I am planning on putting an SSD into my 2010 MBP when lion comes out and installing a fresh copy. I have looked around a little bit but haven't found a whole lot on best practices with an SSD. What is the best way to care for an SSD to ensure maximum speed and longevity?
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SSD Best Practices
- Thread starter insomniac321123
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To be honest, there isn't much you need to do to keep your SSD in good shape. As long as you don't physically abuse it, it should last for years (unless it fails due to a manufacturer hardware/software issue). Here's some basic info on TRIM and trash collection, though:
Currently, Mac OS X does not support native TRIM on 3rd party SSDs. There is something called "TRIM Enabler" that enables TRIM on 3rd party SSDs, but it has been known to hurt drive performance. However, most recent SSDs have garbage collection. This means that all (or most) deleted files will be wiped from the drive, instead of marked as deleted and left there. Either way, your SSD's performance shouldn't degrade over time.
What's most important is buying a SSD that has a good track record and is known to be compatible with MacBook Pros. I bough an OWC Mercury Extreme Pro and I couldn't be happier. It hasn't had any compatibility issues and, from what I know, supports advanced trash collection.
Currently, Mac OS X does not support native TRIM on 3rd party SSDs. There is something called "TRIM Enabler" that enables TRIM on 3rd party SSDs, but it has been known to hurt drive performance. However, most recent SSDs have garbage collection. This means that all (or most) deleted files will be wiped from the drive, instead of marked as deleted and left there. Either way, your SSD's performance shouldn't degrade over time.
What's most important is buying a SSD that has a good track record and is known to be compatible with MacBook Pros. I bough an OWC Mercury Extreme Pro and I couldn't be happier. It hasn't had any compatibility issues and, from what I know, supports advanced trash collection.
Further down the road, if I need to reformat the drive for what ever reason, should I zero the drive, or not?
To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. I briefly Googled it and it would seem that the answer is yes. From what I understand, zeroing will restore your drive to it's original, factory speed. I haven't had my SSD long enough to know. I'm sure someone else does, though.
No need to zero it unless you were experiencing performance degradation.
Zeroing the drive will cause wear. On most drives it's not necessary.
Depends whether Lion will support TRIM for all drives or not.
If not you're best of with buying the Kingston V+ 100. It keeps it performance without you doing anything for it.
