SSD Buying Guide

[mojolicious]

DISCLOSURE: I may not have read the preceding 2650 posts.

2010 unibody Macbook, 3GBps.

Is there any benefit to buying a SATA II SSD rather than a SATA III?

Did I read somewhere, some time, about some SATA III in some Mac with a SATA II bus only functioning at 1.5GBps, or something?

 

[jalyst]

It's mainly an issue with Macs that use a certain SATA II controller (can't recall what it's called -I have it in one of my late 09' Mac Mini's), & that controller's fine with some make/model SSD's, it's usually more of an issue with Sandforce-based SSD's IIRC.

Do some research (not just here; rather some Googling) on your hw, you'll find out quickly if you're in the clear or not.

 

[mojolicious]

Do some research

Sage advice

Have established that:

* SATA IIs are getting scarce, and hence are no cheaper than SATA IIIs

* Samsung isn't Sandforce

* the empty 840 Evo box sitting on the desk RIGHT UNDER MY NOSE, which I just picked up to check the part number, has SATA 6Gb/s compatible with 3Gb/s written on the side of the box.

So another 250GB 840 Evo it is, then.

 

[jalyst]

See, that wasn't so hard...
If you want uber perf. above all else Samsung Evo isn't it (nor is the other Samsung iterations).*
But bang/$ it's at the top, as is Micron/Crucial's M500, & to a lesser extent (for now) M550.

*but you prolly don't want/need that if the disk won't ever be used in a newer machine/env

 

[mojolicious]

but you prolly don't want/need that if the disk won't ever be used in a newer machine/env

Nah, I value reliability/familiarity over shaving a second off my boot time, or winning at benchmark tests. When I'm done finally with the MacBook I'm sure the SSD can find a home in an enclosure, while my Mac Mini Pro (the 'Early 2018' revision) will have an 8TB SATA V SSD running at 48Gb/s.

 

[jalyst]

At least one of the current perf. leaders is tier-1, there's absolute reliability/familiarity*, but, your logic sounds fine for your circumstances.

*not the blazing hot stardom/fandom Samsung enjoys, but tier-1 NAND OEM/ODM nonetheless

 

[mojolicious]

tier-1 NAND OEM/ODM

This all sounds a bit Ars Technica to me!

What qualifies an SSD as 'Tier 1'? It can't be much more than the warranty length and faith placed upon it by the manufacturer, surely?

I must admit it was MacRumors that pointed me in the direction of the 840 Evo, but I've read very few bad things about it elsewhere.

 

[jalyst]

Micron/Crucial, Samsung, Sandisk, Intel.

Are the four tier-1 NAND fabs, they are (more-or-less) the source of all NAND tech for all the other brands.

 

[mojolicious]

Ah, by 'Tier 1' I thought – with the aid of Google – you meant 'suitable for use in mission-critical applications'.

That's what happens when I 'do some research', see?

 

[petey2133]

installed 16 gigs of crucial 1600mhz DDR3 ram
installed 1 TB Samsung evo 840 SSD
installed fresh copy of Mavericks

Other info.

2 GHZ i7 15" mbpro early 2011


Here is what I came up with, how does this compare to others?


PS I dont think it was finished, but didnt have all day..

 

[bigpoppamac31]

So I went ahead and splurged on a Samsung EVO 840 750GB SSD for my early 2011 MBP. It was $399 on Amazon.com. I'll be upgrading from my 500GB 7200rpm HDD. Will there be a noticeable difference in speed and performance?

 

[ecschwarz]

So I went ahead and splurged on a Samsung EVO 840 750GB SSD for my early 2011 MBP. It was $399 on Amazon.com. I'll be upgrading from my 500GB 7200rpm HDD. Will there be a noticeable difference in speed and performance?

Yes - although the 7200rpm drives are speedy, the SSD will be even faster. If I remember correctly, at least with the Samsung drives, the higher the capacity, the higher the read/write speeds - it's not much, but I think the 500/750GB drives are a tad faster than the 250GB one. Still, it should be a nice addition to your computer!

 

[Muscleflex]

have just come in here after ordering a crucial m500 250gb because apparently a samsung 840 evo 240gb have had problems in the past in a macbook pro.. is this correct or was i misinformed? The samsung is £99 currently in the UK and the Crucial is £82

would i have been better off with the samsung?

 

[ecschwarz]

have just come in here after ordering a crucial m500 250gb because apparently a samsung 840 evo 240gb have had problems in the past in a macbook pro.. is this correct or was i misinformed? The samsung is £99 currently in the UK and the Crucial is £82

would i have been better off with the samsung?

I know both are used quite a bit on here - lots of 840 Evos in use and seem to be holding up well (I know one poster had his fail and was going to let us know about the warranty process), but I've also heard about Crucial models fail here and there - it's still a really small percentage of all sold and both are popular and arguably solid choices.

 

[bigpoppamac31]

I know both are used quite a bit on here - lots of 840 Evos in use and seem to be holding up well (I know one poster had his fail and was going to let us know about the warranty process), but I've also heard about Crucial models fail here and there - it's still a really small percentage of all sold and both are popular and arguably solid choices.

I really hope the one I just ordered does not fail on me. I don't have that kind of money to throw around. if it does I'll just go back to an HDD. But I've heard overall great reviews for the Samsung EVO so I'm trusting those to be reliable.

 

[ecschwarz]

I really hope the one I just ordered does not fail on me. I don't have that kind of money to throw around. if it does I'll just go back to an HDD. But I've heard overall great reviews for the Samsung EVO so I'm trusting those to be reliable.

The failure rates are lower than hard drives overall, but that's why most manufacturers also provide 3-5 year warranties on drives. When SSDs fail, it often tends to be sudden and without warning (often controller failure), as opposed to hard drives that can slow down due to bad sectors or other mechanical wear issues.

The big lesson is just to back up regularly, regardless of medium.

(I've got an 840 Evo and have been using it for about 5 months so far, and also have a friend who has an older 840 going strong, and have put plenty of 840 Pros installed on machines at work with no issues so far. Anecdotally, you should be fine... )

 

[jalyst]

I really hope the one I just ordered does not fail on me. I don't have that kind of money to throw around. if it does I'll just go back to an HDD. But I've heard overall great reviews for the Samsung EVO so I'm trusting those to be reliable.

The rated fail time for the M500 (& several others) is better, so if anything it's more likely to last longer, but generally both will last easily till your next upgrade.
The issues around the NAND type used by the Evo are no longer as major as they were once considered to be, you'll likely upgrade long before it starts to play-up.

 

[Muscleflex]

Clean install on an SSD?

Hi,
Too many pages and search didn't give me what I'm looking for:

I am awaiting my Crucial 240gb SSD this week. Hopefully it will come on the 23rd.
This is my first macbook pro. I have the mid 2012 13" i5 model bought in Dec 2013
Anyhow, I only really use the macbook for browsing so when I get the SSD, I would like to do a clean fresh install on it.

How do I copy the Recovery Drive Partition of my 500gb hard drive to transfer to the SSD?
Every search I have done points me to using carbon cloner or something to clone my whole drive for transferring to the SSD.
I don't want to copy anything BUT the recovery partition.
Thank you

 

[petey2133]

Hi,
Too many pages and search didn't give me what I'm looking for:

I am awaiting my Crucial 240gb SSD this week. Hopefully it will come on the 23rd.
This is my first macbook pro. I have the mid 2012 13" i5 model bought in Dec 2013
Anyhow, I only really use the macbook for browsing so when I get the SSD, I would like to do a clean fresh install on it.

How do I copy the Recovery Drive Partition of my 500gb hard drive to transfer to the SSD?
Every search I have done points me to using carbon cloner or something to clone my whole drive for transferring to the SSD.
I don't want to copy anything BUT the recovery partition.
Thank you

All I did was download on to my desktop a copy of mavericks (5.3 GB in size). Then I unplugged old HD put the SSD in. Then plugged my sata cable into old HD and plugged it in my usb port. Turned on while holding the option button and selected the recovery on my old HD. Connected to the web and installed it all.

About 30 minutes later I had a new computer basically. Fresh SSD and fresh install of OSX

 

[Muscleflex]

All I did was download on to my desktop a copy of mavericks (5.3 GB in size). Then I unplugged old HD put the SSD in. Then plugged my sata cable into old HD and plugged it in my usb port. Turned on while holding the option button and selected the recovery on my old HD. Connected to the web and installed it all.

About 30 minutes later I had a new computer basically. Fresh SSD and fresh install of OSX

Hi Petey - thank you. Sorry I'm mainly a Windows person (I did work as a mac support consultant but that was years ago and have not used a mac since so I have forgotten everything)

So is the Recovery Partition just basically a single image of Lion or whatever my laptop came with? Nothing else?
And where can I download a single standalone full copy of Maverics?
What about iworks or whatever that contains iphoto and pages and stuff?

 

[davidlv]

Hi,
Too many pages and search didn't give me what I'm looking for:
I am awaiting my Crucial 240gb SSD this week. Hopefully it will come on the 23rd.
This is my first macbook pro. I have the mid 2012 13" i5 model bought in Dec 2013 Anyhow, I only really use the macbook for browsing so when I get the SSD, I would like to do a clean fresh install on it.
How do I copy the Recovery Drive Partition of my 500gb hard drive to transfer to the SSD? Every search I have done points me to using carbon cloner or something to clone my whole drive for transferring to the SSD.
I don't want to copy anything BUT the recovery partition.
Thank you

Carbon Copy Cloner (http://www.bombich.com/) can do that. Install CCC (free trial for 30 days) then; Get a cheap USB enclosure, install your new drive in the MacBook, install the old drive in the USB enclosure (other way around will work too). Boot up holding down the option key, select the old drive, initialize the new SSD using Disk Utility (Applications/Utilities folder) and then start up CCC. Select the Disk Center utility from the pull down "Window" menu and use that to clone your recovery partition to the new drive. Reboot - again hold down the Option key - select the new recovery partition, and use that to install the OS.
There are other ways to do this, but this should work as long as you have web access.

 

[edtorious]

Upgrades

Hello all, i'm thinking of buying a new 15 in MBP with Retina. Should I get the upgrades from Apple stocks? Processor, Storage and Memories? or should I just upgrade later and get it from third parties for the upgrades? I'm just a low end user but I don't mind having the bells and whistles. Please advise. Thanks.

 

[ecschwarz]

Hello all, i'm thinking of buying a new 15 in MBP with Retina. Should I get the upgrades from Apple stocks? Processor, Storage and Memories? or should I just upgrade later and get it from third parties for the upgrades? I'm just a low end user but I don't mind having the bells and whistles. Please advise. Thanks.

As is the case with most laptops, the processor is not upgradeable, so it really depends on how long you want to keep your computer and what you plan on using it with. I'm using an almost 3-year-old 2.5GHz i5 iMac at work and it's plenty fast for everything I do (virtual machines, some web/media content), but my personal machine is a 2.9GHz i7 (mid-2012 MBP) and I think I went a bit overkill on that (it certainly is faster than the iMac for some tasks, but I can probably survive waiting an extra second or two).

For memory, you're also stuck with whatever you get originally on the Retina MacBook Pros and the MacBook Airs. Apple's prices aren't bad, and it's really up to you if you want to spend the money to get the 16GB version. Whenever we do a built-to-order one for work, we usually opt for 8GB so there's a bit of "breathing room".

As far as storage, that is a replaceable component, but not necessarily as easy as replacing a 2.5" hard drive or a 2.5" SSD. In that case, buy what you can afford, but this is one area you can skimp early on.

 

[petey2133]

Hi Petey - thank you. Sorry I'm mainly a Windows person (I did work as a mac support consultant but that was years ago and have not used a mac since so I have forgotten everything)

So is the Recovery Partition just basically a single image of Lion or whatever my laptop came with? Nothing else?
And where can I download a single standalone full copy of Maverics?
What about iworks or whatever that contains iphoto and pages and stuff?

If you click the app store application it opens up where you download all the apps from apple on your computer. Mavericks when selected will allow you to re download it if it Is already installed on your computer. Will ask you if your sure you want to download again. Say yes. Once its on your hard drive the HD itself I guess would be considered a bootable HD because its on there and the downloaded copy is recognized as a recovery.

When I selected the recovery option it asked me to connect to the internet at which it downloaded some files as well as install them over the course of 30 minutes.


I hate technical issues like this but managed to watch enough you tube videos to feel confident to do it


Best of luck!

----------

Hi Petey - thank you. Sorry I'm mainly a Windows person (I did work as a mac support consultant but that was years ago and have not used a mac since so I have forgotten everything)

So is the Recovery Partition just basically a single image of Lion or whatever my laptop came with? Nothing else?
And where can I download a single standalone full copy of Maverics?
What about iworks or whatever that contains iphoto and pages and stuff?

I never used iworks or iphoto though it seems to come over with the fresh install (iphoto did 4 sure)

As for your first question yes. But I never did it for ML only mavericks and I believe there are different methods for oldwr versions

 

[Muscleflex]

Thanks for the tips.
I also found out last night that if I ever decide to do another clean install, it will always install Mountain lion first then I'll have to download Mavericks from the App Store. I think I found a guide online on how to install Mavericks fresh and not as an update.. I will give that a go and will report back but I'm sure you all know how to do it.