Sounds like this might be the best way for me. Would you be able to explain to me how to do this. Do I need to actually install Windows on my machine, or can I just use the bootcamp assistant that is installed to partition the drive and such? Hope I am not asking too much here. I apologize for my lack of knowledge.
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The Samsung 840/840 Pro SSD thread
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Sounds like this might be the best way for me. Would you be able to explain to me how to do this. Do I need to actually install Windows on my machine, or can I just use the bootcamp assistant that is installed to partition the drive and such? Hope I am not asking too much here. I apologize for my lack of knowledge.
You would have to install a minimal basic Windows BootCamp installation in order to have a bootable Windows environment. Then, run the SSD updater from within that Windows installation. When you are done, you can use BootCamp Assistant to remove all traces of the Windows installation and return the disk space to OS X if desired. You can run in the "trial mode" without having to enter a authorization code, so any Windows disk or download will do.
Although, this method would be more time consuming, it would certainly be quicker than what you have already been through trying to get the update. You could keep the Windows installation if you have a use for it, entering the authorization code before the trial period runs out.
Good luck...
-howard
Thanks for the info. I'm not sure if I want to go that route yet, but at least I know it's an option. This is so frustrating. If I do go this route and partition for Bootcamp and then remove the Windows partition afterwards it won't wipe the Mac part of the drive will it? Will XP work? I think I have an old XP disk from my old computer. Otherwise, I will have to download Windows 7, if I do this do I need to create a cd of it or can it just be left on the computer? Lastly, if I do it this way I would use the windows ISO, correct? When I use the ISO cd for the 840 update, do I boot holding option the exact same way and select the disk to boot to and it just automatically uses windows? Thanks for the help.
Does anyone have any idea why the Windows ISO seems to be burning properly and getting recognized as a bootable drive while the Mac version isn't? Is there any way I can somehow mix the components to make this work? Thanks.
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No, it won't damage the OS X image, but I would use the BootCamp Assistant to remove the partition to avoid any possible "operator error".
I don't think the latest BootCamp works with XP, I would suggest Window 7. I think you can download an evaluation .iso from Microsoft which should work fine. System restore disks shipped with retail computers often won't install on anything but the intended hardware, unless a standard Windows installation disk is supplied. If you download a Windows .iso file, BootCamp Assistant may offer to create a USB flash drive with it (Mac model dependent), or you can create a bootable optical disk using Disk Utility.
I am suspicious of the validity of the Mac download you are getting ... it may be defective and Samsung is unaware of that. You might contact them and ask. I used a different file for the 840 Pro models and it worked fine. If you are curious, you might download that one, follow the exact same procedure you used previously to make a CD from it, and then see if it is bootable. It won't update your SSD as it has the wrong code, but if it boots, you will have more evidence that the correct file is defective.
-howard
No, it won't damage the OS X image, but I would use the BootCamp Assistant to remove the partition to avoid any possible "operator error".
I don't think the latest BootCamp works with XP, I would suggest Window 7. I think you can download an evaluation .iso from Microsoft which should work fine. System restore disks shipped with retail computers often won't install on anything but the intended hardware, unless a standard Windows installation disk is supplied. If you download a Windows .iso file, BootCamp Assistant may offer to create a USB flash drive with it (Mac model dependent), or you can create a bootable optical disk using Disk Utility.
I am suspicious of the validity of the Mac download you are getting ... it may be defective and Samsung is unaware of that. You might contact them and ask. I used a different file for the 840 Pro models and it worked fine. If you are curious, you might download that one, follow the exact same procedure you used previously to make a CD from it, and then see if it is bootable. It won't update your SSD as it has the wrong code, but if it boots, you will have more evidence that the correct file is defective.
-howard
Howard,
Thanks for the help. Yeah, I was starting to draw that conclusion myself, it seems that it is the only likely solution. I will probably try and get in touch with Samsung tomorrow and see what they say. If they don't help me then I will just do the bootcamp thing. Thanks again for all the help!
Just wanted to say thanks to everyone, especially Sandboxgeneral and Howard, for the help in updating my 840. I was not able to get the Mac ISO to boot, so I ending up just installing Windows 7 in Bootcamp and updating through windows with the provided Magician software. Then I simply deleted the Bootcamp partition. It definitely was a bit time costuming, but at least now I won't be throwing dollar bills in the garbage going through all these CD's. Hope the next update isn't this difficult. Thanks again for all of the help and advice, like I said in my first post, this is my first Mac and you guys, here on the forum, have been a font of helpful knowledge. God bless!
Whew! ... Glad you finally got it updated!
Now you can get back to more fun stuff ...
-howard
iThought he uses checksums, so that the TRIM-enabler does not destroy your system. Not!?
He writes:
Cindori said:
Cool. I'm glad you got it updated in the end. Too bad it didn't work the way it should have on the Mac side. But thankfully there were other options.
Fascinating. I knew there had to be something wrong with Groths. Now lets see how long it takes him to patch it once exams are over.
I've noticed the exact same thing with my 840 pro after installing it. It was cloned, so not a clean install but I haven't had more than 3 hrs of charge after installing the SSD. The old 5400rpm drive definitely had better battery life for me. FYI, I'm not doing anything processor intense, just reading articles online and sending emails. Thoughts on what might be happening and what I can do?
Nothing you can do about the power consumption of the 840 Pro per se. You can implement good power management practices on the computer (there are quite a few of those), or replace the battery with a new one, if its health is lower than, say, 90% or so.
One of the reasons I chose the 840 Pro was its good power consumption figures. I'm definitely glad I didn't go with the OCZ Vertex 4, which was on my shortlist, and has much worse power numbers.
Watching disk activity with iStat Menus, I see tiny writes happening with great frequency, even when the system appears idle. And, the graphs in the link above show a huge delta (roughly 10X) between idle and write power consumption. So in theory you might be able to leverage these facts by using a RAM disk, and setting everything up to do as many of your writes as possible to that (I've seen guides for configuring Macs to do this), and flushing the RAM disk contents only as necessary or when on the power adapter. There are lots of little writes performed by the OS and applications that don't need to go to the SSD at all, such as caches, and some that ultimately do need to go to the SSD, but might be deferred, albeit at a risk that a crash could lose valuable data. I haven't tried this strategy myself; if anyone here tries it, please post your findings.
Other than that, anything you can do to avoid accessing the SSD while on battery will probably help, e.g. launching apps ahead of time while still plugged in, or copying video files onto a RAM disk while still plugged in, then opening them from there. Whether or not these things make a noticeable difference is another question, though.
I expect future-generation SSDs to become better about conserving power.
I guess I don't understand what could be causing that much drainage. Battery health is normal with capacity of 5672mAh. I turned it on with 50% left and it was all drained down to 9% after just an 85 minutes of reading new articles. How is performance that poor compared to the original Hdd?
I had horrible battery life with my 840 PRO also, until i disabled Trim this week and my battery life went right back up...
I don't have Trim enabled. Could it have anything to do with backing up information from my old hard drive during the setup of OS X?
I don't think so. You could re-apply the Combo updater for your OS version,or reinstall the OS, but I think its a waste of time.
You could look at Activity Monitor and see if any processes are running hungry. Even iStat Menus uses substantial processor time.
I looked at Activity Monitor and there arent any processes that are really using up more than 10% cumulative of the CPU. Disk Activity is a max of 935kb/sec.
What model of Macbook Pro do you have? I have an Early 2011: design capacity of the battery is 6900 mA, my current capacity is 6150 mAh after 311 cycles.
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For light use, 10% is a little high. What are the top 5 processes, in percentage and CPU time (you can sort the list by those columns)?
It jumps around, but:
chrome 4-10%
flash plug-in for chrome 3.8%
google chrome renderer 3-4%
activity monitor 1.8%
google chrome renderer .1% (not sure why but yes there is a 2nd one)
I have a mid-2009 Macbook pro, i have 5700mAh left, says condition is "normal"
Chrome is about 8.5hrs (8:30)
The others are about 2hrs 20 minutes.
Laptop has either been in sleep mode or charging.
I wouldn't expect a nearly 4 year old battery to be much good in any case, but I realize that does not speak to the difference you've seen between HDD and SSD.
In any case, I recommend replacing your battery. There are alternatives for you, but they are bandaids.