SSD Buying Guide

[hatem ben arfa]

It's a slight incompatibility between the MCP79 and the Sandforce controller used in many SSDs.

All done now. Thanks for your help.

Speeds were something around 200 MB/s Write and 250 MB/s Read.

Not sure if that's as good as I should be hoping for on my SataII 2009 MBP, but it's certainly a lot snappier than it was with the default Hitachi 500GB drive.

 

[Silverstring]

@Silverstring

Given your requirements, the Samsung 830 seems like the one that most people would recommend however I cannot see any Mac support for the firmware on their support pages - I'm not saying you cannot update the fw using a Mac, just they have not listed this functionality.

Speaking from my own person experience, I went with the Sandisk Extreme which seems reliable, was a simple upgrade for me and the firmware can be updated on a Mac. The only question mark would be how good the garbage collection would be as I have Trim enabled on mine. I have also noticed an improvement in battery life since switching to the Sandisk over the stock hard drive - I can't give figures as I didn't do any kind of timings previously but it has been noticeable to me in my normal usage.
How would you describe your normal usage on the Mac as this will have a big impact on how well garbage collection would work?

Thanks for responding. I'm a light computer user, mostly email, internet, writing, html coding. Light Aperture and Photoshop, I'll pop into Final Cut here and there for a quick edit.

 

[iamthedudeman]

So I've tried reading through the thread, but I was hoping that someone would be willing to answer me directly with a recommendation based on my particular criteria.

-I have an early-2011 13in MBP, i7, 8GB RAM
-I don't want or need to remove the optical drive/go with a dual drive setup, this will be a system HDD replacement

Now, on to my priorities (in order):y

-First and foremost, I want the most HASSLE-FREE SSD. To me, that means
1) not having to use a windows machine (I don't have access to one) to update firmware
2) not having to enable TRIM with any system hacks/extra pieces of software that may be broken with future OS updates (I want the drive to do it's own garbage collection and maintain performance over time)

-Reliablity/warranty/longevity. I don't have to have the FASTEST SSD, my work is not all that demanding. I'd happily trade some speed for the piece of mind of not worrying that my drive is going to die in a year.

-Power draw. A bit more than a year ago, I bought a OWC SSD and installed it in a 2010 MBP. Battery life was halved. I returned it, waiting for the tech to mature a little. Here I am. I am hoping, at the least, to get an SSD with a power draw that at least maintains the battery life that I'm seeing with my current HDD. Of course, a gain, if possible, would be even more welcome.

-Price. Of course important, but I don't want to cheap out and compromise on the above ideals just to get a bargain-basement price. If the SSD is available on Amazon, all the better, because I am a Prime member.

Given these factors, which drive should I go for? Samsung 830? Crucial m4? OWC Mercury Extreme? Intel?

Any help (and links to deals) are appreciated. Thanks.

This may not be a popular choice, but given your criteria, i would go with the Apple OEM SSD. You will be seeing only SATA 2 speeds, around 200-220.

But in my opinion, most people will not notice a difference on performance. Random 4k speeds are
the most important factor on real world performance, not seq speeds. And the toshiba has very good 4k random speeds, good agressive garbage collection, Trim is supported, firmware is updated by apple, and system updates and OS upgrades are supported.

It is reliable, probably the most reliable you can put in a Mac book. Is covered under Apples warranty even if you install it yourself, and might last a little longer since it is made on a 40nm process instead of a smaller process.

I know alot of people get caught up in the numbers game, but in real world usage there isn't a performance difference between 200 SATA 2 or 400 SATA 3 speeds.

I buy mine direct new from Apple on my business account. But you can pick one up on e'bay new or freshly pulled for around 200 dollars.

 

[.mmon]

SSD Recommendation (Like Silverstring)
I'm also looking for someone who would be willing to answer me directly with a recommendation based on my particular criteria.

A. I have Late-2008 13in MB, 8GB RAM (Macbook 5,1)
B. I will do a dual drive setup - So ~120GB is all I really need.
C. Is it even worth upgrading to SSD? Can my MB handle it?

What I'm looking for (In order):

1. MOST IMPORTANT TO ME IS RELIABILITY- A long lasting, best customer service in case of failure, most reliable SSD. Speed is great, but I want my SSD to last me at least 4+ years. I don't want to be scrambling in the middle of school trying to reboot my computer and accessing all my dental school files.

2. Dont want to use Windows or TRIM either.

3. Easy on the battery - I've read of battery loss (Of course with a dual storage system it'll decrease battery life but I'm hoping as my HDD sleeps and I'm surfing the web, it wont rapidly decrease my battery.

4. Around $1 to 1 GB price. - SSDs have been dropping and I'll be willing to wait a little to wait for a deal. (If you guys know of any, please share!) Less than $1 per 1 GB is great, but I'm not willing to sacrifice quality. I need reliability.

I've been looking at the OWC Mercury Electra 3G, but it's Sandforce - I've heard many unreliable things about that... Also considering my Macbook model, I dont know what the optimal SSD is. I don't want to be spending more than I have to on SATA III or 6G SSD's if they aren't going to be usable with my computer.

EDIT: Processes I run frequntly: Browser, iMail, iChat, Sugarsync, Fantastical, Quicksilver, iTunes, Stickies, Spotify, Evernote etc. are running most of the time, if not all the time. Aperture & Light Photoshop when I'm doing photography. I'm looking for quick startup and shutdown times. Something to last me for the next 4 years in terms of speed and function.

Thanks 😉

 

[jbg232]

SSD Recommendation (Like Silverstring)
I'm also looking for someone who would be willing to answer me directly with a recommendation based on my particular criteria.

A. I have Late-2008 13in MB, 8GB RAM (Macbook 5,1)
B. I will do a dual drive setup - So ~120GB is all I really need.
C. Is it even worth upgrading to SSD? Can my MB handle it?

What I'm looking for (In order):

1. MOST IMPORTANT TO ME IS RELIABILITY- A long lasting, best customer service in case of failure, most reliable SSD. Speed is great, but I want my SSD to last me at least 4+ years. I don't want to be scrambling in the middle of school trying to reboot my computer and accessing all my dental school files.

2. Dont want to use Windows or TRIM either.

3. Easy on the battery - I've read of battery loss (Of course with a dual storage system it'll decrease battery life but I'm hoping as my HDD sleeps and I'm surfing the web, it wont rapidly decrease my battery.

4. Around $1 to 1 GB price. - SSDs have been dropping and I'll be willing to wait a little to wait for a deal. (If you guys know of any, please share!) Less than $1 per 1 GB is great, but I'm not willing to sacrifice quality. I need reliability.

I've been looking at the OWC Mercury Electra 3G, but it's Sandforce - I've heard many unreliable things about that... Also considering my Macbook model, I dont know what the optimal SSD is. I don't want to be spending more than I have to on SATA III or 6G SSD's if they aren't going to be usable with my computer.

EDIT: Processes I run frequntly: Browser, iMail, iChat, Sugarsync, Fantastical, Quicksilver, iTunes, Stickies, Spotify, Evernote etc. are running most of the time, if not all the time. Aperture & Light Photoshop when I'm doing photography. I'm looking for quick startup and shutdown times. Something to last me for the next 4 years in terms of speed and function.

Thanks 😉

I just installed the mercury Electra 3G in my MacBook 5,1 and no problems so far, works at full 3G speeds. Very painless actually.

 

[jbzcar]

All done now. Thanks for your help.

Speeds were something around 200 MB/s Write and 250 MB/s Read.

Not sure if that's as good as I should be hoping for on my SataII 2009 MBP, but it's certainly a lot snappier than it was with the default Hitachi 500GB drive.

Those speeds are spot on, actually. 🙂

 

[Donka]

Thanks for responding. I'm a light computer user, mostly email, internet, writing, html coding. Light Aperture and Photoshop, I'll pop into Final Cut here and there for a quick edit.

If your photo & movie editing uses are light then most drives will probably serve you well as there should be adequate time for garbage collection to stay on top of things. SSD drives do work better with trim enabled though so that is one thing I would strongly recommend to enable - it is actually a very simple process and worth doing imho.

 

[Ishmumrhmn]

Id say that intel 520 SSDs are THE best in the market

 

[Brett0712]

SSD Recommendation (Like Silverstring)
I'm also looking for someone who would be willing to answer me directly with a recommendation based on my particular criteria.

A. I have Late-2008 13in MB, 8GB RAM (Macbook 5,1)
B. I will do a dual drive setup - So ~120GB is all I really need.
C. Is it even worth upgrading to SSD? Can my MB handle it?

What I'm looking for (In order):

1. MOST IMPORTANT TO ME IS RELIABILITY- A long lasting, best customer service in case of failure, most reliable SSD. Speed is great, but I want my SSD to last me at least 4+ years. I don't want to be scrambling in the middle of school trying to reboot my computer and accessing all my dental school files.

2. Dont want to use Windows or TRIM either.

3. Easy on the battery - I've read of battery loss (Of course with a dual storage system it'll decrease battery life but I'm hoping as my HDD sleeps and I'm surfing the web, it wont rapidly decrease my battery.

4. Around $1 to 1 GB price. - SSDs have been dropping and I'll be willing to wait a little to wait for a deal. (If you guys know of any, please share!) Less than $1 per 1 GB is great, but I'm not willing to sacrifice quality. I need reliability.

I've been looking at the OWC Mercury Electra 3G, but it's Sandforce - I've heard many unreliable things about that... Also considering my Macbook model, I dont know what the optimal SSD is. I don't want to be spending more than I have to on SATA III or 6G SSD's if they aren't going to be usable with my computer.

EDIT: Processes I run frequntly: Browser, iMail, iChat, Sugarsync, Fantastical, Quicksilver, iTunes, Stickies, Spotify, Evernote etc. are running most of the time, if not all the time. Aperture & Light Photoshop when I'm doing photography. I'm looking for quick startup and shutdown times. Something to last me for the next 4 years in terms of speed and function.

Thanks 😉

Your MB can most certainly handle it. Its SATAII so you can expect something around 200 MB/s Write and 250 MB/s Read compare to the 50-70MB/s of your HDD.

Newegg recently had a sale on the OCS Vertex 3 120gb for $69.99. I know people warn against OCZ but due to the price, I decided to give it a try. Although its SATAIII I picked one up along with 8gb of ram.

I popped in the ram, booted it up to make sure the Ram was ok, it was, so then I moved onto the SSD. That was simple to install, installed a fresh copy of Lion, installed all the updates but noticed the link speed and negotiated speed were 3gbs and 1.5gbs. (The SSD is SATA backwards compatible) So I booted up the OCZ linux tools and changed the link/negotiated speed of the drive and I was done.

It seems like a brand new computer. I was so tempted to get a new MBP but it was so worth the $130 to revive my late 2008 MBP for another year or so.

 

[Weaselboy]

-First and foremost, I want the most HASSLE-FREE SSD. To me, that means
1) not having to use a windows machine (I don't have access to one) to update firmware
2) not having to enable TRIM with any system hacks/extra pieces of software that may be broken with future OS updates (I want the drive to do it's own garbage collection and maintain performance over time)
eeing with my current HDD. Of course, a gain, if possible, would be even more welcome.

Both the Samsung 830 and the Crucial M4 are reliable and seem to have few compatibility issues with OS X. If you scroll back a few pages you will see both those recommended by the thread starter Hellhammer, with his preference being the Samsung.

Of those two, only the M4 has a tool to update firmware on OS X.

Both these drives are backwards compatible with older, SATA II systems also so would be a good choice for the other posters in this thread.

 

[Silverstring]

Think I'm going with the Samsung

Both the Samsung 830 and the Crucial M4 are reliable and seem to have few compatibility issues with OS X. If you scroll back a few pages you will see both those recommended by the thread starter Hellhammer, with his preference being the Samsung.

Of those two, only the M4 has a tool to update firmware on OS X.

Both these drives are backwards compatible with older, SATA II systems also so would be a good choice for the other posters in this thread.

I looked at the Crucial m4, and while the price is right, around $180, there were a ton of 1 star reviews on Amazon that about reliability that scared me off. Dying after a couple weeks or months, drive not being able to be found on boot up, etc.

In terms of the Samsung, I see that those are 7mm drives. Will I need the spacing kit to install in my MBP?

I see this model: http://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7PC256B-WW/dp/B0077CR66A/ref=pd_cp_pc_0

Buth then also the same drive with a "laptop installation kit" that includes a 7mm to 9.5 spacer: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-830-Series-MZ-7PC256N-Internal/dp/B005T3GPXY/ref=pd_cp_pc_1

I don't want or need the extra software or SATA cable (I already have a external drive enclosure for transferring, etc) that comes with the laptop installation kit, but if I need that mounting spacer, I'll have to bite the bullet. (Unless I can get the mounting spacer somewhere else for less than the $16 difference?)

 

[Weaselboy]

You don't need any spacers or anything for either drive. The bare drive will fit your Macbook.

 

[New2MacMBP]

OCZ Vertex 4 512GB Results

Just thought I'd share my results. Installed a OCZ Vertex 4 512GB five days ago in my early 2011 15" 2.2Ghz MBP (MacbookPro 8,2). Replaced my 5400rpm 750GB Toshiba drive (SLOOOOW) with the SSD drive and WOW! I'm in love with my MBP all over again. BlackMagic drive speed test is showing 430MB/s Read and 425MB/s Write on firmware release 1.3. Drive is at about 50% capacity after I reinstalled Lion, Apps, and my Windows 7 instance under Fusion4. Everything is much, much faster.

 

[m4tic]

Just thought I'd share my results. Installed a OCZ Vertex 4 512GB five days ago in my early 2011 15" 2.2Ghz MBP (MacbookPro 8,2). Replaced my 5400rpm 750GB Toshiba drive (SLOOOOW) with the SSD drive and WOW! I'm in love with my MBP all over again. BlackMagic drive speed test is showing 430MB/s Read and 425MB/s Write on firmware release 1.3. Drive is at about 50% capacity after I reinstalled Lion, Apps, and my Windows 7 instance under Fusion4. Everything is much, much faster.

Same boat, new cMBP with an OCZ Vertex 4 256GB; SSD shipped with 1.4FW. Only issue I suffered was that the SSD would stop operating after sleep mode. I made a boot disk for OCZTools Linux enviro and flashed the latest 1.4.1.3 FW and it has been a perfectly working beast ever since. This is in both OSX and Win7 SP1 Bootcamp.

Arma II = butter

 

[New2MacMBP]

Same boat, new cMBP with an OCZ Vertex 4 256GB; SSD shipped with 1.4FW. Only issue I suffered was that the SSD would stop operating after sleep mode. I made a boot disk for OCZTools Linux enviro and flashed the latest 1.4.1.3 FW and it has been a perfectly working beast ever since. This is in both OSX and Win7 SP1 Bootcamp.

Arma II = butter
Image

Damn.... your speeds are higher. now I'm gonna have to back up my drive and flash to the new firmware (I'm running the 1.3 version)

 

[DJ.Juxtaposer]

I'm looking at buying a non-retina 2012 Macbook Pro 15" and upgrading it with a large SSD. What is the best and largest SSD that will give me the best performance in a brand new Macbook Pro? It seems that the 2012 line handles 6GB/s SATA III properly, so I'm assuming a 6G SSD is the best option?

So far I've really been looking at the 480 OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G and Electra 6G, the 512 Crucial M4 6G and the 512 Samsung SSD 830 6G.

The Crucial M4 seems to provide excellent value for money at around £350 on Amazon, compared to the 480gb Mercury Extreme Pro that comes in around DOUBLE that price. Is there something I'm missing here?

I'm open to all suggestions from someone who really knows what they're talking about!

 

[m4tic]

Damn.... your speeds are higher. now I'm gonna have to back up my drive and flash to the new firmware (I'm running the 1.3 version)

1.4+ firmware is a good chunk of performance increase.

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A GOOD BACKUP, 1.3 TO 1.4+ IS DESTRUCTIVE. 😎

 

[sonic2911]

hi guys

im going to buy my first ssd for my mbp late 2011. i saw many brands on the market liked crucial, samsung, ocz, intel, corsair...so idk which controller is best for mbp and OSX lion. Should i buy 128 or 256 GB? I hear some people said that 256 would be faster than 128. so im confusing. Can u help me to choice? the budget is not problem here.
tks guys
/and i wanna ask for the caddy to replace the current ODD for HDD, where can i buy it?

 

[ZipZap]

We need a tiny PCB adaptor to circumvent Apple's proprietary connector. A standard female mSATA connector on one side, then the Apple PCB header (male) to go into Apple's proprietary slot. There should be left over enough space inside the RMBP to accomodate a standard form-factor mSATA SSD. For exammple the Micron C400.

I have made the suggestion to OWC. Who are well known for producing such 3rd party solutions. They claim to be actively working on a new OWC SSD. But that's not really being called for here. mSATA adaptor is a better idea. More free-market choices for 3rd party SSDs.

I doubt there is enough room. Why do it anyway, with TB and USB3 you can add a fast external drive waaaay cheaper.

 

[noobfromdk]

Hey i have a Early 2011 Macbook Pro 13", and im looking to buy a SSD
My MBP also has 8gb RAM

My choices are

OCZ Agility 3 120gb (looking for this most cus of cheap price)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294

or OCZ Vertex 3 120gb
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294

which is best? im looking to spend maximum 90£

Or is there any others which are better?

thanks..

 

[Mikey86uk]

Hi guys!

I have a Mid 2010 13" Macbook Pro.

im looking to upgrade the RAM to 8GB which is easy enough but, how easy is it to upgrade the HDD to SSD?

And what drive is recommended? Space wont be an issue as most of my DATA is stored on my iMac.

Many Thanks

Mikey

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

im going to buy my first ssd for my mbp late 2011. i saw many brands on the market liked crucial, samsung, ocz, intel, corsair...so idk which controller is best for mbp and OSX lion. Should i buy 128 or 256 GB? I hear some people said that 256 would be faster than 128. so im confusing. Can u help me to choice? the budget is not problem here.

Use Anandtech's Bench to compare the SSDs you are considering.

The micro-controllers used in SSDs can access a finite number of "channels" in parallel (usually eight or ten IIRC). The size/capacity of the flash (memory) chips used in the different capacity SSDs is usually the same; simply fewer are used in smaller drives. A 128GB drive will have half the number of memory chips that a 256GB drive has, attached to half as many of the controller's channels, achieving half as many operations in parallel, therefore achieving half the speed. This is massively oversimplified (and a bit wrong) but it gives you that idea why bigger SSDs are generally faster than smaller ones.

There are exceptions to this. After 256GB (with the current NAND chip densities) there is generally no performance increase with going to larger drives. Strangely, Anandtech's Bench reports that the 512GB Samsung 830 is fractionally slower than the 256GB version.

Intel, Samsung and Crucial are all very well regarded SSD manufacturers. Intel's rigorous validation (testing) generally puts them at the front of the pack for stability and reliability, though Samsung have made a name for themselves with extremely reliable (and fast) SSDs. Crucial is not far behind the other two (and usually a little cheaper).

At the moment 256GB is the "sweet-spot" of price/performance/capacity. The one thing to be cautious of with Samsung SSDs is that their firmware can only be updated under Windows; if this is an issue for you, then you're best sticking with Intel or Crucial.

...also; commas, apostrophes, capital-letters, and the word "you" (rather than "u") are all beneficial in not appearing to be a moron (which I don't believe you to be*) 🙂

*N.B I am a patronising bastard, so it's ok for me to appear as such.

 

[Donka]

Hey i have a Early 2011 Macbook Pro 13", and im looking to buy a SSD
My MBP also has 8gb RAM

My choices are

OCZ Agility 3 120gb (looking for this most cus of cheap price)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294

or OCZ Vertex 3 120gb
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294

which is best? im looking to spend maximum 90£

Or is there any others which are better?

thanks..

Out of those two, the Vertex is the better drive.
You may want to consider the Sandisk Extreme, I went with the 240GB model and it is has been rock solid for me in the Late 2011 MBP 13.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-120...1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1340276059&sr=1-1

 

[sonic2911]

Use Anandtech's Bench to compare the SSDs you are considering.

The micro-controllers used in SSDs can access a finite number of "channels" in parallel (usually eight or ten IIRC). The size/capacity of the flash (memory) chips used in the different capacity SSDs is usually the same; simply fewer are used in smaller drives. A 128GB drive will have half the number of memory chips that a 256GB drive has, attached to half as many of the controller's channels, achieving half as many operations in parallel, therefore achieving half the speed. This is massively oversimplified (and a bit wrong) but it gives you that idea why bigger SSDs are generally faster than smaller ones.

There are exceptions to this. After 256GB (with the current NAND chip densities) there is generally no performance increase with going to larger drives. Strangely, Anandtech's Bench reports that the 512GB Samsung 830 is fractionally slower than the 256GB version.

Intel, Samsung and Crucial are all very well regarded SSD manufacturers. Intel's rigorous validation (testing) generally puts them at the front of the pack for stability and reliability, though Samsung have made a name for themselves with extremely reliable (and fast) SSDs. Crucial is not far behind the other two (and usually a little cheaper).

At the moment 256GB is the "sweet-spot" of price/performance/capacity. The one thing to be cautious of with Samsung SSDs is that their firmware can only be updated under Windows; if this is an issue for you, then you're best sticking with Intel or Crucial.

...also; commas, apostrophes, capital-letters, and the word "you" (rather than "u") are all beneficial in not appearing to be a moron (which I don't believe you to be*) 🙂

*N.B I am a patronising bastard, so it's ok for me to appear as such.

thanks
If I choose samsung so can I upgrade the FW through bootcamp or parallel windows 7? Does the samsung SSD need TRIM enable?

 

[iamthedudeman]

Both the Samsung 830 and the Crucial M4 are reliable and seem to have few compatibility issues with OS X. If you scroll back a few pages you will see both those recommended by the thread starter Hellhammer, with his preference being the Samsung.

Of those two, only the M4 has a tool to update firmware on OS X.

Both these drives are backwards compatible with older, SATA II systems also so would be a good choice for the other posters in this thread.

Wouldn't the Apple OEM SSD be better for his needs?

Originally Posted by Silverstring
-First and foremost, I want the most HASSLE-FREE SSD. To me, that means
1) not having to use a windows machine (I don't have access to one) to update firmware
2) not having to enable TRIM with any system hacks/extra pieces of software that may be broken with future OS updates (I want the drive to do it's own garbage collection and maintain performance over time)
eeing with my current HDD. Of course, a gain, if possible, would be even more welcome.

The M4 and Samsung are good SSD's. But wouldn't the OEM Apple SSD(Toshiba GBSJ) offer more in what he is looking for? Actually tick every checklist he asked? More so than either the Samsung or M4.
Isn't the Apple SSD the only SSD officially suppored for trim under OSX. I mean you can pick one up on ebay for around $200 US, and maybe even cheaper?

I mean let's face it, the real world speed between a Sata 2 SSD and a Sata 3 SSD is almost nil. Wouldn't a SSD that meets his exact criteria be better? Than either the M4 or Samsung.

With the Toshiba SSD, you get optimal performance everytime, instead of using a faster third party SSD that doesn't have trim enabled. The Samsung waits until the drive is idle before GC is done, the Toshiba does it in real time with trim so you are getting optimal performance everytime instead of having to wait.