2010 Macbook Pro i5 SSD tips

[AppleCollector]

I'm planning on buying another second hand Macbook Pro 2010 series i5, it's an 17".
I'm playing with the idea to order an SSD for it just to speed up things a 'bit'. The only problem is that I'm not sure which brand and type of SSD I should take.

I've read some stuff about OWC SSD's, but nowadays I read more and more about the samsung option. The only thing is, this type of Macbook Pro has a 3GB Sata and no 6. Does it really matter then to choose the latter? And what about Trim and the firmware upgrade? The initial plan is/was to do a clean install on it, but I only have the Apple Store Lion and Mountain Lion purchases so that's a bit of a problem. I used to have a Snow Leopard disc too, but I'm not sure if I still have this one and I guess there is a more direct solution to this.

Any tips?


Greetz

 

[Spink10]

You are correct in that you will only receive sata II speeds - I would still go with a sata III drive - Samsung 830/840/Pro, Crucial m4, OWC, Intel - doesnt really matter that much.

 

[Freyqq]

I have the same computer. I got a samsung 830 256GB, and it works very nicely. I'd recommend any samsung or intel ssd.

 

[AppleCollector]

I have the same computer. I got a samsung 830 256GB, and it works very nicely. I'd recommend any samsung or intel ssd.

Cool, but is the samsung really all that different from the OWC? Might be just me, but I like the American built idea more

And what about Trim?

Any tips on how to install the OS again without external drive? Or should I order a USB cradle for the internal HD with it and fix it like this?

 

[el-John-o]

Cool, but is the samsung really all that different from the OWC? Might be just me, but I like the American built idea more

And what about Trim?

Any tips on how to install the OS again without external drive? Or should I order a USB cradle for the internal HD with it and fix it like this?

OWC is going to be really pricey, that's about it. The Samsung or Crucial is going to be a much more affordable option.

Personally, I prefer the Crucial M4. The Samsung is slightly faster in write speeds (but you are on SATA II anyway) but the Crucial can be updated on the Mac, the Samsung cannot.

Trim will work just fine with the Crucial or the Samsung using Trim enabler.

Now, for installation, if I were you I'd get the Crucial M4 "kit". This includes the SSD along with a small transfer cable. Plug the transfer cable in (USB) and then in to your new SSD, and use disk utility to clone the drives (hit the restore option on the SSD, and make 'Macintosh HD' the source. You'll need to format the SSD first). It'll take a while, but when it's finished, eject the SSD, power down the machine, and swap them out. You'll boot right up to your Mac desktop just where you were before.

If that isn't an option, or you want to re-install OSX anyway, you can use disk utility to make a Lion/Mountain Lion restore disk. Just use a USB thumb drive. Then you can boot to that, and download and re-install Mountain Lion. Even if your mac doesn't support internet recovery, with the recovery USB key it will be able to download a copy of the OS and install it. Alternatively, you can use Lion Diskmaker (http://liondiskmaker.com) which works with Mountain Lion as well, and use the InstallESD.dmg file you got from the App Store and make a USB key that includes the OS, which will be faster than re-downloading it.

Also, you can get an enclosure for your stock hard drive to turn it in to a nice external. I did that with my 500GB HDD that came with the MBP (I swapped it with a pair of SSDs)

-John