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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:
Yep... all the same size.
Click to expand...


thanks

the older version 2015 is mlc whereas the newer one 2016 is tlc. Probably get 2015 model, the price difference is about $5
[doublepost=1481231130][/doublepost]Is a sata to usb cable really needed?

I want to do a fresh install. Can i just install the new ssd, boot it up, format the partition in disk utility when it first start up, then install from bootable disk?
 
I'm looking to upgrade the SSD in my mid-2015 15" Retina from 512 to 1TB. What's the best drive available for me to get?
 
I have noticed that since i installed my SSD, the laptop is getting very hot on the bottom. Is an increase in internal temperature normal? Also it seems that my battery life is down about an hour. Thanks in advance!
 
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Hi, I am going to buy a 2015 macbook pro 15Inches, I would mainly use it with Photoshop (sometimes with big files), illustrator and indesign (and some premiere and after effects). I was thinking about going on the 512 SSD but I read that bigger ssd is faster as well.
Do you think it's worth to go on the bigger ssd? how faster would be?
Thank you!
 
Guys, i have received some much mixed information. Here is what I would like to know. I would like to upgrade my wife's 13 inch Mid 2012 MacBook Air. Can I just buy any M.2 SSD? or do I need an adapter? Trying to avoid OWC/Transcend (pricey).

Thanks!
 
I got a non-retina macbook pro (2011) that I'm adding an ssd to.
Wife uses it for work.
Putting in a crucial MX300... So:

1. Enable trimforce
2. disable suddenmotion sensor
3. tick off 'put HDD to sleep when possible'

anything else I should do?

Thanks!
 
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teknikal90 said:
I got a non-retina macbook pro (2011) that I'm adding an ssd to.
Wife uses it for work.
Putting in a crucial MX300... So:

1. Enable trimforce
2. disable suddenmotion sensor
3. tick off 'put HDD to sleep when possible'

anything else I should do?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Since you are going to have it open you can always upgrade the ram to 16GB is she does anything heavy.
 
jerryk said:
Since you are going to have it open you can always upgrade the ram to 16GB is she does anything heavy.
Click to expand...
I don't think there's a need. She runs Ableton Live and that's it.

Do you think I should worry about the time machine trick and the disabling hibernate thing?
Read the above on some articles from way back in 2012.

EDIT: or rather.. should I even bother about turning off the 'put hard drive to sleep whenever possible' option?
 
teknikal90 said:
I don't think there's a need. She runs Ableton Live and that's it.

Do you think I should worry about the time machine trick and the disabling hibernate thing?
Read the above on some articles from way back in 2012.

EDIT: or rather.. should I even bother about turning off the 'put hard drive to sleep whenever possible' option?
Click to expand...
There is no need to disable hibernate or Time Machine local snapshots. You also do not need to disable the sudden motion sensor. All not needed. The put drives to sleep has no effect on your SSD either way.

All those tricks are unnecessary. Just install, enable TRIM and go with it.

Everybody was hyper sensitive about "wearing out" their SSD and that is what those tips were aimed at, when it never really was an issue. Sure, if you disabled everything that ever writes to the SSD, it might last 16 years instead of 15... but you will never be using that computer any longer by then anyway.
 
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Weaselboy said:
There is no need to disable hibernate or Time Machine local snapshots. You also do not need to disable the sudden motion sensor. All not needed. The put drives to sleep has no effect on your SSD either way.

All those tricks are unnecessary. Just install, enable TRIM and go with it.

Everybody was hyper sensitive about "wearing out" their SSD and that is what those tips were aimed at, when it never really was an issue. Sure, if you disabled everything that ever writes to the SSD, it might last 16 years instead of 15... but you will never be using that computer any longer by then anyway.
Click to expand...
Thank you!

I hit a snag.

Everything is working fine but the SSD has an outdated firmware.
Downloaded the ISO file and burned it onto a CD as directed by Crucial (Crucial MX300 525gb)

I rebooted the machine whilst pressing Option, but the CD option never appears, only the Macintosh HD icon. Did Apple disable booting from CD? The CD is readable just fine. As soon as I log back in I see it on my desktop.

Any ideas?

Thanks again for your help
 
teknikal90 said:
Downloaded the ISO file and burned it onto a CD as directed by Crucial (Crucial MX300 525gb)
Click to expand...

Were the Crucial instructions specifically for making a bootable Mac CD, because usually those bootable firmware CDs only work in Windows.

I would not worry about updating the firmware unless it is to fix some specific issue you are having.
 
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Weaselboy said:
Hmm... dunno. I have seen a lot of posts from people having trouble getting those bootable CDs to work on Macs. Did you try holding the C key to boot. That should boot from a CD.
Click to expand...
Yeah, didn't work.
I think I'll follow your advice and just not update.
Quick aside:
When I first enabled trim using trimforce, everything worked properly then it said "trim successfully enabled..restarting system now"...
and nothing happens...terminal stays busy.

So I quit terminal and ran the process again. This time, everything was fine, but the computer still didn't reboot.
I had to reboot manually.

Ever encountered this?

Under hardware info, Trim support is labelled as 'yes'.

Worth worrying about?
 
Weaselboy said:
Nah... that's about right. I see 400/400 with a Samsung EVO 850 I have.
Click to expand...
awesome - you've been amazingly helpful!

By the way I solved the Crucial firmware issue:
- Instead of mounting the downloaded ISO file then burning that, you have to just select the file in finder then File -> Burn.
- Mounting the ISO file before burning the CD will not burn a bootable CD drive.
 
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Weaselboy said:
There is no need to disable hibernate or Time Machine local snapshots. You also do not need to disable the sudden motion sensor. All not needed. The put drives to sleep has no effect on your SSD either way.

All those tricks are unnecessary. Just install, enable TRIM and go with it.

Everybody was hyper sensitive about "wearing out" their SSD and that is what those tips were aimed at, when it never really was an issue. Sure, if you disabled everything that ever writes to the SSD, it might last 16 years instead of 15... but you will never be using that computer any longer by then anyway.
Click to expand...

In most cases I'd agree that these 'tricks' are unnecessary, but in this case when the user is using Ableton Live, the macbook might be used in a live music environment where there are large bass speakers, percussion instruments and other sources of vibration.

You probably don't want the sudden motion sensor kicking in and disabling disk writes, while you are using Ableton to control your live music performance. The sudden motion sensor performs no useful function with an SSD, so it is better to have it disabled.

I also remember reports where some performance problems were solved by disabling the 'put HDD to sleep when possible' option. There was some speculation that the SSD was being put to sleep at a time when it should have remained powered for garbage collection.

The benefit of changing this setting might depend on the individual SSD and macOS release.
[doublepost=1484102727][/doublepost]
teknikal90 said:
awesome - you've been amazingly helpful!

By the way I solved the Crucial firmware issue:
- Instead of mounting the downloaded ISO file then burning that, you have to just select the file in finder then File -> Burn.
- Mounting the ISO file before burning the CD will not burn a bootable CD drive.
Click to expand...

For future reference, most of the recent Crucial drives can be updated using an EFI bootable USB flash drive.
e.g. Crucial M550, MX100, BX100, MX200, MX300 ....

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1844323/
 
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alex0002 said:
In most cases I'd agree that these 'tricks' are unnecessary, but in this case when the user is using Ableton Live, the macbook might be used in a live music environment where there are large bass speakers, percussion instruments and other sources of vibration.

You probably don't want the sudden motion sensor kicking in and disabling disk writes, while you are using Ableton to control your live music performance. The sudden motion sensor performs no useful function with an SSD, so it is better to have it disabled.
Click to expand...

Good point. This laptop will live almost exclusively on stage and in the studio near big speakers. How do I go about doing this?
 
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