OWC Mercury Electra 6G or Mercury Extreme Pro 6G for 2010 MBP?

[ProMod]

I've finally narrowed down my SSD choices to the OWC Electra 6G or the Mercury Extreme Pro 6G, both in 120 GB capacity. I'll be moving the HDD to the optical bay and putting the SSD in the main HD bay.

I have a 2010 MBP (see signature below), and realize I have SATA II, but would like to future-proof myself a bit and go for the 6G, especially since the Electra is priced very close to the Extreme Pro 3G. The jump to the Extreme Pro 6G is a little steeper, but still not much.

My question is, am I doing the right thing? Am I really future-proofing myself, considering the rapid development of the SSD market? Or will I toss aside this SSD when I upgrade in a year or two anyway? I'm swayed toward the 6G because of the newer firmware and controller, but just not sure it's worth the extra cash at this point. Will I have compatibility issues running either of the 6G models? Looking for input from those that have been down the same road. Thanks!

 

[GermanyChris]

I've finally narrowed down my SSD choices to the OWC Electra 6G or the Mercury Extreme Pro 6G, both in 120 GB capacity. I'll be moving the HDD to the optical bay and putting the SSD in the main HD bay.

I have a 2010 MBP (see signature below), and realize I have SATA II, but would like to future-proof myself a bit and go for the 6G, especially since the Electra is priced very close to the Extreme Pro 3G. The jump to the Extreme Pro 6G is a little steeper, but still not much.

My question is, am I doing the right thing? Am I really future-proofing myself, considering the rapid development of the SSD market? Or will I toss aside this SSD when I upgrade in a year or two anyway? I'm swayed toward the 6G because of the newer firmware and controller, but just not sure it's worth the extra cash at this point. Will I have compatibility issues running either of the 6G models? Looking for input from those that have been down the same road. Thanks!

I wouldn't future proof this way for those exact reasons..why spend more now when the computer cannot use it, in the hope that you'll use the drive when the drives will be cheaper?

 

[teerexx52]

I've finally narrowed down my SSD choices to the OWC Electra 6G or the Mercury Extreme Pro 6G, both in 120 GB capacity. I'll be moving the HDD to the optical bay and putting the SSD in the main HD bay.

I have a 2010 MBP (see signature below), and realize I have SATA II, but would like to future-proof myself a bit and go for the 6G, especially since the Electra is priced very close to the Extreme Pro 3G. The jump to the Extreme Pro 6G is a little steeper, but still not much.

My question is, am I doing the right thing? Am I really future-proofing myself, considering the rapid development of the SSD market? Or will I toss aside this SSD when I upgrade in a year or two anyway? I'm swayed toward the 6G because of the newer firmware and controller, but just not sure it's worth the extra cash at this point. Will I have compatibility issues running either of the 6G models? Looking for input from those that have been down the same road. Thanks!

Not sure if this will help you but I tried two 6g Electras in my 2011 MacBook Pro 15". Neither would give me read or write speeds close to my 11" MacBook Air. I sent them both back and now am sitting with my stock drive.

 

[ProMod]

I wouldn't future proof this way for those exact reasons..why spend more now when the computer cannot use it, in the hope that you'll use the drive when the drives will be cheaper?

I think you're dead on. There is absolutely no doubt there will be something newer or cheaper when I do upgrade. Going with the 3G. Thanks!

 

[fanchee]

Are you going to put the SSD into an optibay? Or are you going to move the HDD into the optibay? I have just bought the same SSD and am wondering which way to go. I have read and heard about both and there seems to be no real definitive answer as to why one would be better than the other.

Also, are you going to put your home folder on the SSD or the HDD? I am trying to decide what to do. I got the 120g SSD and everything (including my home folder) would fit and take up about 80g, with the exception of my iTunes library.

Sorry to hijack your thread but I have been trying to decide which way to go.

Thanks,
Jen

 

[ProMod]

Are you going to put the SSD into an optibay? Or are you going to move the HDD into the optibay? I have just bought the same SSD and am wondering which way to go. I have read and heard about both and there seems to be no real definitive answer as to why one would be better than the other.

Also, are you going to put your home folder on the SSD or the HDD? I am trying to decide what to do. I got the 120g SSD and everything (including my home folder) would fit and take up about 80g, with the exception of my iTunes library.

Sorry to hijack your thread but I have been trying to decide which way to go.

Thanks,
Jen

No hijack at all. I actually have the same questions!

I plan on putting the SSD in the main HD bay and moving the original HD to the optical bay with the Data Doubler. I don't have any great reasons why, but I do know that the SSD will support S.M.A.R.T. when it's in the main HD bay only, and the techs at OWC told me it's always the best way to go to have your SSD, or boot drive, in the main bay.

The home folder is another good question. If I put the OS, apps, and home folder on the SSD, I'll be at about 95-100 GB, and will definitely need to get the 120 GB. If I just put the OS and apps, I think I can get away with saving about $80 and getting the 60 GB. Of course, if I transfer my home folder minus my photos and iTunes library, I can probably still get away with the 60 GB. I'm sure putting the home folder on the SSD will be faster in some way, but how much, I'm not sure. And is it worth the extra expense? Maybe someone can answer both of these questions for us more definitively.

 

[GermanyChris]

this has become my pet phrase for the last couple days..I would put the HDD in the HDD spot and the SSD in the optical..

Here's what I do now..I have an 80GB iPod classic that holds all my music and pictures. I keep my music and photos on an external FW drive that way I have them at home and have the iPod when out and about.

When I had my '10 13" I had the same Vertex 2 I have now in the optical and a TB in the HDD. I had a 70GB ohh Sh#& partition with a clone of the SSD in it..I 450 for time machine...and my home folder music etc. occupying the rest. The logic went if the SSD crapped I could CCC back to the SSD and get back on the SSD the transfer docs etc from the time machine all in one self contained unit.

The thing to remember if you put you home folder on a different drive the computer cannot boot without both drives...so it would probably be good the have a clone on a drive to shove in there incase of warranty or repair.

 

[ProMod]

this has become my pet phrase for the last couple days..I would put the HDD in the HDD spot and the SSD in the optical..

Here's what I do now..I have an 80GB iPod classic that holds all my music and pictures. I keep my music and photos on an external FW drive that way I have them at home and have the iPod when out and about.

When I had my '10 13" I had the same Vertex 2 I have now in the optical and a TB in the HDD. I had a 70GB ohh Sh#& partition with a clone of the SSD in it..I 450 for time machine...and my home folder music etc. occupying the rest. The logic went if the SSD crapped I could CCC back to the SSD and get back on the SSD the transfer docs etc from the time machine all in one self contained unit.

The thing to remember if you put you home folder on a different drive the computer cannot boot without both drives...so it would probably be good the have a clone on a drive to shove in there incase of warranty or repair.

So, to summarize, you're saying put the SSD in the optical bay, and get one large enough to house the OS, apps, and home folder (minus photos, music, movies). Then on the HDD, create a partition the same size as the SSD, and keep a clone of the SSD on the HDD in the event the SSD fails.

I have over 4 TBs of external storage, backups, and Time Machine, so I don't necessarily need to worry about the backup situation. I am more concerned with placing the drives in the right bays, and determining which size SSD to get based on what needs to go on it for optimal performance. If you're saying the home folder needs to be on the SSD, I'll definitely need to go for the 120 GB SSD.

 

[xpcker]

i went for the extreme mercury, im in your same position. the extreme as i recall was like 60 bucks more expensive.

go for that, i dont need more than 120gb and i knwo the prices will go down but ill stay with the 2012 refresh and thell have only sata 3, so its fine


have a great week

 

[GermanyChris]

So, to summarize, you're saying put the SSD in the optical bay, and get one large enough to house the OS, apps, and home folder (minus photos, music, movies). Then on the HDD, create a partition the same size as the SSD, and keep a clone of the SSD on the HDD in the event the SSD fails.

I have over 4 TBs of external storage, backups, and Time Machine, so I don't necessarily need to worry about the backup situation. I am more concerned with placing the drives in the right bays, and determining which size SSD to get based on what needs to go on it for optimal performance. If you're saying the home folder needs to be on the SSD, I'll definitely need to go for the 120 GB SSD.

120..

HDD in it's spot with home folder, music, pic, etc. on it

 

[ProMod]

120..

HDD in it's spot with home folder, music, pic, etc. on it

Sounds like the way to go. I also forgot to mention that if you move the HDD out of its original bay, it will no longer be protected by the sudden motion sensor. Another reason to leave it be, as you said.

Definitely leaving music, photos, and movies on the HDD. I think there is some debate as to where to put the home folder though.

 

[GermanyChris]

Sounds like the way to go. I also forgot to mention that if you move the HDD out of its original bay, it will no longer be protected by the sudden motion sensor. Another reason to leave it be, as you said.

Definitely leaving music, photos, and movies on the HDD. I think there is some debate as to where to put the home folder though.

On the HDD that way your down loads and camera default uploads etc. hit the platter...

For example I ripped Rango recently and it turned out to be 68GB afterward...I've only got 58GB free on the OCZ..When I'm in the states the week after next my plan is to pick up a 256 Kingston HyperX, that should take my space paranoia away..

 

[fanchee]

Would there be any benefit at all in leaving the home folder on the ssd and just moving my iTunes and iPhoto libraries to the hdd? Those are by far the biggest hogs, at 270g total. Because the user library would then be on the ssd and could take advantage of its speed. Preference files and such. And what about apps like Yojimbo or Together that put their files in your home folder. Wouldn't they run better if the home folder stayed on the ssd? Finally, if there ever was an issue with the hdd, the machine would fail to boot if it can't find the home folder, yes?

Thanks for your answers, it has already cleared some things up for me!

Jen

 

[fanchee]

I'm back to report my installation.

I have a newertech voyager that allowed me to drop the bare SSD drive in and plug it in via usb. I rebooted into my Lion usb key and formatted/installed Lion onto the SSD. Easy process, less than 30 minutes.

My first mistake after restarting and choosing the SSD as boot drive was to go through the process of choosing country/keyboard/etc and then immediately choosing to transfer data from another drive. It failed. I knew better but was too excited. So I started over and booted from Lion usb key, formatted again and installed Lion again.

Second time around after booting into SSD, I chose to transfer nothing. I then went through software update and made sure everything was updated. I then went into migration assistant and chose EVERYTHING except my music folder. I want my user folder on the SSD, minus my 250g of music. Everything transferred over brilliantly. Make a note, though, that when you boot from SSD first time and create a user account, it CANNOT be the same name as user account you want to transfer over. I simply made an account called admin which I intend to later delete.

Set out to replace the superdrive with the SSD. This was surprisingly easy, just don't lose track of the tiny screws. Rebooted into SSD, went into system prefs and chose SSD as startup disk, everything was there and looking good.

Finally, I copied over everything from my HDD's user/music folder into the SSD user/music folder EXCEPT the media files. Option-clicked iTunes, chose the library file now on the SSD, everything's fine. Went into iTunes prefs and pointed it to find the music files on the HDD. iTunes fired up and played right away.

I will move my iPhoto library onto the HDD tomorrow, but it's late and that's only 10g.

I plan on wiping my HDD clean (I have a superduper backup plus Time Machine) and then moving JUST my music folder back. That and iPhoto library and probably documents, everything else stays on SSD.

Popped the superdrive into the OWC external enclosure, took about 5 minutes.

120g SSD, 64.6g used, 54.5g available. Perfect!

I hope this helps someone.

Jen

 

[fanchee]

Ok, moved my iPhoto library to HDD and now of the 119.17g capacity, I'm using 55.09gb and have 64.08gb free. In case this helps anyone choose the proper SSD capacity they might need.

So I have Lion, all my apps, and my user folder installed on the SSD with just my iTunes media folder, iPhoto library, and downloads folder on the HDD.

 

[ProMod]

Thanks for your detailed walkthrough, fanchee. I'm still debating how I want to go about my install, whether I want to do a clean install of Snow Leopard and then copy all my apps over, or try to clone everything over.

 

[pmz]

Thanks for your detailed walkthrough, fanchee. I'm still debating how I want to go about my install, whether I want to do a clean install of Snow Leopard and then copy all my apps over, or try to clone everything over.

It's been months, but cloning always is, always was, and always will be a bad idea.

Fresh installs are the only way to go with new drives. Why wouldn't you? True there is some painstaking install and setup processes, but that's fun stuff! Who doesn't enjoy setting up OSX every once and a while, not to mention the great performance of a fresh install.

----------

Not sure if this will help you but I tried two 6g Electras in my 2011 MacBook Pro 15". Neither would give me read or write speeds close to my 11" MacBook Air. I sent them both back and now am sitting with my stock drive.

How is that supposed to help anyone? You're either lying, or did something terribly wrong. The Electras speeds are well documented and seen by all of its users. They're much faster than a stock MBA.

 

[teerexx52]

It's been months, but cloning always is, always was, and always will be a bad idea.

Fresh installs are the only way to go with new drives. Why wouldn't you? True there is some painstaking install and setup processes, but that's fun stuff! Who doesn't enjoy setting up OSX every once and a while, not to mention the great performance of a fresh install.

----------



How is that supposed to help anyone? You're either lying, or did something terribly wrong. The Electras speeds are well documented and seen by all of its users. They're much faster than a stock MBA.

Yup. I'm lying. Makes perfect sense.

 

[GermanyChris]

Yup. I'm lying. Makes perfect sense.

LOL..he knows your computer better than you do..

 

[teerexx52]

LOL..he knows your computer better than you do..

Yes, I saw that.

 

[pmz]

Yup. I'm lying. Makes perfect sense.

LOL..he knows your computer better than you do..

Yes, I saw that.

How about posting something coherent other than, "waaaa it's not that fast"

It's exactly as fast as they say it is, assuming you install it, format it, and install the OS properly. You provide no explanation other than "is slower than my MacBook air" well, 1. That's hardly relevant as you're talking about a machine with an Apple designed ssd soldered to the board, which itself can vary in speed depending on the brand you get stuck with. There are no documented expected speeds for the MBA.

There are documented speeds for the OWC products. If you don't see something similar, you screwed up, or it's defective. Try solving the problem, before declaring something worthless.

 

[jpanic4]

Help!

Hey guys, I'm trying to decide between the two drives as well. I know I will be getting the 120gb drive but not sure if i should get the electra 6g or extreme pro 6g. I will be using this on a 2011 MBP (SATA III). I use my computer for photoediting and music production. I will primarily be using lightroom and photoshop. Will I notice the benefits of the extreme pro 6g? Thank you!!

 

[Balaamsdonkey]

I wouldn't future proof this way for those exact reasons..why spend more now when the computer cannot use it, in the hope that you'll use the drive when the drives will be cheaper?

I hate to drag up an old thread but I have the same question as OP. I'm also a little unclear as to how the computer could not use the 6g SDDs OP was referring to. This page from OWC indicates that it should be able to use it. http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrades.cfm?sort=pop&model=391&type=Internal+Drive

Am I missing something? Is it just that the 6g model will work on motherboards that only support 3G? I was hoping to go for something like this, and then set the system up as fusion drive. I found some info that it might be possible.

 

[GermanyChris]

I hate to drag up an old thread but I have the same question as OP. I'm also a little unclear as to how the computer could not use the 6g SDDs OP was referring to. This page from OWC indicates that it should be able to use it. http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrades.cfm?sort=pop&model=391&type=Internal+Drive

Am I missing something? Is it just that the 6g model will work on motherboards that only support 3G? I was hoping to go for something like this, and then set the system up as fusion drive. I found some info that it might be possible.

The drive is faster than the bus.

 

[Balaamsdonkey]

Would a possibly more thorough explanation be that the 6g though compatible, and functional, will not be taken advantage of by my generation of MBP because of the bus size? It'll work, just not work as fast as it could work.