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What type of of SSD are you using? (If you're using one)

simon lefisch said:
Yes I know that. That's what's stopping me from doing that. Trying to weigh the risk vs reward.
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- I'm having the same considerations. I'd really love to get rid of the spinning disk that's in there right now...
But the only risk, really, is wasting a bit of money. And the new SSD could be repurposed or sold, so the risk is actually pretty minimal.
 
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I noticed that an Emtec SSD seemed to make a point of being SATA I and II compatible even though it's a SATA III drive. Is this a "sales pitch" or has anyone run into any problems running a SATA III SSD on a SATA I or II system?
 
MacRobert10 said:
I'm curious as to what types of SSDs people are putting in their systems. A lot of SSDs seem to be cropping up that I've never heard of, so I'm curious how many if any people are using them. FWIW I have a SanDisk in one of my systems.

What I'd like to know is:

1. The brand - Samsung 850 EVO
2. The size - 500 g
3. How long you've had it - Just installed this one in my 2010 15 - MBP 2 weeks ago after running off an old 180 gig Intel SSD. No problems whatsoever from either of them. I have another Evo in my gaming rig for OS and main programs that is coming up to be a year old now. No issues there either
4. Any problems, and if so, describe them. See Above
5. Price paid (optional since the prices have been going down) - 149 at Best Buy for the 500... cant recall the 250 from last year.... but I use this site:
https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/search?q=SSD&sort=new&restrict_sr=on&feature=legacy_search


For my system I got a SanDisk 120GB about 1.5 years ago and paid about $90 for it (at the time the price was reasonable but they're selling for almost half that now). No problems at all with it.

Thanks!
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Answers in blue.
 
ZVH said:
I noticed that an Emtec SSD seemed to make a point of being SATA I and II compatible even though it's a SATA III drive. Is this a "sales pitch" or has anyone run into any problems running a SATA III SSD on a SATA I or II system?
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- It's a weird marketing choice. All SATA III drives are compatible with SATA I and II machines.

Some SATA II machines, though, have been known to have issues with SATA III drives, including the optical bay interface in 2011 MacBook Pros and, I believe, even the hard drive bay in some older MacBook Pros. But that's a fault or choice on the part of the computer manufacturer, not anything to do with the SATA versions as such.

Out of curiosity, do you have a link?
 
Mid 2010 13" MBP
1. Crucial MX200
2. 250gb
3. just over a year
4. no problems to date
5. $75 shipped on eBay

Late 2012 MM i5
1. (2) Samsung 840 EVO
2. 250gb
3. several months
4. no problems to date
5. $55 shipped for one, $70 shipped the other...both on eBay
 
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The Desktop:

1. The brand: Samsung 840 Evo, 850 Evo, 950 Pro
2. The size: 120, 120, 256
3. How long you've had it: The ~2 yrs, ~1 yr., 3 weeks
4. Any problems, and if so, describe them. No

The Laptop:

1. The brand: Samsung 850 Evo
2. The size: 240
3. How long you've had it: about six months it replaced the 850 Evo that's now in the desktop
4. Any problems, and if so, describe them. No

Wife's Mac:

1. The brand: Kingston
2. The size: 120
3. How long you've had it: Since Christmas
4. Any problems, and if so, describe them. No

Daughters Desktop

1. The brand Sandisk SSD Plus, Samsung 850 Evo
2. The size 240, 120
3. How long you've had it A month or so, ~1yr
4. Any problems, and if so, describe them. No
 
All of my SSD's are from Samsung and vary between models and sizes. I have 830's, 840's and 850's in Windows PC's and my MacBook Pro, plus one as an external drive. I haven't had an issue with any of them through the years.
 
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I got an OWC Mercury about a year and a half ago and it failed. I RMA'd it and the new one has been fine. Here's a quick quote from my original problem:

I thought SSDs were supposed to be problem free!!!

I've been battling periodic lock ups using my system. I finally pulled out a copy of Scannerz and did a test on it and it found a bad block. The only reason I ever got Scannerz was about a year ago I was having problems with my then 5 year old drive. It was toast. It had almost 10GB of bad data on it probably from a head crash. I pulled it and put in an OWC SSD because I thought these things weren't supposed to have problems until they're like 5 years old. Seemed reasonable.

I called the Scannerz people and they told me I could either use Phoenix to copy the data off the drive onto an HD, wipe the SSD and then clone the data back onto the SSD. They said Phoenix would flag any files that failed to be copied in the log files and that way I would know what to replace from back up. The other option they gave me was to completely re-initialize the SSD and restore from a back up. They said the SSD should correct itself using either of these techniques and if it doesn't I should contact OWC for a replacement.

The thing that's ticking me off is that it seems I'm back to being reliant on HDs YET AGAIN!!! I'm using HDs to clone to and restore from and it's time consuming. I used the old OEM drive in the system for 5 years without a problem. Here I am, just about a year later, and an SSD is basically giving me the same types of problems.

Why did the SSD leave a bad block on it and why didn't it correct it. I thought these things could automatically fix these things. If given an option to get a replacement SSD or an HD instead, should I opt for an HD instead? Am I just unlucky?
​
The original post is on this site at: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ssd-problems.1797868/

The post is long and ends up going in a ton of different directions from other peoples input, but basically after needing to re-initializing it about 10 times to clear the problems that kept cropping up, I contacted OWC and they replaced it. The new one hasn't had any problems. Apparently one of the memory chips was defective and for some reason the firmware in the SSD couldn't detect it, probably because it was a weird type of failure.

Since then I also got a SanDisk SSD to use in another system and it hasn't had any problems at all.
 
Hi,

1. Intel 530 series
2. 240GB
3. ccca 1 year
4. Without any problem, 5 years warranty is the key :-D
5. The price was about 130USD (cca 3000 CZK)

Instead of DVD drive i have installed caddy with WD Scorpio Black 750GB (5y warranty too) - my "oldie" was slightly overall upgraded :-D
 
JTToft said:
- If you're thinking of an optical bay solution for one of the drives, keep in mind that your 2011 may have stability issues with SATA III devices in that bay.
Click to expand...

Not to hijack the thread but just so you know the solution for me was this adapter:

http://www.amazon.com/Slimline-SATA...psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=od_aui_detailpages00

Using a traditional caddy I had stability issues with my 850 EVO in the optical bay. With this adapter it runs 100% solid. The trick of course is how to mount it with the cable so it isn't just flopping around in there. I used the lid of a dead DVD drive and fastened the SSD to that. Then fastened the cable so it can't move. It aint pretty but it works and holds the SSD securely in place.
 
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Intel X-25M 2nd generation, 80 GB in my 2009 Aluminum MacBook. I've only had the MacBook for about 4 months, the SSD for 3 months. Got it used online for $40. No problems so far. Manually enabled TRIM on it.
 
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JTToft said:
- It's a weird marketing choice. All SATA III drives are compatible with SATA I and II machines.

Some SATA II machines, though, have been known to have issues with SATA III drives, including the optical bay interface in 2011 MacBook Pros and, I believe, even the hard drive bay in some older MacBook Pros. But that's a fault or choice on the part of the computer manufacturer, not anything to do with the SATA versions as such.

Out of curiosity, do you have a link?
Click to expand...

No link, sorry. I was cruising the web looking at stats on some of these more obscure brands and noticed that in an Emtec spec it stated that it was also SATA I and II compatible, and it just struck me as an odd thing to put in their. It was actually a store listing (NewEgg, MicroCenter, etc) so it's possible the store itself put that it in, but it still struck me as odd.
 
I bought a 250 GB Samsung EVO 850 about a year ago myself. A year later, and my Mid-2012 MBP runs like a champ.
 
JTToft said:
- I've seen that mentioned on the forums before, possibly by you. Your link, however, only gives me a list of search results. Do you have a link to the specific item(s) you used?

Additionally, any idea on why this would remedy the issue, technically?
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edit: direct link rather than Amazon link.

http://www.microsatacables.com/slim...-pin-sata-female-cable-adapter-adpc22pfwv13pm

I assume that it is a signal integrity issue. When you are running signals at higher speeds it is important that they have good impedance control. Within the circuit board this is easy with closely spaced signal traces on inner layers sandwiched between ground/power planes. Once it gets off the circuit board it is up to the cable to provide a good transmission path. I think that cheap caddies do not provide good balanced signal paths. The cable linked above uses a more traditional shielded SATA cable which works better than the caddy. That is my best guess anyway.
 
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Dadioh said:
How about this one.
http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00WC5670I

I assume that it is a signal integrity issue. When you are running signals at higher speeds it is important that they have good impedance control. Within the circuit board this is easy with closely spaced signal traces on inner layers sandwiched between ground/power planes. Once it gets off the circuit board it is up to the cable to provide a good transmission path. I think that cheap caddies do not provide good balanced signal paths. The cable linked above uses a more traditional shielded SATA cable which works better than the caddy. That is my best guess anyway.
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- Still just a list of search results for "Micro SATA Cables".

I suppose your theory makes sense. Though the issues aren't only with cheap Ebay type caddies, but also with high-quality units like the OWC Data Doubler. It would seem strange to me if that device wasn't high enough quality or if OWC wasn't able to design a device with the properties your cable seems to have.
 
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1. Sandisk
2. 240GB
3. 1 day lol
4. None
5. 48 including tax. Regular price 119.99. Best Buy had it on sale for 65.99, used 20 in BB rewards, 45 plus tax.
 
I just updated the original question on 3/28/16 to include one about the type of flash memory used in the drive. I don't expect to see any SLC users but MLC and TLC flash are quite common.
 
A fair number of people probably don't know or care about the NAND types in the SSD. Most manufacturers are, or were using MLC, but some products within a family may have TLC with another model having MLC. For example a number of the Samsung's have MLC, like the 840 Pro and the 850 Pro, but the EVO versions of the same product number will have TLC. Some controllers have an SLC cache that allows much faster I/O.

MLC is supposed to allow more write cycles to the SSD than TLC.
 
1. The brand Samsung 850 EVO
2. The size 250 GB
3. How long you've had it 1 year
4. Any problems, and if so, describe them. None.
5. Price paid (optional since the prices have been going down) $95 (amazon)
6. Did the type of flash in the drive (SLC, MLC, TLC) have any effect on your purchase? No, based my purchase of price/performance/brand
 
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