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Really Confused on which SSD for Mid-2009 MBP 2.26 Core 2 Duo

J

jbsmithmac

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 11, 2011
244
0
I've been reading and reading here and many other sites and I can't seem to figure things out as it relates to which SSD to buy.

My machine is a mid-2009 MBP 13" 2.26 Core 2 Duo (MacbookPro5,5) running Mountain Lion.

Things I'm not understanding:

1) It sounds like I can't just buy any reputable (Crucial, OCZ, Intel, etc) SSD for this machine, some will work and some won't? By work I mean show speed improvements.

2) TRIM for 3rd party drives...enable? I've seen anything from using the Trim Enabler app, to that app messes up OSX, to enable trim via terminal, to don't do it at all? So do I need to enable it on my machine?

3) SATA II vs. SATA III - I know my MBP only supports SATA II, however I've seen some people say to get the Crucial M4 instead of the V4 because the V4 has issues. I don't see the point in paying for SATA III when my machine can't make use of it.

Thanks for the help!!
 
jbsmithmac said:
I've been reading and reading here and many other sites and I can't seem to figure things out as it relates to which SSD to buy.

My machine is a mid-2009 MBP 13" 2.26 Core 2 Duo (MacbookPro5,5) running Mountain Lion.

Things I'm not understanding:

1) It sounds like I can't just buy any reputable (Crucial, OCZ, Intel, etc) SSD for this machine, some will work and some won't? By work I mean show speed improvements.

2) TRIM for 3rd party drives...enable? I've seen anything from using the Trim Enabler app, to that app messes up OSX, to enable trim via terminal, to don't do it at all? So do I need to enable it on my machine?

3) SATA II vs. SATA III - I know my MBP only supports SATA II, however I've seen some people say to get the Crucial M4 instead of the V4 because the V4 has issues. I don't see the point in paying for SATA III when my machine can't make use of it.

Thanks for the help!!
Click to expand...

Read the SSD buying guide sticky at the top of this forum. That might help you decide which SSD to buy.
 
Irock619 said:
Read the SSD buying guide sticky at the top of this forum. That might help you decide which SSD to buy.
Click to expand...

Thanks, but unfortunately that 71 page thread has turned into something other than a guide. Many posts about this drive costs X, who has the best deals, and a smattering of other things. It's like War and Peace at this point.

I was hoping for some real world experiences by those that actually have the same machine I have.
 
jbsmithmac said:
Thanks, but unfortunately that 71 page thread has turned into something other than a guide. Many posts about this drive costs X, who has the best deals, and a smattering of other things. It's like War and Peace at this point.

I was hoping for some real world experiences by those that actually have the same machine I have.
Click to expand...

I had a mid 2009 MBP .. I chose the Samsung 830 ..don't sweat the SATA III versus SATA II .. anything you choose will be SATA III, which is backward compatible .. The Samsung seemed to have the best track record w/ 2009s , and mine functioned perfectly for the 5 months I was still using the MBP ..
the TRIM debate went on and on ad nuaseam ... IMHO, TRIM is very useful, but not an absolute requirement unless you plan on really pounding the SSD ..others might differ .. fine ... I enabled it on my machine using the Terminal commands, because I wasn't comfortable with what I was reading about the Trim enabler app .. The terminal command does modify some code within a KEXT , so .. Not sure what the App does anymore ..at one time debate was how it replaced the KEXT with an older version , which was viewed as very dangerous by some ( me included..) .. Lots of folks are using both methods without reporting any issues ..
 
First off, never buy a V4. They are really slow, and they are $10 less than an M4. It's kind of a no-brainer.

SATAIII drives are backwards compatible, and if you decide to upgrade your computer, you can take your SSD with you.

As far as controllers, I usually have a preference against SandForce, but newer SF drives should be fine. Older SF controllers had TONS of issues that were fixed in newer versions. OWC uses newer SF controllers in their drives. I would contact them to just to be sure.

As of right now, I have an M4 in my early 2011 MBP 13", and an OCZ Vertex 4 in my Lenovo R61 Hackintosh. Both are great drives and I would recommend them both.

What's nice about the Vertex 4 is that OCZ has vertical integration (control of product from start to finish, see Apple Computer). It's also a top performer.

Normally I would say Vertex 4 for speed, M4 for reliability, but because you have a SATAII board, I would go with the M4 because both drives would max out your your disk I/O speeds. Crucial has a reputation for reliability.

If you do get an M4, make sure the firmware revision is either 0309 or 000f, just not 0001 or 0009 which will start messing around with you after 5184 hours.

As for Vertex 4 firmware, make sure its version 1.6
 
I own a 2.53GHz mid 2009 13" MBP. I've used both the Crucial M4 and the Samsung 830. They were both 256GB capacity and they both worked great. I ended up using the M4 in my MBP and putting the 830 in my PC, simply because the PC has SATA III and can actually take advantage of the faster write speeds. I purchased SATA III drives because at the time, they were the same price as the SATA II models.

Here is my thread I posted about the M4 when I bought it. I've since installed the newest firmware on the drive, 010G I believe, and haven't had any trouble. I also had no issues with the previous firmware 000F.
 
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'll probably stick with the Crucial M4 then...mostly because I've dealt with Crucial before and have had good experiences with them.

That said I'll probably just simply install it and do a fresh ML install...and worry about TRIM later if that's necessary (or if someone here convinces me otherwise!).
 
Thanks again. Crucial M4 seems to be very popular and I haven't seen many people reporting issues from it. I'll go with it!
 
Rhinoevans said:
What size are u getting. The Samsung 830 is a better SSD, however, the 256G is almost sold out everywhere because of the new 840 PRO. Better than the 830 but also more expensive. SOme 128G still our their.

Good luck.

Normally Sata 2 vs 3 price is insignificant.



http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/532?vs=425
Click to expand...

What makes the Samsung better?

I'm between 128 or 256gb...strictly based on cost.

----------
jbsmithmac said:
What makes the Samsung better?

I'm between 128 or 256gb...strictly based on cost.
Click to expand...

Ha. I just opened your link!
 
Rhinoevans said:
What size are u getting. The Samsung 830 is a better SSD, however, the 256G is almost sold out everywhere because of the new 840 PRO. Better than the 830 but also more expensive. SOme 128G still our their.

Good luck.

Normally Sata 2 vs 3 price is insignificant.



http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/532?vs=425
Click to expand...

It doesnt matter he has SATAII.
It cannot optimize the full speed of 830.
 
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