Macbook Pro '11 SSD, HHD questions

[iko1234]

Hi Folks,

I just bought a 17'' Macbook Pro '11. Got it with the default hard drive option "750GB Serial ATA; 5400 rpm". I'm not too savvy with my knowledge of hard drives but would appreciate some tips.

Question 1: What's the read speed, and what's the write speed of these things? Is it possible to find out each of those numbers seperately as opposed to a "data transfer rate" which is ambiguous.

Question 2: If I buy an SSD, for example the 128GB Crucial m4 2.5-inch SATA 6GB/s, which seems to get really good reviews and bang for buck, which has a read speed of 415mb/s, how does that compare to the read speed of the normal hard drive?

And same question regarding the write speed.

Question 3: Is there a "step by step" tutorial or video that someone can recommend for how to upgrade the SSD hard drive in one of the new macs?

Thanks in advance for any info.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

1. Between 75 to 105 MB/s, for read and write actions.
2. A lot faster, but one also has the access time to consider, which hundreds times faster with an SSD, thus the snappiness.
3.

MacBook, MacBook Pro: Replacing the Hard Disk Drive, transferring data to the new HDD​

How to format a new HDD/SSD to install Mac OS X or make a bootable copy onto​

SSD Buying Guide by Hellhammer​

 

[Philflow]

The sequential read speeds have very little to do with real world performance.

If you want to know how the Crucial M4 compares to a 5400rpm hard drive check out this review: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=6152

Also consider Seagate Momentus XT 500GB with 4GB SSD cache. The experience comes close to an SSD at a fraction of the price: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=6071&p=2

 

[iko1234]

Thanks!

Thanks for the replies - just wondering though, has anyone tried out and happy with a crucial SSD in the sub-200Gb range? Would be great to hear some experiences first hand.

 

[Philflow]

Thanks for the replies - just wondering though, has anyone tried out and happy with a crucial SSD in the sub-200Gb range? Would be great to hear some experiences first hand.

Crucial M4 was great in my MBP 2011. It's the best choice for SSDs in my opinion.

But comparing the performance to Seagate XT hybrid drive I don't think SSDs are worth the premium for my (rather light) usage.