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Recommended SSD upgrade for mid 2009 MacBook Pro

fernando.kreutz

fernando.kreutz

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 28, 2010
83
0
brazil
Hey. Recently I've faced a problem with OWC's Mercury Electra 6G on my laptop. Not only it was sluggish and beach balling but it also died after 2 hours. At this point I'm not considering OWC as a reliable SSD for me, thus, I would like recommendations SPECIALLY for my laptop.

This generation is reportedly to have issues negotiating sata speeds with SSD, usually being stuck at 1.5 Gbps (even with firmware 1.7), If you have this laptop's generation and an SSD, while recommending it, please note the negotiated speed.

I'm looking for a fast AND reliable SSD, that won't give me headaches soon.

Thanks!
 
I'm very happy with the 512GB Samsung 830 series SSD I installed in my 2010 MBP. I found it on sale shortly after they were released at newegg.com
 
Hey fernando

I have a similar vintage MBP as you - mid 2009 13" dual core 4gb ram.
I stuck an 240GB OCZ Vertex II SSD drive into it and find it fantastic. Makes a huge difference and runs very fast - even considering I have windows NT running in parallels 6 almost the whole time and osX doens't have Trimm support the SSD it is still brilliantly quick.
Can't recommend it highly enough as an upgrade.
 
ixodes said:
I'm very happy with the 512GB Samsung 830 series SSD I installed in my 2010 MBP. I found it on sale shortly after they were released at newegg.com
Click to expand...

+1 only i bought the 470 series which is sata II. it was cheaper per gig, and my mid 2010 opti bay only supports sata II.. the defalut bay is sata III on mid 2010 but I opted to leave the hdd in the default bay because there is a shock absorber of some sort.
 
I love my Intel and Crucial, and if I had a Samsung 830 I would probably love it just as much. You really can't go wrong with any of those three. For the money right now, the Crucial M4 is good bang for your buck. If you aren't worried about having one which is SATA3 for when you get a new computer, you may be able to find an Intel X25M on clearance, and they are hella good drives and probably the most reliable SSD to date that has long term data to support it.
 
Thanks for the replies. I've ended up buying a Corsair Force 3, as it is well known to everybody, it uses the same sand force chipset found on both OWC's and OCZ's SSD.

When I get it installed, I'll report how fast it is on this computer.
 
fernando.kreutz said:
This generation is reportedly to have issues negotiating sata speeds with SSD, usually being stuck at 1.5 Gbps (even with firmware 1.7), If you have this laptop's generation and an SSD, while recommending it, please note the negotiated speed.
Click to expand...
Just FYI, I have the same gen mbp w/fw1.7 and while I was at 1.5gbps on the stock HD, once I upgraded to a 500gb WD blue, the negotiated speed bumped up to 3gbps so I dont think you'll have a problem with the speed on a ssd.
let us know how it goes.
 
Last edited:
rubirock said:
Just FYI, I have the same gen mbp w/fw1.7 and while I was at 1.5gbps on the stock HD, once I upgraded to a 500gb WD blue, the negotiated speed bumped up to 3gbps so I dont think you'll have a problem with the speed on a ssd.
let us know how it goes.
Click to expand...

I already had upgraded the hard drive, to a WD scorpio black, and the negotiated speed is 3gbps. The thing with sata 6G sand force based SSD's is that it has a issue negotiating the speed with this generation of MacBooks (based on nvidia's MCP79 chipset), resulting in a 1.5gbps negotiated speed.

Since my OWC SSD died in about 2 hours, I hope it does not happen to this Corsair SSD (it has the same SF chipset), otherwise, I'll be really pissed off.
 
Well, today I've received my Force 3 drive. I've installed it and everything went smooth.

As I reported previously, it only negotiates 1.5 gbps speeds on this particular MCP79 driven platform. Speeds on the test were far away from the advertised max speed, this is due the sata 1 issue, but i'm cool with it, since everything loads very fast. It completely boots in about 16~17 seconds.

Some screenshots:





 
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I went with the Samsumg 470 Sata II SSD. It runs a solid 3Gb negotiated link speed, never wavering or dropping back to 1.5. This SSD is used in the Mac Airs 2010-2011 (as a replacement to the slower Toshiba SSDs) and it was perhaps the most power efficient drive out there. Solid 200/200 read/write speeds, thus the name 470=250/220 (250+220). Samsung is one of the only makers, outside of intel, to not use the Sandforce or the Marvell and instead uses their own. My vote is on the Samsung mz5pa256 (256GB) or the thinner 7mm mz7pa256 if going for an SSD swap in a mid 2009 MBP. Heck, I even used one in a late 2008 white MacBook and even w/SATA I, the sucker still FLEW.
 
fernando.kreutz said:
Hey. Recently I've faced a problem with OWC's Mercury Electra 6G on my laptop. Not only it was sluggish and beach balling but it also died after 2 hours. At this point I'm not considering OWC as a reliable SSD for me, thus, I would like recommendations SPECIALLY for my laptop.

This generation is reportedly to have issues negotiating sata speeds with SSD, usually being stuck at 1.5 Gbps (even with firmware 1.7), If you have this laptop's generation and an SSD, while recommending it, please note the negotiated speed.

I'm looking for a fast AND reliable SSD, that won't give me headaches soon.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Hi, I got a 2009 mid 15" MBP also... 6G drives (sata 3.0) won't work as they only support maximum 3G (sata 2.0)

I installed OWC 3G drives and work like a charm !

:eek:
 
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