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VERY disappointed with my SSD, what could be the problem?
- Thread starter Baral
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I notice my system drags significantly if I so much as have an external HDD hooked up. I have not tried using hooking a HHD directly up to system, but I could see it just being present slowing the machine down.
Luckily I don't have a need to tons of local storage, so I can get by with 128 now, and 256 here shortly, but I couldn't ever use a HDD again on my personal machine. They are just too slow.
I have zero problems with my SSD handling the entire load of daily use. Just use some utilities to keep your machine clean. I like CleanMyMac for the basic binary, cache, and language files. I delete over a gig a month of junk. I am much more tedious with keeping my machine rid of unnecessary programs than I was when I had hundreds of gigs.
There are number of lower level tools to use for repairing permissions and various things with the disk and OS as time goes on. But your (OP) system is a fresh install, so I would believe that it's the result of it physically being attached to the machine.
Luckily I don't have a need to tons of local storage, so I can get by with 128 now, and 256 here shortly, but I couldn't ever use a HDD again on my personal machine. They are just too slow.
I have zero problems with my SSD handling the entire load of daily use. Just use some utilities to keep your machine clean. I like CleanMyMac for the basic binary, cache, and language files. I delete over a gig a month of junk. I am much more tedious with keeping my machine rid of unnecessary programs than I was when I had hundreds of gigs.
There are number of lower level tools to use for repairing permissions and various things with the disk and OS as time goes on. But your (OP) system is a fresh install, so I would believe that it's the result of it physically being attached to the machine.
I would also completely and physically remove the HDD from your system to see what happens. The hardware controllers for the HDD may *still* be spinning up the drive and putting a delay on the internal SATA bus, even with the drive unmounted. You'd think unmounting the drive would be sufficient, but who knows?
Given that your speeds are considerably slower than the rest of us running SSDs, it's probably worth the hassle of removing the drive (or at least, unplugging the internal SATA cable) to see what happens. Perhaps a long shot, but it's the only thing left that I can think of which is slowing your system.
Given that your speeds are considerably slower than the rest of us running SSDs, it's probably worth the hassle of removing the drive (or at least, unplugging the internal SATA cable) to see what happens. Perhaps a long shot, but it's the only thing left that I can think of which is slowing your system.
Okay replace the main drive with the HDD. Run XBENCH
Then reinstall the SSD as main. Run XBENCH
Compare the numbers and case closed.
I have the exact same drive in my 2008 aluminum macbook. Here are my numbers: (2ghz c2d)
Results 225.86
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.6.3 (10D578)
Physical RAM 4096 MB
Model MacBook5,1
Drive Type INTEL SSDSA2M080G2GC
Disk Test 225.86
Sequential 168.84
Uncached Write 135.44 83.16 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 145.64 82.40 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 142.60 41.73 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 411.63 206.88 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 341.05
Uncached Write 244.37 25.87 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 168.65 53.99 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 1412.39 10.01 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 1001.13 185.77 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Your Numbers.
Sequential
Uncached Write 84.92 MB/sec [4k blocks]
Uncached Write 76.24 MB/sec [256k blocks]
Uncached Read 52.18 MB/sec [4k blocks]
Uncached Read 204.52 MB/sec [256k blocks]
Random
Uncached Write 71.03 MB/sec [4k blocks]
Uncached Write 79.15 MB/sec [256k blocks]
Uncached Read 17.69 MB/sec [4k blocks]
Uncached Read 171.21 MB/sec [256k blocks]
Then reinstall the SSD as main. Run XBENCH
Compare the numbers and case closed.
I have the exact same drive in my 2008 aluminum macbook. Here are my numbers: (2ghz c2d)
Results 225.86
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.6.3 (10D578)
Physical RAM 4096 MB
Model MacBook5,1
Drive Type INTEL SSDSA2M080G2GC
Disk Test 225.86
Sequential 168.84
Uncached Write 135.44 83.16 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 145.64 82.40 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 142.60 41.73 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 411.63 206.88 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 341.05
Uncached Write 244.37 25.87 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 168.65 53.99 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 1412.39 10.01 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 1001.13 185.77 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Your Numbers.
Sequential
Uncached Write 84.92 MB/sec [4k blocks]
Uncached Write 76.24 MB/sec [256k blocks]
Uncached Read 52.18 MB/sec [4k blocks]
Uncached Read 204.52 MB/sec [256k blocks]
Random
Uncached Write 71.03 MB/sec [4k blocks]
Uncached Write 79.15 MB/sec [256k blocks]
Uncached Read 17.69 MB/sec [4k blocks]
Uncached Read 171.21 MB/sec [256k blocks]
i can do 7 seconds from power button, intel blows away that kingston you have
Wow. I thought my boot time was fast at 19.5 seconds. That 7 seconds blows mine away! Im jealous!
He's talking about booting after the Apple logo shows up. I get 20 seconds with POST and 7 seconds after the Apple logo.
..., yet my speeds did not seem to improve.
I am truly baffled as to what could be the problem. Man, I'd love to see MS Word open up so fast that I miss the blue box thing that pops up.
I learned a lot recently by reviewing the thread SSD read/write speeds. I got some great links off it, but it took me hours to get through it with all the links involved.
IMHO, the best was an article I had to print out because I'm so stupid when it comes to many terms/instructions- called-"How to shift iTunes libraries" by Christopher Breen, Playlist Magazine. Maybe Google or MRoogle it.
He gives 2 ways to to do the above. It might help perhaps.
Would def like to see that. 7 second cold boot load time is pretty quick. (Of course, it never happened without vid.
But I have no complaints regarding my Kingston. Works flawlessly and required no firmware updates. Supports TRIM and SMART, once those are available on 10.6.5. And less than 1 second load times for any app is what really concerned me, not boot times, but I still find 16 seconds extremely quick for cold boot.
I'd hate to hijack this thread, but out of curiousity, is this the V-Series that you have? Is it good? I saw it the other day in Best Buy and I think I might pick it up depending on what people think of it. I might also get this, but what the hell is ADATA. I would get one off the internet, but I hate waiting for things to arrive.
I learned a lot recently by reviewing the thread SSD read/write speeds. I got some great links off it, but it took me hours to get through it with all the links involved.
IMHO, the best was an article I had to print out because I'm so stupid when it comes to many terms/instructions- called-"How to shift iTunes libraries" by Christopher Breen, Playlist Magazine. Maybe Google or MRoogle it.
He gives 2 ways to to do the above. It might help perhaps.
The thing is, I have 0 media files on this new laptop. I haven't transferred any of my music or anything to it yet. All I've done on it for the past three weeks is browse the Internet.
If only TRIM was enabled in OSX, then I wouldn't have to worry about SSD degradation and wouldn't need an internal HDD in the optibay. That way I could keep whatever I wanted on the SSD and write/delete without any worries.
But I just don't understand, plenty of people have the HDD in the optibay and get adequate SSD speeds. Why am I having trouble? There shouldn't be a reason to remove the internal HDD, everyone else can manage without removal.
Did you read the article I gave you above?
Came across another article "Transferring your iTunes Library". by Jesse David Hollington iLounge Magazine Sept 21, 2009.
Just sit back read them and maybe something will spark a question in your mind about transferring files and setting up new HDD/SSD's.
Came across another article "Transferring your iTunes Library". by Jesse David Hollington iLounge Magazine Sept 21, 2009.
Just sit back read them and maybe something will spark a question in your mind about transferring files and setting up new HDD/SSD's.
You moved your entire user directory right? hmm...
/Users/Name/Library/
Mines 20 Gigs. I would have to imagine that is accessed when starting up apps, lol.
/Users/Name/Library/
Mines 20 Gigs. I would have to imagine that is accessed when starting up apps, lol.
Like you, I have done meticulous research on SSDs. I actually have read the article you mentioned. I have maybe 3 or 4 articles bookmarked on how to transfer iTunes library and the like.
But that can't possibly be an issue here, as I have 0 music on this new machine. I have no music, no videos, no photos, etc.
And corndog, my Users/Name/Library folder is 141 mb, because this is a brand new laptop. Regardless, I switched the entire Users folder back to the SSD and felt next to no gain in speed.
The suggestion that the speed is slowing down merely because the HDD is present in the laptop may be correct, but how come thousands of other people can make it work but I can't. This really stinks, I paid good money for this setup.
The suggestion that the speed is slowing down merely because the HDD is present in the laptop may be correct, but how come thousands of other people can make it work but I can't. This really stinks, I paid good money for this setup.
Troubleshooting works best when you test. We don't know that's the problem until you try it and it's only to identify - or eliminate - the HDD as the culprit.
I've also read a tremendous amount about TRIM, SSDs, etc. Here's my very best advice: ignore everything you've read about SSD degradation. Just use your drive. Period. Don't worry about "filling it up". Under the absolute, worse case, fully degraded from constant random small-file writes, the write-speed will decrease to something in the neighborhood of twice as fast as your HDD. Under optimum conditions, the SSD is about 4-5 times as fast. So, who cares! And if you've read about the Intel, you'll know that a large, sequential write of a big file will RESTORE the SSD to as-new performance.
This whole TRIM debate is misunderstood by nearly everyone, and arises from highly technical benchmarks by reviewers, that just rejoiced in finding something to write about in the reviews of early SSDs. The firmware in all modern SSDs - including your Intel - have wear-leveling and garbage management built in. Hence, a large, sequential write will restore the drive.
Also, please note, degradation is WRITE PERFORMANCE ONLY, and even then, only small, random writes. READ PERFORMANCE does NOT degrade. And frankly, most of what you use an SSD/HDD for is READ performance. App opening, bootup, most of the snappiness of your computer is attributed to read performance, and even here, the latency and seek-time of the drive is more important than the overall sustained read speed as well. It's this decrease in seek time where SSDs really outperform traditional platters. So, just stop worrying about TRIM, degradation, and all that cr*p. Use the drive. Enjoy. Personally, I'd dump the on-board HDD permanently (and indeed, I did!). When/if you need substantial storage, use an external drive.
If you don't believe what I'm advising here, here's the very best article ever written on write-degradation on the Intel SSD drives.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3618/intel-x25v-in-raid0-faster-than-x25m-g2-for-250/6
Please read this - the title is "Missing TRIM - does it matter?" Or, I can save you the time. The answer is NO. Here's the last sentence from the link, above: "The good news is that even if you bombard the X25-Vs with random writes, the drives can quickly recover as soon as they're hit with some sequential data."
This whole TRIM debate is just mind-numbing. In this case, honestly, ignorance IS bliss.
This whole TRIM debate is misunderstood by nearly everyone, and arises from highly technical benchmarks by reviewers, that just rejoiced in finding something to write about in the reviews of early SSDs. The firmware in all modern SSDs - including your Intel - have wear-leveling and garbage management built in. Hence, a large, sequential write will restore the drive.
Also, please note, degradation is WRITE PERFORMANCE ONLY, and even then, only small, random writes. READ PERFORMANCE does NOT degrade. And frankly, most of what you use an SSD/HDD for is READ performance. App opening, bootup, most of the snappiness of your computer is attributed to read performance, and even here, the latency and seek-time of the drive is more important than the overall sustained read speed as well. It's this decrease in seek time where SSDs really outperform traditional platters. So, just stop worrying about TRIM, degradation, and all that cr*p. Use the drive. Enjoy. Personally, I'd dump the on-board HDD permanently (and indeed, I did!). When/if you need substantial storage, use an external drive.
If you don't believe what I'm advising here, here's the very best article ever written on write-degradation on the Intel SSD drives.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3618/intel-x25v-in-raid0-faster-than-x25m-g2-for-250/6
Please read this - the title is "Missing TRIM - does it matter?" Or, I can save you the time. The answer is NO. Here's the last sentence from the link, above: "The good news is that even if you bombard the X25-Vs with random writes, the drives can quickly recover as soon as they're hit with some sequential data."
This whole TRIM debate is just mind-numbing. In this case, honestly, ignorance IS bliss.
Well guys, I found myself with a few hours this afternoon so here it goes - I just removed my optibay, put the superdrive back in, and as I type this I'm in the process of reinstalling a fresh copy of Snow Leopard to my SSD. Let's see how it goes with no HDD in the system whatsoever. Fingers crossed!
diablo, I read about the fact that a large sequential write will restore SSD speed. That's why before I install Snow Leopard, I'm following this guide:
http://jasontomczak.com/2010/06/21/reconditioning-an-ssd-on-the-mac-for-free/
Makes sense, right?