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MacBook Pro really lagging

tomf said:
Thanks guys, I hear what you're saying skimmilk, it would be cheaper and I'd get more space to get a 512ssd and a 2tb hdd - But - I work with audio a lot, so the laptop is always referencing the drive for audio files, so I figured it would be better to just have ALL files on a ssd.

I did think about installing all apps and OSX on a small ssd and all audio/samples on the new big hdd - but I don't know, I've not got great faith in hdd now after this one's problems.

What are the things to look for to make sure I get a fast as possible, good hdd?
Click to expand...

None, because there's no such thing as a single fast HDD :D

Just buy an SSD from reputable brands like Crucial, OWC or Samsung. Personally I'd recommend Samsung, because they're the king of the SSD industry. The 840 Evo is a good start.
 
If you plan to install an SSD and the Optibay make sure you remove your old HDD and install the SSD on its place. The 2011 mpb might have SATA2 connection on the optical bay slot and you get lower SSD performance.

As for the recommended upgrades:
the samsung 840 evo 256GB is very cheap (100-120$) and yield very good performance.
For fast and cheap storage solutions there are models like the WesternDigital Black or the Hitachi HGST Travelstar 7K1000, they are almost twice as fast than the stock HDD and costs about 60-70$. 1TB size.
Since you've mentioned you're working with audio upgrading the ram is also very recommended. 8 GB upgrade should be very cheap (50-60$).
 
Thanks librarian. Very helpful stuff there.

I think I'm going to get a minimum 500gb SSD and a 2tb hdd in place of the cd drive.

What are the connection/size requisites for the drive? I hear of 2.5 / 3.5 etc but not sure what all that means.

Thanks
 
So, just wanted to post a pic of my hardware connections for my dvd drive -

If anyone can shed any light on what type of connection I have there that would be great. I want to put a hdd in place of it but obviously want the best connection.
 

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Any 2.5" SATA drive should fit (just beware any very thick ones like the Seagate 1TB used to be too thick to allow the MBP base to fit properly.

The chipset will support SATA3 or 6G speed, all current drives should support up to SATA3.

So effectively SATA3 2.5" HDD of 7 or 9mm thickness. Doesn't matter if 5400rpm or 7200rpm, both will fit, 7200rpm will be faster.

My personal recommendation is the Hitachi 1TB 7200rpm.
 
For 512GB drives, consider the Samsung Evo 840 / 850 or Crucial MX100.
Evo 840 has a tiny problem with historical data while 850 is new to the market. Mx100 is slightly slower than both drives but it costs slightly cheaper.

For your storage drive, just take note not to get Western Digital's external drives thinking you can rip out the drive for use. Those drives have the usb connector on board and are without Sata interface.
 
Ah thanks skim milk. Will keep that in mind.

What's the historical data problem?
 
tomf said:
Hi,

i have a mbp 13" late 2011
OSX 10.8.5
2.4 ghz intel core i5
4gb ram

Ive had it a few years now, but for the last couple of years its been terribly slow.
Its got to the point now where i just can't put up with how buggy and slow it is.

for example,
* When i click icons in the dic, like mail, safari, iTunes, etc, the icon will bounce in the doc about 30 times before the program opens.
* When i click the finder window, i always get the spinning ball, if i click on folders or files, the spinning ball comes on, then i get to see the contents of the folder. It's just ridiculous.

I am convinced apple put bugs in updates to slow down older computers to force you to upgrade. That's just my opinion though.

I have a Mac Pro in the studio and that thing is lightening quick, as soon as i click dock icons, they open. Don't get me wrong, its really well spec'd, but still, my mbp shouldn't be this bad.

What i want to know is how can i get it so it responds fast and normal again?

i don't expect it to be like my mac pro which has loads of ram etc, i just want it to respond well again.

thanks for any help and advice

T
Click to expand...

Same here
 
thanks, i looked into the eve 840 problems, apparently the fix is a bit of a cover up it seems? some people were saying it doesn't exactly fix the problem, it just moves stuff about the disk to make the disk think its not old data.
Really put me off to be honest reading all about it, maybe i'll go for an eve 850 - but with that trouble on the 840 i might not go with samsung at all now for the SSD.
 
tomf said:
thanks, i looked into the eve 840 problems, apparently the fix is a bit of a cover up it seems? some people were saying it doesn't exactly fix the problem, it just moves stuff about the disk to make the disk think its not old data.
Really put me off to be honest reading all about it, maybe i'll go for an eve 850 - but with that trouble on the 840 i might not go with samsung at all now for the SSD.
Click to expand...

Actually Samsung makes the best SSDs in the world. The Evo ones are aimed at consumers.

On the other hand, the Pro ones with MLC NAND (840 Pro and 850 Pro) are stellar. They last really well.

TechReport stress-tested the 840 Pro (256GB) and even after having 2 petabytes written to it, it's still fine.

http://techreport.com/review/27436/the-ssd-endurance-experiment-two-freaking-petabytes

I use a 512GB 840 Pro myself. The 850 Pro will be even better, with 3D V-NAND.
 
tomf said:
thanks, i looked into the eve 840 problems, apparently the fix is a bit of a cover up it seems? some people were saying it doesn't exactly fix the problem, it just moves stuff about the disk to make the disk think its not old data.
Really put me off to be honest reading all about it, maybe i'll go for an eve 850 - but with that trouble on the 840 i might not go with samsung at all now for the SSD.
Click to expand...

haha, you are the first person in this world who agrees with me that the solution doesn't look like a real solution. However, the Samsung brand is really a top notch performer when it comes to SSDs. I believe the 850s should not exhibit the same problem and price wise, it's now the same as the 840s on Amazon!

If you want to skip Samsung, then I'd recommend the Crucial MX100.
But take note: only the 512GB comes near the Evo 840. See the chart here.
 
yeah it just kind of puts you off when a company has problems with something like that. I'm sure they are superb at the sad though as most reviews say they're a good choice.
makes no sense to get an 840 now when the 850's are the same price.
 
Quick question, I'm going to replace the optimay drive with a hdd, do I need some kind of connector?
 
tomf said:
Quick question, I'm going to replace the optimay drive with a hdd, do I need some kind of connector?
Click to expand...

When you remove the optibay drive you will need an adapter to mount the HDD/SSD, it will also provide the connectors to plug into both the HDD and optical drive cable from the MBP.

The optical drive is a lot bigger than a 2.5" HDD/SSD so the adapter provides a secure mounting as well as connectivity.

Example here
 
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thanks simon, so the connectors are built onto the new caddy?
 
About to upgrade my late 2011 MacBook Pro hard drive with a ssd, what size does the drive have to be?

I see things mentioned about 2.5? Is that the size I must get. The new ssd will take the place of the already lagging hdd and then I'm putting a new hdd in the optical bay.

Thanks for any help
 
Yep 2.5", there is also a 9mm thickness limit but the vast majority of drives are under that at 7mm or 9mm (some older Seagate 1TB drives were approx 12mm from memory so the lower case wouldn't fit back on correctly...
 
Excellent. Thanks simonsi. Any recommendations? One thing I don't understand is sata and can I have a 6gb/s ssd? Or am I limited to 3gb/s?

Thanks for the advice.
 
Drives will come as SATA3 (6Gbps), they will degrade to SATA2 if needed. Your machine <should> give SATA3 speeds in both the HDD standard bay and the optical bay but <some> 2011 machines have been known to have issues in the optical bay whereby it won't run at SATA3 speed.

I run SATA3 in both so I have my SSD in the Optical bay with an adapter and an HDD in the standard drive bay so it still has sudden motion protection. You really want SATA3 on your SSD connection so once installed go to System Infomation and look at the SATA items, select the controller for the SSD and look for "negotiated link speed", if that is 6 then all good, if 3 (or 1.5) then swap the SSD to the other location and check the speed you get there. The HDD bay always seems to give 6G so is a safe bet.
 
Ah ok thanks. Yes I was thinking of putting in a 500gb ssd and a 1 or 2 Tb hdd in the optical bay.
 
I have the 512GB Crucial SSD (had their 120GB before), works great and trim-enabled under 10.10.5. I use the 1TB HGST 7200rpm HDD, single platter so still a 7mm. The optical adapters all take 9mm max I think.
 
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