You have a Sandforce based SSD from OWC. The Sandforce controller achieves it's high speeds in part from compressing data. The Black Magic software is testing a drive using incompressible data (it is testing your drive's capabilities in capturing video), so the write speeds will not reach the maximum that a Sandforce based drive can achieve with compressible data. See the compressible versus incompressible data rates on OWC's site here.
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SSD Buying Guide
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You have a Sandforce based SSD from OWC. The Sandforce controller achieves it's high speeds in part from compressing data. The Black Magic software is testing a drive using incompressible data (it is testing your drive's capabilities in capturing video), so the write speeds will not reach the maximum that a Sandforce based drive can achieve with compressible data. See the compressible versus incompressible data rates on OWC's site here.
So I mounted an OWC Mercury Extreme PRO 6G (120GB) into my late-2011 15" MBP, but I'm only getting 180-245 MB/s WRITE and 450-490 MB/s READ speeds. Ok, the latter seems ok (but still not 559 MB/s peak rate they claimed), but what about write speeds?? Why is it so slow??
According to OWC, both read and write speeds should be above 500 mb/s! Could it be because I'm still on 10.7 and haven't updated?
This is the Blackmagic disk speed test I performed.
According to OWC, both read and write speeds should be above 500 mb/s! Could it be because I'm still on 10.7 and haven't updated?
This is the Blackmagic disk speed test I performed.
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Even if it's not that accurate, I wouldn't believe that would be the reason for only showing 180-245 MB/s for Write speeds... I've seen some people post Blackmagic tests where both read and write speeds were slightly below 500 mb/s on Vertex 3 or was it OCZ (not sure)...
In any case, any ideas why I am not getting good write speeds??
Hellhammer maybe?
In any case, any ideas why I am not getting good write speeds??
Hellhammer maybe?
You're likely seeing people using an earlier version of the test. In 2.1 of the BlackMagic benchmark they changed the way the benchmark is performed. When you compare with others you should seek to compare using the same tests and the same version of the test.
Also, you have a 120 GB SSD which likely uses fewer NAND chips than the 480 does, thus less simultaneous reads and writes. Mine is considerably faster.
As you use different benchmarks you'll see the numbers change vastly. What you see in the ad is the peak under ideal conditions.
Also, you have a 120 GB SSD which likely uses fewer NAND chips than the 480 does, thus less simultaneous reads and writes. Mine is considerably faster.
As you use different benchmarks you'll see the numbers change vastly. What you see in the ad is the peak under ideal conditions.
Try using a different app, e.g. Xbench. 120GB can't achieve as fast writes as the bigger versions, but you should still see faster speeds.
@sfoalex: the guy posted his test results on Aug 19 this year... don't know what version of Blackmagic app was out then --- here's the thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1212504/
@Hellhammer: here's what I get in Xbench (I ticked the Disk Test only - that's all I needed, right?):
Results 456.71
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.7 (11A511)
Physical RAM 4096 MB
Model MacBookPro8,2
Drive Type OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G SSD
Disk Test 456.71
Sequential 266.26
Uncached Write 471.27 289.35 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 386.40 218.62 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 114.68 33.56 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 627.59 315.42 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 1604.12
Uncached Write 2638.20 279.28 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 860.28 275.41 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 2949.73 20.90 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 1631.04 302.65 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Could you please help me interpret these? Is this the way it should be for the 6G OWC SSD?? I see no 500s...
@Hellhammer: here's what I get in Xbench (I ticked the Disk Test only - that's all I needed, right?):
Results 456.71
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.7 (11A511)
Physical RAM 4096 MB
Model MacBookPro8,2
Drive Type OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G SSD
Disk Test 456.71
Sequential 266.26
Uncached Write 471.27 289.35 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 386.40 218.62 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 114.68 33.56 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 627.59 315.42 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 1604.12
Uncached Write 2638.20 279.28 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 860.28 275.41 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 2949.73 20.90 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 1631.04 302.65 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Could you please help me interpret these? Is this the way it should be for the 6G OWC SSD?? I see no 500s...
Mid-Spring 3.06Ghz 17 inch/internal vs. external
Hello MAC Heads. I have a question. I want to upgrade to a faster hard drive. I have 2 Esata ExpressCard/34's. One is 3Gbps and the other is 6Gbps. I was wondering if I should try the external route. am I correct to say that the fastest way is to do the 6Gbps Esata hook-up?
Thanks for a very informative thread.
PLUR!!!!
Hello MAC Heads. I have a question. I want to upgrade to a faster hard drive. I have 2 Esata ExpressCard/34's. One is 3Gbps and the other is 6Gbps. I was wondering if I should try the external route. am I correct to say that the fastest way is to do the 6Gbps Esata hook-up?
Thanks for a very informative thread.
PLUR!!!!
So I've finally set up SSD in the main HDD bay and a Hitachi 750GB 7200 rpm in Optibay.
Since I inserted my SSD into the MBP a couple of days earlier, I already installed Lion on it - now I realize that it's disk0 - yet on the previous page I saw some talk about this and you guys advised against having SSD on disk0. Could sb please elaborate on this?
I will be doing another clean install of Lion on my SSD in the next couple of days anyway - so should I use disk1 or something different than disk0 this time around??
Since I inserted my SSD into the MBP a couple of days earlier, I already installed Lion on it - now I realize that it's disk0 - yet on the previous page I saw some talk about this and you guys advised against having SSD on disk0. Could sb please elaborate on this?
I will be doing another clean install of Lion on my SSD in the next couple of days anyway - so should I use disk1 or something different than disk0 this time around??
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Express Card interface is limited to 2.5Gbit per second - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExpressCard
So it will be slower than the internal bays. So stick with doing it internally
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I've never heard or read anything about the SSD being disk 0 being a problem, and I've had hands on experience with 6 Macbooks / Macbook Pros with SSDs, so I wouldn't worry
I have the MBP in my sig and I'm thinking about a SSD for my main drive and moving the 500gb stock drive into the optibay.
Crucial M4 256gb seems like a decent buy at the moment for £315. I would like a 512gb drive, but can only afford a 256gb right now
Crucial M4 256gb seems like a decent buy at the moment for £315. I would like a 512gb drive, but can only afford a 256gb right now
While that may be true (I have not verified the accuracy of Black Magic), I suspect Jon08's issues relate more to the type of data the program uses to test speeds. Black Magic is using incompressible data to see if you can capture and read video of different quality. Since video is incompressible, the Sandforce controller can't achieve its highest speeds through compression. Hence the lower speeds. However, it does demonstrate a worst-case scenario for a drive.
Thank you everyone for this amazing thread. I'm a newwwb here and am having a difficult time deciding how to configure a dual drive setup on a new 17 mbp. There is so much information on here and inherent hardware issues to consider - someone plz kick me in the face part of my head. That being said, I know these topics have somewhat or fully been covered at one point or another but I spent most of the afternoon reading and researching yesterday, feel like my head is going to explode and just need to get it ordered and delivered already. My current 1st gen Intel duo core 17 is on its crippled last legs and I'm in the midst of an insanely busy period with work.
Plz keep in mind, I'm a graphic designer and digital artist/illustrator running cs5 photoshop, illustrator, and indesign nonstop everydayallday. I put a lot of miles on my system.
I'm planning on running a 128GB SSD for OS/applications and installing a 750-1T 7200 SATA HD in optibay. I'll be boosting ram to Crucial 16GB. Have a few questions:
1. Is the extra 2MB L3 Cache gained on the 2.5GHz worth $250 or is it fully negligible in daily design operations?
2. I've read installing a 7200 SATA drive in optibay can be a bad idea because of a lack of shock protection. I take my mbp with me everywhere I go so am I playing with fire relying on this? Also, do the late 2011 17" mbp have issues with SATA 3? (I think the early 2011s did)
3. If so, am I better off going with Apple's 750GB 7200 drive in the main bay, installing a 3rd party 128GB SSD in optibay and running OS/Apps from there... and how difficult is it to change startup/transfer to the SSD? Also, are there issues I'm going to face with sleep, energy saving, and just regular operations with OS from an SSD in optibay?
4. Optibay casing. I've read many ordering the cheaper versions off ebay etc... is there any consensus on durability and which options have the proper amount of mounts/most secure? I guess this is less an issue if SSD should be in optibay.
5. With TRIM issues etc... (which I don't fully understand) I'm looking for the least amount of (B.S.) to deal with but still want an optimal setup. Is Apple's (Samsung?/Hitachi?) SSD sub par compared with M4 or an Intel SSD or whathaveyou? I'm leaning towards Apple's simply for the price (+$100 on setup) and imagine any issues are easily treatable through applecare/support?
I'm sure I'll have more questions... tbc...
Absolutely any advice and further options would be most greatly appreciated fine people. Thanks in advance.
Plz keep in mind, I'm a graphic designer and digital artist/illustrator running cs5 photoshop, illustrator, and indesign nonstop everydayallday. I put a lot of miles on my system.
I'm planning on running a 128GB SSD for OS/applications and installing a 750-1T 7200 SATA HD in optibay. I'll be boosting ram to Crucial 16GB. Have a few questions:
1. Is the extra 2MB L3 Cache gained on the 2.5GHz worth $250 or is it fully negligible in daily design operations?
2. I've read installing a 7200 SATA drive in optibay can be a bad idea because of a lack of shock protection. I take my mbp with me everywhere I go so am I playing with fire relying on this? Also, do the late 2011 17" mbp have issues with SATA 3? (I think the early 2011s did)
3. If so, am I better off going with Apple's 750GB 7200 drive in the main bay, installing a 3rd party 128GB SSD in optibay and running OS/Apps from there... and how difficult is it to change startup/transfer to the SSD? Also, are there issues I'm going to face with sleep, energy saving, and just regular operations with OS from an SSD in optibay?
4. Optibay casing. I've read many ordering the cheaper versions off ebay etc... is there any consensus on durability and which options have the proper amount of mounts/most secure? I guess this is less an issue if SSD should be in optibay.
5. With TRIM issues etc... (which I don't fully understand) I'm looking for the least amount of (B.S.) to deal with but still want an optimal setup. Is Apple's (Samsung?/Hitachi?) SSD sub par compared with M4 or an Intel SSD or whathaveyou? I'm leaning towards Apple's simply for the price (+$100 on setup) and imagine any issues are easily treatable through applecare/support?
I'm sure I'll have more questions... tbc...
Absolutely any advice and further options would be most greatly appreciated fine people. Thanks in advance.
290MB/s write
315MB/s read
Not bad but still quite faraway from the marketed +500MB/s.
1. Not really. The $250 will be better spent on something else.
2. Shock protection isn't necessary, but recommended. I would put the HD in the HD bay and SSD in the ODD.
3. Shouldn't be any issues and running it is as easy as from the HD bay.
5. Apple's SSDs are decent. They are very reliable but not on-par with the newer drives in terms of performance. HD prices are super high now, so I would advice you to buy the HD model from Apple and upgrade to 3rd party SSD, e.g. Samsung 830.
Thanks a lot for your insight. As far as transferring the boot drive/OS/apps to the SSD, is it a straight forward procedure then simply changing system startup preference or do I need further software?
I've read a number of different ways people have done this and most threads end in arguments.
So I just pulled the trigger on a 17" 2.4GHz mbp with internal 7200 HDD thinking the late 2011 systems have dealt with the SATA3 6GBs optical drive SSD install issue THEN just came across this:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16944270?tstart=0#16944270?tstart=0
Anyone have a reputable claim that Apple has seriously dealt with this on the 17"? Anyone?
EDIT: This thread pretty much contradicts everything about the reliability of an 6GBs SSD in optibay and using it as startup disk:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1236401/
Sooooo... back to installing HDD in the optibay? (louder/shock sensitive??) This is really annoying.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16944270?tstart=0#16944270?tstart=0
Anyone have a reputable claim that Apple has seriously dealt with this on the 17"? Anyone?
EDIT: This thread pretty much contradicts everything about the reliability of an 6GBs SSD in optibay and using it as startup disk:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1236401/
Sooooo... back to installing HDD in the optibay? (louder/shock sensitive??) This is really annoying.
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Ping Hellhammer
You are recommending the Crucial M4 as first choice.
I am a bit confused and perhaps you know the answer: With Intel there is no remarks on different drives / firmware required if the platform is e.g. a Thinkpad or a Mac mini. With Patriot there is now a specific Mac SSD announced.
With Crucial I find a different model number for a PC based machine versus the Mac mini for a sames sized SSD.
Do you know if this due to the software or due to the hardware (Windows versus OS X or BIOS versus EFI)?
( I am concerned for those of us that run Windows on the Mac )
You are recommending the Crucial M4 as first choice.
I am a bit confused and perhaps you know the answer: With Intel there is no remarks on different drives / firmware required if the platform is e.g. a Thinkpad or a Mac mini. With Patriot there is now a specific Mac SSD announced.
With Crucial I find a different model number for a PC based machine versus the Mac mini for a sames sized SSD.
Do you know if this due to the software or due to the hardware (Windows versus OS X or BIOS versus EFI)?
( I am concerned for those of us that run Windows on the Mac )
I'll reply to the other posts later as I need to get my arse up and get myself to school.
The Patriot SSD appears to be just HFS+ formatted drive. It doesn't have a Mac updater or TRIM support, it's just another SF-2281 based SSD. These "Mac" drives are a pretty common way of generating a few dollars more profit per item.
Crucial seems to have a different model number for every product. Check RAM and it's different if you choose iMac and MBP, even though they use the same RAM. I think it's still 100% the same, the SKU is just different for logistic reasons.
The Patriot SSD appears to be just HFS+ formatted drive. It doesn't have a Mac updater or TRIM support, it's just another SF-2281 based SSD. These "Mac" drives are a pretty common way of generating a few dollars more profit per item.
Crucial seems to have a different model number for every product. Check RAM and it's different if you choose iMac and MBP, even though they use the same RAM. I think it's still 100% the same, the SKU is just different for logistic reasons.
How full is your SSD? The fuller it is, the worse the write performance. Also, have you checked that your SSD shows up as SATA 6Gb/s device?
System Preferences have a setting called "Startup Disk".
The problem is that there is so much data out there. ALL configurations have had some sort of issues. I think your best bet is to try the SSD in the Optibay and simply switch their place if that doesn't work.
Samsung.
There's basically nothing but Lion on it. Under Serial-ATA it says 6 Gigabit for both Link Speed & Negotiated Link Speed - I guess that's it, right?
Here is a screenshot of a little test I ran in a different software though (the speeds look pretty good here??:
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