good company. Just everything to do with new technologies and the growth curve we all, manufacturers and users, go through when they come out. And, for sure, the new Mac Pro's are new technology; the single biggest forward leap in Apple's top-of-the-line machines for some time far as I can tell. Just reading at Intel's website about the Nehalem's is a joy!
So, I will proceed now with everything except for the controller card, leaving that 'til later. In the meantime, I think I'll just happily run with the four hard drives all running independently. No software RAID. I know just those, the SSD boot drive plus Velociraptor trio's going inside of a 2.66ghz 8-core Nehalem Mac Pro is going to be a working pleasure. Heck, this way, I'll get settled in and used to the machine's speed, have a great time doing so and then, in however many months, I can jump into spending another chunk of money on an excellent RAID card, RAID card's dear Barefeats will have tested and reviewed for us, set up my RAID 0 set and head of to those new races watching my computer leap for joy! Could be that, by then, the cost of Intel 160GB X25-M's will have dropped enough that I can afford to go for a second and have a two SSD RAID 0 boot drive... Yummy!
Thanks for the help. Like I say, I knew there was useful guidance hanging on some limb within your personal kit, (otherwise referred to as your mind)!
Interesting to read about the problems people have had with Sonnet's 2.17 update in PPC's... In this computer, my PowerMac G5 dual 2.7ghz, I have a Sonnet 'Tempo Sata X4P' controller card. I downloaded and installed 2.17 and got the same troubles; no cut, no paste, no 'drag and drop' etc. It was miserable.
Mine, fortunately, magically corrected after running the 'permissions verify and correct' process in Disc Utility and, after a restart, all was back to almost normal but for one exception; the Sonnet card was no longer present or functioning including the four eSATA ports out the back. (I ran Tech Tools Pro 5's repair suites first but, and who knows why, it didn't correct the problem...) This one was absolutely in the 'who knows what the f_'s going on and why it disappeared but did' class.
Oh, the other remnant is that, when the computer goes into sleep, after about five minutes, the fans rev up, and up, and the computer's frozen; only access is to do a forced shutdown pressing and holding the power button, so I've had to adopt a 'shut down whenever leaving it for more than fifteen minutes' approach to this dear friend. Once I've fully moved into and established my new one (which should arrive today, by the way... Yippeee!!! Can't wait!), I'll do a complete restoration on this one including taking out the Sonnet card. Usually, I sell my old Pro's but, this time, I'm going to keep this one as a back up and just general second computer for times I might need it. It has been such a great and dependable machine. Keeping it seems the right thing to do.
thanks Hatter. I'll let you know how things go, including what happens with the SSD. I don't have speed test software so I won't be able to track it's performance like that guy in the post you gave me did...
JQ
ps- Gotta love that ILLogic fellow eh? Talk about not getting the essence!

What is the best way to handle .mod files in premiere pro cs4?

I recently got a JVC Everio GZ-MG130u and as I'm sure many of you are aware, it saves footage in the .mod format.
I have googled this and found quite a few different solutions, but I'm just wondering if anything has changed since some of these solutions were posted, or in other words, what is the best way at this current point in time to handle .mod files in premiere pro cs4?
As far as I know, the best thing to do is convert the .mod to .avi and then import it into premiere so it can be edited.. Is there a better way to do it than this? Also, by doing it this way, will I have separate audio and video tracks?
Thanks.

I have just done a bit of reading, here. All of the quotes that follow are from users who have posted in that thread.
It seems that there isn't one solid answer on this subject. The thread that I linked to was started 2 years ago, and replied to just 4 ago, so it's relatively current.
I noticed a couple different interesting statements:
posted by mmontgomery:
In the case of .MOD, you are actually getting a MPEG-2 file. The way
video files work is that there is a codec (COmpressor/DECompressor)
algorithm and a file wrapper (or extension). A JVC .MOD file is a
MPEG-2 encoded file, with a .MOD extension.
You're faced with two
challenges, first the .MOD file type is only recognized and support by a
few applications. I think we covered some of those already. The
interesting thing about wrappers and extensions is that they can be
dealt with in a variety of ways. Sometimes all you need to do to convert
the video file to a compatible video file is to change the extension.
In the case of .MOD files that's not enough. The .MOD wrapper apparently
does a few more things than just bare a unique extension name. It
requires a slightly more complicated method to convert that file. That
is why there is supplied software and that certain third party
applications have .MOD support.
(posted 2 years ago)
This seems to indicate that Ann's solution of simply re-naming the extension is not good enough, unless I am mis-interpreting what she meant.
However, another user said:
posted by futball8:
I edit with Adobe Premiere Pro CS3. All I have to do is simply rename
the .MOD files as .MPG and then import into PP CS3. It takes a small
amount of time to conform the audio, but no file conversion is
necessary. It's a pretty slick workflow and I've never encountered any
problems editing them this way.
(posted 5 months ago)
One can only assume that simply re-naming the extension from .mod to .mpg works in some circumstances, and doesn't work in others. I assume it depends largely on the editing software being used. Perhaps there are still issues that futball8 was simply unaware of or never encountered.
That said, there seems to be a couple of different real solutions to this problem that I have found:
1. Simply use an editing program that supports .mod file format. While pe7 and pe8 supposedly support the .mod format, the following should be noted:
posted by macksgarage:
While Elements 'supports' these files, it is markedly unstable and frequently crashes while using the files, though the application is otherwise reliable. The solution I have arrived at is to repair the container using ffmpeg. (see #3)
(posted 5 months ago)
2. Use a file conversion utility of your choice that will covert .mod to .avi, or another desired format. Import the resulting .avi file into premiere pro cs4.
3. Use FFmpeg. This seems to be the best solution as it does not convert any audio or video:
posted by macksgarae:
If you are not familiar with ffmpeg, it may be a bit of a bear to
learn, but it's not only useful for this, but functions as a video swiss
army knife useful for splicing, muxing/demuxing, and rendering just
about any format into just about any other format.
ffmpeg is an open source project from the linux world, but it has
been ported and is supported on windows. Fetch it here and place it somewhere handy
on your system.
To rewrite the container into a nice, standards compliant .mpg file
that doesn't make applications die, WITHOUT rerendering video or audio
itself, I use this command.
ffmpeg -i INFILE.MOD -acodec copy - vcodec copy OUTFILE.mpg
This not only renames the file, but actually rebuilds the container
around unmodified video and audio data, yielding a file which works much
more stably with Adobe applications, and presumably others as well, as
ffmpeg's open source development goals result in very standards
compliant files.
(posted 5 months ago)
Now, this seems to properly address the issues that can arise from simply renaming .mod to .mpg, as suggested by Ann. So from this point, I assume you can simply import the .mpg into Premiere Pro cs4 (or any other .mpg compliant program) and edit without issue, but it seems like I remember hearing something about Premiere not liking mpegs or something like that, so in that case, maybe it'd be better to skip this and go with option #2. But, it's been awhile since I've touched any NLE, much less premiere pro cs4, so I could be completely wrong and it may have no problems handling mpegs.
All of the things that I've quoted here came from the same thread, so I don't know how accurate any of this is, but the people that have posted these things seem fairly knowledgeable. If someone reads all of this and can confirm or deny any of it, it would be much appreciated.
Option 1 is not really an option for me, because I am sticking with premiere pro cs4 -- I'm not going to get another editor just because it has .mod support. That leaves me with options 2 and 3: Convert to avi, or change the file wrapper/extension properly with FFmpeg and then simply import the resulting .mpg file... Which is better? Or is there yet another solution that I am unaware of that would be even better?

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