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SSD or SATA3
- Thread starter rocketjacket
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This is a popular SSD for mac's
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4863/the-samsung-ssd-830-review/
The article below is old but gives you a good indication about the differences in speed.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/SSD-versus-HDD-in-comparison.18750.0.html
SATA is the connection protocol that a hard drive (both a mechanical one like you have and a SSD) is connected to your computer so that you put stuff onto it. SATA III is currently the fastest. Your question about choosing between a SSD 6 g/bit and SATA 3 is nonsensical. SATA 3 (or SATA III) is capable of 6 gigabits per second and is sometimes referred to as SATA 6 gbps. You can connect a mechanical hard drive or a SSD to a SATA III port or a SATA II port or even a SATA port. Your MBP has a SATA III port.
The SATA port is just a highway. How fast your hard drive (car) can drive on it depends on the car. SATA II allows up to 3 gigabits per second and SATA III is twice as fast. Your mechanical 5400 RPM drive is very slow, but it can still drive on the SATA III highway. Your typical sequential transfer rates in the 5400 RPM drive will be around 40-60 mega bytes per second. A good SSD, like the Samsung 830 suggested earlier, is capable of around 350-450 mega bytes per second. The SATA III highway will allow a SSD to reach its top speeds. A SATA II highway would be slightly limiting to a fast SSD. You would not see any difference if you connected your slow mechanical hard drive via SATA II or SATA III. The hard drive is the bottleneck and does not exceed the bandwidth offered by SATA II.
The difference between a mechanical drive and a SSD is night and day.
I hope that's cleared some of your confusion.
Sorry, I was on a smart phone & overlooked your fantastic post!
Thank you.
I have to say, why bother to say 6 Gbps? This doesn't relate to the speed of the drive, only the interface. Surly rating a dive with the speed and the interface would have far more value. eg "This drive is great its 500mb/sec read and write & a 6Gbps interface!" Just makes more sense.
Thats a great illustration too, really Thank You! But "nonsensical" arrr....dunno about that. Now that I undersand that 6Gbps is not drive speed but interface, yeah cool, I was asking the wrong question. I was ignorant to what 6Gbps was referring too. I presumed it (the 6Gbps) was speed of the DEVICE that its rated with. eg. "This SSD is 128GB 6Gbps" to the novice (like many) would think the 6Gbps is about drive speed... like "WOW ITS THAT FAST". No, I think the "SSD 128GB 6Gbps" lacks the most important information useful to the novice - DRIVE SPEED!
Correct and I do agree that it is misleading. I personally hate it when certain manufacturers show how much faster USB 3 is in comparison to USB 2 using theoretical interface limits, but fail to mention that their device is barely faster than USB 2 - I am looking at you flash drive makers.
Just because you can buy a device labelled as USB 3 or SATA III or Thundberolt, it does not mean that the device can actually reach the top speed that the interface provides. It just means that it supports it.
As I've said, transfer protocol is like a road. Just because a road is safe for 450 km/h, it does not mean that any Trabant can now all of a sudden do 450 km/h. It will still only be able to do its normal maximum speed. The advantage of using a faster interface only becomes apparent if the device is being restricted by the current interface.