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Samsung 840 ssd with macbook pro 2008 does not give the best performance

S

sppl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 9, 2012
8
0
I have a unibody macbook pro (late 2008) with snow leopard. I replaced my mechanical hard drive with samsung 840 series ssd. I noticed significant speed improvements. I checked the read and write speeds using "Blackmagic Disk speed test" app. I was surprised to find that the actual read/write speeds were less than half as expected.

Maximum write speed = 130 MB/s
Maximum read speed = 250 MB/s.

I also enabled trim using trim enabler app. But I still see the same speeds. Am I missing any optimization/step? Any thoughts are appreciated!
 
aixporter said:
Is your mac a SATA2 or SATA3? That'll make a big difference in output speed.
Click to expand...

How do I find this?

This is what I see in About my mac:

NVidia MCP79 AHCI:

Vendor: NVidia
Product: MCP79 AHCI
Link Speed: 3 Gigabit
Negotiated Link Speed: 3 Gigabit
Description: AHCI Version 1.20 Supported

Samsung SSD 840 Series:

Capacity: 120.03 GB (120,034,123,776 bytes)
Model: Samsung SSD 840 Series
Revision: DXT06B0Q
Serial Number: S14CNEACA76769D
Native Command Queuing: Yes
Queue Depth: 32
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk0
Medium Type: Solid State
TRIM Support: Yes
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified
Volumes:
Capacity: 209.7 MB (209,715,200 bytes)
Writable: Yes
BSD Name: disk0s1
Samsung ssd:
Capacity: 119.69 GB (119,690,149,888 bytes)
Available: 80.84 GB (80,839,266,304 bytes)
Writable: Yes
File System: HFS+
BSD Name: disk0s2
Mount Point: /
 
Ding Ding Ding..

sppl said:
I have a unibody macbook pro (late 2008) with snow leopard. I replaced my mechanical hard drive with samsung 840 series ssd. I noticed significant speed improvements. I checked the read and write speeds using "Blackmagic Disk speed test" app. I was surprised to find that the actual read/write speeds were less than half as expected.

Maximum write speed = 130 MB/s
Maximum read speed = 250 MB/s.

I also enabled trim using trim enabler app. But I still see the same speeds. Am I missing any optimization/step? Any thoughts are appreciated!
Click to expand...

Well, first things first.. I have No idea what you 'expected' but since a 2008 MBP is quite likely a Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s bus in that era (as opposed to the newer 3Gb and now 6Gb) I think you have reached its potential.. THe Biggest and Newest SSD will NOT make 'the old car' go any Faster!!

Take a look here and find your specific model and specs.. I doubt you can expect MORE than where you are at though!! :apple:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/index-macbookpro.html
 
Your Macbook only supports SATA 3 Gb/s, which has a maximum of 250 MB/s, so your read performance is fine, also the 130 MB/s for writing is ok, that is the maximum you get from the 120 GB 840 drive.
 
Just for comparison, 2009 MBP 13" with M4 512GB Write:205; Read: 267.

I think yours is normal because 128GB of Samsung 840 write at 130MB/s, the 256GB and 512GB would be higher.
 

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@gianlucadr...I did enable trim. Didn't notice any difference in speed. Not sure if I need to enable or not.

----------

@Blue604, @paul-n, @BlazednSleepy & @aixporter

Thanks for your replies.
 
It's SATA2!!! It is stated clearly in post #3 (Link Speed: 3 Gigabit).

On another note, you have 120GB model, the 250 and 500GB models are a bit faster. You might be able to get something like 250/160-170 MB/s read/write speeds with 250GB Samsung 840. It won't make any difference for you in day-to-day use.

I don't think you can make it any faster. Don't worry about it, just use what you got and be happy that it is still miles better than a HDD;)

PS: And yes, enable TRIM, it'll help over time.

----------
DarwinOSX said:
Some 840s have had issues so make sure you have the latest firmware.

http://www.anandtech.com/tag/samsung-ssd-840
Click to expand...

These were pre-production units, they don't sell them to public;)

The only way you can end up with such unit is if one was send to you by Samsung to review, or you buy it used from a reviewer on eBay, lol...
 
@richnyc. I didn't know 3Gb meant SATA2 earlier which is why I posted the question :). I am now aware of that.

I am not returning this back and have decided to keep it since its much faster than my old HDD. Thanks for the advice about TRIM. I will keep it ON.
 
sppl said:
@richnyc. I didn't know 3Gb meant SATA2 earlier which is why I posted the question :). I am now aware of that.

I am not returning this back and have decided to keep it since its much faster than my old HDD. Thanks for the advice about TRIM. I will keep it ON.
Click to expand...

Congrats;) AFAIK, if you keep TRIM on for your SSD, it won't slow down over time, even if only marginally.

Now, I don't ever see myself getting used to HDDs inside laptops... lol
 
Very low SSD speeds

sppl said:
I have a unibody macbook pro (late 2008) with snow leopard. I replaced my mechanical hard drive with samsung 840 series ssd. I noticed significant speed improvements. I checked the read and write speeds using "Blackmagic Disk speed test" app. I was surprised to find that the actual read/write speeds were less than half as expected.

Maximum write speed = 130 MB/s
Maximum read speed = 250 MB/s.

I also enabled trim using trim enabler app. But I still see the same speeds. Am I missing any optimization/step? Any thoughts are appreciated!
Click to expand...


Hi,

I have changed also a 120GB SSD to my MacBookPro5,1 and it is running very low compared to your speeds testing with BlackMagic Disk Speedtest:

WRITE = 66 MB/s
READ = 70MB/s

This SSD is taken from another newer MacBookPro that I upgraded for a bigger SSD. This means that the 120GB SSD that I now have on my MacBookPro5,1 is Apple originated. Here are the specs (About this mac > More info > Serial-ATA):

Vendor: NVidia
Product: MCP79 AHCI
Link Speed: 3 Gigabit
Negotiated Link Speed: 3 Gigabit
Description: AHCI Version 1.20 Supported

APPLE SSD TS128C:

Capacity: 121,33 GB (121*332*826*112 bytes)
Model: APPLE SSD TS128C
Revision: CJAA0201
Serial Number: 42EB50MAK6KK
Native Command Queuing: No
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk0
Medium Type: Solid State
TRIM Support: Yes
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified
Volumes:
Capacity: 209,7 MB (209*715*200 bytes)
Writable: Yes
BSD Name: disk0s1
Macintosh HD:
Capacity: 120,99 GB (120*988*852*224 bytes)
Available: 6,49 GB (6*490*742*784 bytes)
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk0s2
Mount Point: /
​

What could be the reason for it running so low? It seems the trim is also enabled?
 
jsssi said:
Macintosh HD:
Capacity: 120,99 GB (120*988*852*224 bytes)
Available: 6,49 GB (6*490*742*784 bytes)
Click to expand...

Could be the read/write tests are not "optimised" as there is very little free space on the disk.

Depending on the options on the BlackMagic Speed Test, it will write a 5GB file to the disk and read from it.
 
sppl said:
I have a unibody macbook pro (late 2008) with snow leopard. I replaced my mechanical hard drive with samsung 840 series ssd. I noticed significant speed improvements. I checked the read and write speeds using "Blackmagic Disk speed test" app. I was surprised to find that the actual read/write speeds were less than half as expected.

Maximum write speed = 130 MB/s
Maximum read speed = 250 MB/s.

I also enabled trim using trim enabler app. But I still see the same speeds. Am I missing any optimization/step? Any thoughts are appreciated!
Click to expand...

The speeds are perfectly normal, because the SSD is already saturating the SATA2 connection in your MBP. Your MBP can only support 3Gbps, so 250MB/s is perfectly normal.
 
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