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Reliable SSD for 2009 Mac Pro

S

seer

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 3, 2007
73
0
I think the prices are now down to where an SSD of a decent size is now a viable upgrade for me. But my god it's impossible to find consensus on what is a good reliable drive.

I know that the first answer from a lot of people will be the OWC Mercury Extreme but I have 2 problems with that

1. Its simply not available here in Sweden and importing one adds cost and makes returns really troublesome ... which brings me to the second point

2. They just don't seem reliable with long term usage. I have 3 friends/colleagues who have gone with these drives. My friend had his first one crap out after 2 weeks. It took 8 weeks to get a replacement and that died after 3 months. One of my colleague's disk is fine after 3 months but thats not exactly a long term test :) The other colleague has had his 9 months and it runs like crap even after firmware upgrades, restoration attempts etc etc

But then looking at all the other options like the Vertex 3 for example, they all seem to be pretty badly supported in OSX (no TRIM, no firmware updater etc etc).

Can someone please tell me of a long term reliable drive around 240gb, fully compatible with OSX (at least in terms of TRIM etc) that isn't OWC?

Many Thanks (anyone else think it shouldn't be this difficult and take this much maintenance to run SSD's?!)
 
I use OCZ, I'm probably the only person on earth that has had nothing but good luck with the products. I have one in each of my computers even the G5 has an Agility 3.
 
Macman45 said:
can't recommend one at the moment that hasn't been condemned here.
Click to expand...

hehe yeah thats my point. I have spent a LOT of time scouring these forums (especially the Mac Pro boards!) and every time I think I find a good suggestion, I end up finding a hundred people with issues :)

I have built PC's and worked on Macs for 20 years and never known a field of hardware with seemingly such high acceptance of low reliability and compatibility!
 
Intel drives.

I've had four, with a mate having a 5th and they have all worked flawlessly (And the ones I sold are still too).

You get what you pay for with Intel SSDs.
 
I remember Anandtech saying that they hadn't seen a more reliable drive for Macs than the Samsung 830 series. Apple uses Samsung or Toshiba SSD drives as their offerings, though I haven't seen Toshiba selling their drives direct to consumers .. not sure if a 3rd party is using their controllers or not.

I know the Intel SSDs have a reputation for reliability.

As far as anecdotal evidence, I've had an OWC SSD in use in my Mac Pro for a little over 2 years and it's still going strong. I've also had an OCZ Vertex (1st gen) in my Macbook Pro 13" for 2.5 years, and it too has been error free.
 
So is it the 830 that is apple supplied in the BTO machines? If so that means TRIM is supported out of the box? or??....

If that's a yes and a yes - then thats a major plus in my opinion
 
seer said:
So is it the 830 that is apple supplied in the BTO machines? If so that means TRIM is supported out of the box? or??....

If that's a yes and a yes - then thats a major plus in my opinion
Click to expand...

Apple branded drives only for out of the box support.
 
I get it - they change the device name (if I understand how the trim enabler thing works correctly).

SOoooo ... I at least have ordered my Velocity Solo to get my 6gb bandwith. And to be honest at the start of the hunt I almost pulled the trigger on the 520 before deciding to do my research first. 240gb versions of both the i520 and the samsung are almost identical in price over here ..... maybe I should get both :D .... but damn in then I need another Velocity Solo!
 
I've been using both Samsung 830 series, and Crucial M4 series drives in my 2010 tower. Both have been solid and stable; no issues.
 
I would recommend Crucial, Intel 320, or Samsung. I would still not buy anything based on the Sandforce controller (OWC, OCZ, and others including Intel's 520).
 
I've been happy with two Crucial M4 256GB SSDs. Both have been flawless from day one, and they're only $299 from B&H (very reputable company) today.

Both came with firmware 009, but it was simple to update them to version 309. I made a bootable CD with the firmware, booted with the CD in the ODD and the SSD in a slot, and all is well. Just need wired keyboard to type 'yes' when asked.

http://www.crucial.com/support/firmware.aspx
 
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Concorde Rules said:
Intel drives.

I've had four, with a mate having a 5th and they have all worked flawlessly (And the ones I sold are still too).

You get what you pay for with Intel SSDs.
Click to expand...

Does that include the SF-22xx 520?

To OP:
Sandforce have great built in GC but they fail in reliability (I know I have them). Just look around here for that hint.
Others need TRIM but Apple does not support it officially. Only on their SSD's.
TRIM enabler available from Cindori turns it on on unsupported SSD's like Crucial and Toshiba. Right now a mixed bag.
Intel 520 based on Sandforce could be the pricey full support and reliable alternative but it is new and 25% more than competition. If I was buying today I would get the Intel 240GB 520.
 
I have heard great things about the Crucial M4 and the Samsung 830 drives. I have an OWC drive in mine and haven't had any problems. But I have heard that sandforce drives aren't always that reliable :/
 
At last count we have 45 OWC 6G SSD's in operation here since their release.

No failures.
 
beaker7 said:
OWC 6G or Intel 520
Click to expand...

OWC 6G is a disaster - had two of them and finally got a refund - not stable - would not remain recognized after a sleep or shutdown session.

----------
VirtualRain said:
I would recommend Crucial, Intel 320, or Samsung. I would still not buy anything based on the Sandforce controller (OWC, OCZ, and others including Intel's 520).
Click to expand...

I agree - Sandforce controllers SUCK.

I was initially enthused about them due to the advanced wear leveling protocol. Wear leveling is a moot issue when the drive won't stay recognized :eek:
 
beaker7 said:
At last count we have 45 OWC 6G SSD's in operation here since their release.

No failures.
Click to expand...

Congrats. I wanted them to be great. Only 2 in operation for me. 1 failure. 50/50 so far. But the ones I have now seem stable. Never know... 45 is a great sample though.
240GB 3G Extreme
240GB 6G Extreme
 
beaker7 said:
uhhh what did you have in mind?

Sales receipts?

Want me to set up cameras logging months worth of footage for the servers and workstations using them?
Click to expand...

Camara's definitely. But I believe you. Is that foolish? Are they 1st gen 6G SF-2281 or SF-2282? What brand SATA link are they on? Just wondering as they must have shipped you every stable one they made.
 
beaker7 said:
uhhh what did you have in mind?

Sales receipts?

Want me to set up cameras logging months worth of footage for the servers and workstations using them?
Click to expand...

sales receipts, no. video, no. anyone associated with the sales of SF ssd drives can say what you said. a little more to the story is probably proof enough.

i have to admit though, it is difficult to believe considering the SF track record, something is bound to happen.

even with your awesome experience, no way would i buy any ssd with sandforce chipset. surprised you did.
 
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derbothaus said:
Camara's definitely. But I believe you. Is that foolish? Are they 1st gen 6G SF-2281 or SF-2282? What brand SATA link are they on? Just wondering as they must have shipped you every stable one they made.
Click to expand...

I'd have to check which exact controller. They are all the ones here:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Mercury_Extreme_Pro_6G/

I have 2 MacBook Pros, 3 Mac Pro, and 2 Win7 workstations using the 240GB version as boot drive since the Extreme Pro 6G was released.

Attached to one of the Mac Pro is a 12 ssd RAID 0 of the 120 GB versions for scratch disk, running on an Areca card. Another 8 ssd RAID 0 on the Win7 workstation set up similarly, on an LSI 9265-8i.

Also a server running 24 of them in a cascaded RAID 100 setup with dual Areca controllers.

We also have a few Vertex 2's and 3's floating around that are also Sandforce. The only issue I can remember is a few weeks ago one of the older machines running a Vertex2 couldn't suddenly find a boot volume. Had to reinstall OSX. After much testing the drive appeared fine and has been ok since then.
 
I think the prices are now down to where an SSD of a decent size is now a viable upgrade for me. But my god it's impossible to find consensus on what is a good reliable drive.
I know that the first answer from a lot of people will be the OWC Mercury Extreme but I have 2 problems with that
1. Its simply not available here in Sweden and importing one adds cost and makes returns really troublesome ... which brings me to the second point
2. They just don't seem reliable with long term usage. I have 3 friends/colleagues who have gone with these drives. My friend had his first one crap out after 2 weeks. It took 8 weeks to get a replacement and that died after 3 months. One of my colleague's disk is fine after 3 months but thats not exactly a long term test The other colleague has had his 9 months and it runs like crap even after firmware upgrades, restoration attempts etc etc
 
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