Yes, yet another SSD thread, Feel free to chime in...

[AppleGoat]

Hmm...this is awfully tough decision. If I swap out the 470 and wait for the 830 it'll be of little or no costs. I don't know why everyone makes a deal about the price, I have seen SATA III drives cheaper than SATA II, and if they differ, it's only by a few bucks.

My reservations are that the 470 performs well and the 830 could have its own problems (or maybe not).

 

[Weaselboy]

My reservations are that the 470 performs well and the 830 could have its own problems (or maybe not).

Given all the trouble vendors have had with firmware in new products, I would not be inclined to buy any new SSD until it has been out a few months and shown itself to be bug free.

Unless you are doing a lot of work with very large files, you won't see much speed difference between a SATA II and III drive in day to day usage anyway.

 

[Adamantoise]

Unless you are doing a lot of work with very large files, you won't see much speed difference between a SATA II and III drive in day to day usage anyway.

See, I don't understand that at all.

SATA II = 3.0 Gbps
SATA III = 6.0 Gbps

That's a 100% improvement, why won't the change be noticeable in day to day activities?

Theoretically, the data rates should double.

 

[fat jez]

See, I don't understand that at all.

SATA II = 3.0 Gbps
SATA III = 6.0 Gbps

That's a 100% improvement, why won't the change be noticeable in day to day activities?

Theoretically, the data rates should double.

Because, that's just the theoretical maximum achievable. It's like sticking in a wider highway, it doesn't mean a single car can drive down it any faster.

 

[Weaselboy]

Because, that's just the theoretical maximum achievable. It's like sticking in a wider highway, it doesn't mean a single car can drive down it any faster.

Exactly. That is a max possible data rate moving a large file on the drive. During normal usage (opening apps and docs) you are opening hundreds of smaller files scattered randomly around the drive and will never approach this theoretical speed.

I have read several posts here from users that moved from a SATA II to III SSD and did not notice the difference during normal usage.

 

[jlc1978]

See, I don't understand that at all.

SATA II = 3.0 Gbps
SATA III = 6.0 Gbps

That's a 100% improvement, why won't the change be noticeable in day to day activities?

Theoretically, the data rates should double.

True, but while in theory there's no difference between theory and the real world, in the real world there is. A lot of things impact actual data throughput rates so raw numbers are misleading.

Even if you get the maximum, for most users it's like having one car going 100 MPH and the other 50; and then seeing which one reaches a marker 3 ft down the road first.

that said, I just picked up a 256G SSD for under $300 (CORSAIR CMFSSD-256GBG2D) and it is fast, real fast compared to my MomentusXT. is it worth $200 more? Probably, especially since I use my MBP for work, $500 better - no.

 

[AppleGoat]

Given all the trouble vendors have had with firmware in new products, I would not be inclined to buy any new SSD until it has been out a few months and shown itself to be bug free.

Unless you are doing a lot of work with very large files, you won't see much speed difference between a SATA II and III drive in day to day usage anyway.

Thanks! For me it's not that I carry some misconception that the SATA III drives are always faster than their SATA II counterparts, I'm merely tempted to swap out my SATA II drive b/c it won't cost me anything more to get the SATA III drive. People always speak of large files, what constitutes a large file? Did the Samsung 470 have any issues upon release that were eventually resolved by firmware?

 

[jlc1978]

Thanks! For me it's not that I carry some misconception that the SATA III drives are always faster than their SATA II counterparts, I'm merely tempted to swap out my SATA II drive b/c it won't cost me anything more to get the SATA III drive.

The other part of the equation is your buss type - if you have a SATAII bus a faster drive will not be any faster. If you eventually upgrade to a machine with a SATA II interface you can migrate the drive.

 

[Weaselboy]

Thanks! For me it's not that I carry some misconception that the SATA III drives are always faster than their SATA II counterparts, I'm merely tempted to swap out my SATA II drive b/c it won't cost me anything more to get the SATA III drive. People always speak of large files, what constitutes a large file? Did the Samsung 470 have any issues upon release that were eventually resolved by firmware?

I would consider 500MB or so and up a large file. My point was unless you are working with large video files like this, opening apps and surfing is much more dependent on hundreds of small files in random location all over the drive, so the top speed of the drive is less of an issue. The biggest speed bump from an SSD comes from the really low latency more so than the file transfer speed.

I see the latest firmware for the 470 is from May, and I know it came out before that, so I assume there has been an upgrade. I don't know about any bugs it fixed.

 

[AppleGoat]

I would consider 500MB or so and up a large file. My point was unless you are working with large video files like this, opening apps and surfing is much more dependent on hundreds of small files in random location all over the drive, so the top speed of the drive is less of an issue. The biggest speed bump from an SSD comes from the really low latency more so than the file transfer speed.

I see the latest firmware for the 470 is from May, and I know it came out before that, so I assume there has been an upgrade. I don't know about any bugs it fixed.

Well, I don't work with video files, but I do work with Photoshop files in excess of 500mb, sometimes over a gig.

 

[timex88]

Hi ,
I finally pulled the trigger and bought samsung 470 , impressed so far, and confused at the same time.

little info on my system

mbp 13" mid 2009 ; mbp5,5 ; 10.6.8 ; 8 GB RAM

SSD: Samsung 470 ; 128 GB ;
Capacity:127.69 GB
Available:56.36 GB


1.) boot up is still slow timed it to 50 seconds from power button till prompt.
any idea ?

2.) TRIM is not enabled, although I found TRIM enable app , anyone tried this ?

3.) Disk Speed Result
Write : 210Mb/s < any idea ?
Read : 260Mb/s


Thank is advance , looking to get this resolve before I fly out , to do some volunteer work.

 

[Weaselboy]

1.) boot up is still slow timed it to 50 seconds from power button till prompt.
any idea ?

2.) TRIM is not enabled, although I found TRIM enable app , anyone tried this ?

3.) Disk Speed Result
Write : 210Mb/s < any idea ?
Read : 260Mb/s

1) That sounds like you did not select the new drive as the Startup Disk. Go to System Pref and Startup Disk and select the new SSD then restart. If you have not selected a startup disk the system spends time search for various boot options before defaulting to your disk and this slows it down.

2) TRIM hack will work but is not necessarily needed. I don't like the idea of of running doctored system files.

3) Those speeds look about right.