Is an SSD worth it?

[YesWeCat]

In my opinion, if your machine has an IDE bus and not a SATA one, it's totally not worth it.

My iBook's HDD was very old -and its capacity very tiny- so I decided to swap it for an SSD. After thinking about the different upgrade possibilities, I ended up going the mSATA to IDE way. I bought a cheap Chinese mSATA SSD (Asenno ASM3 120 GB) and put it inside a no-name mSATA to IDE adapter.

While I have noticed a slight speed improvement, it was not as drastic as to be worth the ~50 euros and the hour an a half spent on the upgrade. A more expensive disk with DRAM cache would have probably improved this, but this is IDE, so I doubt one could get a speed improvement bigger than 20% over the original HDD, since the bus itself is the bottleneck. But the worst thing about this is the heat. The drive gets so hot that the fan has to work hard. This defeats the purpose of putting a silent disk into the thing in the first place.

Whenever I decide to upgrade any of my toasters again, I will probably buy a bigger IDE HDD. But I was wondering about your experiences. Has an SSD worked for you?

 

[RogerWilco6502]

I have an SSD in my Power Mac G4 and I noticed a definite improvement. It's a name-brand SSD (Crucial) and an IDE to SATA adapter that has the red board. I noticed more of an improvement in OS 9 than OS X, but I would say I did notice an improvement.

 

[eyoungren]

In my opinion, if your machine has an IDE bus and not a SATA one, it's totally not worth it.

My iBook's HDD was very old -and its capacity very tiny- so I decided to swap it for an SSD. After thinking about the different upgrade possibilities, I ended up going the MSATA to IDE way. I bought a cheap Chinese MSATA SSD (Asenno ASM3 120 GB) and put it inside a no-name MSATA to IDE adapter.

While I have noticed a slight speed improvement, it was not as drastic as to be worth the ~50 euros and the hour an a half spent on the upgrade. A more expensive disk with DRAM cache would have probably improved this, but this is IDE, so I doubt one could get a speed improvement bigger than 20% over the original HDD, since the bus itself is the bottleneck. But the worst thing about this is the heat. The drive gets so hot that the fan has to work hard. This defeats the purpose of putting a silent disk into the thing in the first place.

Whenever I decide to upgrade any of my toasters again, I will probably buy a bigger IDE HDD. But I was wondering about your experiences. Has an SSD worked for you?

I think some of this is down to what you hinted at, quality. My 17" PowerBook G4 has a 128GB Zheino mSATA SSD. Zheino is Chinese as well, but they seem to be a decent if not better brand than your basic no label Chinese brands (not sure where Asenno fits in).

Anyway, I used a $25 Addonics IDE/mSATA adapter. I have noticed more heat, but interestingly enough the Mac rarely breaks the threshold for the fans to kick in.

Speeds are decent for me. No, like you indicate, I don't get full SATA speeds but there has been some improvement.

It was worth it for me.

 

[Hughmac]

Definite improvement in my G4 Pismo, likewise all the PowerBook G4s I have tried, always using Samsung or LiteOn mSATA SSDs in a PATA adapter.

However a cheap Chinese SATA 2.5" SSD in my iMac G5 was a disapointment, and I ended up putting back the 7200 rpm SATA hard drive.

Cheers

Hugh

 

[RogerWilco6502]

It'll be interesting to see how my iBook G3 does with the SSD upgrade. I bought the parts and they'll be arriving shortly. I'm using a name brand mSATA drive (Kingston) with an adapter, so it'll be pretty similar to my DA in terms of performance improvement methinks

 

[Raging Dufus]

I've had good success using SSD's in the configuration you're using, the MSATA to IDE adapter route.

I've also had one get unbearably hot, and the adapter was the culprit there. The one adapter I used where that was an issue was Kingston-branded, but I don't know who actually made it. I no longer have it, I threw the thing away, because it became too hot to handle while in use - I mean, it would quite literally burn you. The SSD however, when placed in a different adapter, did not cause such problems.

You'll find differing opinions on adapters around here, with some swearing by a certain kind with a red PCB similar to what @eyoungren just linked; I haven't tried those because I've found cheaper options that work fine. This is similar to the adapters I've used [note to mods: not my auction]:

mSATA to 2.5" inch IDE mSATA to PATA Converter Adapter Card 9.5mm Case Enclosure | eBay

Convert a mSATA SSD into a 2.5" PATA / IDE drive for use with an older laptop computer. Assembly is simple. The assembled product is a standards compliant 2.5" drive, compatible with all computers that use a 2.5" PATA / IDE drive.

www.ebay.com

Having said all that, while the change in speed was definitely noticeable, I can't say it was superior to a 7200 RPM HDD on the same bus. I'm speaking subjectively here; although the SSD benchmarks higher, I wouldn't say it "feels" any faster. In any event, it's not going to be a rocket ship on an ATA-66/100 bus. The 7200 RPM drives are harder to find, but still out there and generally cheaper than an MSATA SSD + adapter. Just this month I saw several open box Hitachi 100GB 7200's selling for less than $20 each. If they were truly open box, i.e. new or close to it, that was a deal. Other people beat me to it. There are also plenty of 5400 RPM drives, some with 16MB cache, that are great performers. I think as long as you put something relatively new in there, SSD or HDD, you'll enjoy the performance.

 

[sparty411]

Less heat generated + faster access times.. It's a no brainer IMHO.
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[eyoungren]

You'll find differing opinions on adapters around here, with some swearing by a certain kind with a red PCB similar to what @eyoungren just linked; I haven't tried those because I've found cheaper options that work fine.

I had actually purchased one of these cheap adapters (I still have it) the first time I tried to install a SSD. I went with a name brand (I want to say Samsung, but I don't recall correctly). Got it all installed and the Mac never saw the drive.

Whether that was due to the SSD itself or the $8 I paid for the adapter, I can't really say. So, then next time I went with @AphoticD's suggestion regarding the Addonics. Zero problems.

Take that for whatever it's worth.

 

[sparty411]

I think some of this is down to what you hinted at, quality. My 17" PowerBook G4 has a 128GB Zheino mSATA SSD. Zheino is Chinese as well, but they seem to be a decent if not better brand than your basic no label Chinese brands (not sure where Asenno fits in).

Anyway, I used a $25 Addonics IDE/mSATA adapter. I have noticed more heat, but interestingly enough the Mac rarely breaks the threshold for the fans to kick in.

Speeds are decent for me. No, like you indicate, I don't get full SATA speeds but there has been some improvement.

It was worth it for me.

I've been using one of those Zheino mSATA SSD's for roughly 2 years now, and it works great. Definitely a good buy.

 

[eyoungren]

I've been using one of those Zheino mSATA SSD's for roughly 2 years now, and it works great. Definitely a good buy.

I agree. The one I have in my PowerBook has been good, so based on that I bought a 500GB SATA SSD for my MBP from Zheino. That's been excellent and the speed is decent. Certainly much faster than the 4200rpm HD it replaced.

 

[Raging Dufus]

I had actually purchased one of these cheap adapters (I still have it) the first time I tried to install a SSD. I went with a name brand (I want to say Samsung, but I don't recall correctly). Got it all installed and the Mac never saw the drive.

Whether that was due to the SSD itself or the $8 I paid for the adapter, I can't really say. So, then next time I went with @AphoticD's suggestion regarding the Addonics. Zero problems.

Take that for whatever it's worth.

You just never know what you're gonna get with off-brands from China. Not that there's much anymore that isn't made in China, but I digress.

I just picked up an iBook G4 which I plan to upgrade w/SSD sometime. I'm going to use one of the adapters I have on hand (similar to the one I linked) because I've already tried it and know that one works. Truth is, though, if (like the OP) I'm going to go to the trouble of getting inside an iBook, I'm going to think hard about one of those Addonics adapters. Addonics makes good stuff IME, and taking apart an iBook is not something I'd want to have to repeat.

 

[eyoungren]

You just never know what you're gonna get with off-brands from China. Not that there's much anymore that isn't made in China, but I digress.

I just picked up an iBook G4 which I plan to upgrade w/SSD sometime. I'm going to use one of the adapters I have on hand (similar to the one I linked) because I've already tried it and know that one works. Truth is, though, if (like the OP) I'm going to go to the trouble of getting inside an iBook, I'm going to think hard about one of those Addonics adapters. Addonics makes good stuff IME, and taking apart an iBook is not something I'd want to have to repeat.

Yeah, had it been an iBook I was working on, I would have waited until I got the Addonics the first time. To go through all that only to find that the system does not see the SSD would just make you want to cry - or hurl the Mac against a wall, both bad situations.

I think I've worked out that my laptops get SSDs and my desktops get spinners. The next SSD upgrade then, will be for my 17" MBP (SL max). But since I have my rule when upgrading, same or bigger capacity, it's going to be a while before I can afford another 500GB SSD and another Addonics.

But it is nice that the two laptops I use most right now are using SSDs.

In any case, I feel the Addonics is worth the price. That's just me though, as you've already said, everyone has their own thoughts on the matter.

 

[YesWeCat]

Truth is, though, if (like the OP) I'm going to go to the trouble of getting inside an iBook, I'm going to think hard about one of those Addonics adapters. Addonics makes good stuff IME, and taking apart an iBook is not something I'd want to have to repeat.

Definitely! This mSATA flamethrower is never going to be replaced 😅

 

[Raging Dufus]

I think I've worked out that my laptops get SSDs and my desktops get spinners.

I tend to follow the same program. I've found nothing to complain about with a good SATA HDD w/16MB or more cache running from a SATA expansion card in a Power Mac.

 

[mmomega]

I put a samsung 830 pro in an old g4 iMac 1000MHz and there was a noticeably quicker response with all tasks.

 

[eyoungren]

I've found nothing to complain about with a good SATA HDD w/16MB or more cache running from a SATA expansion card in a Power Mac.

Yeah, that's something I will probably follow up on eventually when finances permit. Right now, the biggest advantage I can see for a SSD in my MP is boot times. Since my Macs are on 24/7 though, boot times aren't really a concern for me. And at the moment, I'm still trying to figure out just what to do with the collective 11TB of storage I have across four spinning drives.

 

[B S Magnet]

In my opinion, if your machine has an IDE bus and not a SATA one, it's totally not worth it.

My iBook's HDD was very old -and its capacity very tiny- so I decided to swap it for an SSD. After thinking about the different upgrade possibilities, I ended up going the mSATA to IDE way. I bought a cheap Chinese mSATA SSD (Asenno ASM3 120 GB) and put it inside a no-name mSATA to IDE adapter.

While I have noticed a slight speed improvement, it was not as drastic as to be worth the ~50 euros and the hour an a half spent on the upgrade. A more expensive disk with DRAM cache would have probably improved this, but this is IDE, so I doubt one could get a speed improvement bigger than 20% over the original HDD, since the bus itself is the bottleneck. But the worst thing about this is the heat. The drive gets so hot that the fan has to work hard. This defeats the purpose of putting a silent disk into the thing in the first place.

Whenever I decide to upgrade any of my toasters again, I will probably buy a bigger IDE HDD. But I was wondering about your experiences. Has an SSD worked for you?

Yes, boot times, application launch times, and read/write times will drop, and it will likely max out an old IDE/ATA-# bus’s capability for moving big files.

Other folks have suggested mSATA-to-IDE adapters. Yeah, they work fine.

There are also m.2-to-IDE adapters which I’ve also used (I’ve used twice as many of these in all). At least locally (since the start of 2019), it is easier and cheaper to acquire m.2-form factor SSDs over mSATA SSDs. The IDE adapters are generally about the same price between the two SSD form factors.

On my clamshell iBook, it dropped the boot time from about 1:20 to about 39 seconds, and read/writes max out the ATA-4 specifications of ~25MB/s.

Mind you, this is only widening one bottleneck. There will still be others, like the CPU, the backside cache, the GPU, the RAM (both speed and cap), and so on which will cause bottlenecks elsewhere.

 

[MacFoxG4]

I recently installed an SSD in my Sawtooth. The performance boost was pretty significant once I did a clean install instead of cloning an old install from one of my mechanical drives. I find that the Sawtooth runs quieter now. The brand of SSD I used was Other World Computing. It came with a 2.5” to 3.5” bracket and an Addonics SATA to IDE adapter with power cable.

I have an SSD in my Power Mac G4 and I noticed a definite improvement. It's a name-brand SSD (Crucial) and an IDE to SATA adapter that has the red board. I noticed more of an improvement in OS 9 than OS X, but I would say I did notice an improvement.

That’s been my experience too, more noticeable improvement in 9 than in X, but still an improvement in both operating systems.

 

[B S Magnet]

I'm still trying to figure out just what to do with the collective 11TB of storage I have across four spinning drives.

RAID 1/5/10, RAID 1/5/10, RAID 1/5/10!

 

[Amethyst1]

I only tried an SSD once with my 1.67GHz G4 PB. It was an Intel 320 in a SATA-to-FW800 case because that was the only way I could hook it up at the time. I noticed an improvement in boot and app launch times but it wasn't nearly as substantial as I'd come to expect. So, the SSD went into an Intel Mac, providing the expected substantial speed boost. And my route has been fast HDDs for PPC Macs, SSDs for Intel ones ever since. Lighter on my wallet too.

 

[eyoungren]

RAID 1/5/10, RAID 1/5/10, RAID 1/5/10!

LOL.

Sure, RAIDING them would be fine. But my point was more along the lines of what kind of data do I put there?

My server handles all my backups as well as file serving for media and work files. I already have the OS and certain media and downloads set up on two of my drives. That leaves me with over 7TB of space to fill.

I have to say I'm glad to have this problem though, rather than the other way around.

 

[1042686]

Yep, they’re worth it to me. Boot times & app load time alone are worth it & SS technology has gotten so cheap, it is the obvious choice IME for a boot drive on most systems.

128gb SSD boot drive
1T+ 7200 rpm spinner storage

I do see diminished performance in older boxes like my g3 B&W for example as the cumulative drag of the system specs hamper the SSD imo. In this singular instance, I boot off a 7200 rpm 500gb spinner with 1.4T spinner via a flashed pci Sil3512 which was a solid improvement from the pata fireball it came with.

 

[B S Magnet]

LOL.

Sure, RAIDING them would be fine. But my point was more along the lines of what kind of data do I put there?

My server handles all my backups as well as file serving for media and work files. I already have the OS and certain media and downloads set up on two of my drives. That leaves me with over 7TB of space to fill.

I have to say I'm glad to have this problem though, rather than the other way around.

I have three RAID1 arrays (one hardware, two software) for all my archival work. Held alone, those six drives total 16TB, but whilst working with 8TB, I’m running pretty low and budget for more drive space isn’t in the cards yet.

Prior to RAID mirroring, I’d lost too many backups over the years which quietly failed as the work drive was failing. (too many == once, but in my case, thrice over a 20-year span). I put my device backups on the RAIDs now, as well as other active content I still use. Even so, It won’t be too long before I’ll be able to reliably fill 16TB of mirrored, redundant storage, and then 20TB, and so on.

 

[Amethyst1]

The next SSD upgrade then, will be for my 17" MBP (SL max). [...] another Addonics.

Just a heads-up - the 17" MBP takes regular SATA SSDs. No mSATA+adapter required.
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But my point was more along the lines of what kind of data do I put there?

Virtual Machines. Stuff every version of OS X, Windows and Linux you can find on there. That's what I'd do, I guess.

(That's me trying to crack a joke.)

 

[eyoungren]

I have three RAID1 arrays (one hardware, two software) for all my archival work. Held alone, those six drives total 16TB, but whilst working with 8TB, I’m running pretty low and budget for more drive space isn’t in the cards yet.

Prior to RAID mirroring, I’d lost too many backups over the years which quietly failed as the work drive was failing. (too many == once, but in my case, thrice over a 20-year span). I put my device backups on the RAIDs now, as well as other active content I still use. Even so, It won’t be too long before I’ll be able to reliably fill 16TB of mirrored, redundant storage, and then 20TB, and so on.

I copy the backups on my server (sparse bundles) directly to a backups folder on my 3TB external drive. That goes right up to Dropbox as that's where I have my Dropbox folder. I've got 3TB with Dropbox so this drive fits the bill nicely.

So, if the RAID on my server ever fails and the drives on all my Macs with Dropbox fail, I've still got a way to get to my backups because they are all on Dropbox.
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Just a heads-up - the 17" MBP takes regular SATA SSDs. No mSATA+adapter required.

Yes, I'm aware. When I originally got this Mac, @Altemose sent me a 500GB SATA HD. Which is why the replacement SSD will need to be 500GB or more.

Virtual Machines. Stuff every version of OS X, Windows and Linux you can find on there. That's what I'd do, I guess.

(That's me trying to crack a joke.)

I had that though (VMs), but I ruled it out. I could actually run Windows off my MP now, but there's a W10 Thinkpad sitting right on top of the MP.