Best ssd for mac pro

[-BigMac-]

Hi guys,
got a stock 1tb 7200rpm HD on the Mac Pro.
Was wondering which kinds of SSD's could you recommend for me?
I will be just putting the system (mac and windows) and around 30-50gb of applications on the SSD.
There is well over 600gb of files on the HD right now, which will have to stay there.

Im trying to get something speedy, but price is quite an important factor.
Thanks a lot

 

[thankins]

Hi guys,
got a stock 1tb 7200rpm HD on the Mac Pro.
Was wondering which kinds of SSD's could you recommend for me?
I will be just putting the system (mac and windows) and around 30-50gb of applications on the SSD.
There is well over 600gb of files on the HD right now, which will have to stay there.

Im trying to get something speedy, but price is quite an important factor.
Thanks a lot

Most here will recommend the OWC Mercury (http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/internal_storage/Mercury_Extreme_SSD_Sandforce/Solid_State_Pro)

It has SandForce so no need for the Trim Enabler. I just picked up the 240 GB version last week and it is amazingly fast.

Also make sure to get their SSD sled for the sled in the Mac Pro won't hold an SSD. They are 19.95 - and works wonderfully in the Mac Pro

There is a great review of the drives over at MacPerformanceGuide - he said it was one of the fastest read/write speeds of any SSD that he tested. Also since OWC is more geared toward the Mac community you shouldn't have any problems since many of us here have them in our Mac Pros

 

[-BigMac-]

Most here will recommend the OWC Mercury (http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/internal_storage/Mercury_Extreme_SSD_Sandforce/Solid_State_Pro)

It has SandForce so no need for the Trim Enabler. I just picked up the 240 GB version last week and it is amazingly fast.

Also make sure to get their SSD sled for the sled in the Mac Pro won't hold an SSD. They are 19.95 - and works wonderfully in the Mac Pro

There is a great review of the drives over at MacPerformanceGuide - he said it was one of the fastest read/write speeds of any SSD that he tested. Also since OWC is more geared toward the Mac community you shouldn't have any problems since many of us here have them in our Mac Pros

wow thats awesome thank you for the detailed reply!
the sled needed is the 3.5inch?
would you say the difference everyday use has seen, is worth the price?

Thank you

 

[Photoshopper]

I put an OWC SS drive in my MacPro for system and apps and love it. Can't beat the speed. Get the sled, it makes install kid's play even for a non-geek like me.

 

[asnozz]

Most here will recommend the OWC Mercury (http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/internal_storage/Mercury_Extreme_SSD_Sandforce/Solid_State_Pro)

It has SandForce so no need for the Trim Enabler. I just picked up the 240 GB version last week and it is amazingly fast.

Also make sure to get their SSD sled for the sled in the Mac Pro won't hold an SSD. They are 19.95 - and works wonderfully in the Mac Pro

There is a great review of the drives over at MacPerformanceGuide - he said it was one of the fastest read/write speeds of any SSD that he tested. Also since OWC is more geared toward the Mac community you shouldn't have any problems since many of us here have them in our Mac Pros

It doesnt need the trim enabler? cool I didnt know that

 

[thankins]

It doesnt need the trim enabler? cool I didnt know that

Nope - it doesn't as the SandForce controller acts as a garbage collector.

OP: The sled you need is this http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MMP35T25/

It takes two seconds to put in and makes it soooo simple and nice looking

----------

wow thats awesome thank you for the detailed reply!
the sled needed is the 3.5inch?
would you say the difference everyday use has seen, is worth the price?

Thank you

And yes very much worth it..startup time before on my hex core and 1 TB HD was about 20 seconds....now it is around 6 seconds.

 

[VirtualRain]

Most here will recommend the OWC Mercury (http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/internal_storage/Mercury_Extreme_SSD_Sandforce/Solid_State_Pro)

I'm not sure about that... there are lots of reports of premature failures... https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1003185/

I would suggest Crucial, Intel or Samsung which seem to have better reliability than Sandforce based drives.

In particular, the Crucial M4's have the best bang-for-the-buck with top performance and good retail pricing.

 

[derbothaus]

I'm not sure about that... there are lots of reports of premature failures... https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1003185/

I would suggest Crucial, Intel or Samsung which seem to have better reliability than Sandforce based drives.

In particular, the Crucial M4's have the best bang-for-the-buck with top performance and good retail pricing.

I'm going to say that OWC 3G is fairly stable and should be considered. The 6G SF-2281 should be avoided even though the speeds are mouth watering. Too many failures. I own both. I used to own 2x6G's but Sandforce deprecated the firmware link negotiation to my MBP to run only at 1.5Gb so I swapped for true 3.0Gb guaranteed speed with the slower 3G Pro. Or as mentioned you can avoid the whole hassle and get a Samsung or Intel or Crucial. The Intel and Crucial should use the TRIM enabler for best longevity. The Samsungs should be good to go out the box.

 

[yomibro]

I got Intel and have had no issues with it, I stayed away from Sandforce when I was looking to purchase because at the time there were a lot of issues with Sandforce so went Intel instead.

 

[-BigMac-]

perfect, are the speeds of the intel, crucial and owc roughly the same?
With SSDs do you need like '10%' free space or performance is decreased like you do with HDs? Just deciding how big i will need to get

 

[VirtualRain]

perfect, are the speeds of the intel, crucial and owc roughly the same?
With SSDs do you need like '10%' free space or performance is decreased like you do with HDs? Just deciding how big i will need to get

The Crucial is very similar in performance to the OWC and doesn't rely on compression to achieve that which can be a bonus if you're working with uncompressable media files. The Intel is not as fast on the spec sheet but probably unnoticeable in real world use.

SSDs need spare area for the garbage collection to function effeciently so yeah, budget for at least 10% spare area. Although hopefully it won't be that full out of the gate. Just be prepared that if this is your first SSD, you will soon want to put more and more of your stuff on solid state storage, so you really can't buy too much

 

[duffer42]

I am using the OWC 240 gb SSD and love it. I have transferred all of the data/picture info to another internal HD (1TB), and have just the boot and programs on the SSD. I probably did overkill with the 240 GB, but the price was right. Boot time is now in the range of 40-45 seconds, and I use PS5, and it boots up really fast. I am running Lion 10.7.2 w/16 gig Ram.

 

[Loa]

Hello,

Don't fret too much on spec and theoretical speed. [url="http://www.anandtech.com/show/4341/ocz-vertex-3-max-iops-patriot-wildfire-ssds-reviewed/3]Read this article by Anandtech.[/url]

Get a SSD that is known to be reliable and in your budget. Intel, Samsung and Crucial seem to be the most reliable these days, although reliability is a fickle thing to measure.

Loa

 

[Toumak]

Most of all recent SSDs will work like a charm in every mac.

I tested a few ones since 2 years now, from first OCZ vertex, to current Vertex 3, and also Vertex2, crucial c300 and intel 320...

Never had any problem with all these SSDs.

The best bet is trying to get the best gigabyte per dollar performance.
(the biggest capacity for the less money spent)

Just be sure to have updated it to the latest firmware, and enjoy !
You won't recognize your mac anymore ...

 

[theSeb]

Hello,

Don't fret too much on spec and theoretical speed. [url="http://www.anandtech.com/show/4341/ocz-vertex-3-max-iops-patriot-wildfire-ssds-reviewed/3]Read this article by Anandtech.[/url]

Get a SSD that is known to be reliable and in your budget. Intel, Samsung and Crucial seem to be the most reliable these days, although reliability is a fickle thing to measure.

Loa

Thank you for posting this. It amazes me how much clout people assign to synthetic benchmarks or benchmarks based on workloads that are not realistic.

I've tried to cover this here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=13718025

Here are some real world tests that I did between a "fast" Vertex 3 Pro SSD and a "slow" Samsung SSD in a MBA

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1293809/

 

[Nostromo]

Most here will recommend the OWC Mercury (http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/internal_storage/Mercury_Extreme_SSD_Sandforce/Solid_State_Pro)

It has SandForce so no need for the Trim Enabler. I just picked up the 240 GB version last week and it is amazingly fast.

Also make sure to get their SSD sled for the sled in the Mac Pro won't hold an SSD. They are 19.95 - and works wonderfully in the Mac Pro

There is a great review of the drives over at MacPerformanceGuide - he said it was one of the fastest read/write speeds of any SSD that he tested. Also since OWC is more geared toward the Mac community you shouldn't have any problems since many of us here have them in our Mac Pros

That's a 3G version.

So the next generation Mac Pro should be able to get the 6G version. (Like the MBP).

edit: just read about the poor reliability of the 6G drives.

 

[RustBoy]

I have a Mac Pro 3,1 (early 2008). I am about to switch from SL to Lion and I want to setup the new OS on a SSD becuase I have read that it really helps performance. (I am doing a lot of Photoshop, video and 3D graphics work.)

A few questions:

1.) With my older Mac Pro will I see any performance benefit with a 6Gb/s drive versus a 3Gb/s drive?

2.) There are a mind numbing number of drives to choose from at my local Micro Center store. I have spent a couple of hours researching which drive to purchase but the more I read the more difficult it is to decide. I was going to buy this SanDisk 240 GB drive but it sounds like the slower 3Gb/s might be more reliable. I'd like to spend less than $300. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

3.) Can I mount this in my empty DVD drive bay. If yes, is there any performance hit and what additional cables would I need to purchase?

Thanks.

 

[Neodym]

1.) No. It does not have 6G capabilities unless you add a dedicated PCIe host adapter. 6G drives may have more powerful hardware though, so it may have a higher chance to fully saturate the 3G port in your Mac.
2.) Search the net for reviews. My personal favorite are Intel drives - not the fastest (though close), but usually very reliable and keeping the high speed even when getting filled and without TRIM support by the OS.
3.) No performance hit. Needed cables:
* Power adapter from PATA (IDE/Molex) to SATA.
* SATA data cable (ca. 30-50cm) with one end being 90 degrees angled to properly fit behind the front fan assembly, where the two additional SATA ports are located.

 

[RustBoy]

1.) No. It does not have 6G capabilities unless you add a dedicated PCIe host adapter. 6G drives may have more powerful hardware though, so it may have a higher chance to fully saturate the 3G port in your Mac.
2.) Search the net for reviews. My personal favorite are Intel drives - not the fastest (though close), but usually very reliable and keeping the high speed even when getting filled and without TRIM support by the OS.
3.) No performance hit. Needed cables:
* Power adapter from PATA (IDE/Molex) to SATA.
* SATA data cable (ca. 30-50cm) with one end being 90 degrees angled to properly fit behind the front fan assembly, where the two additional SATA ports are located.

Thank you very much for your reply.

----------

1.) My personal favorite are Intel drives - not the fastest (though close), but usually very reliable and keeping the high speed even when getting filled and without TRIM support by the OS

If I buy one with a SandForce controller does it still require TRIM?

Does Lion 10.7.3 have TRIM support?

 

[righteye]

or OWC Mercury Accelsior PCIe SSD very fast more than 6G SSD speed.

http://eshop.macsales.com/search/axcelsior


http://macperformanceguide.com/blog/2012/20120416_1-OWC-Mercury-Accelsior-CS6-diglloydMedium.html

 

[Neodym]

If I buy one with a SandForce controller does it still require TRIM?

Does Lion 10.7.3 have TRIM support?

TRIM seems to be in OSX since 10.6.7 - however, for non-Apple-SSD's you would have to enable it. See e.g. this discussion at the Apple support forums.

People seem to have various opinions on whether TRIM support is needed/recommended or not. Older SSD's (and especially older Sandforce devices) showed significant performance drops after a while without TRIM.

However, the market is in constant change and Intel seems to be collaborating with SF now, intending to marry Intel's reliability (the 320's firmware bug you may read of in some internet resources is patched afaik) with SandForce's performance.

Take a read on SSD comparisons and roundups on the tech site you're favouring. I like the articles on Anandtech, so you could check out this (SandForce roundup from Aug-2011), this (Sandforce 3rd gen) or this (Intel Cherryville series w/ SandForce logic.

 

[derbothaus]

or OWC Mercury Accelsior PCIe SSD very fast more than 6G SSD speed.

http://eshop.macsales.com/search/axcelsior


http://macperformanceguide.com/blog/2012/20120416_1-OWC-Mercury-Accelsior-CS6-diglloydMedium.html

It's random 4K looks crappy though. So much for ridiculously awesome boot drive.
Regular 6G SF-2281 beats it in some important areas. You may not feel it and the form factor is nice to extend Mac Pro 3G ports but they should have used faster NAND or shunned the marvell RAID interface.
http://thessdreview.com/our-reviews...irst-upgradeable-pcie-ssd-hits-the-streets/3/

 

[Ravich]

I encourage everyone to keep an eye on slickdeals.net for a couple reasons

1) People will regularly post the best deals available on SSDs
2) The community is very talkative regarding reliability and quality of the SSDs available
3) SSD prices seem to be in free fall at the moment. The prices have been dropping faster than they ever have before

 

[RustBoy]

I am about to install Lion onto a new SSD drive. I would like to keep some apps and some data on a separate drive. Can I simply create an alias for the entire user folder and store the contents wherever I want?

 

[ClassObject]

I encourage everyone to keep an eye on slickdeals.net for a couple reasons

1) People will regularly post the best deals available on SSDs
2) The community is very talkative regarding reliability and quality of the SSDs available
3) SSD prices seem to be in free fall at the moment. The prices have been dropping faster than they ever have before

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