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Florida Gator

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 26, 2004
233
79
Is anybody using a Crucial M4 with Lion and TRIM enabled? How's it working and are you experiencing any glitches, problems or degradation? I've read there are some issues. Just wanted to see first hand before I buy one.
 
I've enabled the TRIM hack with Lion and the M4 and it seems absolutely fine. No sign of any slow down at all.
 
I just installed 512Gb M4 last night, and had nothing but beachballs with revision 001. After I upgraded to revision 002, everything is running great. I'm staying away from the TRIM enabler, since Apple is only supporting the brands they use, and Crucial isn't one of them. Who knows what their implementation does to the Marvel controller in the M4...
 
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TRIM is a standard, so it's not what Apple would do to the controller. All it does is mark blocks as dirty and not in use and the drive controller then goes around wiping those blocks when the drive is idle.
 
Yeah, you definitely need the 002 firmware though. The drive might not have the raw speed of the Sandforce controllers, but then it doesn't have the reliability problems either. Mine is reading at around 435 MB/sec and writing at around 255MB/sec, which I'm very happy with.
 
TRIM is a standard, so it's not what Apple would do to the controller. All it does is mark blocks as dirty and not in use and the drive controller then goes around wiping those blocks when the drive is idle.

By "TRIM is standard" are you saying that it is already functioning on the SSD without the enabler hack?

AnandTech mentioned in their review that the garbage collection on the Crucial M4 is terrible and to expect performance degradation.

I'm just trying to decide between getting a Crucial M4 for $195 or an OWC Mercury Extreme 6G for $280. I'm ok with the performance compromise, but more concerned with massive degradation and glitches with the M4.
 
By "TRIM is standard" are you saying that it is already functioning on the SSD without the enabler hack?

AnandTech mentioned in their review that the garbage collection on the Crucial M4 is terrible and to expect performance degradation.

I'm just trying to decide between getting a Crucial M4 for $195 or an OWC Mercury Extreme 6G for $280. I'm ok with the performance compromise, but more concerned with massive degradation and glitches with the M4.

No, I said trim is a standard, as in a set of rules manufacturers follow. Essentially, it's flagging blocks up to the SSD's controller as unused but dirty and ready to be cleaned. It's not really doing anything different to the drive's garbage collection, other than telling it which blocks to erase instead of letting the drive find them itself.

Not sure what glitches you are referring to? Providing you upgrade to the 002 firmware, it's fine. If I had the choice again as to which drive I would buy, would I pay the extra for an OWC drive? No, I don't think it's worth it.
 
Well, my M4 and Lion are working great EXCEPT one thing - coming out of sleep. With my old config (C300 in optibay + HD) it would come out sleep in under one second every time. Now it takes 5-6 seconds, and sometimes the lit screen is unresponsive for another 3-4. Anybody have any idea what I can do? I turned off shock sensor, turned off sleep, out of other ideas...
 
Well, my M4 and Lion are working great EXCEPT one thing - coming out of sleep. With my old config (C300 in optibay + HD) it would come out sleep in under one second every time. Now it takes 5-6 seconds, and sometimes the lit screen is unresponsive for another 3-4. Anybody have any idea what I can do? I turned off shock sensor, turned off sleep, out of other ideas...

How is the battery life with the m4? Better than the HDD?
 
I've enabled the TRIM hack with Lion and the M4 and it seems absolutely fine. No sign of any slow down at all.

I have the same specs. in my 15" MBP 2011. I too am interested in the Crucial M4 512 G SSD.

Since the firmware rev.2, it sounds like the M4 and MBP's play nice.
 
They do. Not as fast as a Sandforce controller based SSD, but they don't seem to have the same problems either.
 
Well, my wake from sleep time seems to have improved on its own... down to 2-3 seconds now. Unless it gets worse again I'm not going to worry about it.

Other than that, the drive is lightning fast, and not a single beach ball or issue since rev 2 firmware. As far as battery life, to be honest I haven't checked it. My usage pattern is 70% plugged in, so I just never worry about the battery.
 
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