Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

SSD Upgrade Opinions

dukebound85

dukebound85

macrumors Core
Original poster
Jul 17, 2005
19,218
4,342
5045 feet above sea level
To those that have done it, what are your thoughts on this upgrade?

I am thinking of 2 cases

1) Upgrade to a 512gb SSD as my sole drive (~370 on amazon)

2) Try the optibay method. Keep the current 500gb 5400rpm drive and add a 256gb ssd (180+10 for the drive and enclosure)

Is removing the optical drive easy to do? Do you think option 2 is better between the two (I would probably install the fusion drive software). I don't use the evd drive much and do have an external laying around fwiw.

Thanks for any opinions
 
dukebound85 said:
2) Try the optibay method. Keep the current 500gb 5400rpm drive and add a 256gb ssd (180+10 for the drive and enclosure)

Is removing the optical drive easy to do? Do you think option 2 is better between the two (I would probably install the fusion drive software). I don't use the evd drive much and do have an external laying around fwiw.
Click to expand...
Very easy to do.
 
It's easy to do. I prefer option 1 myself. I just got a MBP from our Marketplace where the seller put in a 512GB SSD and removed the HDD, left the optical drive. It's super fast, quiet and doesn't get as hot as my older MBP with HDD got.

If you don't need the extra storage of the HDD, I say dump it. Later on, if you get in a pinch over storage, you can always get an external drive.
 
I just replaced my stock hard drive with a Samsung 840 pro and am very happy with the results. The process was fairly simple and the results are increased speed, silent and cooler operation.

I decided to keep the superdrive and go SSD only.
 
My plan is to replace my 750gb drive with a 512gb 840 Pro and keep the optical. If I ever need the space I can replace the optical with another SSD or the original drive. I currently use about 280gb of space.
 
dukebound85 said:
To those that have done it, what are your thoughts on this upgrade?

I am thinking of 2 cases

1) Upgrade to a 512gb SSD as my sole drive (~370 on amazon)

2) Try the optibay method. Keep the current 500gb 5400rpm drive and add a 256gb ssd (180+10 for the drive and enclosure)

Is removing the optical drive easy to do? Do you think option 2 is better between the two (I would probably install the fusion drive software). I don't use the evd drive much and do have an external laying around fwiw.

Thanks for any opinions
Click to expand...


it's quite easy, yes. - i put in two SSDs and run them in raid-0. killer speed, up to 1GByte / sec. on MBP 2012 and 550 on MBP 2011 ..
 
dukebound85 said:
To those that have done it, what are your thoughts on this upgrade?

I am thinking of 2 cases

1) Upgrade to a 512gb SSD as my sole drive (~370 on amazon)

2) Try the optibay method. Keep the current 500gb 5400rpm drive and add a 256gb ssd (180+10 for the drive and enclosure)

Is removing the optical drive easy to do? Do you think option 2 is better between the two (I would probably install the fusion drive software). I don't use the evd drive much and do have an external laying around fwiw.

Thanks for any opinions
Click to expand...

Installing optibay is pretty easy so I would go with option 2.
All you need is couple screw drivers and the optibay.

I carry the 1TB 5400rpm in my ODD for datas and they are flawless.
It does take couple seconds to load folders with many files but its not a big deal for me.
Unless thats a turn off for you, I would go with option 2.
Another bit downside for optibay is that its really hard to find the necessary screws to remove the ODD.
And some of them are extremely tight.
In the process or removal, I nearly stripped one of the screws.
As long as you are careful that shouldnt be a problem though.
 
I see that the m4 512gb has dropped 30 bucks or so since I have made this thread, which is making this a bit tempting. Is the m4 a good choice? Any issues with this drive?
 
dukebound85 said:
I see that the m4 512gb has dropped 30 bucks or so since I have made this thread, which is making this a bit tempting. Is the m4 a good choice? Any issues with this drive?
Click to expand...

The only thing I hate about the M4 is the write speed. It's just not up to par with some of others that aren't much more expensive.

Right now I see an M4 256GB for $200, and the write speed is in the 250mb/s range. And then an SSD 10 or 20 dollars more has a 450 write type numbers.
 
johnnnw said:
The only thing I hate about the M4 is the write speed. It's just not up to par with some of others that aren't much more expensive.

Right now I see an M4 256GB for $200, and the write speed is in the 250mb/s range. And then an SSD 10 or 20 dollars more has a 450 write type numbers.
Click to expand...

which ssd are you referring to?
 
I would actually wait, the crucial m4 is the first controller with sata 3 speeds, that means it was released in 2010. Its a great controller, and in the most important metric which isnt sequential read and writes, but low queue depth random writes, it performs quite well.

Thing is crucial is going to launch a new line of SSD in the market pretty soon, their estimates are that the 1tb ssd would cost 600 bucks, and thats really cheap.

We have some info on that controller, you can already see it on the plextor m5m
 
Mr MM said:
I would actually wait, the crucial m4 is the first controller with sata 3 speeds, that means it was released in 2010. Its a great controller, and in the most important metric which isnt sequential read and writes, but low queue depth random writes, it performs quite well.

Thing is crucial is going to launch a new line of SSD in the market pretty soon, their estimates are that the 1tb ssd would cost 600 bucks, and thats really cheap.

We have some info on that controller, you can already see it on the plextor m5m
Click to expand...

Whats the timeline on this? Month? End of the year?

----------
dukebound85 said:
which ssd are you referring to?
Click to expand...

Vertex 4, 840 Pro is 15 more dollars very often, which when you think about the life of the drive that's nothing.

It just doesn't seem worth the price when you think about it.
 
in all probability in this quarter they have announced it in january or the next one
 
glenthompson said:
My plan is to replace my 750gb drive with a 512gb 840 Pro and keep the optical. If I ever need the space I can replace the optical with another SSD or the original drive. I currently use about 280gb of space.
Click to expand...

Why not get something from Crucial? Besides being an American company, their drives are a lot more reliable (and can handle more writes than an 840 besides). The 840 is particularly buggy even for Samsung, and besides that it's TEEEEEEERRIBLE without TRIM support, which OS X doesn't have properly (unless you're willing to hack the OS).
 
paul-n said:
The Samsung 840 500 GB is also a good choice in price/performance.
Click to expand...

I ended up going this route. The 500gig drive is listed at 279, which is the cheapest I have seen.

I realize it is TLC as opposed to MLC but by all indications, the expected lifetimes should still be more than enough for me.
 
Wolfpup said:
Why not get something from Crucial? Besides being an American company, their drives are a lot more reliable (and can handle more writes than an 840 besides). The 840 is particularly buggy even for Samsung, and besides that it's TEEEEEEERRIBLE without TRIM support, which OS X doesn't have properly (unless you're willing to hack the OS).
Click to expand...

You don't have to hack OS X to get TRIM support. All you have to do is download Groths TRIM Enabler, install it and restart the computer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back