SSD Info

[RWil85]

I saw that Crucial is having a sale and there are two drives at $199 and $399, 128gb and 256gb, respectively...

I'm a noob in regards to this topic and have a couple of questions..

would it make sense for me to replace my entire stock 250gb HDD with a similarly sized SSD?

Then should I replace my Optical Drive with an Optibay tray and use my 250gb HDD as a storage drive? Anyone that has experience with an Optibay system have any comments on this?

or does it make more sense to simply go for an SSD just big enough to fit my OS and some APPS (what would that size be for MAC OS X?)?

Also, would anyone be able to suggest a couple of decent SSD's that they have experience with, etc?


Sorry for such a long post - simply trying to acquire info/spark a conversation on the topic...thanks in advance!

 

[MaxMike]

I saw that Crucial is having a sale and there are two drives at $199 and $399, 128gb and 256gb, respectively...

Please show me where a 256GB SSD is $400

 

[RWil85]

Please show me where a 256GB SSD is $400

right here..

Crucial is having a huge sale.

Crucial Memory www.crucial.com/ssd SSD BLOWOUT SALE while supplies last. Just
$1.55 per GB!!!

-- COUPON CODE 200M225US Crucial M225 SSD 256GB $399 (regularly $599)

-- COUPON CODE 100M225US Crucial M225 SSD 128GB $199
(regularly $299)

www.crucial.com N. America customers only. Quantity limit of 1 per order. Limited to stock on hand. No rain checks or backorders.

i'm just trying to gather info before i pull the trigger on it..

 

[Hellhammer]

256GB is HUGE SSD because you likely won't need more than 100GB for OS X and apps. If you want to keep your SuperDrive and need that 256GB, then it's good deal but I would rather get 80GB Intel as it's faster and then but the stock HD in OptiBay

 

[Viremia]

256GB is HUGE SSD because you likely won't need more than 100GB for OS X and apps. If you want to keep your SuperDrive and need that 256GB, then it's good deal but I would rather get 80GB Intel as it's faster and then but the stock HD in OptiBay

The only problem with that setup is the stock HD in the Optibay won't get the benefit of the sudden motion sensor. IMO, it's a better design to put the SSD in the optical drive slot via an Optibay and leave the stock HD in its place. That's what I did. I've got an Intel X25M 80GB and the stock 500 GB HD in its original space.

 

[DoFoT9]

go the SSD if you want, its lighting fast. however, after roughly 6 months of usage you will probably be at 30% of the original speed due to certain limitations that Macs have with todays SSDs. this will take you from ~200MB/s read/write to about ~140MB/s, not TOO bad considering 7200rpm laptop drives are struggling to hit +70MB/s. just be warned

 

[1finite]

go the SSD if you want, its lighting fast. however, after roughly 6 months of usage you will probably be at 30% of the original speed due to certain limitations that Macs have with todays SSDs. this will take you from ~200MB/s read/write to about ~140MB/s, not TOO bad considering 7200rpm laptop drives are struggling to hit +70MB/s. just be warned

Not if you get the OWC Mercury Extreme! No degradation

http://macperformanceguide.com/SSD-RealWorld-BeforeAfter-OWC.html

http://macperformanceguide.com/SSD-RealWorld-BeforeAfter-CrucialM225.html

 

[NintendoFan]

go the SSD if you want, its lighting fast. however, after roughly 6 months of usage you will probably be at 30% of the original speed due to certain limitations that Macs have with todays SSDs. this will take you from ~200MB/s read/write to about ~140MB/s, not TOO bad considering 7200rpm laptop drives are struggling to hit +70MB/s. just be warned

People complain about this all the time, but I don't see it as "too much" of a problem. For me, I think, as long as the access times stay as low as they are it is always worth it to go SSD. I know you're not complaining, I'm just saying as a piece of mind type of thing, it should not be something that scares anybody off of an SSD.

 

[Viremia]

go the SSD if you want, its lighting fast. however, after roughly 6 months of usage you will probably be at 30% of the original speed due to certain limitations that Macs have with todays SSDs. this will take you from ~200MB/s read/write to about ~140MB/s, not TOO bad considering 7200rpm laptop drives are struggling to hit +70MB/s. just be warned

uhh, 30% of 200 is 60. how is 140 = 60? I think you mean 70% of original speed or 30% degradation of original speed.

Also, I've seen plenty of reports that support as well as refute any number given for a non-TRIM SSD performance degradation. Performance does degrade (especially without TRIM), but how much varies.

 

[RWil85]

uhh, 30% of 200 is 60. how is 140 = 60? I think you mean 70% of original speed or 30% degradation of original speed.

Also, I've seen plenty of reports that support as well as refute any number given for a non-TRIM SSD performance degradation. Performance does degrade (especially without TRIM), but how much varies.

I've read about TRIM support - I still need to gain a better understanding, though..not to mention that Apple still needs to offer support for it. Such a depreciation of a fairly large investment bugs me a bit..

Also, I've heard people mention loss of various functions of the macbook pro if the optibay solution is implemented (aside from the SuperDrive - I know that would need to be used externally)..is this true?

If that is the case - it makes sense to me to drop $400-500ish (on the OCW that claims no degradation and good speed maybe??) on a larger ssd as your main drive to really reap all the benefits of it - read/write/access, etc speeds ALL the time - rather than having to lose the superdrive, suffer loss of some functionality, spend money on optibay and likely a larger HDD drive, have to install the optibay, etc..no?? All of your thoughts are much appreciated..

 

[almostinsane]

Thanks for the link. Ordered a 256GB drive.

I had an Intel 80GB SSD and a 500GB drive installed where the DVD drive was and had no loss in any functionality. it worked great.

 

[RWil85]

Thanks for the link. Ordered a 256GB drive.

I had an Intel 80GB SSD and a 500GB drive installed where the DVD drive was and had no loss in any functionality. it worked great.

So, you picked up the Crucial m225? Just bc of the price or bc the specs are quality? (Reason I ask I bc I have no real frame of reference..I'm still learning, excuse my noob-ness haha)

 

[almostinsane]

Price, size and garbage collection. I had an Intel 160GB but kept running out of space. The Intel only support TRIM which Mac OS lacks.

I'd expect the Crucial SSD to have better performance over time while the Intel to degrade faster.

 

[vsighi]

I did pull the trigger.

right here..




i'm just trying to gather info before i pull the trigger on it..

I order yesturday a Crucial 256 GB SSD using forum Coupon CODE 200M225US. For San Diego, CA Total+tax: $434.99.

http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?imodule=CTFDDAC256MAG-1G1

 

[charlieroberts]

Is anyone else having luck with this coupon?

The price is amazing but i just can't get the coupon to work!

thanks for sharing though.

 

[DoFoT9]

Not if you get the OWC Mercury Extreme! No degradation

http://macperformanceguide.com/SSD-RealWorld-BeforeAfter-OWC.html

http://macperformanceguide.com/SSD-RealWorld-BeforeAfter-CrucialM225.html

i wonder how that works. do you know what block size the controller reads? the fact that you lose 56GB for redundancy checking is pretty lame - i wouldnt be happy with that.

People complain about this all the time, but I don't see it as "too much" of a problem. For me, I think, as long as the access times stay as low as they are it is always worth it to go SSD. I know you're not complaining, I'm just saying as a piece of mind type of thing, it should not be something that scares anybody off of an SSD.

looking at those last articles, the read rate of the SSD can be pushed as low as 50MB/s with OSX that do not support TRIM etc, this is significantly lower then what even a standard 2.5" hard drive will achieve!

sure, im on a 5400rpm HDD that achieves 35MB/s writes at best - but its a 500GB hard drive that cost me ~$190 to purchase - not several hundred dollars. i easily prefer storage over speed to be honest, thats why i havent upgraded yet. and i refuse to fork out $3k for a 3.5" 2TB SSD

uhh, 30% of 200 is 60. how is 140 = 60? I think you mean 70% of original speed or 30% degradation of original speed.

Also, I've seen plenty of reports that support as well as refute any number given for a non-TRIM SSD performance degradation. Performance does degrade (especially without TRIM), but how much varies.

30% degredation, whatever you know what i mean - the number is given from the threads/reviews ive read recently, and i think it is pretty accurate.