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Need your help choosing an SSD drive for my 15" mid 2009 macbook pro

P

Punker

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 25, 2009
41
0
Hello people!

I have read multiple thread with information that contradicts itself and i dont know what to think anymore. I need some guidance

I have a 2.8Ghz, 15", mid-2009 macbook pro and i want to get an internal SSD drive.

I used to have a beachball issue back in the days until they release the performance patch. Those days were hell and i want to make sure, there is no way im gonna go back to that.

So i looked at those drives, and the reviews are all too old or irrelevant in my situation. So basically, i would like to know if someone with my setup had any of those drives in their laptop and let me know how it rolls.

I think i dont need a SATA3 since SATA2 is the maximum speed the controller can provide. Fair enough.

Will trimming be supported with those drive in OSX LION ?

1. Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW120G310 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167052 (120Gb)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167054 (160Gb)

2. OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTX160G 2.5" 160GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227686

3. Kingston SSDNow V Series SNV425-S2BN/128GB 2.5" Notebook Bundle 128GB SATA II Internal Solid State
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139137

So here i am. Which one would you recommend that will suopport TRIM in Lion and not give me beachball. Thanks for your help!
 
I have just installed an SSD into my late 2009 MBP 5.3. The machine shipped within days of it being released and I went for the 500GB HD upgrade. I have installed each and every update provided by Apple and worked my way from 10.5.7 to 10.6.8 before the hard drive failed a couple of weeks ago. I replaced it with a 500GB WD unit and found the performance to be slower than the dead Hitachi Apple unit. That was then quickly swapped out with a Seagate Momentus XT which was surprisingly quick however the drive span constantly and resulted in my battery being reduced from 7 hours to a desperate 3.

This called for SSD and I went with a Crucial M4 256GB. I downgraded the EFI to 1.6, upgraded the SSD to v2 firmware and performed a complete fresh install from 10.5.7, to Snow Leopard and then to 10.6.8. I am amazed by the performance, when booting, the Apple logo appears and then the spinning gear appears for less than one complete turn before the desktop is loaded. I am very pleased with the speed and the battery which is showing 98% health after 152 cycles & gives me 6.5 hours.
 
Last edited:
MrJolly said:
I have just installed an SSD into my late 2009 MBP 5.3. The machine shipped within days of it being released and I went for the 500GB HD upgrade. I have installed each and every update provided by Apple and worked my way from 10.5.7 to 10.6.8 before the hard drive failed a couple of weeks ago. I replaced it with a 500GB WD unit and found the performance to be slower than the dead Hitachi Apple unit. That was then quickly swapped out with a Seagate Momentus XT which was surprisingly quick however the drive span constantly and resulted in my battery being reduced from 7 hours to a desperate 3.

This called for SSD and I went with a Crucial M4 256GB. I downgraded the EFI to 1.6, upgraded the SSD to v2 firmware and performed a complete fresh install from 10.5.7, to Snow Leopard and then to 10.6.8. I am amazed by the performance, when booting, the Apple logo appears and then the spinning gear appears for less than one complete turn before the desktop is loaded. I am very pleased with the speed and the battery which is showing 98% health after 152 cycles & gives me 6.5 hours.
Click to expand...


Why the downgrade ? (EFI 1.6)
I thought this was impossible to accomplish... i tried to find a store where they would do it for me a year ago when i had the beachball all the time and they said they couldnt.

Why did you do it ?
How did you do it ?

thanks!
 
Punker said:
Why the downgrade ? (EFI 1.6)
I thought this was impossible to accomplish... i tried to find a store where they would do it for me a year ago when i had the beachball all the time and they said they couldnt.

Why did you do it ?
How did you do it ?

thanks!
Click to expand...

I second this!
 
Punker said:
Why the downgrade ? (EFI 1.6)
I thought this was impossible to accomplish... i tried to find a store where they would do it for me a year ago when i had the beachball all the time and they said they couldnt.

Why did you do it ?
How did you do it ?

thanks!
Click to expand...

The stock drive was a SATA1 Hitachi and even with EFI1.7 the drive would only negotiate at 1.5Gbps as that was all it knew about. It was when i had the WD drive installed that I noticed an odd beachball for 1 or 2 seconds every now and then, it was typically when browsing in Safari. I figured Apple released this machine with SATA1 speed for a specific reason so decided to return the machine to factory state before upgrading the drive to SSD. I got an ISO from a friend who works closely with Macs. Burnt it, booted my Mac from the CD and 5 minutes later I was back to EFI 1.6 and 1.5Gbps speed.

I'll run xBench if people are interested in the results.
 
MrJolly said:
The stock drive was a SATA1 Hitachi and even with EFI1.7 the drive would only negotiate at 1.5Gbps as that was all it knew about. It was when i had the WD drive installed that I noticed an odd beachball for 1 or 2 seconds every now and then, it was typically when browsing in Safari. I figured Apple released this machine with SATA1 speed for a specific reason so decided to return the machine to factory state before upgrading the drive to SSD. I got an ISO from a friend who works closely with Macs. Burnt it, booted my Mac from the CD and 5 minutes later I was back to EFI 1.6 and 1.5Gbps speed.

I'll run xBench if people are interested in the results.
Click to expand...

Can anyone confirm this with a link ? Cant seem to find official info about this.

So, 1.7 wouldnt take full advantage of SATA2, but 1.6 would.
 
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