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The Samsung 840/840 Pro SSD thread

johnnnw said:
Awesome! Thank you very much!

I need a little explanation though, what does having the ODD on the main sata bus mean? Are you saying to put the new 840 Pro into the spot where the old HDD was originally?

And I burn the ISO to a DVD?
Click to expand...

The firmware will not work unless it's in a ROM drive connected to the main SATA bus of the computer, external USB/FW/TB drives will not work with it.

The 840 can be anywhere in the computer as long as it's on the main SATA bus as well, no external setups.
 
I've been considering upgrading to a samsung SSD in my 2012 MBP, but I've heard you can't update the firmware; that you need a PC to do so? I'm unfamiliar with SSD's so can someone give me a quick lesson?

WHOOPS! My question was answered from a previous post.
 
Prof. said:
I've been considering upgrading to a samsung SSD in my 2012 MBP, but I've heard you can't update the firmware; that you need a PC to do so? I'm unfamiliar with SSD's so can someone give me a quick lesson?

WHOOPS! My question was answered from a previous post.
Click to expand...

Haha! What a coincidence. I'm about to attempt the update as soon as I have time. I too have a 2012 MBP, I really wanted the 840 Pro though. Reviews on it were awesome.

If you're in the USA, look for it on sale. I was able to grab it for 199 a week ago, which is a pretty good deal considering it's the Pro.
 
SandboxGeneral said:
The firmware will not work unless it's in a ROM drive connected to the main SATA bus of the computer, external USB/FW/TB drives will not work with it.

The 840 can be anywhere in the computer as long as it's on the main SATA bus as well, no external setups.
Click to expand...

Thank you, I appreciate the help.

Good thing I haven't switched out the optical drive.
 
Hi everyone,

I will get this SSD today and I will be installing it on weekend. I will be installing it to my Macbook Pro 13".
Can anybody take me through the steps what I have to do? I mean like enabling trimming etc.

Thank you
 
M0esmac said:
Hi everyone,

I will get this SSD today and I will be installing it on weekend. I will be installing it to my Macbook Pro 13".
Can anybody take me through the steps what I have to do? I mean like enabling trimming etc.

Thank you
Click to expand...

Enabling TRIM is a very simple and easy thing to do. There is Groth's TRIM Enabler and Chameleon SSD Optimizer. Groth's is a very basic app that merely turns TRIM on or off. Chameleon not only turns TRIM on and off, but also offers other options and statistical data about the SSD.

I use both, Chameleon on my Macbook Pro and Groth's on my iMac and they both work well.

Additionally, you should check to see if the firmware on the SSD is up-to-date or not. I think most 840's now are shipping with the latest version, but you should check anyway. Here is the Samsung download page where you can get the latest version if you need it.
 
SandboxGeneral said:
Enabling TRIM is a very simple and easy thing to do. There is Groth's TRIM Enabler and Chameleon SSD Optimizer. Groth's is a very basic app that merely turns TRIM on or off. Chameleon not only turns TRIM on and off, but also offers other options and statistical data about the SSD.

I use both, Chameleon on my Macbook Pro and Groth's on my iMac and they both work well.

Additionally, you should check to see if the firmware on the SSD is up-to-date or not. I think most 840's now are shipping with the latest version, but you should check anyway. Here is the Samsung download page where you can get the latest version if you need it.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot.

I'm getting the 840 Pro by the way.

So, I get SSD. If it is latest version I just enable TRIM with Groth or Chameleon and that is it? Do I need to do something else? Maybe you can recommend something that could just make the machine fresh?

EDIT: I just had a read in Chameleons website about Sleep Mode and Hibernate, so which one is my current one? I want it to be exactly as it been before with my HDD.

Thanks again
 
M0esmac said:
So, I get SSD. If it is latest version I just enable TRIM with Groth or Chameleon and that is it?
Click to expand...

Yep.

Do I need to do something else? Maybe you can recommend something that could just make the machine fresh?
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean by fresh.

EDIT: I just had a read in Chameleons website about Sleep Mode and Hibernate, so which one is my current one?

Thanks again
Click to expand...

Sleep mode is what normally the computer does when you close the lid or when you click the Sleep command from the :apple: menu.

Hibernate is when you're on battery power and it's in sleep mode and then the battery drops below something like 20% (I'm not sure what the actual threshold is) and then it writes the contents of the RAM to the SSD and powers itself off or hibernates.
 
SandboxGeneral said:
Yep.



Not sure what you mean by fresh.



Sleep mode is what normally the computer does when you close the lid or when you click the Sleep command from the :apple: menu.

Hibernate is when you're on battery power and it's in sleep mode and then the battery drops below something like 20% (I'm not sure what the actual threshold is) and then it writes the contents of the RAM to the SSD and powers itself off or hibernates.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I will be sure to post something here if everything is successful or not.;)
 
M0esmac said:
Can anybody take me through the steps what I have to do? I mean like enabling trimming etc.
Click to expand...

1. Plug SSD in via USB (need SATA to USB adapter) to format to Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)
2. Clone HDD onto SSD
3. Switch HDD for SSD!
4. Boot normally
5. Click :apple: -> About this Mac -> More info... -> System Report... -> Serial-ATA -> Samsung SSD 840 Pro Series (leave this open)
6. Visit this page and compare your "Revision" against the latest Firmware for the 840 PRO for Macs (bottom of page)
7. If it matches, just enable TRIM if you want (explained above) and stop here
8. If it doesn't match, download the latest Firmware (ensure it's for Macs and your 840), and visit this guide
9. Mount the .iso you downloaded, and burn to disc via Disk Utility (burning without mounting didn't work for me)
10. Reboot and hold 'C'
11. Just type 'Y' and hit Enter to everything that comes up on the instructions. At least, that's what I did for the regular 840 - do read before saying Yes.

Hope that helps - did this about 3 days ago with the regular Samsung 840, on a MacBook Pro. I haven't enabled TRIM.

Steps 1 and 2 are simply to avoid pulling apart your laptop before you're fully ready to switch. Check that the firmware update is not destructive before doing step 10 onwards...if it is, you'll be left with nothing on the SSD, so you'll need to re-clone after updating.
 
Last edited:
andy9l said:
1. Plug SSD in via USB (need SATA to USB adapter) to format to Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)
2. Clone HDD onto SSD
3. Switch HDD for SSD!
4. Boot normally
5. Click :apple: -> About this Mac -> More info... -> System Report... -> Serial-ATA -> Samsung SSD 840 Pro Series (leave this open)
6. Visit this page and compare your "Revision" against the latest Firmware for the 840 PRO for Macs (bottom of page)
7. If it matches, just enable TRIM if you want (explained above) and stop here
8. If it doesn't match, download the latest Firmware (ensure it's for Macs and your 840), and visit this guide
9. Mount the .iso you downloaded, and burn to disc via Disk Utility (burning without mounting didn't work for me)
10. Reboot and hold 'C'
11. Just type 'Y' and hit Enter to everything that comes up on the instructions. At least, that's what I did for the regular 840 - do read before saying Yes.

Hope that helps - did this about 3 days ago with the regular Samsung 840, on a MacBook Pro. I haven't enabled TRIM.

Steps 1 and 2 are simply to avoid pulling apart your laptop before you're fully ready to switch. Check that the firmware update is not destructive before doing step 10 onwards...if it is, you'll be left with nothing on the SSD, so you'll need to re-clone after updating.
Click to expand...

This is great, thanks.

Can you explain why haven't you enabled TRIM?
To be honest, I understand a lot of things but I still don't get TRIM.

It says:
TRIM is a feature that allows solid state drives to automatically handle garbage collection, cleaning up unused blocks of data and preparing them for rewriting, thereby preventing slowdowns that would otherwise occur over time as garbage data accumulates. Support for TRIM has been included in OS X (10.6.7), but Apple decided that native TRIM support is limited to stock Apple drives (users who have installed third-party SSDs into their machines have reported that TRIM is not enabled). Chameleon enables support TRIM changing the driver IOHACIBlockStorage by removing the lock on third-party drives, also a back up copy is included to restore the original, you can find it at:
"/System/Library/Extensions/IOAHCIFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOAHCIBlockStorage.kext/
Contents/MacOS/IOHACIBlockStorage.back".
Click to expand...
So can TRIM potentially slow down the machine, or not enabling it can do that?

BTW, I'm not cloning the hard drive, because I want it to be fresh and I only need one folder which is iTunes folder with all my backups and stuff. What are the steps then? I have 10.8 installed onto the flash drive already.
 
M0esmac said:
This is great, thanks.

Can you explain why haven't you enabled TRIM?
To be honest, I understand a lot of things but I still don't get TRIM.
Click to expand...

I opted not to enable TRIM because the MBP is used very mildly now (it's a 2009 MBP). I use my iMac for the most part. I also only need the drive to last about a year, so I don't think that leaving it disabled will have too much of a negative effect on my personal situation.

Enabling TRIM, although easy, is a work-around - and it requires you to re-enable every update. If you can be bothered, and feel like the benefits outweigh the minor irritation, there doesn't seem to be any reason to hold off enabling it. There's nothing to say I won't get round to enabling it myself soon...

It's entirely your choice, I haven't personally seen any significant advantages or disadvantages to either yet. The drive appears to have relatively decent Garbage Collection, which helps (although this is not an alternative to TRIM).

Edit: Sorry I read your post as another quote - let me continue to answer your questions (one moment!)...

TRIM prevents the drive from slowing down. Basically TRIM enables communication between the OS and the drive. The OS says, "I deleted this file", so the drive handles that. Without TRIM, the drive doesn't necessarily know the file has been "deleted". When you delete a file, you never actually delete the data from the drive - you just remap that particular area on the drive as "writable" again...eventually you'll write over it. That goes for almost ANY drive, SSD or HDD. That is all in Layman's terms, and only my understanding of it.

Ah, in the case of a fresh install (good choice I might add), these are the EXACT steps I took 3 days ago - and I'm all up and running perfectly.

1. Plug in SSD via USB (SATA to USB adapter required)
2. You will get an error message because the drive isn't formatted
3. Click 'Initialise' on the message, and format ("Erase" in Disk Utility) to Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)
4. At this point, I created my OS X Mountain Lion USB installer (which you say you've done)
5. Now turn off the Mac, switch out the HDD for the SSD
6. Put it all back together, plug in the USB installer
7. Power on and hold 'alt' - boot the USB installer
8. Select "Reinstall Mac OS X" and choose the SSD in the setup process
9. After a while you'll be left booted into OS X on your new SSD! :)
10. Now plug in the old HDD via USB, and drag your ~/Music/iTunes folder to the same location on the SSD

That should be it :)
 
Last edited:
andy9l said:
Ah, in the case of a fresh install (good choice I might add), these are the EXACT steps I took 3 days ago - and I'm all up and running perfectly.

1. Plug in SSD via USB (SATA to USB adapter required)
2. You will get an error message because the drive isn't formatted
3. Click 'Initialise' on the message, and format ("Erase" in Disk Utility) to Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)
4. At this point, I created my OS X Mountain Lion USB installer (which you say you've done)
5. Now turn off the Mac, switch out the HDD for the SSD
6. Put it all back together, plug in the USB installer
7. Power on and hold 'alt' - boot the USB installer
8. Select "Reinstall Mac OS X" and choose the SSD in the setup process
9. After a while you'll be left booted into OS X on your new SSD! :)
10. Now plug in the old HDD via USB, and drag your ~/Music/iTunes folder to the same location on the SSD

That should be it :)
Click to expand...

So as I understand you do sync iPhone/iPod/iPad too, so will my Mac see it as an old iPhone and there will be no restore needed if I only drag ~/Music/iTunes folder back? Or do I need to drag ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup folder back too?
 
Ah, I see your problem. I honestly can't comment on what happens there. Remember to authorise your iTunes through your Apple ID before trying to sync - that might help.

I would suggest taking a copy of the backups over to the SSD as you've proposed. It's likely you'll have to re-sync your Music - but you shouldn't have to fully restore any device. It's only the authorised content it'll want to re-sync.
 
Hey guys,

I have the Samsung 840 250GB SSD in my Macbook 2012 Pro, and have a question.

My fan has randomly started to be loud when the computer is idle. I can hear a flutter constantly from the bottom left, and before I switched it out, there was no noise at idle.

I remember reading about the retina macbook pros having fan issues with some of the SSDs installed.... could that be a problem here?

Also, if I take my macbook into apple for them to check it out, do I need to switch out to the original hard drive before? Thanks
 
Got a macbook pro 2010 and just bought a 840 250GB since my old HHD broke. I have installed OSX 10.7 (extended journaled) on the SSD drive, through my Imac.
When i mount it in the SATA cable of the laptop, it wont detect the SSD. A map with a (?) is centered on the screen.

When I placed it in a SATA/USB and connect it to my Imac, it pops up like a normal harddrive does. It doesnt seem to be any problem, works fine! I have even installed chrome on it to see that it is actually works.

Whats going on here? I was really looking forward to be blessed by the speed of the SSD, but right now it feels like **** :eek:

I have searched the web, but havent found any similar problem, so I hope it´s just me making some stupid mistake.

Appreciate all help I can get,
Johan
 
medlem said:
Got a macbook pro 2010 and just bought a 840 250GB since my old HHD broke. I have installed OSX 10.7 (extended journaled) on the SSD drive, through my Imac.
When i mount it in the SATA cable of the laptop, it wont detect the SSD. A map with a (?) is centered on the screen.

When I placed it in a SATA/USB and connect it to my Imac, it pops up like a normal harddrive does. It doesnt seem to be any problem, works fine! I have even installed chrome on it to see that it is actually works.

Whats going on here? I was really looking forward to be blessed by the speed of the SSD, but right now it feels like **** :eek:

I have searched the web, but havent found any similar problem, so I hope it´s just me making some stupid mistake.

Appreciate all help I can get,
Johan
Click to expand...

Installing through the iMac for use with your MBP will likely not work. You should use your MBP when installing OSX. I think this is because the OS installs a custom version of OSX (including drivers etc.) that are unique to the machine performing the install (somebody please correct me if I'm wrong).

Hold Option when booting up your MBP with a USB installer of Mountain Lion (or Lion) inserted. Boot into the USB installer, access disk utility, do a clean erase (just like you did with the iMac - format to "Mac OS extended journaled") then install OSX on to the freshly formatted SSD. That should do the trick.
 
So I downloaded the Samsung 840 Pro Firmware iso and burned it to a DVD by right clicking the file on the desktop and clicking burn, selected dvd, 4x write speed.

When I boot the Mac and hold "C" the disk drive gets loud but then just boots from the hard drive everytime.

I'm just trying to make sure this disk is bootable before I install the SSD and actually run the update.

What am I doing wrong?
 
When I right-clicked and selected "Burn", my DVD was not bootable either. I followed these steps:

  1. Download .ISO, save to desktop
  2. Open Disk Utility
  3. Drag .ISO file to the left panel in Disk Utility
  4. Select the .ISO in the left panel
  5. Drag your blank DVD from the left panel into the 'destination' field
  6. Click burn in top left
 
johnnnw said:
So I downloaded the Samsung 840 Pro Firmware iso and burned it to a DVD by right clicking the file on the desktop and clicking burn, selected dvd, 4x write speed.

When I boot the Mac and hold "C" the disk drive gets loud but then just boots from the hard drive everytime.

I'm just trying to make sure this disk is bootable before I install the SSD and actually run the update.

What am I doing wrong?
Click to expand...

Try holding down the "option" key while booting instead so that the boot choices appear.

andy9l said:
When I right-clicked and selected "Burn", my DVD was not bootable either. I followed these steps:

  1. Download .ISO, save to desktop
  2. Open Disk Utility
  3. Drag .ISO file to the left panel in Disk Utility
  4. Select the .ISO in the left panel
  5. Drag your blank DVD from the left panel into the 'destination' field
  6. Click burn in top left
Click to expand...

Try using just a CD as a DVD is overkill for the amount of space needed to accomplish this task. Also don't do step 5 in your list above.
 
840 Pro 256GB vs 840 Basic 500 GB

What you guys think? The write speed is measurable but I dont think I will ever notice it ... ?
 
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