SORRY! Another Samsung 830 Help Thread

[BAYsic]

Hello,

I have recently purchased a 256gb Samsung 830. I am getting ready to install it soon, but wanted to ask a few questions here first. There is a ton of information out there and I have been able to solve most of my questions, but have a few outstanding ones that I couldn't get answered by my own research or post on the main Samsung 830 Thread.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

I have a 5,5 mid-2009, 13 inch Macbook Pro. The model identifier is MB991LL/A. I am currently running Snow Leopard 10.6.8.

TRIM

I would like to understand exactly what to do about TRIM and garbage disposal. Some say that I do not need to enable the TRIM because Samsung drives have their own software to handle this. Others say I must definitely enable TRIM to get the most out of my drive. Could somebody please clear this up for me and tell me what the general consensus is? If I should enable TRIM what is the best way to do this (there seems to be several different options).

SATA Issues

My system profiler shows that my SATA driver is an nVidia MCP79 AHCI (SATA II). However, my stock HDD has a negotiated link speed at SATA I rates. Here is the info from my system profiler:

NVidia MCP79 AHCI:

Vendor: NVidia
Product: MCP79 AHCI
Link Speed: 3 Gigabit
Negotiated Link Speed: 1.5 Gigabit
Description: AHCI Version 1.20 Supported​

I am running EFI Firmware 1.7 (Boot ROM Version: MBP55.00AC.B03). My understanding is that this firmware should have increased the negotiated link speed to 3gb/s. Why am I still at SATA I speeds?

When I install the Samsung 830, will I see the negotiated link speed increase to 3 gb/s or will it remain at 1.5 gb/s? What do I need to do to increase it to 3 gb/s?

I apologize for all of the questions and appreciate your help.

Thanks!

 

[w00t951]

Enable trim with Groth's TRIM Enabler. It can't hurt. But, it's recommended - while Samsung and most other SSD manufacturers include some sort of garbage collection with their SSD, TRIM allows the OS to manually initiate garbage collection upon the deletion of large blocks of files.

Negotiated means that the devices on both ends of the link have "agreed" that 1.5Gbps is as high as the speed needs to go. It has the capacity of going to 3 Gbps. I hope you're using your SSD with your 6Gbps SATA connection, not your 3Gbps.

 

[BAYsic]

Negotiated means that the devices on both ends of the link have "agreed" that 1.5Gbps is as high as the speed needs to go. It has the capacity of going to 3 Gbps. I hope you're using your SSD with your 6Gbps SATA connection, not your 3Gbps.

Unfortunately, the mid-2009 only has a SATA II bus, so I will be using a 3Gbps connection. When I finally get a new macbook pro down the road, ill be able to install the 830 in it and unleash the 6Gbps speeds. For now, this will have to do.

My question remains, will the SSD have a 3Gbps negotiated link speed or 1.5Gbps? I have read that the mid-2009 Macbook Pros force SATA III drives to connect at SATA I (instead of SATA II) speeds.

 

[BAYsic]

Does anyone have any insights on the SATA speed issue?

 

[alphaod]

Does anyone have any insights on the SATA speed issue?

Yeah, I think you need to get a SATA II [3Gbps] SSD if you want SATA II speeds. Otherwise a 2009 MacBook Pro with a SATA III [6Gbps] SSD will negotiate with SATA I [1.5Gbps] speeds.

(There is a whole thread on this, but I can't seem to find it)

 

[BAYsic]

Yeah, I think you need to get a SATA II [3Gbps] SSD if you want SATA II speeds. Otherwise a 2009 MacBook Pro with a SATA III [6Gbps] SSD will negotiate with SATA I [1.5Gbps] speeds.

(There is a whole thread on this, but I can't seem to find it)

I thought the EFI 1.7 firmware update Apple released was supposed to fix this? See http://support.apple.com/downloads/MacBook_Pro_EFI_Firmware_Update_1_7_

I will try to find the thread you mention as well, please let me know if you are able to track it down.

 

[zepman]

The Samsung 830 will work fine in you Macbook Pro. It will get SATA II speeds.
SATA III SSDs are backwards compatible with SATA II.

 

[BAYsic]

One other question:

If I need to update the firmware (it's not clear exactly when this drive was shipped out from Samsung) is it best to do it before I do a clean install of Snow Leopard? I have already made the bootable firmware DVD from the Samsung website, and am wondering whether I should get the firmware on the drive before installing the OS (or if that is even possible).

Thanks.

 

[w00t951]

One other question:

If I need to update the firmware (it's not clear exactly when this drive was shipped out from Samsung) is it best to do it before I do a clean install of Snow Leopard? I have already made the bootable firmware DVD from the Samsung website, and am wondering whether I should get the firmware on the drive before installing the OS (or if that is even possible).

Thanks.

Firmware updates are tricky. The latest one doesn't introduce new stability or performance updates, so it's not necessary. I haven't.

 

[BAYsic]

Installed it and everything went fine. Already had the latest firmware on the drive, so that wasn't an issue. It links up at the SATA II 3G speed and trim enabler was downloaded and TRIM activated.

This thing is BLAZING fast. Don't think I can ever go back to a conventional hard drive.