MP 1,1-5,1 I would like some advice on buying an SSD

[Krisz]

Hello!
I want to buy an SDD but I don't know if this type will be compatible with my computer?
CRUCIAL BX500 1TB 2,5 SATA3 SSD (CT1000BX500SSD1)
I want to use it for Opencore 1.0.0 and Monterey

Unfortunately, I managed to buy an SSD again, which resulted in constant freezes
I'm writing this down so no one else makes this mistake (Verbatim Vi550 S3 1TB)

Thanks in advance for your help!
I don't want to buy another unnecessary SSD...

 

[tsialex]

BX500 series is not Mac compatible. Will fail in weeks usage.

 

[Krisz]

BX500 series is not Mac compatible. Will fail in weeks usage.

Damn!
I've been using a CT200MX500 SSD (Crucial) for Windows for years and I thought this brand would be good in any case
And a WD Green SSD 1TB?
Or would that not be a good choice either?

Thank you for your help.

 

[tsialex]

Any low end QLC type like the WD Green will fail when used as a main disk with a Mac Pro - works perfectly for a storage disk, but not for a scratch or main disk.

Btw, Crucial had a good reputation years and years ago - no more.

 

[tsialex]

The best SATA SSD you can get is a NOS Samsung 850 or 860, maybe you can find a low usage 2nd hand.

If you can’t then you will be forced to move to a NVMe blade installed via PCIe adapter. A lot of options that you can use as a main or scratch disk.

 

[Krisz]

The best SATA SSD you can get is a NOS Samsung 850 or 860, maybe you can find a low usage 2nd hand.

If you can’t then you will be forced to move to a NVMe blade installed via PCIe adapter. A lot of options that you can use as a main or scratch disk.

NVMe adapters are too expensive and many of them are not compatible with the MacPro
The Samsung 850 860s sold second-hand are no longer in such good condition and are expensive
There are several 870s for sale, but they are not compatible with Macs either.
I found a 100/100 Kingston HyperX Savage SSD. I've read a lot of good things about it and it's a reliable brand!
The only question is how compatible is it?

 

[tsialex]

NVMe adapters are too expensive and many of them are not compatible with the MacPro

You should rethink that. There are several adapters that work and are inexpensive, just follow the main PCIe thread.

The Samsung 850 860s sold second-hand are no longer in such good condition and are expensive

I recently found a 2nd hand 1TB Samsung 850 with less than 900 hours of usage.

There are several 870s for sale, but they are not compatible with Macs either.
I found a 100/100 Kingston HyperX Savage SSD. I've read a lot of good things about it and it's a reliable brand!
The only question is how compatible is it?

Zero knowledge about the Hyper X, but in general SSDs bades on the Phison controller does not have a good track record with Macs, some work, some not.

 

[genexx]

@Krisz

I’ve been using the Crucial MX500 1TB for three years straight, 24/7, in a Hackintosh. I’ve also used it in a MacMini and a Z490 Hackintosh, and I’ve even used other Crucial MX500s and BX500s in Laptop and other Hackintosh for years. And guess what? Not a single one of them has ever failed me!

Now, the Crucial MX500s are significantly faster than the BX500s. And yes, they’re always used as the boot/system drive.

The Crucial MX500s are highly Mac-compatible and still run perfectly after seven years of heavy use.
And there’s another reason why the MX Model is still around after all this time: it’s just plain reliable.

If you ever need to choose an NVMe drive, I highly recommend WD SN850X or WD SN770. The newer one seems to run even better.

One of the simple reasons why the WD SN Model is so compatible is that the storage chips in Macs today are also WD.

 

[mike0000]

Hello!
I want to buy an SDD but I don't know if this type will be compatible with my computer?
CRUCIAL BX500 1TB 2,5 SATA3 SSD (CT1000BX500SSD1)
I want to use it for Opencore 1.0.0 and Monterey

Unfortunately, I managed to buy an SSD again, which resulted in constant freezes
I'm writing this down so no one else makes this mistake (Verbatim Vi550 S3 1TB)

Thanks in advance for your help!
I don't want to buy another unnecessary SSD...

Samsung T7 Shield 1TB​

I've been using it for for years. First as an external boot drive for an older iMac and now as external backup for an M4 iMac.
Make sure to get the Shield version.

 

[Krisz]

You should rethink that. There are several adapters that work and are inexpensive, just follow the main PCIe thread.



I recently found a 2nd hand 1TB Samsung 850 with less than 900 hours of usage.



Zero knowledge about the Hyper X, but in general SSDs bades on the Phison controller does not have a good track record with Macs, some work, some not.

You should rethink that. There are several adapters that work and are inexpensive, just follow the main PCIe thread.



I recently found a 2nd hand 1TB Samsung 850 with less than 900 hours of usage.



Zero knowledge about the Hyper X, but in general SSDs bades on the Phison controller does not have a good track record with Macs, some work, some not.

Thank you for responding and taking the time to help me.
I'm thinking more and more about saving up for a 2019 Mac Pro and as far as I know, it will run Windows 11 without any tweaking and will handle more hardware than 5.1.
Unfortunately I sometimes have to use Windows
but you can no longer install Windows 11 on 5.1 and Windows 10 will no longer be supported
But in the meantime, I'll need an SSD for Monterey

 

[tsialex]

I'm thinking more and more about saving up for a 2019 Mac Pro and as far as I know, it will run Windows 11 without any tweaking

2019 Mac Pro also require the same tweaks to disable SecureBoot and TPM 2.0 as a MacPro5,1/6,1.

 

[Krisz]

@Krisz

I’ve been using the Crucial MX500 1TB for three years straight, 24/7, in a Hackintosh. I’ve also used it in a MacMini and a Z490 Hackintosh, and I’ve even used other Crucial MX500s and BX500s in Laptop and other Hackintosh for years. And guess what? Not a single one of them has ever failed me!

Now, the Crucial MX500s are significantly faster than the BX500s. And yes, they’re always used as the boot/system drive.

The Crucial MX500s are highly Mac-compatible and still run perfectly after seven years of heavy use.
And there’s another reason why the MX Model is still around after all this time: it’s just plain reliable.

If you ever need to choose an NVMe drive, I highly recommend WD SN850X or WD SN770. The newer one seems to run even better.

One of the simple reasons why the WD SN Model is so compatible is that the storage chips in Macs today are also WD.

Thanks
but according to tsialex this ssd is no longer reliable
I don't know what to do, I need a working SSD anyway, but I don't want to buy a used one

 

[tsialex]

MX500 was an excelent drive some years ago before Crucial did several changes that made it a lot less reliable.

You can read about the whole debacle after the change from QLC to TLC here:

[Review] Crucial MX500 1TB - Um dos melhores SSDs SATAs do AliExpress com DRAM Cache! - The Overclock Page

Hoje, testaremos um SSD NVMe da fabricante americana Crucial, do segmento topo de linha SATA, modelo MX500. Neste teste, constataremos o modelo de 1TB que adquirimos via AliExpress... Continue lendo!

theoverclockingpage.com

Question - Crucial MX500 500GB SATA SSD - - - Remaining Life decreasing fast despite only a few bytes being written to it ?

Page 12 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Hardware community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

forums.tomshardware.com

Anyway, Crucial MX500 is EOL since December 2024 and you could only get the QLC version back then.

Crucial BX500 is a slow QLC drive, you can't use it as a main or scratch disk with a Mac Pro, I have two 500GB dead here to prove it.

WD SN770 seems a good option for a NVMe blade, had a 2TB one for around 1 year with my MacPro6,1.

 

[Krisz]

2019 Mac Pro also require the same tweaks to disable SecureBoot and TPM 2.0 as a MacPro5,1/6,1.

But these 2 things don't cause any problems because they can be easily circumvented
The most important thing is AVX support
and the latest Macs no longer have Intel CPUs and I think you can't install Windows on a Mac that doesn't have an Intel CPU
That's why I thought the 2019 Mac Pro would be a good choice

 

[Krisz]

Samsung T7 Shield 1TB​

I've been using it for for years. First as an external boot drive for an older iMac and now as external backup for an M4 iMac.
Make sure to get the Shield version.

Thanks, but I need an internal SSD to install Monterey.
The system would run very slowly with a USB drive

 

[chocoshuffle]

I’ve seen discussions that windows runs incredibly well as VMs on the new M series Macs because windows for ARM has gotten A LOT better lately. Something to consider as well

 

[Krisz]

I’ve seen discussions that windows runs incredibly well as VMs on the new M series Macs because windows for ARM has gotten A LOT better lately. Something to consider as well

I want a machine that I can install Windows directly on, without a virtual machine.

And of course, how much it costs is also important.

You can find a 2019 Mac Pro on eBay for quite cheap, with aesthetic flaws but flawless operation.

 

[ignatius345]

MX500 was an excelent drive some years ago before Crucial did several changes that made it a lot less reliable.

You can read about the whole debacle after the change from QLC to TLC here:

[Review] Crucial MX500 1TB - Um dos melhores SSDs SATAs do AliExpress com DRAM Cache! - The Overclock Page

Hoje, testaremos um SSD NVMe da fabricante americana Crucial, do segmento topo de linha SATA, modelo MX500. Neste teste, constataremos o modelo de 1TB que adquirimos via AliExpress... Continue lendo!

theoverclockingpage.com

Question - Crucial MX500 500GB SATA SSD - - - Remaining Life decreasing fast despite only a few bytes being written to it ?

Page 12 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Hardware community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

forums.tomshardware.com

Anyway, Crucial MX500 is EOL since December 2024 and you could only get the QLC version back then.

Crucial BX500 is a slow QLC drive, you can't use it as a main or scratch disk with a Mac Pro, I have two 500GB dead here to prove it.

WD SN770 seems a good option for a NVMe blade, had a 2TB one for around 1 year with my MacPro6,1.

Sounds like you know a lot about SSDs -- can you point to a good basic tutorial about the basic types of SSDs? I'm super ignorant about this and would like to know more. Thanks!

 

[tsialex]

Sounds like you know a lot about SSDs -- can you point to a good basic tutorial about the basic types of SSDs? I'm super ignorant about this and would like to know more. Thanks!

AFAIK there is no tutorial that covers everything related to SSDs.

Start investigating about the different NAND cell types, how they store data, endurance and etc. Wikipedia is a good start for the theory, Anandtech reviews are very good too.

 

[Unami]

@Krisz

I’ve been using the Crucial MX500 1TB for three years straight, 24/7, in a Hackintosh. I’ve also used it in a MacMini and a Z490 Hackintosh, and I’ve even used other Crucial MX500s and BX500s in Laptop and other Hackintosh for years. And guess what? Not a single one of them has ever failed me!

Now, the Crucial MX500s are significantly faster than the BX500s. And yes, they’re always used as the boot/system drive.

The Crucial MX500s are highly Mac-compatible and still run perfectly after seven years of heavy use.
And there’s another reason why the MX Model is still around after all this time: it’s just plain reliable.

If you ever need to choose an NVMe drive, I highly recommend WD SN850X or WD SN770. The newer one seems to run even better.

One of the simple reasons why the WD SN Model is so compatible is that the storage chips in Macs today are also WD.

Same here, 1TB Crucial MX500 in a hackintosh, running since 2020. (and 2 western digital sn850 2tb, one in the hackintosh, another one in the ps5 - but only since 2024)

 

[MarkC426]

The Samsung 850 860s sold second-hand are no longer in such good condition and are expensive
There are several 870s for sale, but they are not compatible with Macs either.

Available new on Amazon (UK) £109 (1TB)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-MZ-76E1T0B-EU-Solid-State/dp/B078WST5RK/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2EM4VDY2F9FMF&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.V_xr-Ro__UI4YtGm_xwxQp2GsgPSejCyq7KKEZw_wHGEkob8IpGlpf_jbrF3znQLa57-qLyTTYB69W-l90l9-vVIRqEdz-blhVx1KV2uooNrf1YTD4AVIwJ7n3rpHjdtpj47Rfpf7XRDjoo6ouPzirbD5Q5ICHAiMWNCrHPyA9cZ5ewlZv1tzdeAY81QDWDT6Wl0Iypub-pUENvYUQiJpYSwq2kQFYcxPY8l4XWK4x8.o-4VTWr0M5dObDKv5gQLEP16Kr5O_0ouyLSr1Z-LQ_w&dib_tag=se&keywords=samsung%2B860%2Bevo&qid=1750675663&sprefix=%2Caps%2C59&sr=8-3&th=1

 

[foo2]

I want a machine that I can install Windows directly on, without a virtual machine.

They're sold by the millions from Dell and other suspects, or you can get an Amazon-special N150 16/500 for $150 or so with Windows 11 already installed. For sometimes use it's perfectly fine.

I suggest considering it. Another path is to get (same thing) but with Windows 11 Pro on it, and then you can remote into it (via Windows RDP, a very, very efficient protocol for remoting for anything but games and fullscreen video) whenever you want. All the upside (run it in a window; have MacOS running too) and none of the downside (space concerns, VM compatibility concerns, ARM compatibility concerns, speed concerns, etc.)

 

[foo2]

Same here, 1TB Crucial MX500 in a hackintosh, running since 2020. (and 2 western digital sn850 2tb, one in the hackintosh, another one in the ps5 - but only since 2024)

Same here; the Crucial drives are all perfectly fine in my eyes. I can't imagine why one wouldn't use them as boot drives, etc. - people by the millions do exactly that on the Windows side, for instance.

 

[foo2]

Thanks, but I need an internal SSD to install Monterey.
The system would run very slowly with a USB drive

Will it run slow-er than an internal? Sure.
Would you notice it, night and day? No.
A big advantage of SSD is the vastly faster access times, in addition to just the maximum transfer speeds everyone likes to focus on. Even a 500MB/s max 3.5" SATA SSD is massively, massively faster than even a great 200MB/s HDD, far more so than that 2.5x difference would imply. And whether it's USB3 or SATA internal won't matter. This bears repeating: USB3 or internal SATA, the speed's pretty close to the same. The big architectural improvement was the jump to NVME, which gets far higher speeds.

Are NVME 5.0 12,000MB/s drives faster than the 500MB/s USB3 SATA drives? Absolutely. But it's a question of degrees at that point, rather than the insanity of slowdowns that is an old fashioned mechanical HDD.

 

[flowrider]

I've used Samsung 970 Evos and 970 Pros and even a Samsung AHCI SSD mounted on two PCI cards on three Mac Pros. First a 5,1, then moved to a 7,1, and now on a 14,8. No issues on any of the Machines.

Lou