SSD difference early 2011 - SSD now

[medi.freak]

Hey there! I own an early 2011 MBP 15" and ordered it with a SSD 128GB. I will upgrade my Optibay with a 256 SSD in the near future... At least that was my plan. I was just wondering, if maybe the Drive that I would buy now might be more powerful (or better, however), so that it would make sense to put the OSX on that drive and put the original 128GB SSD in the Optibay...?

I was looking at either of these: (good idea?)

Crucial M4

Samsung


Any difference in the Drives? Basically: New SS in Optibay, or the Apple 128GB in Optibay.?

Thanks in advance!

 

[user418]

My vote is for the Samsung 830. The read/write speeds are faster than the M4 though it tends to be a bit more expensive. They both have received a lot of favorable reviews here on MR and other sites. I suggest you shop around at bit (Amazon, Fry's, TigerDirect, B&H) before purchasing as each seems to go on sale at various intervals for less than the prices shown in your links.

Both of the drives you are considering would be an improvement over your current model. The firmware updates for the 830 must be done with the aid of a Windows machine, while the M4 can be done from your Mac. Last I checked the 830 has not required a firmware update this year.

I'm guessing your current drive is SATA II and I'm sure you're aware the ones you are considering are SATA III. There is much debate regarding a SATA III drive working in the ODD slot so you might want to do your homework before installation. I don't think you would have a problem running the SATA II SSD in the ODD slot and the newer SATA III SSD in the HDD slot.

 

[medi.freak]

My vote is for the Samsung 830. The read/write speeds are faster than the M4 though it tends to be a bit more expensive. They both have received a lot of favorable reviews here on MR and other sites. I suggest you shop around at bit (Amazon, Fry's, TigerDirect, B&H) before purchasing as each seems to go on sale at various intervals for less than the prices shown in your links.

Both of the drives you are considering would be an improvement over your current model. The firmware updates for the 830 must be done with the aid of a Windows machine, while the M4 can be done from your Mac. Last I checked the 830 has not required a firmware update this year.

I'm guessing your current drive is SATA II and I'm sure you're aware the ones you are considering are SATA III. There is much debate regarding a SATA III drive working in the ODD slot so you might want to do your homework before installation. I don't think you would have a problem running the SATA II SSD in the ODD slot and the newer SATA III SSD in the HDD slot.

Thank you!
Would you know if I'd feel any difference in using the Samsung or the Crucial in the SSD slot (which would be SATA III ready) instead of putting it in the Optibay (which only uses SATA II speeds as far as I know) ?

And something else: I don't really know anyone with a Windows machine, that I could just ask to do updates, would you still go for the Samsung?

 

[P0stalTek]

Thank you!
Would you know if I'd feel any difference in using the Samsung or the Crucial in the SSD slot (which would be SATA III ready) instead of putting it in the Optibay (which only uses SATA II speeds as far as I know) ?

And something else: I don't really know anyone with a Windows machine, that I could just ask to do updates, would you still go for the Samsung?

There will be a speed difference with having the new drive in your main bay, however, it is debatable whether you will perceive a difference in speed.

Either way, it sounds like you have very little choice since any drive you buy now that is SATA III will have to be put in the main bay (not the optibay).

 

[user418]

The 830 has faster read/write speeds than the M4 so it will be faster in the main HDD slot. People say the difference between the two is not noticeable. I tend to disagree though. Maybe it's just a mind thing on my part, but just as people tend to want the latest and the greatest computer, I feel the same about my SSD.

I think your Apple SSD is a SATA II so you can put it in the optibay. I'm currently running a Samsung 470, which is SATA II, in the HDD slot. I plan to buy a Samsung 830 when I find one at the price I like. The 830 will go in the HDD slot and the 470 will go in the optibay.

As you can tell I am biased towards the Samsung drives. Have had no problems with the 470 and have yet to require a firmware update after almost a year in use. If I'm not mistaken the new MBP's are using Samsung drives/controllers.

Check out the Samsung site regarding the firmware update process. It's not a complicated deal from what I read. I know a couple of folks that I trust with Windows machines, so I'll cross that bridge if and when I come to it.

Don't get me wrong the 830 and the M4 are both good drives. I just personally feel, based on my own experience with the 470 and the research I've done, that the Samsung drives are a tad bit better.

There are a couple of good threads here on MR regarding the 830 hand the M4. Do a quick search and read what other members have to say. That might help with your decision.

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There will be a speed difference with having the new drive in your main bay, however, it is debatable whether you will perceive a difference in speed.

Either way, it sounds like you have very little choice since any drive you buy now that is SATA III will have to be put in the main bay (not the optibay).

On another topic. Noticed you're running 1600 MHz RAM. Any noticeable difference in performance? There's a guy on this forum trying to sell some and I'm debating on buying from him.

 

[P0stalTek]

On another topic. Noticed you're running 1600 MHz RAM. Any noticeable difference in performance? There's a guy on this forum trying to sell some and I'm debating on buying from him.

Embarrassingly, you caught me in the process of updating my signature a bit prematurely. The new memory comes in tomorrow, and I am upgrading from 1333Mhz 8GB kit. I will post back with my perceivable results.

Truthfully, I know I did not NEED the upgrade, but I have seen a few page outs here and there, and figured why not since I had an Amazon gift card I needed to use.

 

[Dankex]

Do these 2012 models provide SATA III speeds with the Optibay from OWC? Because i would prefr to have the HDD in its original enclosure because of the vibrations (when i switched my HDD 2 years ago, i noticed there were rubber bands by the sides).

 

[user418]

Embarrassingly, you caught me in the process of updating my signature a bit prematurely. The new memory comes in tomorrow, and I am upgrading from 1333Mhz 8GB kit. I will post back with my perceivable results.

Truthfully, I know I did not NEED the upgrade, but I have seen a few page outs here and there, and figured why not since I had an Amazon gift card I needed to use.

I'm currently running a Corsair 16Gb 1333MHz kit. Coincidentally, I received an unexpected gift card last week and it's just enough to buy this guys RAM. Will keep an eye out for your reply.

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Do these 2012 models provide SATA III speeds with the Optibay from OWC? Because i would prefr to have the HDD in its original enclosure because of the vibrations (when i switched my HDD 2 years ago, i noticed there were rubber bands by the sides).

I'm not too familiar with the 2012 models and their capabilities. Wish I had one though. Hopefully, someone else can answer that one for you.

 

[medi.freak]

There will be a speed difference with having the new drive in your main bay, however, it is debatable whether you will perceive a difference in speed.

Either way, it sounds like you have very little choice since any drive you buy now that is SATA III will have to be put in the main bay (not the optibay).

So what you are saying is, I have to put the new SSD in the HDD slot anyway? I thought if you put a SATA III device in the ODD slot it will work, just on SATA II speeds?

I'm just not sure if I want to do the hassle of writing everything, including the OSX on the new drive and switch everything around.
Anyway, if you guys say that is the best way (or the only way?) I guess that is what I am looking at.

 

[starney]

I have the same MBP like you, personally, for these two I go for the Crucial M4, it's stable and bargain. But just for your ref I upgraded my MBP to OCZ Vertex 4, although there's lot of issues about it, but no prob for me.

 

[FastEddiebags]

So what you are saying is, I have to put the new SSD in the HDD slot anyway? I thought if you put a SATA III device in the ODD slot it will work, just on SATA II speeds?

I'm just not sure if I want to do the hassle of writing everything, including the OSX on the new drive and switch everything around.
Anyway, if you guys say that is the best way (or the only way?) I guess that is what I am looking at.

If you're going to use the ssd as your boot drive, as you should, there might be some problems waking from Sleep if your ssd is in your optibay. People have explained that osx doesn't search the optibay for a bootdisk after sleep. This could have changed but I'm just giving you a little warning.

 

[medi.freak]

If you're going to use the ssd as your boot drive, as you should, there might be some problems waking from Sleep if your ssd is in your optibay. People have explained that osx doesn't search the optibay for a bootdisk after sleep. This could have changed but I'm just giving you a little warning.

Thanks for the input!

But - Here again the possibilities that I am considering and would love to hear some advice about:


1. Just put the new SSD (Samsung 830 probably) in the ODD and stick with the Apple SSD as the booting drive

2. Write all the stuff that is on the Apple SSD on the Samsung 830 and put the Samsung in the HDD and put the Apple SSD in the ODD.



-

Looks like Option number 2 is the better idea due to the whole SATAIII - SATAII problem. Is that correct?
Any disadvantages of option number 2 compared to number 1?
Any options you would add and consider?




-
Unrelated: I just read in my About this mac information, in the RAM information slot:
This machine accepts any 1333 mhz DDR3 Memory. Would it accept 1600mhz memory as well? I thought yes, but that made me think again...

 

[FastEddiebags]

Yes it could handle the 1600 ram since its an i7 but I do not know how pronounced the difference will be. Option 2 for your ssd setup is probably the better option. You lose the automatic trim that the apple ssd has but garbage collection is close to equal. You can always turn trim on from terminal anyways.

 

[medi.freak]

Yes it could handle the 1600 ram since its an i7 but I do not know how pronounced the difference will be. Option 2 for your ssd setup is probably the better option. You lose the automatic trim that the apple ssd has but garbage collection is close to equal. You can always turn trim on from terminal anyways.

ehm...what is Trim? 😱

 

[FastEddiebags]

"TRIM enables the SSD to handle garbage collection overhead, which would otherwise significantly slow down future write operations to the involved blocks, in advance."

 

[mattonthemoon]

Do these 2012 models provide SATA III speeds with the Optibay from OWC? Because i would prefr to have the HDD in its original enclosure because of the vibrations (when i switched my HDD 2 years ago, i noticed there were rubber bands by the sides).

Yes!!! My biggest disappointment in the 2011 MBPs was this, but according to OWC you can now run Raid 0 in SATA III on both ports on the 2012 MBPs!

That's almost 1000MB/s read and write!!!!

----------

My vote is for the Samsung 830. The read/write speeds are faster than the M4 though it tends to be a bit more expensive. They both have received a lot of favorable reviews here on MR and other sites. I suggest you shop around at bit (Amazon, Fry's, TigerDirect, B&H) before purchasing as each seems to go on sale at various intervals for less than the prices shown in your links.

Both of the drives you are considering would be an improvement over your current model. The firmware updates for the 830 must be done with the aid of a Windows machine, while the M4 can be done from your Mac. Last I checked the 830 has not required a firmware update this year.

I'm guessing your current drive is SATA II and I'm sure you're aware the ones you are considering are SATA III. There is much debate regarding a SATA III drive working in the ODD slot so you might want to do your homework before installation. I don't think you would have a problem running the SATA II SSD in the ODD slot and the newer SATA III SSD in the HDD slot.

Doesn't mean much but Apple uses the 830's in the new MBPs and they are fast!

 

[Dankex]

Oh, great, mattonthemoon!
What about the SSD in the Optibay? Do they also work ok? Because i prefer to have my HDD in its original enclosure.

 

[mattonthemoon]

Oh, great, mattonthemoon!
What about the SSD in the Optibay? Do they also work ok? Because i prefer to have my HDD in its original enclosure.

Depends which MBP you have.

Apparently OWC says that the 13" 2012 MBP has the issues with SATA III in the optibay slot. Opposite of last year.

Your best bet is to put the fastest drive (SSD) in the main bay, and move the HDD to the optical bay.

 

[AlexBass]

Samsung 830 has my vote.
The read/write speeds are marginally better, and Samsung is well known not to lie about read/write speeds, I can't say the same for crucial. There have been a lot of cases in which Crucial SSD's have experienced a sudden decrease in R/W speeds.

Crucial M4 256GB
Read: 500Mb/s
Write: 260Mb/s

Samsung 830 256GB
Read: 520Mb/s
Write: 400Mb/s

The speeds speak for themselves.

 

[medi.freak]

Okay, so the Samsung 830 it is. Now - anyone know where there is a good instruction for cloning my 128 GB to the new one, including the OSX, or would it be better to just install the OSX new on the new drive?

 

[Dankex]

Depends which MBP you have.

Apparently OWC says that the 13" 2012 MBP has the issues with SATA III in the optibay slot. Opposite of last year.

Your best bet is to put the fastest drive (SSD) in the main bay, and move the HDD to the optical bay.

I will be having the 2012 15" base model.
Thank you for your reply, but wouldn't it be safe to carry around the HDD in its original enclosure because of the vibrations? Someone posted the 15" models works at SATA III in the optibay, but im a bit concern about the booting problems from that Optibay... I think that was an issue of the past as well. Is it solved now?

Thank you, once again.

 

[gentlefury]

Looks like the crucial is faster, but I'm partial to Samsung....that's all all of my drives are and none have failed on me yet.

 

[Krazy Bill]

There have been a lot of cases in which Crucial SSD's have experienced a sudden decrease in R/W speeds.

Maybe before they got a handle on the firmware releases but since then things are fine with the Crucial.

14 months now with my M4 and not one single issue or slow-down. Trim is not enabled.

Crucial M4 256GB
Read: 500Mb/s
Write: 260Mb/s

Samsung 830 256GB
Read: 520Mb/s
Write: 400Mb/s

The speeds speak for themselves.

Yes but so does the price. About $250 more for the Samsung 512GB basically for the faster write speed. (Read speeds are comparable).

Sure, Samsung is faster where it counts but the M4 just keeps dropping in price. Hard to resist.

Looks like the crucial is faster, but I'm partial to Samsung....

You're getting your drives mixed up.

 

[P0stalTek]

I'm currently running a Corsair 16Gb 1333MHz kit. Coincidentally, I received an unexpected gift card last week and it's just enough to buy this guys RAM. Will keep an eye out for your reply.

After playing with the new Corsair Vengeance 16GB 1600Mhz, I must say I do notice a bit of a pickup in snappiness. It is very slight, and part of it may come from the jump from 8GB to 16GB.

Mostly I just like the satisfaction of knowing it's "maxxed out" 😀 Makes me feel better about my decision to not wait for the "new MBP" earlier this year, which turned out to be the Retina.

 

[user418]

After playing with the new Corsair Vengeance 16GB 1600Mhz, I must say I do notice a bit of a pickup in snappiness. It is very slight, and part of it may come from the jump from 8GB to 16GB.

Mostly I just like the satisfaction of knowing it's "maxxed out" 😀 Makes me feel better about my decision to not wait for the "new MBP" earlier this year, which turned out to be the Retina.

I know what you mean man. I am totally enjoying my late 2011 MBP. Thanks for the feedback on the RAM. I like that "maxxed out" feeling too, so I guess I'll be checking on that deal on the 1600 MHz kit I mentioned earlier. Will probably sell the 16 GB 1333 MHz kit to offset the cost.