A list of issues an average user would encounter with an SSD

[0186279]

So I am considering going SSD. I consider myself an average user: Some photoshop, some light video editing in imovie, a good amount of gaming.

I was wondering what kind of issues one would encounter when installing an SSD if not well versed in the process? Is it as simple as buying it, and swapping the drives? If I don't fiddle with all kinds of settings will some things not work? Does OSX not support SSD's completely? You get the gist, just give this noob an idea of what he could be in for. Keep in mind I have never swapped a HD before.

Thanks : )

 

[Chupa Chupa]

I've had my SSD in my 13" for almost a year now. It's been a great experience. It is as simple as removing the bottom and swaping out the drive (be sure to have a Torx 6 drive handy to remove screws on the side of the drive that rest on the mount). OS X doesn't support TRIM. That would be the main downside.

 

[Bosman]

So I am considering going SSD. I consider myself an average user: Some photoshop, some light video editing in imovie, a good amount of gaming.

I was wondering what kind of issues one would encounter when installing an SSD if not well versed in the process? Is it as simple as buying it, and swapping the drives? If I don't fiddle with all kinds of settings will some things not work? Does OSX not support SSD's completely? You get the gist, just give this noob an idea of what he could be in for. Keep in mind I have never swapped a HD before.

Thanks : )

Look no further, i just bought a macbook pro 13 too but i am waiting for pricing to drop in the next year or so before doing something like that. But all my research points to this very special drive, the OWC Mercury Extreame SSD.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/internal_storage/Mercury_Extreme_SSD_Sandforce

Watch the video at the bottom left of the screen, ssd future slowdows or bad sectors are prob done away with from what they say in the video.

I admittedly have purchased about 8 Hitachi Drives and a Nvidia 285 gtx from OWC for my Mac Pro. I have never ordered from any company that gets things shipped out and to your door faster than OWC, for me that helps ease the wait time and gets me running.

Check it out and share your thoughts with us about that drive. I think TRIM is going to be unnecessary with this drive.

 

[bob5820]

I've had the OWC 100GB SSD in my late 09 15" MBP for about 2 weeks now. Its way too early to tell if the Sandforce controller will be as resistant to performance degradation as Sandforce is saying but nothing about the drives performance so far has made me regret my choice.

 

[JasonH42]

I swapped my HDD for the "notoriously problematic" Crucial C300 about six weeks ago. No issues at all. None. Just incredible speed and no fan noise anymore. No sign of degradation whatsoever (in Bootcamp Windows perf index is 7.2 right now). Filled over 200GB and rewriting many GBs per day.

 

[chopper dave]

I am warning as many people as possible not to get the Corsair F100/F200 Sandforce SSD as I discovered a nasty bug with mine.

New, the thing works great, but if you try to restore it to factory state using a secure erase operation (google for more info on this) then the OSX install always fails with an IO error. For those of you with a current Sandforce drive, beware the secure erase! It may turn the drive into something only suitable for Windows installs.

I returned it for an Intel and though it is slower on some benchmarks, I can't really tell the difference in real use- it is still crazy fast compared to the hard drive.

Perhaps the models with final firmware will not have this "feature" (OCZ Agility/Vertex 2, maybe OWC at some point).