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Crucial M4, Lion and MBP i7 2011 (new with preinstalled Lion)

L

lynxdeb

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 29, 2009
87
9
Hi guys,

i've recently bought a new MBP i7 with Lion pre-installed. Should be the MBP with fixed Sandy Bridge chipset.

Anyone has a recent MBP with M4 256gb and Lion?

I've returned Vertex2 with big problems (lost partition data after 2 days :mad:), now I want to try M4 hope is better than the ****** V2..

Is it possible to leave TRIM on under Lion with M4? Beachballing with 0002 FW?

Thanks!
 
lynxdeb said:
Hi guys,

i've recently bought a new MBP i7 with Lion pre-installed. Should be the MBP with fixed Sandy Bridge chipset.

Anyone has a recent MBP with M4 256gb and Lion?

I've returned Vertex2 with big problems (lost partition data after 2 days :mad:), now I want to try M4 hope is better than the ****** V2..

Is it possible to leave TRIM on under Lion with M4? Beachballing with 0002 FW?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I just recently installed the M4 128GB on my 2011 13-inch, beach balls even after Firmware 0002 install, which is the remedy for most plagued by that issue in Firmware 1. However, my computer has kinda settled down, it's been very zippy and beach ball-less for a couple hours while I do some important work. In hindsight, I wish I settled for SATA II and my MBP were sporting a Samsung 470 at the moment, but this Crucial drive has worked better for others (definitely a better rap than Sandforce drives). It's really quick, boot up time is nil, so I hope it has a bright future with me. I'll keep you abreast of things.
 
AppleGoat said:
I just recently installed the M4 128GB on my 2011 13-inch, beach balls even after Firmware 0002 install, which is the remedy for most plagued by that issue in Firmware 1. However, my computer has kinda settled down, it's been very zippy and beach ball-less for a couple hours while I do some important work. In hindsight, I wish I settled for SATA II and my MBP were sporting a Samsung 470 at the moment, but this Crucial drive has worked better for others (definitely a better rap than Sandforce drives). It's really quick, boot up time is nil, so I hope it has a bright future with me. I'll keep you abreast of things.
Click to expand...

so you still have beach balling also with fw 0002?

the Samsungs 470 here in Italy cost a little more than the Crucial M4 :\
 
lynxdeb said:
so you still have beach balling also with fw 0002?

the Samsungs 470 here in Italy cost a little more than the Crucial M4 :\
Click to expand...

Really? Well, it might not be that way for very long.. Samsung is set to release (or has already released) a SATA III drive, I think 830. Newegg prices have already dropped.

I don't mean for my short experience with the M4 as an indictment against the product. Most MBP (not necessarily including 17-inch) users have had flawless performance once updating to Firmware 2; therefore, chances are, you will be among those people. Quite candidly, I may be too; my M4 has given a pretty convincing performance the past few hours when I've needed it the most. Time will tell, whether I stick with this drive or spring for a stable and steady SATA II. When the drive is performing well, it is a heck of a drive. Conceivably my MBP could have a manufacturability fault since it was presumably built in February (or earlier).
 
I have sifted through no fewer than 5 ssd in my 2011 MBP 17" CTO

(1) OWC 240gb mercury extreme - sata-2 - very fast; nil issues to date, rock steady performance

(2) Crucial c300, worked fine with sata-2, hwoever, after SMC reset, and once the link speed was reset from 3-6; beachball city

(3) Vertex 3 - 120gb; DOA

(4) Patriot inferno - clean install whilst drive attached as spare (f/w dock) however constant beachball and freezing once located to the internal hdd slot. Also painfully slow read/write speed.

(5) Crucial M4, with f/w 0002, same issues as 2 + 4

At this point i was convinced that i have one of the affected 2011 17" MBPs -
Finally, copped a vertex 3 max iops, all was fine, notice x3 random, isolated beachballs. I get consistant read/write speeds of 500mb/s
Tbh, i really can not notice much difference between my first ssd (owc mercury extreme) and this leading sata-3 ssd.

In fact, the owc ssd would load in 8-12 secs on 10.6.7, 10.6.8 = slow performance and boot for me. Lion improved overall performance, however, i still experience slow loading up times.
 
very confused.. everyone have a different experince with different ssd :(

i don't want go back to OCZ as my only (and last) SSD died after 2 days..

need to try M4.. or buy an used Toshiba Apple SSD 256gb to avoid problems :mad:
 
lynxdeb said:
very confused.. everyone have a different experince with different ssd :(

i don't want go back to OCZ as my only (and last) SSD died after 2 days..

need to try M4.. or buy an used Toshiba Apple SSD 256gb to avoid problems :mad:
Click to expand...

Apple stock SSD are rock solid, albeit a little slow.

i did have a run of ill fate with sata 3 ssds with my MBP. The vertex 3 max iops works well for me, and i even had it tested by applecare: genius guys to confirm the sata cable and logic board were all working fine - and compliant with sata-3.

It does seem like Russian roulette with these sata-3 ssds!

As mention abaove, TBH, i really can not tell on light, everyday use, much real world difference between the sata-3 ocz vertex 3 max iops vs the sata-2 owc mercury extreme. There are of course differences, however, these are much more subtle when compared to the difference between convention hdds and ssds!

Many people have copped the M4 and it worked very well for them - i was not one of them. for me the v3 max iops works best.
 
johnnyturbouk said:
I have sifted through no fewer than 5 ssd in my 2011 MBP 17" CTO
Click to expand...

There are known issues when running drives at 6Gbps on the 17" 2011 MBP though. It's thought to be down to noise or interference on the SATA cable, leading people to wrap it in aluminium foil to shield it.
 
fat jez said:
There are known issues when running drives at 6Gbps on the 17" 2011 MBP though. It's thought to be down to noise or interference on the SATA cable, leading people to wrap it in aluminium foil to shield it.
Click to expand...

yes, i am more than aware of this. In fact, the issue seems to be rather more complex, since certain folks out there, including digilloyd, whom had changed the sata cable, ascertained they still experienced issues!

I went through 5 different drives; tried a new cable from ifixit; the allufoil shielding trick. Finally, the vertex 3 max iops + lion works well for me.
 
Crucial M4 128, 1 GB stress test
 

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i'll order the M4 after mid-Agust holiday.. hope to get and test before go back to work :)
 
I've heard that after upgrading the M4 to 0002 you should let it "rest" (idle) for 4-5 hours. The drive is apparently doing some kind of maintenance work after the firmware upgrade. Just FYI.
 
Man, I was all excited about my Crucial 256 GB M4 order arriving Tuesday. Now I am hearing bad things. At this rate, I wont even open the box.
 
bolen said:
I've heard that after upgrading the M4 to 0002 you should let it "rest" (idle) for 4-5 hours. The drive is apparently doing some kind of maintenance work after the firmware upgrade. Just FYI.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what a customer rep told me. Then I had long, pleasurable and enlightening conversation with another rep, and she said 45 minutes to an hour of idling should suffice for a drive of my size.

----------
Alexjones said:
Man, I was all excited about my Crucial 256 GB M4 order arriving Tuesday. Now I am hearing bad things. At this rate, I wont even open the box.
Click to expand...

If I were you, I would definitely try it. Unless, of course, the vendor from which you bought it has a very bad return policy. Chances are, once Firmware 0002 is installed, your experience won't be bad.
 
AppleGoat said:
Yeah, that's what a customer rep told me. Then I had long, pleasurable and enlightening conversation with another rep, and she said 45 minutes to an hour of idling should suffice for a drive of my size.

----------



If I were you, I would definitely try it. Unless, of course, the vendor from which you bought it has a very bad return policy. Chances are, once Firmware 0002 is installed, your experience won't be bad.
Click to expand...

I ordered it from Crucial
 
No more regular beach-balling since updating my M4 256 gb to firmware 0002. Before I could reproduce stalls/beach-balls by rebuilding the Spotlight index. During the last couple of weeks I had one (1) occurrence, which might not even be related to the M4. I'm using TRIM in Snow Leopard and did not try Lion yet.
 
SOLLERBOY said:
Samsung FTW , been running a 64GB 470 for a few weeks and she's perfect.
Click to expand...

Samsungs are good, but the M4's have SATA 6Gbps (aka SATA-III) speeds which will be an improvement over the 470s.


I was actually considering between the two I. 470 & II. M4 256GB
theyre roughly the same price new; if its just the 17" that are having problems, if I had one to test in the 2011 15" I would definitely like to see how it performs.
 
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