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Advice appreciated on Yosemite upgrade

C

chrisrockerc

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Currently am running mid 2009 2.8 Ghz 15" MBP with a 500 GB HDD and 4 GB RAM. OS has been upgraded gradually thru all other iterations to Mavericks.
Uses include usual office stuff; Medium photo and video manipulation; 2D CAD creation and 3D rendering viewing.

I have started to get a little frustrated at the time it takes to perform certain tasks, especially in the CAD applications and some video editing. I am also wanting better compatibility with my iphone 6 and ipad mini that Yosemite apparently delivers.
I have already ordered the 8 GB RAM kit as a start, and I am looking at the Samsung 500 GB 850 EVO SSD as a possible further option to improve speeds in some areas.

My questions are:

- Should I wait to upgrade to Yosemite until after the new Ram is installed?
- Should I go ahead and order the SSD and install that before the Yosemite upgrade too? (I have found an affordable price for the SSD)

Any other comments or shared experiences would be most welcome. Happy Easter!
 
chrisrockerc said:
- Should I wait to upgrade to Yosemite until after the new Ram is installed?
- Should I go ahead and order the SSD and install that before the Yosemite upgrade too? (I have found an affordable price for the SSD)
Click to expand...
1. Doesn't matter. Either way is fine.

2. An SSD would work wonders for your machine, and the 850 EVO is an excellent choice!
As far as installing it before or after upgrading to Yosemite, as with the RAM, it doesn't really matter. The only reason to wait with the upgrade would be if you wanted to do a fresh install of Yosemite from scratch; then it might make good sense to wait until after installing the SSD. Otherwise, do as you please. Neither option will make things better or worse.
With that said, Yosemite definitely runs better on an SSD than an HDD (as does Mavericks).

I am also wanting better compatibility with my iphone 6 and ipad mini that Yosemite apparently delivers.
Click to expand...
- If by this you are referring to the various Continuity features in Yosemite, some of them require Bluetooth 4.0, which your machine doesn't have, so they won't work. This includes AirDrop between OS X and iOS, Instant Hotspot, and Handoff. Text messaging and Wi-Fi calling should work fine.
 
Thanks JT, I did not know about the Bluetooth issue, but those are not such important issues for me. I realize that there will be some tradeoffs with not springing the cash for a new machine. I am appreciative of the fact that this laptop has given me 5 good years of service so far, and with these upgrades should cope for a good while still.

Any soothsayers out there willing to advise how long these upgrades will keep it going for me? Who knows what Apple will do next?
 
chrisrockerc said:
Currently am running mid 2009 2.8 Ghz 15" MBP with a 500 GB HDD and 4 GB RAM. OS has been upgraded gradually thru all other iterations to Mavericks.
Uses include usual office stuff; Medium photo and video manipulation; 2D CAD creation and 3D rendering viewing.

I have started to get a little frustrated at the time it takes to perform certain tasks, especially in the CAD applications and some video editing. I am also wanting better compatibility with my iphone 6 and ipad mini that Yosemite apparently delivers.
I have already ordered the 8 GB RAM kit as a start, and I am looking at the Samsung 500 GB 850 EVO SSD as a possible further option to improve speeds in some areas.

My questions are:

- Should I wait to upgrade to Yosemite until after the new Ram is installed?
- Should I go ahead and order the SSD and install that before the Yosemite upgrade too? (I have found an affordable price for the SSD)

Any other comments or shared experiences would be most welcome. Happy Easter!
Click to expand...
Your rendering times and other CPU intensive tasks will not benefit whatsoever from either upgrade, just so you don't go expecting those to get faster.

Nothing short of a better CPU (IE, a new machine) would help for that.

CAD and video editing are both CPU heavy.

Sorry if I'm being a party pooper.
 
Synchro3 said:
Last but not least, with the Samsung 850 Evo/Pro, as with all Non-Apple devices, you have to disable KEXT signing in OS X Yosemite if you want to activate TRIM.

These drives have native Mac TRIM support: http://www.angelbird.com/en/prod/ssd-wrk-for-mac-929/
Click to expand...

Appreciate the help Synchro3, but this drive is over 100 bucks more than the Samsung. I know almost nothing about TRIM or KEXT. Is it difficult for a novice such as myself to carry out these procedures?
 
chrisrockerc said:
Appreciate the help Synchro3, but this drive is over 100 bucks more than the Samsung. I know almost nothing about TRIM or KEXT. Is it difficult for a novice such as myself to carry out these procedures?
Click to expand...

It can be done via terminal, or alternatively, you simply download TRIM enabler. It's an app that'll do all the dirty work for you: fire it up, flip the "enable trim" switch and answer yes to a few settings, and you're done. Just remember to turn it back off for OS updates.
 
Thanks Snaky, I suspected that might be the case, but was not sure if there might be any improvement without going into CPU usage. This is the point where I ask if it is worth springing for the SSD at all! The memory is already en route, and I am OK with that as I think this will only help in many areas.
 
chrisrockerc said:
Thanks Snaky, I suspected that might be the case, but was not sure if there might be any improvement without going into CPU usage. This is the point where I ask if it is worth springing for the SSD at all! The memory is already en route, and I am OK with that as I think this will only help in many areas.
Click to expand...

The SSD will greatly help general "snappiness". It'll boot faster, open apps faster, sleep and wake faster. But as soon as the app is loaded into RAM, the SSD will make absolutely ZERO difference. If your problem is that you are lacking CPU power, nothing you do will help.
 
snaky69 said:
It can be done via terminal, or alternatively, you simply download TRIM enabler. It's an app that'll do all the dirty work for you: fire it up, flip the "enable trim" switch and answer yes to a few settings, and you're done. Just remember to turn it back off for OS updates.
Click to expand...

Yes, use TrimEnabler: https://www.cindori.org/software/trimenabler/

And if it happens accidentally after Security update or P-RAM reset follow these instructions: https://www.cindori.org/trim-enabler-and-yosemite/
 
chrisrockerc said:
Appreciate the help Synchro3, but this drive is over 100 bucks more than the Samsung. I know almost nothing about TRIM or KEXT. Is it difficult for a novice such as myself to carry out these procedures?
Click to expand...

- As mentioned, enabling TRIM is really easy, but there are some things one should be aware of that may be a bit technical (see links in post above mine).

snaky69 said:
Just remember to turn it back off for OS updates.
Click to expand...

- That's actually not necessary. OS updates simply disable TRIM but don't otherwise break anything, so disabling TRIM before updates is redundant. One simply needs to remember to enable it again afterwards (which TRIM Enabler will kindly remind one to do).
 
Last edited:
My thoughts:

You DON'T NEED the absolute-fastest-latest-and-greatest SSD in there because the SATA in a 2009 MacBook Pro can't support it to the fullest.

Any decent SSD will do fine.
I'd suggest Crucial because I've just seen too many reported problems with Samsung drives posted here lately.

Second point:
Don't bother or worry about TRIM, either. Particularly with Crucial drives its importance is over-rated. The drive will run blazingly fast withOUT TRIM and will probably out-last the remaining life of the MacBook.

Having said that:
PREP and TEST the new drive EXTERNALLY, BEFORE you install it into the MacBook.
This will make things much easier, because before the drive "goes inside", you'll know that it has a working OS on it, good to go.

I'd suggest an enclosure like this for the prepping:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003VKTJGW...UTF8&colid=R75PP4I2A0BE&coliid=I3DOKZ31SP7539

After the drive is set up and installed, you can use the enclosure for the old HDD that you take out of the MacBook -- it could serve as an "emergency cloned backup booter".

Personal note:
I upgraded my own April 2010 MacBook Pro with an Intel 530 series SSD, and it now boots in FIVE SECONDS from the first appearance of the Apple to the finder. Still using 10.6.8 on it, however -- remarkably smooth and stable version of the OS. And TRIM works with it without problems (although for quite some time, almost a year, I never even bothered trying to enable it).

My opinions only.
Others may disagree.
Some may disagree vehemently.
 
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I have gone with the Crucial MX200 500 Gb. Probably overkill, but good reviews and only a few bucks more than the BX series and the Samsung.

Still not sure about the Yosemite update tho. I am going to put in the memory and SSD first, then see how I feel. I will keep a bootable clone of my Mavericks OS on the old HD. On the Apple support forums there are more one star reviews that five star reviews for the Yosemite OS on older machines, and it seems to be very much random hit or miss whether your system will benefit or be strangled by this. Not sure if I want to risk the jump...

If I did make the upgrade and it did not work out, can I then clone the SSD back to the Mavs OS from the old external HD? If so, how best to go about that?

Thanks for all your help!
 
OP wrote above:
[[ If I did make the upgrade and it did not work out, can I then clone the SSD back to the Mavs OS from the old external HD? If so, how best to go about that? ]]

This should work without problems.

Just boot from your backup (with Mavericks on it), use Disk Utility to erase the internal drive, and "re-clone" from the backup BACK TO the internal SSD...
 
This is what I shall do then... Just one more question: If I did as I plan, ie. Upgrade RAM to 8Gb, then clone my new SSD to the Mavs OS and keep that Mavs OS on the now external HDD, then upgrade to Yosemite, and THEN decide that Yosemite ain't where I want to be, what are the steps for reinstalling the Mavs OS on the SSD internally? Would I need to swap the drives back again physically, or is there a way to clone from the external HDD to an erased internal SSD drive?

Apologies if I seem stupid, but i'm a bit of a novice at this.
 
chrisrockerc said:
Would I need to swap the drives back again physically, or is there a way to clone from the external HDD to an erased internal SSD drive?
Click to expand...

- You can clone just fine from an external hard drive. It might be slower externally, though (depending on the type of enclosure you'd be using).

With that said, I can see no reason why Yosemite wouldn't run beautifully on your machine. That machine should be very responsive and quite quick in almost every respect after both an SSD and RAM upgrade.

Though my machine is admittedly quite a bit more powerful than yours, I can say that for me Yosemite is a great OS that runs extremely well.
 
Thanks JT, I will get back with my experiences after the upgrade and install... that little Amazon drone should be bringing me the necessary in an hour or two!
 
So I collected all the bits together, and it took a mere 20 mins to swap the drive and memory. I backed up the Mac HDD first of course and tested the reboot from the SSD before I installed it with no problem.
Fired it all up and hey presto! Booted up fine, and I checked a few applications. Instant and very different zip to everything so far! It is a joy compared to what I had before. Later I shall try the Yosemite update, but will leave that til this evening probably. I am enjoying Mavericks at speed right now!

Thanks for the help so far everyone, I will keep you all posted how I get on...

Hope you all have a peaceful day.
 
Updated to Yosemite yesterday and so far so good. I do not actually mind the new 'look', and it's not something that is going to change my life in any meaningful way, but it does feel like it is more integrated with my other devices even tho I understand that certain features will not be available with my hardware.
Boot up is almost instant now, and I helped this by cleaning up some launchdaemons and agents that were superfluous. However, I have one odd thing that is happening in that after boot up, I am left with a folder window open with the path:

System/Library/systemprofiler/sphardware...spreporter/contents/resources/ca.lproj/localizable.strings

I just close the window and seems to be no issue, but I wonder if I can get rid of this very slight glitch, and why it is doing this?
 
I have a macbookpro 4.1 OS 10.6.8

Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 4 GB

will an update to yosemite be wise?
I'd primarily want to update to use sketch book pro (student version) need higher than 10.7 - otherwise I've survived fine without an update.
 
Last edited:
MilkyLemon said:
I have a macbookpro 4.1

Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 4 GB

will an update to yosemite be wise?
I'd primarily want to update to use sketch book pro (student version) need higher than 10.7 - otherwise I've survived fine without an update.
Click to expand...

You may want to start your own thread on this, but I would say not really, unless you do what I did which was to increase RAM to 8 GB and put in a SSD to speed things up. Many features of Yosemite are unavailable on these older machines with older Bluetooth and CPUs.
 
MilkyLemon said:
cheers
Click to expand...

Just FYI, Maximum RAM for your machine is 6GB, it won't boot with 8GB.

Oh, and the SSD isn't really worth it as you only have a SATA I port in the hard drive bay.

----------
chrisrockerc said:
You may want to start your own thread on this, but I would say not really, unless you do what I did which was to increase RAM to 8 GB and put in a SSD to speed things up. Many features of Yosemite are unavailable on these older machines with older Bluetooth and CPUs.
Click to expand...

See above
 
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