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Samsung 840 Pro or Evo or ....

N

Neiloid

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 9, 2012
61
0
Hants, UK
I'm still undecided which SSD to go for in my mid 2011 2.5GHz mini.

The decision was between the standard Samsung 250gb or the 128gb Pro as the price is almost the same now - is the performance improvement of the pro worth the decrease in capacity for everyday computing?

The the Evo comes along and promises Pro performance at non Pro prices - but is said to be inferior tech that won't last as long.

So I'm still confused.

Also is it possible to get a 7200 2TB HDD to replace the stock HDD that is fast running out of space or just get a firewire 800 Seagate external drive ?

Thoughts, as always, appreciated.
 
I'd go with the larger capacity, it will be faster then your HD and gives you some decent storage.
 
Neiloid said:
I'm still undecided which SSD to go for in my mid 2011 2.5GHz mini.

The decision was between the standard Samsung 250gb or the 128gb Pro as the price is almost the same now - is the performance improvement of the pro worth the decrease in capacity for everyday computing?

The the Evo comes along and promises Pro performance at non Pro prices - but is said to be inferior tech that won't last as long.

So I'm still confused.

Also is it possible to get a 7200 2TB HDD to replace the stock HDD that is fast running out of space or just get a firewire 800 Seagate external drive ?

Thoughts, as always, appreciated.
Click to expand...

When you are talking about replacing the stock HDD with the 7200 2TB HDD are you talking about the internal HDD in the mini? Because you can only use 2.5" 9.5mm HDDs (traditional laptop drive). The largest 2.5"/9.5mm 7200rpm HDD is 1TB (HGST) and the largest 2.5" 9.5mm is 1.5TB but only 5400rpm (and is also HGST). There are no 2TB 2.5" 9.5mm drive yet (in either 5400 or 7200). I run one of the HGST 7200 1TBs in my fusion. Excellent drive.
 
Neiloid said:
The the Evo comes along and promises Pro performance at non Pro prices - but is said to be inferior tech that won't last as long.
Click to expand...

Don't worry about this. It is true the Evo and non-Pro 840 use TLC NAND that does not have as many write cycles as MLC NAND used in the 840 Pro, but as a practical matter, your computer will be dead and gone before you hit that limit anyway.

See the chart below from this review of the Evo. So even if you write 50GB a day (I doubt you will) to the 250GB Evo it will last over 15 years.

SxiKHRb.png


There is a lot of undue concern about write cycles with SSDs IMO.
 
If given the alternatives you proposed, my choice priorities for the SSD if I had to make it would be:

1. Samsung 840 Pro (256gb) - Because it consistently has very high read and write speeds in all uses, it has a 5 year warranty, it uses longer life MLC flash (although, that is not the deciding factor, as the TLC flash life is still very long). I would not go for the 128gb because of storage size (the 256gb is twice as large) and it is slower than the 256gb size. The 256gb size seems to be the sweet spot now for price/performance (and is why you see so many sites reviewing this size). It also gives the drive more room for provisioning cells, increasing reliability.

2. Samsung 840 Evo 250gb - It is faster on writes (not necessarily reads) than the 840 it replaces through use of a buffer of sorts. It uses TLC flash, which has a shorter life than MLC, but if you search the net for relative longevity, does not really seem to be relevant, as it will still outlast the technology and probably the hardware you install it on. I'm personally satisfied this is not really a factor for typical users, maybe it is a factor for servers or DVR like constant video recording.

3. Samsung 840 250gb - A very fast drive, particularly for reads, not as fast on writes. It is the "older" tech (like maybe a year!) and does not have the buffer of the EVO, but I can tell you from my experience, this is not a issue, it's still fast. It also has TLC flash, which like the EVO, is not a major concern. I ranked it third just based on the EVO being a newer model.

The really good news is, any of these choices will give you fantastic speed! They are all good. The differences you will see are in benchmarks only, perceptually, you will not be able to tell the difference in day to day use. Also, Samsung SSDs have a good reputation for reliability, which is important when you mount it internally, no fun to have to change it remount different drives. This is not to say other SSDs cannot be reliable too.

As far as hard drives go, OPINIO has given you good advice. Apple is now using HGST drives, and my experience with them is positive so far.
 
Weaselboy said:
Don't worry about this. It is true the Evo and non-Pro 840 use TLC NAND that does not have as many write cycles as MLC NAND used in the 840 Pro, but as a practical matter, your computer will be dead and gone before you hit that limit anyway.

See the chart below from this review of the Evo. So even if you write 50GB a day (I doubt you will) to the 250GB Evo it will last over 15 years.

Image

There is a lot of undue concern about write cycles with SSDs IMO.
Click to expand...

Just a question Weasel... what happens at the end of the speculated lifespan (15 years in your example). The SSD doesn't just shut down like the Terminator at the end of the 15th year (i.e. this drive will self destruct in 24 hours). In other words what does this 'lifespan' figure mean? I am guessing the SSD is still in a reasonable operating state even at the 15 year mark?
 
The EVO is fine in most cases, except for people with big files. If you do a lot of video cutting, it is not wise to go with the EVO. The EVO is like a 3-9GB 840pro combined with a 122,244 or 491 GB 840. So if if you constantly tax the cache, it drops to old 840 speeds, and remember that although SSD is expected to have a good lifespan, the cache memory handles almost every write action, and is used 40 times as often as the main storage.
 
opinio said:
Just a question Weasel... what happens at the end of the speculated lifespan (15 years in your example). The SSD doesn't just shut down like the Terminator at the end of the 15th year (i.e. this drive will self destruct in 24 hours). In other words what does this 'lifespan' figure mean? I am guessing the SSD is still in a reasonable operating state even at the 15 year mark?
Click to expand...

No, it won't just stop all of a sudden. Like the test Retro linked shows it will first start reallocating reserved space to maintain original, rated capacity. Once all reserved space is used up, the drive will start to mark off dead (worn out) areas and you will see free space decline. The next and final step will be data loss errors popping up kind of like you see now when a hard drive is starting to fail.

Retro>> Thanks for the link. Good test.
 
I have both a late 2008 Macbook (Aluminum model, but not the Macbook Pro), and a brand new Mac Mini that was purchased less than two weeks ago. In my Macbook, I have the original Samsung 840, 128gb. In my Mac Mini (i5 model) I have a 256gb Samsung 840 Pro. I was going to buy the Evo myself as I think that's probably the way to go, but at the time that I was buying everything, the Evo had just come out and was out of stock on Amazon, AND they had an open box 840 Pro for close to the same price.

My Macbook has 8gb of RAM, and the Mac Mini has 16gb. I don't tax these systems at all with what I do, but I can not stand for my computers to be slow, and I also expect my computers to last me for 5-8 years. So that is the reason why I chose 16gb for the Mac Mini (I did the upgrade myself, if that matters to you).

Anyways, the point that I was going to make in the first place that in my use (normally I will have Apple Mail, Safari open with as many as 10-15 tabs, Excel, either iTunes or Muse, and a few other random but small programs open) I can honestly not tell a difference between my 2008 Macbook and my 2012 model Mac Mini. And that is not a knock on the Mac Mini whatsoever - I think it's much more of a praise for the SSD and RAM upgrades.

I can not tell a difference in the speeds of the two SSD's that I have. If I were you, I would go with the Evo as I think that's the one with the biggest upside/cost. The Pro is a nice drive and not a thing is wrong with it, but I don't know that it is worth the premium.

Either way, make sure to upgrade the RAM to at least 8GB too, and you'll have a machine that can do probably 95% of the things out there, and can do them quicker, quieter, and cheaper.
 
I got a 2tb 15mm WD harddrive together with a 128gb Samsung 830 ssd in my mini. The ssd is 7mm and there is a little room to spare.
 
Hede said:
I got a 2tb 15mm WD harddrive together with a 128gb Samsung 830 ssd in my mini. The ssd is 7mm and there is a little room to spare.
Click to expand...

Is the WD drive mounted properly by the four screws in the side or just sitting in there?
 
Yes its the WD20NPVT 2TB that i have in my mini. WD has another 2TB 2,5" the WD20NPVX, its SATA 6 Gb/s were the WD20NPVT is SATA 3 Gb/s. Think its new.
 
Samsung 840 EVO SSD

If you are curious as to how the SSD performs with benchmarks then check out my installation and first impressions video where I install the Samsung 840 EVO SSD in to a 15 inch MacBook Pro. A link to the video is below. I hope it helps you with your decision.

Samsung 840 EVO MacBook Pro Upgrade (Life Time Windows User):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_INUoi40aME

:apple:
 
So with the price of 1TB 2.5" HDD drives dropping I have decided to get an EVO 250gb SSD and a 1TB HDD. Will a 10mm thick drive fit OK, even though the max depth quoted earlier was 9.5mm ?

Also, is the current HDD mounted in the upper or lower position in a late 2011 mini ? Just need to know so I get the right SATA cable.

Thanks in advance.
 
I think you made a good choice!

Both drives should fit OK, if the 2 TB drive fit with its bigger dimensions (albeit without being mounted), as per previous posts, the 10mm should be no problem either, as the EVO is 7mm thick. Not much difference between 9.5 and 10mm. You should be able to screw it in too. Are you sure it is 10mm, not 9.5, which is standard?

As far as positioning, it does not matter what bay you mount the drives, as you will select the boot drive anyway in System Preferences. Both SATA ports are 6 Gbs, so the SSD will work in either upper or lower (same for HDD).

Some earlier 2012 model Mac Minis had the drive in the Lower bay (the one attached to the WiFI grill, upper when you turn it upside down to work on it), but later in the production run Apple changed it where the drive is mounted in the Upper bay (relative to upside down Mini, the bottom bay...confusing, huh?), with the bay below the WiFi grill empty.

As far as I know, all 2011 Minis had their drives mounted in the "Lower" bay under the WiFi grill. Again, should not matter which one is mounted where, however, when I upgraded my 2011, I kept the HDD in the "Lower" bay, and mounted the SSD in the Upper bay, because it was empty. Boots fine from SSD. Again, should not matter.
 
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Just wanted to ask, I am looking to do a raid 0 of two samsung SSDs, 250 or 256, and was wondering what you all thought would be better suited to do that with. The Samsung Pro or evo line, right now both are on sale on amazon so I was just wondering. Thanks
 
I have a 840 EVO 250gb mounted in USB3 OWC enclosure to run as boot drive for 2.5 Mini. I get 395 write and 419 read. Boots up in 25sec. Would be much better installed but I plan To use on the next Mini release.
 
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