SSD Buying Guide [part 2]

[Guzaking]

FWIW, I just read a review of the new Crucial SSDs and they mentioned that the older M500 were on the old 20nm die which would they indicated would give the old M500 a longevity advantage over the MX100s new 16nm die.

could you post the link to this article? it would be good stuff to read as I'm shopping for a new SSD right now as well.

 

[LCB1980]

Nope - all the Retina MacBook Pros use the blade-style SSDs and only take one at a time. Newer ones are PCIe, while older ones are a proprietary SATA (and the only ones that have aftermarket replacements at the moment).

In regards to dual SSDs, this is reserved for the non-Retina (aka "unibody") MacBook Pros, usually placing a second one in the optical drive bay with an adapter. The last any of these models were updated were 2012 (the 13" is still being sold, while the 15" was discontinued in 2013).

Ah OK. Thanks for the info.

If it can't be used, why is there a second SATA in the rMBP or is it left over from when they had optical drives?

 

[applesith]

I'm considering updating my 2011 15" MBP to a 500GB SSD and moving the current 750GB HDD to the optical bay.

Typically, how much would this impact battery life?

I know that will have to do with how often I'm accessing the files on the HDD. My iTunes is 120GB and I'm considering moving that to the HDD, but I usually have music playing so the HDD will be spinning. (I have a lot non-released remixes and live shows that are not available on cloud music services, so I need the files).

Any advise on which files to put on the SSD and those on the HDD? Thanks!

 

[Guzaking]

Which Contollers for these 2 MBP & MM

Are you aware of these issues with the Nvidia MCP79 SATA Contoller, and which SSDs might work best in my situation?

NVidia MCP79 issues
http://blogs.helsinki.fi/tuylaant/2014/01/upgrading-old-macs-to-ssds/

CLJ...really good article link, thank you it was quite helpful.

I have 2 specific questions about 2 controllers if anybody out there can help out with info. I'm looking to an Early-2011 MacBook Pro 17" (MC725LL/A) and putting a 1TB SSD drive into it. Also looking for a Mid-2010 Mini Mac (MC270LL/A) and doing the same thing; swap the HDD for an SSD the max size 512GB.

Before I drop $800 bucks on these 2 SSD's I would like to know the controller on their logic boards because as we already know some controllers are not compatible with other controllers that come with the SSD's.

It is a very important key point before I choose a big ticket items like $800 in SSD's. Ofcourse I would like to maximize the Input/Output speeds between the drive and the board with full 6G speeds. But this won't be full speeds unless the 2 controllers between them are compatible. Anyone here have these 2 machines and can look up or find out which controllers they have?...or may know the answers?

 

[ecschwarz]

Ah OK. Thanks for the info.

If it can't be used, why is there a second SATA in the rMBP or is it left over from when they had optical drives?

I'm a bit confused - where is it located exactly? Your rMBP's SSD is PCIe, and unless I'm completely wrong (and can't find it on iFixit either), there aren't any SATA connectors...the PCIe connector for the AirPort/Bluetooth card is near the SSD connector, but turned 90°, but I can't find anything else.

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Retina+Display+Late+2013+Teardown/18696

 

[MagicBoy]

Ah OK. Thanks for the info.

If it can't be used, why is there a second SATA in the rMBP or is it left over from when they had optical drives?

There are no user accessible SATA connectors in the rMBP.

 

[MHenr]

If someone is still in doubt about the advantages of an SSD upgrade, take the plunge!

Last week, I installed a Samsung 850 Evo 250GB SSD in my old 2006 15" Core2Duo MBP and it is amazing how smooth this 9 year old laptop still runs!
It's the perfect family internet/email/photomgmt-machine. And it's 9 years old!!!

Over these past 9 years it has cost me 3 new batteries, a RAM upgrade and now a 120€ SSD upgrade. I'd say that's pretty cheap.
I've written my MSc. thesis on it and still use it daily, 7 years after graduating from university.

My work Lenovo Thinkpad T440p (windows 7) can't even keep up in general smoothness and speed of launching apps, opening folders, booting, etc.

The day will come that this machine will be obsolete or dies, but right now I'm just as happy with it as the day I bought it

 

[DJohn1]

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)

I bought this MacBook around Christmas time, I absolutely enjoy it. However, I'm looking to improve it with an SSD. I've done some reading, watched some videos, and now I want to use the HDD in the optic bay too. Can anyone offer some advice on which SSD to purchase, cloning the HDD onto it, and properly installing the HDD into the optic bay? I want to be sure of everything before I make a purchase this weekend.

 

[ecschwarz]

I bought this MacBook around Christmas time, I absolutely enjoy it. However, I'm looking to improve it with an SSD. I've done some reading, watched some videos, and now I want to use the HDD in the optic bay too. Can anyone offer some advice on which SSD to purchase, cloning the HDD onto it, and properly installing the HDD into the optic bay? I want to be sure of everything before I make a purchase this weekend.

I recently just got rid of one of these after using it for more than two years - they are great machines, especially when you add in the SSD (I acquired the iMac in my signature and wanted to travel a bit lighter, so I "sold out" and got a less upgradeable Mac for portable use).

I've had good luck with the Samsung 840 Evo drives, although I'd recommend the 850 Evo now (better performance and the pricing is a bit better than the 840 Evo). I ran an 840 Evo in my computer's hard drive bay with no trouble for over a year and we've gotten them as inexpensive upgrades for many of the '09-'10 MacBook Pros still in use at work. They hit the sweet spot of good price, good enough performance for most users, and a good enough warranty. That being said, I heard a lot of good things about Crucial's drives and thought I'd try that this time around in my iMac (an mx100) - it's a bit slower for writes than my Evo was, but about the same for reads. I tend to prefer the SSDs where the manufacturer designs everything, as opposed to the idea of a controller and some chips that are mixed from various other vendors.

As far as cloning goes, I like SuperDuper, just because the free version is good enough for most users to use once or twice, and it's a simple, but powerful tool. You can clone to your new SSD (after it's partitioned through Disk Utility, of course), using any generic USB->SATA adapter. This way, you can make sure the drive is ready to go before you start opening up your computer and moving things.

Finally, you can use the iFixit instructions to remove your old hard drive, remove your optical drive, and then use a product like the OWC Data Doubler to mount the hard drive in the optical bay. Replacing items in the optical bay is a bit harder than the hard drive bay, but as long as you follow the instructions and are careful, you should be fine. The only scary parts are the small cables that connect to the logic board that are in the way and routing the wifi antenna cables.

The friend who ended up with my old one wants to do this or dual SSDs as well as boost the RAM even more for a nice, compact desktop replacement - I'm excited to see it get used to its full potential.

 

[Guzaking]

EFI Firmware?

I just got off the phone with Samsung USA and I was asking about the down-clock speeds from non-compatible controllers and they also alerted me to look out for "Link Speed" and "Negotiated Speed" which the Negotiated Speed is a purposely clocked down default speed set by Apple when new machines are purchased.

Then to over-ride this you need to install an EFI Firmware update, (until which version I don't know) to unlock this Apple default setting and get maximized 500+ R/W speeds from your new SSD. Has anyone heard of this before? I'm surprised that I haven't seen anyone else talking about this since it sounds kind of critical. Any insight here?

 

[JTToft]

I know that will have to do with how often I'm accessing the files on the HDD. My iTunes is 120GB and I'm considering moving that to the HDD, but I usually have music playing so the HDD will be spinning. (I have a lot non-released remixes and live shows that are not available on cloud music services, so I need the files).

- Actually, iTunes Match will upload whatever files it can't match in the iTunes Store and make them available for streaming on your devices.
So you could do without storing the files locally. Something to consider.

 

[russellwth]

Macbook Pro Retina 13' Mid-2014 11.1

I'm thinking of upgrading the SSD on my MBPr 13 Mid-2014 11.1.
Currently there are no other 3rd party options from OWC or transcend however i stumbled upon this one http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Samsu...tina-NEW-Mac-Pro-Late-2013-2014-/151526192552

I couldn't find any other threads down here that suggests any forum-ers may have posted about the Samsung MZ-KPU1TOT/0A6 SSD installed on MBPr 13 Mid-2014 11.1.

I did however find that there were some that have installed this onto their Mac Pros.

Could anyone who may have any experience on this or is currently using this configuration kindly shed some light?

Thanks everyone!

 

[DJohn1]

I recently just got rid of one of these after using it for more than two years - they are great machines, especially when you add in the SSD (I acquired the iMac in my signature and wanted to travel a bit lighter, so I "sold out" and got a less upgradeable Mac for portable use).

I've had good luck with the Samsung 840 Evo drives, although I'd recommend the 850 Evo now (better performance and the pricing is a bit better than the 840 Evo). I ran an 840 Evo in my computer's hard drive bay with no trouble for over a year and we've gotten them as inexpensive upgrades for many of the '09-'10 MacBook Pros still in use at work. They hit the sweet spot of good price, good enough performance for most users, and a good enough warranty. That being said, I heard a lot of good things about Crucial's drives and thought I'd try that this time around in my iMac (an mx100) - it's a bit slower for writes than my Evo was, but about the same for reads. I tend to prefer the SSDs where the manufacturer designs everything, as opposed to the idea of a controller and some chips that are mixed from various other vendors.

As far as cloning goes, I like SuperDuper, just because the free version is good enough for most users to use once or twice, and it's a simple, but powerful tool. You can clone to your new SSD (after it's partitioned through Disk Utility, of course), using any generic USB->SATA adapter. This way, you can make sure the drive is ready to go before you start opening up your computer and moving things.

Finally, you can use the iFixit instructions to remove your old hard drive, remove your optical drive, and then use a product like the OWC Data Doubler to mount the hard drive in the optical bay. Replacing items in the optical bay is a bit harder than the hard drive bay, but as long as you follow the instructions and are careful, you should be fine. The only scary parts are the small cables that connect to the logic board that are in the way and routing the wifi antenna cables.

The friend who ended up with my old one wants to do this or dual SSDs as well as boost the RAM even more for a nice, compact desktop replacement - I'm excited to see it get used to its full potential.

After looking at your post, and reading up a bit more, I went ahead & took the plunge on a new SSD, and moved my HDD to the optic bay. I decided to buy a Samsung 850 Evo SSD; My MacBook now runs incredibly fast, smooth, and no loading times for applications. It's amazing just now blazing fast this machine is now. I'm currently getting my feet wet with Symlinks so I can clear space on my SSD. I really appreciate you taking the time to offer me some advice, as well as other users giving their accounts on SSD's in their machines. The disassembly, and installation of the SSD and the original HDD into the optic bay took about 30 minutes, and that's only because I decided to be extra careful. Aside from that, it was painless. If anybody is still on the fence about upgrading their MacBooks, I can say for a fact that it is worth the investment.

 

[ecschwarz]

After looking at your post, and reading up a bit more, I went ahead & took the plunge on a new SSD, and moved my HDD to the optic bay. I decided to buy a Samsung 850 Evo SSD; My MacBook now runs incredibly fast, smooth, and no loading times for applications. It's amazing just now blazing fast this machine is now. I'm currently getting my feet wet with Symlinks so I can clear space on my SSD. I really appreciate you taking the time to offer me some advice, as well as other users giving their accounts on SSD's in their machines. The disassembly, and installation of the SSD and the original HDD into the optic bay took about 30 minutes, and that's only because I decided to be extra careful. Aside from that, it was painless. If anybody is still on the fence about upgrading their MacBooks, I can say for a fact that it is worth the investment.

I'm glad you were able to get it all sorted out - it's a nice upgrade on those machines and certainly inexpensive compared to replacing them!

 

[chanerz]

Installed an Intel 530 240 GB SSD on my 2010 Macbook Pro. Awesome boot time and speed! It's like new again. I also downloaded the TRIM support.

 

[applesith]

I'm looking to upgrade my 2011 MBP 15" to SSD. Going with the 500GB. Is the extra $100 worth it for the Samsung EVO Pro?

I'm probably going to buy a new MBP once Skylake comes out. My 2011 is plugging away fine, I just want to upgrade what I can in the meantime.

 

[Dweez]

I'm looking to upgrade my 2011 MBP 15" to SSD. Is the extra $100 worth it for the Samsung EVO Pro? I'm going with the 500GB drive.

That depends on whether or not it's worth the extra $100 to you. I've got a few 840 EVO drives and am quite pleased with them.

 

[ecschwarz]

I'm looking to upgrade my 2011 MBP 15" to SSD. Going with the 500GB. Is the extra $100 worth it for the Samsung EVO Pro?

The Evo and Pro are two different lines - the 850 Evo is be fast enough for most users (the 840 Evo was a slower drive and also one of the faster "consumer-grade" SSDs out there). The 840 Pro and 850 Pro are a bit faster, but only if your computer can take advantage of it, but are designed for more writes and general overall longevity if they're going to be getting a lot of use. I'd suspect most people wouldn't need this in a desktop computer unless it was some workstation where you were writing lots of data every day or some sort of server setup. With the higher price tag, you also get a longer warranty.

I went back and forth and ultimately went with the 840 Evo and was plenty happy with its performance and never regretted saving the $60ish (I figure that I could put towards my next, bigger drive or other things).

 

[matreya]

One concern with the EVO range is whether Samsung have a problem with their TLC NAND, and whether the problems seen in the 840 EVO might also exist in the 850 EVO.

Given that I would suggest a Samsung 850 Pro, a Crucial MX200, or an Intel 530.

 

[i4k20c]

What do people reccomend in general when replacing SSD's?

1.) Stick with Mavericks as the OS with No TRIM enabled

2.) Stick with Mavericks as the OS with TRIM enabled

3.) Upgrade to Yosemite without TRIM support

 

[ecschwarz]

What do people reccomend in general when replacing SSD's?

1.) Stick with Mavericks as the OS with No TRIM enabled

2.) Stick with Mavericks as the OS with TRIM enabled

3.) Upgrade to Yosemite without TRIM support

I don't know long-term how this would play out, but I typically upgrade to the latest OS, and had no trouble running Yosemite with or without TRIM turned on with the 840 Evo and mx100 (obviously TRIM on Yosemite always runs the risk of being a problem if your PRAM gets reset).

At this point (for me), I have too much relying on Yosemite to use Mavericks (iCloud Drive, newer apps, Photos)

 

[RichardC300]

What do people reccomend in general when replacing SSD's?

1.) Stick with Mavericks as the OS with No TRIM enabled

2.) Stick with Mavericks as the OS with TRIM enabled

3.) Upgrade to Yosemite without TRIM support

Upgrade to Yosemite and whether you activate or don't activate TRIM is your decision. The only difference is kext signing, and that isn't that big of a hassle with the TRIM Enabler app. You shouldn't pass up all the new features of Yosemite just because of kext signing.

 

[i4k20c]

Upgrade to Yosemite and whether you activate or don't activate TRIM is your decision. The only difference is kext signing, and that isn't that big of a hassle with the TRIM Enabler app. You shouldn't pass up all the new features of Yosemite just because of kext signing.

will not enabling TRIM be that big of a deal on a samsung 850 evo you think?

honestly, i know this is a separate thread all together but with someone who doesn't have an iphone, i'm not sure if Yosemite will do much for me (continuity seems to be the coolest feature). I'm afraid it will slow down my computer actually (early 11 mbp, 2.3ghz core i5)

 

[RichardC300]

will not enabling TRIM be that big of a deal on a samsung 850 evo you think?

honestly, i know this is a separate thread all together but with someone who doesn't have an iphone, i'm not sure if Yosemite will do much for me (continuity seems to be the coolest feature). I'm afraid it will slow down my computer actually (early 11 mbp, 2.3ghz core i5)

I have an 850 EVO that came in today waiting to be installed in my early-2011 15". I'll be enabling TRIM on mine, but I've seen several people post that they have ran Yosemite w/o TRIM for a while with no noticeable performance degradation in real-world situations. I wouldn't sweat it if you don't want to bother with TRIM. It's probably only for people who are uptight about keeping their SSD in tip-top condition even if they can't even tell.

Our laptops don't have the correct BT receiver for Continuity, so that doesn't really matter, but Yosemite has a lot of other awesome features. I didn't notice any difference in performance going from Mavericks to Yosemite, so I'd say go for it. If you're that worried, you can just disable transparency and do all those other performance-saving tweaks. I've disabled transparency on my MBP just because I don't like it. It's a good medium between the Mavericks UI and the full-blown transparent Yosemite UI.

 

[ecschwarz]

Our laptops don't have the correct BT receiver for Continuity, so that doesn't really matter, but Yosemite has a lot of other awesome features. I didn't notice any difference in performance going from Mavericks to Yosemite, so I'd say go for it. If you're that worried, you can just disable transparency and do all those other performance-saving tweaks. I've disabled transparency on my MBP just because I don't like it. It's a good medium between the Mavericks UI and the full-blown transparent Yosemite UI.

I'll agree with this sentiment - my main computer (just based on which one I spend the most time on) is a Mid-2011 iMac that also has Thunderbolt and other modern niceties, but an older Bluetooth card and no USB 3.0. It's just as fast on Yosemite as it was on Mavericks. That being said, about two weeks ago, I slapped an SSD in it (mostly to coincide with it becoming my main computer), and went with the Crucial mx100 after buying almost exclusively Samsung 840 Evos for various installations (partially out of curiosity, partially out of a lower cost, and good reliability reports). The mx100 is technically slower on some specs, but is still plenty fast for everyday computing and I'm really happy with how well this iMac runs, despite being almost 4 years old. I'd imagine the Sandy Bridge-based MacBook Pros from 2011 are very similar.