New SSD Acting Funny After Install

[steiney]

Hello all!

I am running 10.6.8 on a 2007 Macbook Pro Core 2 Duo and I just swapped out the original 5400 RPM HD for an SSD about a week ago. I cloned the original drive to the new SSD using Disk Utility, booted to the SSD externally to make sure it worked, and then installed it in the computer.

Everything runs much quicker, but since I installed the SSD, I get periodic hangs about once per 1-2 hours and each hang lasts about 15-25 seconds. I don't get the spinning beach ball except towards the end of the hang, and usually the mouse still moves, but the entire system freezes otherwise and I can do anything. Then, after 15-25 seconds has passed, everything goes back to normal and all the actions I had performed during the hang are carried out really quickly.

I'd had freezes in the past with the original drive but nothing like what I'm now experiencing. Sure, an app would freeze and I would immediately get the spinning beach ball, but only the app would be frozen and everything else still worked.

I used iDefrag to analyze the SSD and it seems like I have a large amount of bad blocks, assuming I'm interpreting the iDefrag display correctly.

My question is: does this sound like I got a bad SSD? What's the deal with bad blocks? I don't think I completely understand it. Is there anything I can do to remedy the situation and the hanging? It's getting pretty frustrating. Sure, everything is faster, but the hangs are getting maddening.

If anyone has any insight or suggestions, I would love to hear them!

Thanks in advance,

steiney

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

I am running 10.6.8 on a 2007 Macbook Pro Core 2 Duo and I just swapped out the original 5400 RPM HD for an SSD about a week ago.

Everything runs much quicker, but since I installed the SSD, I get periodic hangs about once per 1-2 hours and each hang lasts about 15-25 seconds. I don't get the spinning beach ball except towards the end of the hang, and usually the mouse still moves, but the entire system freezes otherwise and I can do anything. Then, after 15-25 seconds has passed, everything goes back to normal and all the actions I had performed during the hang are carried out really quickly.
...
I used iDefrag to analyze the SSD and it seems like I have a large amount of bad blocks, assuming I'm interpreting the iDefrag display correctly.

My question is: does this sound like I got a bad SSD? What's the deal with bad blocks?

Bad blocks are blocks with no replacement. On SSDs, this is usually a hardware problem, firmware problem or a problem with the SATA-cable. I heard some SATA-III SSDs are incompatible with SATA I and SATA II interfaces. Your MBP has the SATA I interface. Some SSDs are unreliable, like some OCZ SSDs or OWC SSDs, and can cause additional problems. I recommend the Samsung 830 SSD or Samsung 840 Pro SSD as a replacement.

 

[Giuly]

like some OCZ SSDs or OWC SSDs, and can cause additional problems.

Make that every SSD with a SandForce chipset.

OP, what model of SSD did you install?

Also, don't defrag an SSD.

For avoidance of doubt, we strongly recommend that you don’t try to defragment your SSD-based volumes. The fragmentation issue on SSDs is internal [I guess they mean 'essential', because it causes even wear over all blocks of the SSD] to their implementation, and defragmenting the filesystem would only make matters worse.

 

[steiney]

Bad blocks are blocks with no replacement. On SSDs, this is usually a hardware problem, firmware problem or a problem with the SATA-cable. I heard some SATA-III SSDs are incompatible with SATA I and SATA II interfaces. Your MBP has the SATA I interface. Some SSDs are unreliable, like some OCZ SSDs or OWC SSDs, and can cause additional problems. I recommend the Samsung 830 SSD or Samsung 840 Pro SSD as a replacement.

Thanks. I'm pretty sure I'm running SATA II, just for the record. I can pretty much rule out the cable, so it's probably the hardware.

Make that every SSD with a SandForce chipset.

OP, what model of SSD did you install?

Also, don't defrag an SSD.

I put a Verbatim 128GB SATA III in it. And thanks for the info about why not to defrag and SSD. I was wondering.

 

[Giuly]

The Verbatim 128GB SATA 6GBit/s drive uses a SandForce SF-2281, which is something you don't want in your Mac. What you want is a SanDisk Ultra Plus or Crucial m4 instead in that price range.

But one thing that you could try before switching it out is enabling TRIM if you didn't do that yet, here's how.

 

[steiney]

The Verbatim 128GB SATA 6GBit/s drive uses a SandForce SF-2281, which is something you don't want in your Mac. What you want is a SanDisk Ultra Plus or Crucial m4 instead in that price range.

But one thing that you could try before switching it out is enabling TRIM if you didn't do that yet, here's how.

Thanks again. I already have TRIM enabled so that rules that one out. I'm very sad to learn that the disk I purchased isn't compatible with my mac. Shucks.