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Is there instructions step by step? Thanks.

Yes if you go to iFixiT.com look up your specific mac model and go to optical drive replacement. Or you can always youtube optibay macbook and there are quite a few installation videos.
 
MKang25

Just read your signature, didn't realise you had the M4. How long have you had the drive and what has it been through so far usage wise? Could you post the :

Sequential read/write, random read/write numbers you are getting.
 
Anybody know if this will void the warranty or no?
Opticalbay, how much does that cost?
Is it this one?
http://www.amazon.com/Adapter-Compa...erface/dp/B004FM4UGE/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

So basically I just unscrew the cd-drive, aka optical drive? and put in the new optical bay?

Is it easy to install? It looks simple enough to do by myself.
But will it void warranty?

I plan on putting 60GB SSD where my HDD currently is and put in the HDD on the opticalbay.
 
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i hav now had a patriot wildfire, vertex 3, crucial c300 and all have had nothing but issues getting SATA-3 to work in my MBP 2011 17"

Apple have been really good and agreed to test my MBP Sunday when my vertex 3 max iops drive is delivered to see if i have one of the ? faulty sata cables/logic board. Previous genius appointment showed no problems - however the patriot drive locked up and could not be read :mad:

I have gone back to my trusted OWC which despite taking a hammering - performs without flaw. I am less than impressed at their endless empty promises for a mac-only firmware updater, and even less impressed at the dirty tactics employed against ocz on the eve of the release of the vertex 3.

Also have an apple 256gb in optibay for data + home folder... not the fastest drive but beats having a spinning platter HDD any-day.

As a need for speak freak and being a a fan of sandforce drive - i have to concede that crucial M4 is a viable option. May not have the sandforce speed, however in real life performance i dare say one would be hared pressed to notice any significant differences. The combination of poor garbage collection, and lack of native TRIM in osx-lion was also an initial put off for me. However, there are various anecdotal reports of the TRIM enabler hack working well with the M4 in lion osx.
 
i hav now had a patriot wildfire, vertex 3, crucial c300 and all have had nothing but issues getting SATA-3 to work in my MBP 2011 17"

Apple have been really good and agreed to test my MBP Sunday when my vertex 3 max iops drive is delivered to see if i have one of the ? faulty sata cables/logic board. Previous genius appointment showed no problems - however the patriot drive locked up and could not be read :mad:

I have gone back to my trusted OWC which despite taking a hammering - performs without flaw. I am less than impressed at their endless empty promises for a mac-only firmware updater, and even less impressed at the dirty tactics employed against ocz on the eve of the release of the vertex 3.

Also have an apple 256gb in optibay for data + home folder... not the fastest drive but beats having a spinning platter HDD any-day.

As a need for speak freak and being a a fan of sandforce drive - i have to concede that crucial M4 is a viable option. May not have the sandforce speed, however in real life performance i dare say one would be hared pressed to notice any significant differences. The combination of poor garbage collection, and lack of native TRIM in osx-lion was also an initial put off for me. However, there are various anecdotal reports of the TRIM enabler hack working well with the M4 in lion osx.

I was about to buy M4, but NewEgg suddenly jacked up the price of the M4 by almost $40.
It was $200 flat, but now it's $240.
$40 is a lot of for me, I could use that $40 to buy 8GB ram with it
 
I was about to buy M4, but NewEgg suddenly jacked up the price of the M4 by almost $40.
It was $200 flat, but now it's $240.
$40 is a lot of for me, I could use that $40 to buy 8GB ram with it

The price has gone DOWN here in Japan, approximately $40 (3000 yen.) I'm still waiting for them to drop the prices when Crucial releases their next SSD.
 
Vertex3, 240GB SSD in 2011 MBP 2.3 / 8GB RAM

Just installed the Vertex3 over the weekend, the difference is HUGE!
 

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I see a lot of people rushing out to buy SSDs without really knowing what they're getting into. In truth, they're like a really, really hot *******-crazy chick. A great...err...time, but can flip out on you at any moment for no apparent reason. It doesn't help that there's a lot of misinformation out there.

Yes, the performance is truly stunning, and really chips away at the biggest bottleneck in the system (well, second to the optical drive, if you even use it). Yes, you'll boot in 15 seconds and most programs will launch instantly (or just about).

Just be aware of all of the following:
-SSDs fail. A lot. Don't buy the hype about reliability; they may be relatively immune to shock damage but that's about as far as it goes. If you don't have a routine backup solution (be it a desktop/file server or just a simple external hard drive) and a contingency plan in the event of failure (be it another computer or something like a standby magnetic drive fitted with a functioning copy of OSX and whatever programs you might want or need), you're looking at a potential world of hurt. Even if you do, the RMA warranty process can be annoying and slow. DON'T use an SSD as a primary storage solution. DON'T take the chance that you'll be without a functioning computer. Warranties don't cover loss of productivity.

-I've seen evidence that Apple's implementation of TRIM is not suitable for non-Apple branded drives, and can actually do more harm than good (note: it's not that the enabler hacks don't work, it's that the actual implementation of TRIM within OSX isn't suitable for most drives). For once, I don't think this is a case of Apple trying to force people into using what they want them to use (notice they don't even sell their drives as upgrades in their online store). In short: don't enable it.

-Because of this, you'll probably want a SandForce-based drive (hardware-managed garbage collection and wear leveling). These drives are generally the fastest on the consumer market and the GC/wear leveling is a great thing to have without TRIM. However, they can be very finicky, and don't have a great reputation for reliability (although nothing does outside of the venerable Intel X25-M).

-Firmware updates can be a real PITA on a Mac, and you could be doing a lot of them with some of the newer SandForce drives. If you don't have a desktop suitable for swapping the drive and running firmware update or secure erase tools, you really might want to reconsider.

-Expect to spend a couple hours configuring OS X to treat the drive as gently as possible after you install it. You'll want to disable things like access stamping and RAM-to-disk writing (on sleep) to reduce the number of unnecessary writes that the OS puts to disk.

Despite all of the above: I really like mine (I got it for a steal of a price, granted).
 
i hav now had a patriot wildfire, vertex 3, crucial c300 and all have had nothing but issues getting SATA-3 to work in my MBP 2011 17"

Apple have been really good and agreed to test my MBP Sunday when my vertex 3 max iops drive is delivered to see if i have one of the ? faulty sata cables/logic board. Previous genius appointment showed no problems - however the patriot drive locked up and could not be read :mad:

I have gone back to my trusted OWC which despite taking a hammering - performs without flaw. I am less than impressed at their endless empty promises for a mac-only firmware updater, and even less impressed at the dirty tactics employed against ocz on the eve of the release of the vertex 3.

Also have an apple 256gb in optibay for data + home folder... not the fastest drive but beats having a spinning platter HDD any-day.

As a need for speak freak and being a a fan of sandforce drive - i have to concede that crucial M4 is a viable option. May not have the sandforce speed, however in real life performance i dare say one would be hared pressed to notice any significant differences. The combination of poor garbage collection, and lack of native TRIM in osx-lion was also an initial put off for me. However, there are various anecdotal reports of the TRIM enabler hack working well with the M4 in lion osx.

interesting that you had problems with the wildfire - i have the 240GB version and its been 100% problem free for me since the day I got it (and came out on newegg). however, i do have the 2011 15" mbp, so maybe its that sata 3 cable issue i read from a while back? who knows...
 
-Because of this, you'll probably want a SandForce-based drive (hardware-managed garbage collection and wear leveling). These drives are generally the fastest on the consumer market and the GC/wear leveling is a great thing to have without TRIM. However, they can be very finicky, and don't have a great reputation for reliability (although nothing does outside of the venerable Intel X25-M).

-Firmware updates can be a real PITA on a Mac, and you could be doing a lot of them with some of the newer SandForce drives. If you don't have a desktop suitable for swapping the drive and running firmware update or secure erase tools, you really might want to reconsider.[/b]

Firmware updates require a bit of expertise (making a bootable USB stick) but beyond that they're not that difficult. Even on Windows at least OCZ drives cannot be updated if they are used as a boot drive. So you would need the bootable USB stick or a separate copy of Windows on another drive anyway.

SandForce doesn't have a great track record for reliability. Not that other controller manufacturers are that much better. It seems Intel's own controller, found in the X25-M and 320 drives, is still the most trouble free (although the 320 recently had a pretty nasty bug that would make the drive 8 MB in size) but not the fastest. In real world use I haven't noticed much difference between my OCZ Agility 3 and Intel X25-M G2 in speed. Just much less trouble and better compatibility with the Intel.
 
Just be aware of all of the following:
-SSDs fail. A lot. Don't buy the hype about reliability; they may be relatively immune to shock damage but that's about as far as it goes. If you don't have a routine backup solution (be it a desktop/file server or just a simple external hard drive) and a contingency plan in the event of failure (be it another computer or something like a standby magnetic drive fitted with a functioning copy of OSX and whatever programs you might want or need), you're looking at a potential world of hurt. Even if you do, the RMA warranty process can be annoying and slow. DON'T use an SSD as a primary storage solution. DON'T take the chance that you'll be without a functioning computer. Warranties don't cover loss of productivity.

From all that I've read and seen, failure rate of SSDs is actually better that a failure rate of your typical 2.5" hard drive. Now I'm not talking about making it work - we all know that the SSDs can be finicky in an MBP. However, once you find one that works, they usually work pretty darn well. As far as backup, it shouldn't matter what storage medium you have in your MBP - you need backups. This is a portable computer and potential for loss of data is there no matter what.

-I've seen evidence that Apple's implementation of TRIM is not suitable for non-Apple branded drives, and can actually do more harm than good (note: it's not that the enabler hacks don't work, it's that the actual implementation of TRIM within OSX isn't suitable for most drives). For once, I don't think this is a case of Apple trying to force people into using what they want them to use (notice they don't even sell their drives as upgrades in their online store). In short: don't enable it.

I'm not a fan of the TRIM Enabler hack either as I haven't seen any technical analysis of how it actually works, and I'm weary of enabling it on hardware that Apple does not support. I would love to read something more about it though, do you have any links to articles, etc.?

-Because of this, you'll probably want a SandForce-based drive (hardware-managed garbage collection and wear leveling). These drives are generally the fastest on the consumer market and the GC/wear leveling is a great thing to have without TRIM. However, they can be very finicky, and don't have a great reputation for reliability (although nothing does outside of the venerable Intel X25-M).

Outside of clinical trials I'm yet to see ANY evidence of a non-SandForce SSD used without TRIM and poor performance over time. If it wasn't for Anand's review, I don't think anybody would even talk about it. Yes, a well implemented TRIM is a good piece of mind, but I'm not going to worry about it unless I see the degradation 1st hand. I hammered my C300 many times to the limit, running out of space on purpose to see what happens, and in test after test, it returns same numbers.
 
Is this a discussion about Anandtech and their methods, or is this a discussion about SSDs?

It was a discussion about wether the Crucial M4 should be dismissed due to an opinion offered by Anandtech, but I think you knew that and just wanted to make a snarky comment. :rolleyes:
 
@akhbhaat: I'm not going to worry about the failure rate. I have a backup laptop, a backup of my data, and I don't have any data on the SSD anyways, its all on the secondary HDD, except for my desktop, which is all on Dropbox.

However, SSDs are still FAR more reliable than magnetic hard drives. Sure, any electronic component can fail, logic boards do, ram does, but SSDs don't have the myriad mechanical maladies of HDD's.

I have not heard of any compelling reason to configure anything specifically for an SSD. You can pound the thing a lot harder than an HDD over a longer period of time before you're likely to see issues.
 
I just put a 120GB OCZ Agility 3 in my macbook pro 13.3 early 2011 and I am impressed as you can see by the pic

it maxes out at 490 write / 475 read, I installed the trim enabler trim support on it after this test and the results never changed much I am getting 478 write / 458 read

they have the drives on sale at micro center for 180 bucks with a $20 mail in rebate, I was going to get the vertex 3 but after reading a crapload of reviews I sacrificed some performance for less power consumption
 

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I'm not a fan of the TRIM Enabler hack either as I haven't seen any technical analysis of how it actually works, and I'm weary of enabling it on hardware that Apple does not support. I would love to read something more about it though, do you have any links to articles, etc.?

It's simply a front end for what could be done manually. Essentially all it does is take your hard drive manufacturer name and changes one plist file, replacing Apple with for example Intel. This tells the system to use TRIM. I'm guessing that Apple has not bothered making much of a check for this as they intend to have TRIM working for all drives in a future update. OSX Lion 10.7.0 does not enable TRIM for my OCZ Agility 3 by default.
 
It's simply a front end for what could be done manually. Essentially all it does is take your hard drive manufacturer name and changes one plist file, replacing Apple with for example Intel. This tells the system to use TRIM. I'm guessing that Apple has not bothered making much of a check for this as they intend to have TRIM working for all drives in a future update. OSX Lion 10.7.0 does not enable TRIM for my OCZ Agility 3 by default.

Yes, I know what the TRIM Enabler does, I'm more concerned about the actual TRIM implementation by Apple. Since Crucial drives use Marvel controller, and none of the Apple-branded SSDs do, I'm not brave enough to be trying it. I did it on my C300 for a day, and had nothing but issues - hangups and problems waking up from sleep.
 
TRIM has no correlation to the SSD controller. Trim will work the same way whether or not you have a Crucial, OCZ, OWC etc.. Trim works on an OS level so regardless of the drive it will work the same. Now the question is whether or not your drive can handle TRIM and how the OS interacts with your specific drive.
 
TRIM has no correlation to the SSD controller. Trim will work the same way whether or not you have a Crucial, OCZ, OWC etc.. Trim works on an OS level so regardless of the drive it will work the same. Now the question is whether or not your drive can handle TRIM and how the OS interacts with your specific drive.

The sandforce controllers write to disk in a fundamentally different way to a normal drive, from the OS point of view it looks the same but at the hardware level it really is dramatically different. It effectively assumes the OS is stupid and does the heavy lifting itself with a little trickery, while OS's that support the Trim command are effectively assuming the hard drive is stupid and handling it that way.
 
@akhbhaat: Could you elaborate a little - what SSD do you use then?

I've been thinking of getting either an Intel 320 120GB or something like OWC Mercury Electra 6G / Mercury Extreme PRO 6G 120GB for a 2011 15.4" MBP that I might be getting soon.

First of all, would these SATA III OWC SSDs work without enabling TRIM? Secondly, would I be taking a risk of running into trouble by enabling it??
 
I'm running the TRIM command on my Vertex 3 and have had no issues, and still bench marks the same as before I enabled it. After a few months I'll know how it is long term, but for now I couldn't be happier with OCZ.
 
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I'm running the TRIM command on my Vertex 3 and have had no issues, and still bench marks the same as before I enabled it. After a few months I'll know how it is long term, but for now I couldn't be happier with OCZ.

In another thread someone said that OCW Mercury EXTREME PRO has this "garbage collection" thing that works in a way like TRIM so that one would not need to enable it.. does anyone know more about this?
 
All SSDs that use SandForce controllers have "garbage collection," but I don't know what the consensus is on if it negates the need for TRIM, or just makes it (for lack of a better word) "less bad" if you don't have TRIM.
 
They have their own algorithm, but that's not a substitute for TRIM.

Read up on dsio's post for a little preview as to why.
 
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