Sorry forgot that. It's in my MacBook pro 13 mid 2012, non retina, SATA III. Just did a Blackmagic test again with 50GB free space, same performance speed.- It's worth mentioning which machine you have in order for us to be able to give suitable advice.
(Additionally, the amount of free space you have on the drive will impact performance. Less free space equals lower performance.)
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SSD Buying Guide [part 2]
- Thread starter Hellhammer
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Just as an additional information/confirmation:
Installed multiple SSDs in multiple "old" MBPs and one MacPro during the last years:
MBP 2009 2,53 MHz 2-core:
Original apple 512 SSD (it is a Kingston from an 2011 MBP) : Works well (Write about 150 MB/s, Read 180 MB/s) due to older SATA connection of the 2009 MBP not too fast - but nevertheless more than double as fast (and very remarkable faster though) than the seagate 750 GB HDD before (about 60-70 MB/s write and 80-90 MB/s read on a NEW and nearly EMPTY HDDs, will saying under best conditions possible) ---> so: SSD still REALLY worth investing and fastening the 2009 MBP - even with 4 GB RAM (which should be upgraded to 8 GB - this costs nearly nothing)… this "old" MBP rests still usable and is sufficient for standard work without any problem. You really can avoid purchasing a new MBP if you do standard usage (Office, Web, regarding TV/Videos, and so on) if you just invest in a SSD and upgrade to 8GB RAM!
as stated already by others: the simple installation of a SSD and upgrading to 8 GB RAM gives your machine a new life!
the Samsung SSDs will also work without any problems but due to the old SATA-connection of th e2009 MBP also with reduced speed of SATA I (see above)
multiple MBPs 2011 and MBPs 2012:
Samsung 840 Pro 512 and Samsung EVO 1 TB and Samsung 850 EVO 2 TB: running well (because of SATA III with Write speed 490 MB/s, Read speed 510 MB/s) - firmware upgrade strongly recommended though to assure long-lasting performance. Works very well with a DVD-R on which the firmware-update from Samsung has been copied. (IMPORTANT NOTE for Users with other keyboards than the english keyboards: to confirm "YES" during the update process, you have NOT to press "Y" as told during the update-process, but to press the SAME BUTTON on your own keyboard which is localized where the "Y" button is localized on the english/US keyboard, i.e. "Z" on German, Swiss or Austrichian keyboards and so on…)
ALthough people wrote that you are not absolutely forced to enable TRIM, I recommend it for older OSX versions like Mountain Lion (which I still use). It seems, that since OSX 10.11.x TRIM is enabled by default. This should be controlled by searching in "about my Mac" : Search for "TRIM enabled: YES" .
Even Photoshop and other demanding work is fast with these MBPs - in you use Photoshop and other demanding apps, upgrade to 2x8 GB RAM is recommended (costs less than 90 USD/EUR).
MacPro 2009 (4,1):
All already above-mentioned Samsung SSDs work flawlessly also in this machine - in all HDD bays because of the limit by SATA II "only" with about 250 MB/s Write/Read speed - but in PCIe-SSD-Card solutions (I use the Sonnet Tempo) bootable and with full SATA III speed of about 500 MB/s write/read. Make sure that you chose the SSD as the booting device. About TRIM: same as above.
in general:
Installing an SSD after cloning your old HDD on it and upgrading RAM makes you - as others already stated - believe that you bought a new MBP! And the exchange itself is easy and fast to do.
All you need to do is cloning (for example with CarbonCopyCloner, which works self-explaining and flawlessly) - which takes some hours, depending on the amount of data to be cloned.
If you want to test and re-assure yourself about Write/Read speed use AJA system test or Blackmagic disk speed test.
While TRIM Enabler works very good, its disk implemented speed test has a bug concerning its additional feature for disk speed test and will give you nearly zero speed. The developer of Trim Enabler is informed and knows it. It is nothing but the speed test which is not optimal, the rest works flawlessly! And the developer deserves a donation for the excellent TRIM Enabler. I did so.
Installed multiple SSDs in multiple "old" MBPs and one MacPro during the last years:
MBP 2009 2,53 MHz 2-core:
Original apple 512 SSD (it is a Kingston from an 2011 MBP) : Works well (Write about 150 MB/s, Read 180 MB/s) due to older SATA connection of the 2009 MBP not too fast - but nevertheless more than double as fast (and very remarkable faster though) than the seagate 750 GB HDD before (about 60-70 MB/s write and 80-90 MB/s read on a NEW and nearly EMPTY HDDs, will saying under best conditions possible) ---> so: SSD still REALLY worth investing and fastening the 2009 MBP - even with 4 GB RAM (which should be upgraded to 8 GB - this costs nearly nothing)… this "old" MBP rests still usable and is sufficient for standard work without any problem. You really can avoid purchasing a new MBP if you do standard usage (Office, Web, regarding TV/Videos, and so on) if you just invest in a SSD and upgrade to 8GB RAM!
as stated already by others: the simple installation of a SSD and upgrading to 8 GB RAM gives your machine a new life!
the Samsung SSDs will also work without any problems but due to the old SATA-connection of th e2009 MBP also with reduced speed of SATA I (see above)
multiple MBPs 2011 and MBPs 2012:
Samsung 840 Pro 512 and Samsung EVO 1 TB and Samsung 850 EVO 2 TB: running well (because of SATA III with Write speed 490 MB/s, Read speed 510 MB/s) - firmware upgrade strongly recommended though to assure long-lasting performance. Works very well with a DVD-R on which the firmware-update from Samsung has been copied. (IMPORTANT NOTE for Users with other keyboards than the english keyboards: to confirm "YES" during the update process, you have NOT to press "Y" as told during the update-process, but to press the SAME BUTTON on your own keyboard which is localized where the "Y" button is localized on the english/US keyboard, i.e. "Z" on German, Swiss or Austrichian keyboards and so on…)
ALthough people wrote that you are not absolutely forced to enable TRIM, I recommend it for older OSX versions like Mountain Lion (which I still use). It seems, that since OSX 10.11.x TRIM is enabled by default. This should be controlled by searching in "about my Mac" : Search for "TRIM enabled: YES" .
Even Photoshop and other demanding work is fast with these MBPs - in you use Photoshop and other demanding apps, upgrade to 2x8 GB RAM is recommended (costs less than 90 USD/EUR).
MacPro 2009 (4,1):
All already above-mentioned Samsung SSDs work flawlessly also in this machine - in all HDD bays because of the limit by SATA II "only" with about 250 MB/s Write/Read speed - but in PCIe-SSD-Card solutions (I use the Sonnet Tempo) bootable and with full SATA III speed of about 500 MB/s write/read. Make sure that you chose the SSD as the booting device. About TRIM: same as above.
in general:
Installing an SSD after cloning your old HDD on it and upgrading RAM makes you - as others already stated - believe that you bought a new MBP! And the exchange itself is easy and fast to do.
All you need to do is cloning (for example with CarbonCopyCloner, which works self-explaining and flawlessly) - which takes some hours, depending on the amount of data to be cloned.
If you want to test and re-assure yourself about Write/Read speed use AJA system test or Blackmagic disk speed test.
While TRIM Enabler works very good, its disk implemented speed test has a bug concerning its additional feature for disk speed test and will give you nearly zero speed. The developer of Trim Enabler is informed and knows it. It is nothing but the speed test which is not optimal, the rest works flawlessly! And the developer deserves a donation for the excellent TRIM Enabler. I did so.
Last edited:
- Thanks for that. Those speeds seem on the low side. The OWC drives aren't the highest performers in the market, and they utilise SandForce controllers, which means the performance on incompressible data (such as the type BlackMagic tests with) will be lower than for other types of data. I'd estimate the "actual" performance is higher than what you're testing.
Still, it seems too low, so at least as far as those numbers are concerned, the Samsung 850 EVO will be a significant upgrade. It should see around or even north of 500 MB/s on both read and write in BlackMagic. Also, it's a superior drive on many other parameters.
Do remember to (re)enable TRIM if you go for the Samsung.
Hi All
Great thread, been reading through the replies it's really helpful.
I've got a Mid 2012 MacBook Pro 16gb 512gb hard drive. Looking to increase it to at least 1tb or more is possible. (I'm a hoarder!)
Can anyone recommend a ssd to increase storage? Looking to do the upgrade myself if I feel confident otherwise may send it to a repairer who can also copy over the old hard drive.
Thanks
S
Great thread, been reading through the replies it's really helpful.
I've got a Mid 2012 MacBook Pro 16gb 512gb hard drive. Looking to increase it to at least 1tb or more is possible. (I'm a hoarder!)
Can anyone recommend a ssd to increase storage? Looking to do the upgrade myself if I feel confident otherwise may send it to a repairer who can also copy over the old hard drive.
Thanks
S
- You need to be slightly more specific with respect to the model. Is it a Retina or not a Retina model?
In that case your options are limited to OWC Aura 6G and Transcend JetDrive 725 as your MBP uses a proprietary SSD connector. Both go up to 1TB with prices being very close.
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You can get up to 256GB more with Transcend JetDrive Lite 330. It's an SD card, so not as fast as an internal SSD, but unlike normal SD cards the JetDrive Lite has been designed specifically for Mac, so it doesn't stick out at all. That is, if you really need more than 1TB and don't want to carry an external drive around.
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- For 15", it's the JetDrive Lite 350 that's needed rather than 330 (same link to Amazon; just select 15" rather than 13").
And similar competing solutions are the TarDisk and the Nifty MiniDrive.
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Enabling TRIM got even easier on El Capitan. Just run the following command in terminal:
sudo trimforce enable
Hello, I already upgrade SSD for my MBP 2011. I recommend Samsung 850 Evo 250GB. I bought it for 120$. It's really fast!
I just put a Crucial BX200 240GB SSD into my late 2008 uMB and did a clean install of 10.11. I need to turn trim on, correct?
Thanks,
Brian
Thanks,
Brian
- Strictly, you don't absolutely need to, but it's recommended. The command in Terminal is:
Code:
sudo trimforce enable
Confused. I just bought a MacBook Pro 13" retina. With 8GB ram and 128GB SSD, from Best Buy last week. Can I upgrade the hard drive myself and then reinstall the OS?
Of course you can. Just looking for a compatible SSD for your MBP 13 retina on the market.
I'm failing to see a marked difference between the Sandisk Ultra II and the X400 for the end user. I feel like I'm missing something obvious here when considering the 2.5" 960GB/1TB variations of these drives. The cost difference is $10 but in turn gives you a slightly larger drive. Is there any benefit to purchasing the Ultra II? The X400 seems to be an all around better deal.
- X400 is a newer drive than Ultra II and should be slightly faster overall, though they each have their strengths. X400 has a longer 5 year warranty compared with the 3 years of the Ultra II and is rated for a higher write endurance.
If the X400 is only $10 more expensive, I'd assume it's actually cheaper per GB because of the 64 GB difference between them (960 vs. 1024).
I would get X400.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10296/the-sandisk-x400-1tb-ssd-review
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8520/sandisk-ultra-ii-240gb-ssd-review
That's my point exactly, what's the benefit to purchasing the Ultra II?
I thought I was missing something glaringly obvious, guess not.
That's my point exactly, what's the benefit to purchasing the Ultra II?
I thought I was missing something glaringly obvious, guess not.
Ultra II is likely being discontinued sooner than later since it's not as cost efficient to manufacture as the new X400.