Questions and advice on 2011 MBP SSD upgrade

neurophysicist · Feb 25, 2013, 11:58 AM

Hello,

I have an early 2011 15" MBP, 2.2 i7, with the stock 500 GB Hitachi hard drive. I identified an SSD that I want to use to upgrade, especially given the size (500GB) and price ~$275:

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electr...pr_product_top

First off, I was wondering if anyone here had experience with the Samsung SSDs. I looked at some of the threads here as well as upgrade instructions for an MBP of the same exact specifications on another website for an OWC SSD:

http://www.bjorn3d.com/2011/11/a-com.../#.UJbM1ml25vZ

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1104245

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1102430

My second question is, would this Samsung SSD be compatible with full 6G speeds if in the main bay? I don't know much about hard drives, but could someone explain to me the difference between SATA II/III and 3G/6G?

My last question is if anyone knows where I can find a good video or the instructions necessary for upgrading my old HDD with the SSD.

Thanks for the help.

Soot · Feb 25, 2013, 01:20 PM

I just installed the same Samsung SSD (840 series, 500 GB) in the same type of MBP about a week ago, here are instructions I wrote up for someone else on another thread (post #4).

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1547051

My one week of experience with the SSD has been positive, no complaints, very fast and noticeable improvement over the stock HDD.

SATA III is the type of connection used in the main bay for the HDD / SDD. Some people take out the DVD drive and install a second HDD / SDD in that space, as I recall the connection in the 2011 MBP for *that* is the older slower SATA II type.

If you're just swapping your existing harddrive for a new SDD there's nothing to think about or worry about. The Samsung 840 is SATA III and will take advantage of the full speed capability of the main bay.

glenthompson · Feb 25, 2013, 09:41 PM

Your MBP supports SATA 3 at 6gbs but the current drive doesn't work at that speed so the current link is 3gbs. If your put in a drive that supports 6gbs you will see the higher speed. The devices negotiate to the highest common speed.

I'm planning to make a similar change in a month or two.

ChunkAhoy · Feb 25, 2013, 09:54 PM

I have a Samsung 830 SSD in the exact same 2.2ghz early 2011 mbp and i get aroung 460MB/s transfer speeds. I had to install Trim Enabler to ..... Well ... Enable trim. It's been working great for a while now.

neurophysicist · Feb 26, 2013, 10:50 PM

Thanks for the assistance. The item was marked as "under review" by Amazon so I did not order. It was removed from this list but the price increased beyond $300; however, I found it on Newegg and used a $60 promo code to discount it even further from the price listed there, and I just ordered it:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820147190

Deal expires midnight pacific time, if anyone is interested. Promo code found here:

http://techreport.com/news/24418/dea...ng-ssd-for-280

Soot, I had a quick look at your thread. Looks very helpful, will use it when installing the SSD.

When reading reviews I came across "TRIM" and reviewers sometimes posted about installing firmware on Windows because it was easier. Is any of this necessary, or is it unrelated/nothing to worry about? Thanks.

EDIT: I just realized ChunkAhoy mentioned TRIM. What exactly does TRIM do for your SSD?

Spink10 · Feb 26, 2013, 10:52 PM

Your cannot upgrade firmware on that SSD in OS X - FYI

Not a big deal

buysp · Feb 27, 2013, 05:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spink10

Your cannot upgrade firmware on that SSD in OS X - FYI

Not a big deal

You can with a bootable ISO image but still painful though.
I think we all are hoping that Samsung will get with the times and give
us Mac users a native FW upgrade path.

Giuly · Feb 27, 2013, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by buysp

You can with a bootable ISO image but still painful though.
I think we all are hoping that Samsung will get with the times and give
us Mac users a native FW upgrade path.

Samsung is an Asian company. Firmware updates are software.

Not going to happen. Be grateful that you can do it by booting an USB stick.

neurophysicist · Mar 27, 2013, 04:12 AM

I recently installed my Samsung 840 Series SSD any everything seems to be going well. I enabled Trim and found some suggestions here on other SSD optimizations.

http://blog.alutam.com/2012/04/01/op...-lion-for-ssd/

http://sysadmin.flakshack.com/post/9...s-for-mac-os-x

My question is what are the drawbacks of disabling hibernation? I am having some trouble understanding that. I understand a benefit is gaining back the disk space used by the sleep image and not constantly writing the contents of memory to disk. But what negative effects are there? Is the only drawback that I would lose my current memory in the event of battery dying? What would happen to open applications when the laptop is awakened from sleep? Or in other words, what are the benefits of keeping hibernation on? Thanks for the help.

Feb 25, 2013, 11:58 AM	#1
neurophysicist macrumors member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: korriban	Questions and advice on 2011 MBP SSD upgrade Hello, I have an early 2011 15" MBP, 2.2 i7, with the stock 500 GB Hitachi hard drive. I identified an SSD that I want to use to upgrade, especially given the size (500GB) and price ~$275: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electr...pr_product_top First off, I was wondering if anyone here had experience with the Samsung SSDs. I looked at some of the threads here as well as upgrade instructions for an MBP of the same exact specifications on another website for an OWC SSD: http://www.bjorn3d.com/2011/11/a-com.../#.UJbM1ml25vZ http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1104245 http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1102430 My second question is, would this Samsung SSD be compatible with full 6G speeds if in the main bay? I don't know much about hard drives, but could someone explain to me the difference between SATA II/III and 3G/6G? My last question is if anyone knows where I can find a good video or the instructions necessary for upgrading my old HDD with the SSD. Thanks for the help. Attached Thumbnails Attached Images
	0

Feb 25, 2013, 09:41 PM	#3
glenthompson macrumors 6502 Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Roanoke VA	Your MBP supports SATA 3 at 6gbs but the current drive doesn't work at that speed so the current link is 3gbs. If your put in a drive that supports 6gbs you will see the higher speed. The devices negotiate to the highest common speed. I'm planning to make a similar change in a month or two. __________________ 15" MacBook Pro (late 2011), iPhone 5 iPad 3rd gen, iPod Touch 3rd gen,ATV3 Snow Leopard Server 5TB
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Feb 26, 2013, 10:52 PM	#6
Spink10 macrumors 68020 Join Date: Nov 2011	Your cannot upgrade firmware on that SSD in OS X - FYI Not a big deal __________________ cMBP 2012 15" 2.7, 8GB, Samsung 830 256GB, 650M 1GB, Hi-Res AG / MBA 2011 11" 1.6, 4GB, 128GB SSD / iMac 2011 27" 2.7, 12GB, 1TB HD, 6770M 512MB / iPhone 5 16GB / iPad 4 16GB / Time Capsule 2TB
	0

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Feb 25, 2013, 01:20 PM	#2
Soot macrumors newbie Join Date: Jun 2007	I just installed the same Samsung SSD (840 series, 500 GB) in the same type of MBP about a week ago, here are instructions I wrote up for someone else on another thread (post #4). http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1547051 My one week of experience with the SSD has been positive, no complaints, very fast and noticeable improvement over the stock HDD. SATA III is the type of connection used in the main bay for the HDD / SDD. Some people take out the DVD drive and install a second HDD / SDD in that space, as I recall the connection in the 2011 MBP for that is the older slower SATA II type. If you're just swapping your existing harddrive for a new SDD there's nothing to think about or worry about. The Samsung 840 is SATA III and will take advantage of the full speed capability of the main bay.
	0

Feb 25, 2013, 09:54 PM	#4
ChunkAhoy macrumors member Join Date: Jan 2007	I have a Samsung 830 SSD in the exact same 2.2ghz early 2011 mbp and i get aroung 460MB/s transfer speeds. I had to install Trim Enabler to ..... Well ... Enable trim. It's been working great for a while now.
	0

Feb 26, 2013, 10:50 PM	#5
neurophysicist Thread Starter macrumors member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: korriban	Thanks for the assistance. The item was marked as "under review" by Amazon so I did not order. It was removed from this list but the price increased beyond $300; however, I found it on Newegg and used a $60 promo code to discount it even further from the price listed there, and I just ordered it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820147190 Deal expires midnight pacific time, if anyone is interested. Promo code found here: http://techreport.com/news/24418/dea...ng-ssd-for-280 Soot, I had a quick look at your thread. Looks very helpful, will use it when installing the SSD. When reading reviews I came across "TRIM" and reviewers sometimes posted about installing firmware on Windows because it was easier. Is any of this necessary, or is it unrelated/nothing to worry about? Thanks. EDIT: I just realized ChunkAhoy mentioned TRIM. What exactly does TRIM do for your SSD?
	0

Mar 27, 2013, 04:12 AM	#9
neurophysicist Thread Starter macrumors member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: korriban	I recently installed my Samsung 840 Series SSD any everything seems to be going well. I enabled Trim and found some suggestions here on other SSD optimizations. http://blog.alutam.com/2012/04/01/op...-lion-for-ssd/ http://sysadmin.flakshack.com/post/9...s-for-mac-os-x My question is what are the drawbacks of disabling hibernation? I am having some trouble understanding that. I understand a benefit is gaining back the disk space used by the sleep image and not constantly writing the contents of memory to disk. But what negative effects are there? Is the only drawback that I would lose my current memory in the event of battery dying? What would happen to open applications when the laptop is awakened from sleep? Or in other words, what are the benefits of keeping hibernation on? Thanks for the help.
	0