Late 2008 Macbook Pro 15" - ssd stuck at 1.5 Gb/s

[Karlsruhe]

Hello,
I just got a MBP Late 2008 with an SSD inside but the "Negotiated Link Speed" is at 1.5 Gigabit. The Link Speed is 3 Gigabit. Question is how can I make it be at full sata II not sata I speed? I think the ssd (and the mac) would be snapier if I got the full speed of sata II.

 

[keysofanxiety]

Ah it's down to the NVIDIA controller. They're absolutely terrible for this issue.

Most of the time there's no fix, but some people have had a little luck with trying a different brand of SSD. I wouldn't want to recommend that immediately though. May I confirm what brand SSD you have?

 

[Karlsruhe]

It's an Intel SSD 535 Series 240 GB

 

[keysofanxiety]

It's an Intel SSD 535 Series 240 GB

Ah right. The ones with SandForce controllers exhibit the issue you're having. I believe the Intel one falls into this category.

IIRC, the Samsung 850 EVOs don't use SandForce controllers, so purchasing a Samsung SSD should hopefully resolve the problem and ensure you get the full 3Gb/s speed. I would recommend getting a second opinion on this however; hopefully somebody can confirm this shortly.

I summon the omnipresent @Weaselboy!

 

[Weaselboy]

Ah right. The ones with SandForce controllers exhibit the issue you're having. I believe the Intel one falls into this category.

Yep... those use a Sandforce controller and for some reason have trouble negotiating the correct link speed on these MacBooks.

OP> One thing to try that has worked for some is to do a System Management Controller (SMC) reset by following the instructions at this link. Sometimes that will make it renegotiate to the correct link speed.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

If that does not work, then yes a Samsung EVO uses a different controller and would likely solve this.

 

[Karlsruhe]

Ok, first of all, thank you.
I did the SMC reset but the speed is unchanged. I will buy an Samsung SSD EVO 850 250 GB hopefully will solve the problem.

Question: since I already have an ssd and it's not borken, can I make a fusion drive with the two ssd? Or fusion it's limited to ssd and a mechanical drive? Will there be any problems if I do this?

 

[Weaselboy]

Question: since I already have an ssd and it's not borken, can I make a fusion drive with the two ssd? Or fusion it's limited to ssd and a mechanical drive? Will there be any problems if I do this?

Hmmm... good question. I have not done it myself or read about it being done, but I cannot see why it would not work.

 

[keysofanxiety]

Question: since I already have an ssd and it's not borken, can I make a fusion drive with the two ssd?

Yeah that should work fine -- Fusion just fuses two drives together to one logical partition and it's not specific to being an SSD or an HDD on the second volume.

 

[robvas]

Ok, first of all, thank you.
Question: since I already have an ssd and it's not borken, can I make a fusion drive with the two ssd? Or fusion it's limited to ssd and a mechanical drive? Will there be any problems if I do this?

That would be foolish to use a Fusion drive. What if one drives fails?

If you had two similar drives you could also join them with RAID, but that would be silly as well.

 

[keysofanxiety]

That would be foolish to use a Fusion drive. What if one drives fails?

If you had two similar drives you could also join them with RAID, but that would be silly as well.

If one fails, it wouldn't really be an issue if they had a Time Machine backup. A Fusion Drive generally makes usage much more convenient; one volume rather than moving manually. So I don't think it's fair to say it's foolish, providing they backup regularly.