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SSD Buying Guide

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Hey, well I've just decided to get an SSD but didn't realize it was so confusing. Have been reading for a couple hours and due to price (intel is out) and availability in Canada (samsung SSDs, surprisingly, are entirely unavailable here), I'm debating getting a Crucial M4 128GB. I hear the BSOD patch is out and otherwise from what I've been reading it should be reliable.

Any thoughts on this and whether it's a good choice? Use includes light graphic work, lots of non-graphical applications and the desire for a snappier overall computer (MBP mid-2009). Currently running a WD10JPVT Blue 1TB hard drive and plan to shove the SSD into an optibay adapter.
 
FuNGi said:
I'm trying to decide between a 64GB Samsung SSD as well (for OS and apps). A 470 retails for $115 and the 830 can be found for $110 = Price is a non-issue.

Hellhammer, why recommend the 470 given the 830 has higher read speeds than the 470 (520/160 MBs vs. 250/170 read/write, respectively)? Or will this be an unnoticeably slower read time and the 470 is more reliable than the 830?
Click to expand...

470 has been out for a longer time so hence it's more reliable. 830 is still fairly new, although it hasn't had any issues either. Pretty much what KPOM said, if you don't have SATA 6Gb/s, you won't be benefitting from 830.

EvryDayImShufln said:
Hey, well I've just decided to get an SSD but didn't realize it was so confusing. Have been reading for a couple hours and due to price (intel is out) and availability in Canada (samsung SSDs, surprisingly, are entirely unavailable here), I'm debating getting a Crucial M4 128GB. I hear the BSOD patch is out and otherwise from what I've been reading it should be reliable.

Any thoughts on this and whether it's a good choice? Use includes light graphic work, lots of non-graphical applications and the desire for a snappier overall computer (MBP mid-2009). Currently running a WD10JPVT Blue 1TB hard drive and plan to shove the SSD into an optibay adapter.
Click to expand...

Crucial M4 is a good choice and among the ones I've been recommending for months :)
 
Macbook Pro won't awake from sleep after installing SSD

I just installed a crucial m4 64 gb ssd in my mid 2010 macbook pro(15 inch, i7 2.66) and also upgraded my osx from sl to lion. I've put my ssd in an enclosure in the superdrive's place and left my 7200 rpm hdd in it's own spot(because of SATA II and shock). I've put my music, movies, pictures, documents and downloads folders on my hdd and synclinked them to my ssd.

Everything is working great, i've only one problem. That's whenever it will go to sleep(close the lid or select sleep) it won't wake up again and i have to shut it down by holding the power button. The m4 has the 0009 firmware and i didn't upgrade it yet to 0309 because i think it will only fix the bug with the 5000 hours.

I've searched the forums, but couldn't find anything sattisifying so maybe there is somebody who knows the answer?
 
I just installed a Samsung 830 256GB SSD in my MBP. One thing I noticed is that after I installed 172GB of data, and having 240GB available post-OS X install, I suddenly only have about 19GB available, so there is an extra 30GB in there that I need to get rid of.

I remember seeing something about a Time Machine image that needs to be deleted, but can't find it in this thread, anyone know where I can find it? :rolleyes:
 
ubercool said:
I just installed a Samsung 830 256GB SSD in my MBP. One thing I noticed is that after I installed 172GB of data, and having 240GB available post-OS X install, I suddenly only have about 19GB available, so there is an extra 30GB in there that I need to get rid of.

I remember seeing something about a Time Machine image that needs to be deleted, but can't find it in this thread, anyone know where I can find it? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

http://osxdaily.com/2011/09/28/disable-time-machine-local-backups-in-mac-os-x-lion/
 
fenderbender11 said:
I just installed a crucial m4 64 gb ssd in my mid 2010 macbook pro(15 inch, i7 2.66) and also upgraded my osx from sl to lion. I've put my ssd in an enclosure in the superdrive's place and left my 7200 rpm hdd in it's own spot(because of SATA II and shock). I've put my music, movies, pictures, documents and downloads folders on my hdd and synclinked them to my ssd.

Everything is working great, i've only one problem. That's whenever it will go to sleep(close the lid or select sleep) it won't wake up again and i have to shut it down by holding the power button. The m4 has the 0009 firmware and i didn't upgrade it yet to 0309 because i think it will only fix the bug with the 5000 hours.

I've searched the forums, but couldn't find anything sattisifying so maybe there is somebody who knows the answer?
Click to expand...

Well i tried a few times to get my macbook pro out of sleep mode and came to the conclusion that it can wake up, but it has problems going to sleep. It takes about 50 seconds for my macbook pro to go to sleep(when the little led light on the front of it goes on and off). In these 50 seconds i can't do anything, the screen is black and it looks like it's in sleep mode, but the little led light on the front stays on. When it this light will go off (and after that on again, and so ... ) i'm able to wake it up instantly.

Is this a know problem with ssd's? Or is there a solution?
 
the Intel 510 120Gb in my late 2011 15" MBP (i7 2.2) is a killer :D

just got it today

clean install of Lion
deleted the recovery partition to get back some free space
trim enabler installed
monolingual launched
and permission repaired

reboot... 8 sec :p


just amazing, 0 issue at all
 
mikepro said:
Anyone try or see any reports of the Plextor M3 in a Macbook pro? Specs look pretty good, and seems to have same controller as Crucial M4? Price with promo is about $40 less than M4. Wondering if there are compatibility issues, firmware update issues etc, and hard to find details specific to Mac. Anyone?


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820249015
Click to expand...

I just purchased that drive, Plextor 256GB M3. I have an early 2011 Macbook Pro 13. According to my system profile it does support SATA3 on the primary hard drive.

Now for some bad news, I spent the whole day trying to get it to work. Updated the firmware first thing (had to use a PC to do it). But it freezes and crashes over and over when used as the primary drive.

However I did swap out my optical drive, which only has a SATA 2 bus, and it works fine there.

I am sort of bummed about it, but I will keep it anyways. I have an Intel 320 for my primary drive which is SATA 2. Not quite as fast as the Plextor but it has never given me a problem.

Hope that helps.

s5cqL.png
 
OK, thanks for the feedback! Since I have a 2010, the SATA2 would be fine with me. Sucks that you are having so many issues. Also, don't like that you had to use a PC to update the firmware. Might be worth paying the extra $40 or so to get the M4 and make life a little simpler. Now, how to convince the wife that any SSD is needed.... :confused:

w00d said:
I just purchased that drive, Plextor 256GB M3. I have an early 2011 Macbook Pro 13. According to my system profile it does support SATA3 on the primary hard drive.

Now for some bad news, I spent the whole day trying to get it to work. Updated the firmware first thing (had to use a PC to do it). But it freezes and crashes over and over when used as the primary drive.

However I did swap out my optical drive, which only has a SATA 2 bus, and it works fine there.

I am sort of bummed about it, but I will keep it anyways. I have an Intel 320 for my primary drive which is SATA 2. Not quite as fast as the Plextor but it has never given me a problem.

Hope that helps.

Image
Click to expand...
 
Just wanted to say that I picked up a 256GB Corsair Performance Pro on the Newegg deal a couple weeks ago ($330 after rebate). Last week I dropped it in my MBP (early '11) 15" and this thing screams. It feels even faster than my desktop with 160GB Intel X-25MG2 (I realize this is an older drive and SATA2, but the rest of my desktop is FAR beyond the MBP) system drive. It also feels faster than my previous MBA 13" with built in SSD.

Zero compatibility problems so far. If anyone is considering this drive, don't hesitate.
 
Hellhammer said:
http://osxdaily.com/2011/09/28/disable-time-machine-local-backups-in-mac-os-x-lion/
Click to expand...

That wasn't the problem. I tracked the real culprit down, the .DocumentRevisions-V100 directory. I ran this command in Terminal:

sudo du -sck /.*

I saw this line:

44343760 /.DocumentRevisions-V100

So, that's 44GB of past revisions of documents, a nice new "feature" of Lion. I haven't decided to delete the directory yet, but will probably do that soon. Here are more details:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3195261?start=345&tstart=0

:rolleyes:
 
I've had a few various SSD's now in a few various machines. Currently I have 3: Intel X-25M G2, Crucial C300 and Corsair Force GT. The first two are 128GB, the latter is a 60GB. In order of preference:

Crucial C300 128GB - Late 2011 MBP 15/2.4 I was hesitant about this combo, as it required moving the C300 from the PC laptop it was replacing. However in said PC for the last 6 months I've been nothing but pleased with the drive and it's brutally fast. Of the SSD's I've owned it's the second fastest, which is akin to saying it only has 500hp, not 550.

In the PC it was generally reliable, with some odd problems getting it to boot after a power loss. Granted I've had it in the MBP all of 48 hours, but all I can say is WOW. I have no complaints, and I'm pretty particular (this is my second MBP in 24 hours, I returned a 2.5 AntiGlare because my eyes seemingly can't take the high res anymore). Shows a 6GB/s link speed and TRIM enabler got that part straightened away quickly as well.

Intel X-25M G2: This is the drive that started my SSD mania just over a year ago, and it changed my white MacBook. It's also been rock-solid reliable over that time, nary an issue at all with the drive. If I needed a drive for absolute reliability, this would be it. All of my others have given me an odd scare or two, but not the Intel.

Performance is definitely lower than the others, but still outshines a HDD. I've heard the new 320 series is great as well, for an older Mac without Sata III you'd be good on either the 320 or X-25M.

Corsair Force GT 60GB: This drive is, by a noticeable margin, the fastest SSD I've ever used. It's also the least reliable, which I only tolerate because of the simply blistering speed of the thing. I have this in a machine identical to the original machine for the C300, a HP EliteBook 8440p, and side by side there was a definitely noticeable difference between the two in speed regardless of the fact that they were identically spec'd otherwise (aside from a 130mhz faster i5, M520 vs M540, in the Force GT's home). It's not as noticeable as the gap between the X-25M and C300, but it's there.

That said, to say I'd be hesitant to recommend it is an understatement. It's the fastest drive I've ever used, sure, but it also randomly blue screens that laptop (not a problem when it had a platter drive) and has random read issues. Corsair has released firmware updates to address the issue and initially they were better, but now I'm back to a BSOD a day. I can't imagine the reliability would be any different on a Mac, and I'm sure it's only a matter of time before it annoys me enough that I ebay the thing and replace it with a 13.3 Air.

Hope this helps anyone. My summary is that I highly recommend the C300 and X-25M for any Mac. Steer clear of the Force GT unless you have owned an Italian vehicle in the past.
 
Weaselboy said:
Excellent. Please post up a link to your reviews when they go live so we can take a look.
Click to expand...

Definitely. Unfortunately I don't know when that will be but I guess when we get some new SSDs. Anand already has Cherryville in for testing so that's not an option. I'll keep you posted when I know more :)
 
do you think it would be possible to put 2 SSD in the MBP ?

OWC says not to install the SSD instead of the superdrive

is this a limitation from Apple ?

is the superdrive sata port only in SATA 2 even if the HDD port is SATA 3 ?

thanks
 
macchiato2009 said:
do you think it would be possible to put 2 SSD in the MBP ?

OWC says not to install the SSD instead of the superdrive

is this a limitation from Apple ?

is the superdrive sata port only in SATA 2 even if the HDD port is SATA 3 ?

thanks
Click to expand...

In the newer MacBook Pros, there are some issues with using SSDs in the 6Gbps port that the Superdrive uses.
 
I'm at a crossroads trying to decide if I want to go with the Samsung 830 or Crucial M4 256GB SSD.

I've ordered a new 15 MBP which I'm upgrading to SSD + 8GB RAM. My only concern with the Samsung 830 is firmware updates. I really don't want to have the hassle of opening up the computer when there's an update. Is this really the best way to update?

I currently have 2 Crucial M4 SSDs in my desktop. I've been running Crucial memory for many years without issue as well. It seems like my easiest and most cost effective compatible upgrades are probably going with Crucial for the RAM and SSD.

Thoughts?
 
rebelmac said:
I'm at a crossroads trying to decide if I want to go with the Samsung 830 or Crucial M4 256GB SSD.

I've ordered a new 15 MBP which I'm upgrading to SSD + 8GB RAM. My only concern with the Samsung 830 is firmware updates. I really don't want to have the hassle of opening up the computer when there's an update. Is this really the best way to update?

I currently have 2 Crucial M4 SSDs in my desktop. I've been running Crucial memory for many years without issue as well. It seems like my easiest and most cost effective compatible upgrades are probably going with Crucial for the RAM and SSD.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Crucial M4 is a safe choice, don't worry. There isn't a big difference between the two.
 
rebelmac said:
I'm at a crossroads trying to decide if I want to go with the Samsung 830 or Crucial M4 256GB SSD.

I've ordered a new 15 MBP which I'm upgrading to SSD + 8GB RAM. My only concern with the Samsung 830 is firmware updates. I really don't want to have the hassle of opening up the computer when there's an update. Is this really the best way to update?

I currently have 2 Crucial M4 SSDs in my desktop. I've been running Crucial memory for many years without issue as well. It seems like my easiest and most cost effective compatible upgrades are probably going with Crucial for the RAM and SSD.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Go for the Samsung 830 SSD. You can update the firmware using Windows in a BootCamp partition.

Plus it's also over 100+ MB/sec faster than the M4 in terms of write speeds. :D
 
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