The Samsung 830 SSD thread

[Squuiid]

If it was the RAM - wouldn't you expect Memtest to fail? That's always been the rule of thumb for PC's/Windows (which I'm coming from) so I can't imagine why OSX (FreeBSD/Unix) would be any different.

I always thought this was the case, yes, but I've seen Macs PASS all RAM tests, but be unstable in general usage. I replaced the stock RAM and ALL my issues disappeared.
RAM tests are a good rule of thumb, and like you, I always thought that a good Memtestx86 result was enough, but not on Macs it seems.

As someone suggested, replace the RAM with stock, rebuild the OS and see if you are stable.

 

[Sasha-1]

I always thought this was the case, yes, but I've seen Macs PASS all RAM tests, but be unstable in general usage. I replaced the stock RAM and ALL my issues disappeared.
RAM tests are a good rule of thumb, and like you, I always thought that a good Memtestx86 result was enough, but not on Macs it seems.

As someone suggested, replace the RAM with stock, rebuild the OS and see if you are stable.

This is my experience as well. I don't bother with RAM tests. I go by real world use. If you are a heavy user, as I am, you'll have a really good feel for your machine. I generate huge amounts of data. Had 8 different InDesign layouts opened, illustrator running, photoshop running, email, web, iTunes, FTP. If there is a flaw I'll find it.

 

[Acejam2k]

I always thought this was the case, yes, but I've seen Macs PASS all RAM tests, but be unstable in general usage. I replaced the stock RAM and ALL my issues disappeared.
RAM tests are a good rule of thumb, and like you, I always thought that a good Memtestx86 result was enough, but not on Macs it seems.

As someone suggested, replace the RAM with stock, rebuild the OS and see if you are stable.

No need - I'm already back on the stock 4GB RAM for the past week or so and everything has been working great. It looks like my SSD is fine, and my RAM was the issue.

Debating now between the OWC 8GB or 16GB kit. I noticed the OWC 16GB kit is now down to $359 in price. (It was $395 just a few days ago, and $400 before that)

 

[Sasha-1]

No need - I'm already back on the stock 4GB RAM for the past week or so and everything has been working great. It looks like my SSD is fine, and my RAM was the issue.

Debating now between the OWC 8GB or 16GB kit. I noticed the OWC 16GB kit is now down to $359 in price. (It was $395 just a few days ago, and $400 before that)

$359!! That's insanely low. Wow! People paid more than a thousand a few months ago. Just last month it was just under $600. Love to see prices dropping like that.

If you really do run a ton of active apps at the same time, then go for it. If not, 8 GBs is fine. I mostly like 16 GBs because I don't ever want to see the Mac choke. If I'm in InDesign or Quark and I need to open multiple layouts, and then edit it both Illustrator and Photoshop, I want it to just pop up instantly. As effortlessly as if I were opening notepad as the sole running app.

 

[bozzza]

I'm actually using Crucial RAM right now, so over the weekend, I might move back to the stock RAM and see how it goes.

I will try the Black Magic disk test to see if I can get the same error.

EDIT: After typing in " ls -hal /var/vm " into the terminal, I'm getting:

total 131072
drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102B Dec 13 20:04 .
drwxr-xr-x 28 root wheel 952B Dec 2 21:16 ..
-rw------- 1 root wheel 64M Dec 13 20:04 swapfile0

20:04 was the time of my most recent crash...

So it seems like my problem is gone - it turns out that the Macbook SATA cable was the culprit. I found that if I tilt the disk out of the Macbook (while running with an open case!), everything works as expected. Putting it back in seemed to cause problem with the speed test again. So i added some aluminium foil shielding (grounded to the case!), made sure the cable was not twisted/stressed, and that the connection to the disk port was tight. Since then I have not had any beachball issues and the speed test completes without a problem... I hope it stays this way - I'll report any changes


I'm a little disappointed Apple - I buy Macs because they are supposed to just work...

 

[gcnet22]

I just bough this driver for my early 11 13" mb pro. It is awesome! The only thing I have an issue with is it seems to be loose. When ever I carry my mac, it seems to flop around a bit inside. Did I miss something during the install? Any suggestions?

 

[macchiato2009]

after reading reviews of the Samsung 810 SSD, and feedbacks here about the Intel 510, considering the recent issues of Crucial M4 (and the necessity of update the firmware), it seems like more reliable and safe to go for a Samsung or an Intel SSD

- Intel SSD: reliable, works fine, but a bit pricey
- Samsung: excellent bang for the buck, like Intel 510, no performance deterioration over time


clearly not the 2 fastest but the figures are purely max theorical transfer rates

i guess that to avoid beachballs or freezes, going for these 2 SSD is the the right choice

what do you think?

 

[Weaselboy]

I just bough this driver for my early 11 13" mb pro. It is awesome! The only thing I have an issue with is it seems to be loose. When ever I carry my mac, it seems to flop around a bit inside. Did I miss something during the install? Any suggestions?

If you hear a rattle, something is definitely wrong. I would take it back apart and figure out what's up.

Did you transfer the four little nubby screw things from the old drive to the new one? They use a Torx #6 driver. Those nubs sit in little rubber isolators that cushion the drive and it should not rattle at all.

 

[gcnet22]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

That might be it...oops lol thanks!

 

[Shredder-]

Just installed a 128GB 830 a few days ago in my 2011 13" i5. What a difference from the stock HDD! Zero problems so far, and I have not enabled TRIM. Super quiet too

Image

Can you define "super quiet"? I got a MBP 13" Late 2011, and with the HDD the fan is really quiet, but not DEAD silent. if i'm alone in the room i can hear the fan working. I'm gonna upgrade to SSD eventually. Is it as everyone says though, completely silent? Like you can't even hear the fan if you put your ear to the keyboard?

 

[Acejam2k]

Can you define "super quiet"? I got a MBP 13" Late 2011, and with the HDD the fan is really quiet, but not DEAD silent. if i'm alone in the room i can hear the fan working. I'm gonna upgrade to SSD eventually. Is it as everyone says though, completely silent? Like you can't even hear the fan if you put your ear to the keyboard?

An SSD is flash memory. It's dead silent, it literally is inaudible and doesn't make any noise. If you're hearing noises - it's from the computer's CPU/GPU fans, or the opitcal DVD/CD-ROM drive.

 

[Shredder-]

An SSD is flash memory. It's dead silent, it literally is inaudible and doesn't make any noise. If you're hearing noises - it's from the computer's CPU/GPU fans, or the opitcal DVD/CD-ROM drive.

well, how do i know where the noise is coming from right now? how do i know its my hdd and not the dvd or whatever? i hear a super super light breeze, the "standard"

 

[Acejam2k]

well, how do i know where the noise is coming from right now? how do i know its my hdd and not the dvd or whatever? i hear a super super light breeze, the "standard"

Easy. Make sure you're DVD drive is empty. If you still hear noise, it's either your HDD or CPU/GPU fan. CPU/GPU fans will emit air under the screen towards the rear of the computer at the vent.

 

[Shredder-]

Easy. Make sure you're DVD drive is empty. If you still hear noise, it's either your HDD or CPU/GPU fan. CPU/GPU fans will emit air under the screen towards the rear of the computer at the vent.

Well, as i said, i do hear a very quiet fan working. how do i know this will change if i put an SSD in? lets just assume the DVD is not making any noise (as i don't have a CD injected atm)

If it actually is the CPU / GPU making noise, then the SSD won't make any good will it?

how do i know its the HDD or CPU making noise?
Partly buying the SSD to get a completely silent macbook, so..

 

[onions]

Well, as i said, i do hear a very quiet fan working. how do i know this will change if i put an SSD in? lets just assume the DVD is not making any noise (as i don't have a CD injected atm)

If it actually is the CPU / GPU making noise, then the SSD won't make any good will it?

how do i know its the HDD or CPU making noise?
Partly buying the SSD to get a completely silent macbook, so..

the CPU doesn't make noise. it's the fan making noise to cool off the CPU. fans will also start up to cool off your GPU if you're doing something GPU intensive like playing a game.

if your CPU is making noise, there's something wrong with your computer.

if you want a completely silent machine, get an iPad.

 

[Shredder-]

the CPU doesn't make noise. it's the fan making noise to cool off the CPU. fans will also start up to cool off your GPU if you're doing something GPU intensive like playing a game.

if your CPU is making noise, there's something wrong with your computer.

if you want a completely silent machine, get an iPad.

well, my previous macbook was deadsilent, and people who buy SSD claims to get really silent computers too. i just wanna check to see if we're on the same page when defining "silent". My question though, if my computer is making noise (no i don't know whats causing it, but every macbook does) will the SSD guarantee it to be dead silent? i guess my macbook now is by definition quiet, but i want it inaudible

 

[macchiato2009]

I previously had a mbp and an imac running both on hdd
Then replaced by a ssd

They were quiet and sometimes depending on workload i could hear the hdd or the fans running

With the ssd, it's absolutely dead silent

The thing is the sensor is detecting heat from the hdd and the overall system is trying to ventilate

While with a ssd, absolutely no noise, no heat...

 

[Shredder-]

I previously had a mbp and an imac running both on hdd
Then replaced by a ssd

They were quiet and sometimes depending on workload i could hear the hdd or the fans running

With the ssd, it's absolutely dead silent

The thing is the sensor is detecting heat from the hdd and the overall system is trying to ventilate

While with a ssd, absolutely no noise, no heat...

amazing, really wanna get an ssd now

 

[SGinAZ]

Samsung 830 in Late 2008 13" Unibody

Quick question. I've read where putting an SATA III SSD into a SATA II macbook can result in the speed dropping down to SATA I speeds (OWC, OCZ - pre-firmware fix). Does the Samsung 830 have this issue. Anyone in my situation that has this drive and can provide feedback?

I'd buy a Samsung 470 but reasonable priced ones seem to be scarce right now.

Thanks!

 

[snowman1]

Quick question. I've read where putting an SATA III SSD into a SATA II macbook can result in the speed dropping down to SATA I speeds (OWC, OCZ - pre-firmware fix). Does the Samsung 830 have this issue. Anyone in my situation that has this drive and can provide feedback?

I'd buy a Samsung 470 but reasonable priced ones seem to be scarce right now.

Thanks!

Nope! I have a SATA II MBP w/ Samsung 830 and the negotiated link speed is still SATA II.

 

[mpaquette]

Has anyone tried the 512 GB version of the 830? I'm thinking of putting one in my early 2011 MBP.

 

[Acejam2k]

It looks like Samsung has released new firmware for the 830 series SSD. Has anyone managed to successfully update their drive?

I have Windows 7 installed via Bootcamp. I tried using the "Windows solution" update method, but that does not appear to work. The machine reboots (it says it is supposed to) and I'm left with the old firmware version after the reboot.

I'm currently trying to build a custom rEFIt USB stick that has a 2nd partition, consisting of Samsung's USB update utility.

 

[rheb1026]

Can you define "super quiet"? I got a MBP 13" Late 2011, and with the HDD the fan is really quiet, but not DEAD silent. if i'm alone in the room i can hear the fan working. I'm gonna upgrade to SSD eventually. Is it as everyone says though, completely silent? Like you can't even hear the fan if you put your ear to the keyboard?

With the fans spinning at 2000 rpm I cannot hear a single thing with the computer sitting on my lap. Obviously if I put my ear right up next to the vent I can hear a slight whirring and feel the air. As the fan speed increases it becomes more audible

No hard drive noise anymore though (the clicking noise)

 

[jasonki32]

It looks like Samsung has released new firmware for the 830 series SSD. Has anyone managed to successfully update their drive?

I have Windows 7 installed via Bootcamp. I tried using the "Windows solution" update method, but that does not appear to work. The machine reboots (it says it is supposed to) and I'm left with the old firmware version after the reboot.

I'm currently trying to build a custom rEFIt USB stick that has a 2nd partition, consisting of Samsung's USB update utility.

I just did the update and worked fine on mine. It is showing the new firmware version. It shouldn't reboot, it should actually shut your computer down and you should have to hit the power button.

 

[Acejam2k]

I just did the update and worked fine on mine. It is showing the new firmware version. It shouldn't reboot, it should actually shut your computer down and you should have to hit the power button.

How did you perform the update? Can you list the exact steps? I am assuming you ran the Samsung Magician Suite directly in a Bootcamp partition of Windows, and ran the "Windows Solution" to update the drive while booted into Windows?

On another note, it seems that a few users have reported BSOD's and their SSD's disappearing on a couple of other forums. In reaction, it looks like Samsung has taken the firmware down off their site, as it is no longer listed.