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SSD Buying Guide [part 2]

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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
Weaselboy said:
Probably the easiest way that does not require installing any third party software or anything is just to clone with Disk Utility. Just follow this video.

Click to expand...

I tried following the video. The utility is different in El Capitan.

I was able to erase/format the disk as shown in the video. However, to get the restore menu, I had to go to "Edit -> Restore", Edit being on the menu bar at the top.

After selecting Restore, however, I got the attached error.

How do I get around this?

Thanks.
 

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ghanwani said:
I tried following the video. The utility is different in El Capitan.

I was able to erase/format the disk as shown in the video. However, to get the restore menu, I had to go to "Edit -> Restore", Edit being on the menu bar at the top.

After selecting Restore, however, I got the attached error.

How do I get around this?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Do a command-r boot to recovery and use Disk Util to do the same thing from there.
 
Ok I'd like to share my experience with various SSD's and macs.I hope it becomes helpful for someone.

Samsung Evo 840
Works perfect on every Mac I've tried. Including Power PC-macs. Notice that many SSD's is NOT backward compatible with SATA 1, only SATA 2. Samsung SSD's however, are even compatible with SATA 1 and is therefore to be preferred on a old Mac including power pc with sata connection.
It runs at full SATA 2 on the macbook/pro 2009. Many SSD's dont.
This would be the safe choice for Mac. Samsung EVO 840 does however has its universal and serious problems that makes it drop in speed after a while.

Kingston V300
it doesn't run on PPC Macs.
Runs great on any SATA 2 or above MAC except macbook 2009, where it only runs in SATA 1.

Samsung EVO 850
This is a kind of strange drive. Notice that samsung no longer seems to be marketing their EVO as drives meant for Macs.

120gb version
Works great on any mac including power pc.
500gb version
Have not tried on Power Pc. Unusable on iMac 2008. Unusable on Macbook / pro 2009, 2010, with marvel chipset. Notice however , that it runs great on Macbook pro 15" 2010 with intel chipset. Seems to run great on any 2011+ Mac. Also runs great on PC with intel chipset.
If you google, you will notice many people have problems with the 500gb version and older chipsets, including AMD. Very sad but true. So if you order this one, be sure to check return policies. .​
 
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HarCees said:
Ok I'd like to share my experience with various SSD's and macs.I hope it becomes helpful for someone.

Samsung Evo 840
Works perfect on every Mac I've tried. Including Power PC-macs. Notice that many SSD's is NOT backward compatible with SATA 1, only SATA 2. Samsung SSD's however, are even compatible with SATA 1 and is therefore to be preferred on a old Mac including power pc with sata connection.
It runs at full SATA 2 on the macbook/pro 2009. Many SSD's dont.
This would be the safe choice for Mac. Samsung EVO 840 does however has its universal and serious problems that makes it drop in speed after a while.
Click to expand...

My first SSD's ever are the Samsung 840 EVO. Best upgrade ever made in a cMP i.c.w Velo DUO x2 for full SATA 3 speed.

Cheers
 
Weaselboy said:
Do a command-r boot to recovery and use Disk Util to do the same thing from there.
Click to expand...

Just tried this and it worked fine. I also replaced the hard drive per instructions on the iFixit page. Everything works great. Thanks for all your help! Your suggestions made the recovery process so smooth and painless (alternative would have been a clean install and manual copying of files) and at zero cost (no additional software needed).

I found found a lot of dust/dirt when I opened the computer. I cleaned that with a dry eyeglass cloth. The iFixit tools were pretty bad quality. The black paint on the bits scratched off with a single use creating black marks all over my fingers. Since it's a single use for me, it's not a big deal, but if I were to do it over, I would go with their premium ones.
 
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Long time no see. I can't even remember the last time I logged in here...

Anyway, is anyone interested in updating the first post to make this a guide again? Right now it's extremely outdated, but it doesn't require much to be brought to 2015. I can certainly help as much as I can, but I haven't followed the Mac SSD game in a while, so it would be good to have someone else onboard as well.
 
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Just adding that the Kingston HyperX Sata III works wonderfully in the 2012 Mini i5! I paired it with 16Gb of HyperX memory. About to install 16Gb of Corsair memory and an Intel 480Gb Series 535 drive into a 15 Macbook Pro with i7....
 
I am in to get an upgrade to my late 2011 macbook pro, 500GB might be enough but if i could get upwards staying within 300$ that wouldn't hurt.
What would your advice be, go with Samsung 840 series, Crucial...? Best bang for money, whatever would perform muuuuuch better than my spinning drive which makes the 11" i5 4GB MBAir look like a F1 car compared to the quad core i7 16GB MBPro...

Thank you
 
Giuanniello said:
I am in to get an upgrade to my late 2011 macbook pro, 500GB might be enough but if i could get upwards staying within 300$ that wouldn't hurt.
What would your advice be, go with Samsung 840 series, Crucial...? Best bang for money, whatever would perform muuuuuch better than my spinning drive which makes the 11" i5 4GB MBAir look like a F1 car compared to the quad core i7 16GB MBPro...

Thank you
Click to expand...

I still think about the best bang for the buck right now is the Samsung 850 EVO (replaced 840) or the Crucial MX200. Just grab whichever you can find cheapest.
 
Anyone thinks that the prices of SSDs (thinking of 1TB Sandisks,Samsungs and eventually WD) will decrease to around $180-200 by Q3-Q4 2016?
 
Hi, I just purchased a 240GB Kinston V300 (sandforce controller) for my late 2009 mbpro.
My question is should I enable trim for it? (el capitan)

thanx!
 
Hi All,

I have a MBA MID-2012 with Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB. Will i face any issues if i add another Samsung 850 EVO Solid State Drive 250GB replacing my optical drive, using Raid0? or should i maintain the same brand as before (Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB)?

thanks in advance
 
Last edited:
Just updated my mid 2012 MBP i7/8B RAM with an EVO850 (500GB). Happy with the results so far, notable improvement in app responses. I'm also considering selling the machine, top up and get a newer machine when Apple release 'em. Oh, the waiting game!
 
CrazyKenyan said:
Just updated my mid 2012 MBP i7/8B RAM with an EVO850 (500GB). Happy with the results so far, notable improvement in app responses. I'm also considering selling the machine, top up and get a newer machine when Apple release 'em. Oh, the waiting game!
Click to expand...

why selling a well-working machine you are happy with ???

Just to get a "new" one with soldered disks, soldered RAM and glued Battery??

Imagine this was a "new" apple product! You would have been forced to buy a new one instead of just replacing the disk for 10%-15% of the price to pay for a "new" one… and all that for nearly the same performance (did not really change since 2012…) ;)
 
MrAverigeUser said:
why selling a well-working machine you are happy with ???

Just to get a "new" one with soldered disks, soldered RAM and glued Battery??

Imagine this was a "new" apple product! You would have been forced to buy a new one instead of just replacing the disk for 10%-15% of the price to pay for a "new" one… and all that for nearly the same performance (did not really change since 2012…) ;)
Click to expand...
I have $400 worth of Apple gift card and by selling what I have now, I'll add maybe $200-$300 out of pocket to get a new machine. On another note, not all of Apple's machines have their inside soldered...only the retina line and I'm not planning on getting any of those...I still love optical drives!
 
CrazyKenyan said:
I have $400 worth of Apple gift card and by selling what I have now, I'll add maybe $200-$300 out of pocket to get a new machine. On another note, not all of Apple's machines have their inside soldered...only the retina line and I'm not planning on getting any of those...I still love optical drives!
Click to expand...
- All newer machines than your current are made in the rMBP non-upgradeable, no optical drive fashion.
 
JTToft said:
- All newer machines than your current are made in the rMBP non-upgradeable, no optical drive fashion.
Click to expand...
Maybe I wasn't clear...if I do end up selling my current machine, I wouldn't be buying what Apple has at the moment but will be waiting out for updated (hopefully) machines to be introduced. I do understand that whatever non retina machines they currently have are pretty much the same as what I have to and buying now will not be making any sense at all!
 
Hi all,

Found the thread really interesting.

I have a dead hard drive and could really use some help choosing an SSD to replace it (this is all completely new to me). I have a mid-2010 13" MacBook Pro, 4GB RAM, 250GB HD, 2.4GHz processor (I think) still running Snow Leopard.

My first consideration is storage - I can't even boot up my MBP to check at the moment but I think I'm only using a little over 100GB of the HD, having moved some of my media to an external HD. It seems to me like 250GB is still enough for me, but I've read a couple of articles which suggest that it's generally better to get a 500GB SSD/the biggest you can afford? What do you think about this?

As for brand, I've mainly been reading about and considering the Samsung EVO 850 or the Crucial BX200 (the BX100 seems to have been phased out in the 250 and 500GB). I'm just a general user, not doing anything complicated on MBP. I don't want to spend the earth - I've found a Samsung EVO 850 250GB retailing nearby for 90 euros (however if the 500GB is a better idea then I could spend more). What do you think about the Samsung vs. Crucial? Am I likely to have any compatibility issues with the Samsung?

Lastly, I don't know how to format the SSD and get Snow Leopard onto it once it's installed. As I said my HD is dead and I can't get past startup at the moment. I don't have a copy of the OSX, only a Time Machine back up of everything on an external HD. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance!
 
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