3.0 vs 6.0 GB/s SATA SSD Drive for Macbook Pro (Mid 2009)

[gocke004]

Dear Fellow MBP Enthusiasts,

I am considering upgrading the storage on my mid 2009 Macbook Pro (5,3). It currently runs off of the original 320 GB HDD. The computer is getting extremely slow as of late. I am also upgrading RAM to 8 GB (the max supported on this model).

This laptop is only equipped with a 3.0 GB/s SATA port. However, most SSDs on the market today are built for 6.0 GB/s SATA. I noticed on OWC's page for SSDs they mention that installing a 6.0 GB/s SSD into a machine that only supports 3.0 GB/s can cause the system to revert to a 1.5 GB/s protocol, which obviously wouldn't be great.

Is this a generally true phenomenon? Is this only true with OWC's SSDs? It seems like 3.0 GB/s SSDs are really hard to find for purchase. The only other ones I have found have very poor reviews.

That being said, any pre-2011 macbook pro users here who have upgraded to an SSD? What interface speed (3 vs 6) drive are you using? I am assuming that a 6.0 GB/s SSD will do just fine...I am just doing my due diligence before investing in one.

Thanks for the information!

 

[Rockadile]

Dear Fellow MBP Enthusiasts,

I am considering upgrading the storage on my mid 2009 Macbook Pro (5,3). It currently runs off of the original 320 GB HDD. The computer is getting extremely slow as of late. I am also upgrading RAM to 8 GB (the max supported on this model).

This laptop is only equipped with a 3.0 GB/s SATA port. However, most SSDs on the market today are built for 6.0 GB/s SATA. I noticed on OWC's page for SSDs they mention that installing a 6.0 GB/s SSD into a machine that only supports 3.0 GB/s can cause the system to revert to a 1.5 GB/s protocol, which obviously wouldn't be great.

Is this a generally true phenomenon? Is this only true with OWC's SSDs? It seems like 3.0 GB/s SSDs are really hard to find for purchase. The only other ones I have found have very poor reviews.

That being said, any pre-2011 macbook pro users here who have upgraded to an SSD? What interface speed (3 vs 6) drive are you using? I am assuming that a 6.0 GB/s SSD will do just fine...I am just doing my due diligence before investing in one.

Thanks for the information!

You must mean gigabit (Gb/s) instead of gigabyte (GB/s). 6Gb/s SATA SSD tops out around 500MB/s.

Not familiar of the phenomenon as I'm a 2011 owner but even at 1.5 Gb/s it will be worth getting (faster random read/write) so just get a 6Gb/s SSD.
3Gb/s SSD is pretty archaic now which explains the rarity.

 

[RobbieTT]

I fitted a Samsung SSD in my 2009 MBP and it runs just fine on a 3Gbps SATA link.

For anything except large sequential writes you will not be constrained by the SATA link speed and when it comes to day to day performance, small read/writes is what makes a system sing.

 

[windows4ever]

I had a 2010 15" MBP which also had SATA 2. It was known to be problematic with SATA 3 drives, whether spinning or SSD (freezing issues). The problem was known to be resolved by using a SATA 3 ribbon cable from a 2011 MBP, which I installed.

I used a Samsung EVO 850 SSD in it and it worked fine with the upgraded cable. It ran at SATA 2 speeds, not SATA 1. It was still fast enough though.

To be safe, my advice would be to buy a used SATA 2 SSD off ebay. Crucial made reliable SATA 2 drives and they were MLC, so even if you buy a used drive over 5 years old, you should still be able to get a lot of life out of it. You may have to settle for something in the 120-240GB range though as 500GB+ SATA 2 drives were not common.

 

[Sterkenburg]

I recall reading about that problem a few years ago. I don't remember the details, what I know is that at the time I upgraded my 2009 17" with a Samsung EVO 840 and it worked just fine at SATA 2 speeds.

 

[robvas]

Sandforce chipset ssd’s didn’t sync up well with the nvidia chipset MacBooks

 

[gocke004]

Thank you all for your input. This has been most helpful! I will let you know what I end up doing and include some installation pictures as well

 

[kohlson]

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ssds-sata-and-negotiated-link-speeds.2047851/

 

[gocke004]

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ssds-sata-and-negotiated-link-speeds.2047851/

This led me to some very helpful information. Thank you. It seems this question has popped up many many times over the years. I just checked my current SATA devices in the system profiler. It looks like I'm only getting 1/5 gbps at the moment for both my HDD and optical drive. I have already updated the firmware, which was supposed to fix this issue, but apparently some people have still not been able to get the full 3 gbps transfer rate even after updating. I must either be in that unlucky pool, or my HDD is only rated for 1.5 gbps. I am having a hard time finding that out.
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I fitted a Samsung SSD in my 2009 MBP and it runs just fine on a 3Gbps SATA link.

For anything except large sequential writes you will not be constrained by the SATA link speed and when it comes to day to day performance, small read/writes is what makes a system sing.

Would you say this would be true even for 1.5 gbps? I suppose the small reads/writes don't ever really approach the transfer rate limit.

 

[RobbieTT]

SATA I tops-out at around 140MB/s, so not much more than a very fast HDD can serve up. But for the smaller random read/writes that typify real-world computing an SSD on SATA I would still slaughter any HDD.