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SSD questions

D

Dentifrice

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 27, 2008
448
85
Hi guys,

My setup is the 2.3ghz Mac mini 2011 with 8gb of RAM.

I want to replace my boot hardrive by a SSD and use the 500gb for storage.

Few questions :

1- What SSD technology do you recommand, TRIM ? I heard garbage collector is better because it dosen't depend on OS. What is the best for maximum compatibility with Mac OS without modification ?

2- Do you recommand particular model ? I'm looking for a drive around $100...so I guess 128gb is my choice. Any chipset recommandation ?

3- What is the part number of the sata cable ? Do you know a place to order it in Canada ? Can my local Apple store sell it ?

4- What is the best way to transfer my system to my new harddrive ? Superduper ? I have a Time capsule, I suppose I can restore it on my new drive ? Is there some partition alignement to do or everything will work ?

Any other hints ?

Thank you
 
have you considered seagate t-bolt and an external ssd? the mushkin enhanced chronos deluxe 128gb ssd works very well with the seagate adapter.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1317577/


www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226226


www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226225

If you buy a cable for the internal install it is 30 bucks the best internal ssd is a crucial m4 128gb or a samsung 128gb ssd. cost is 110 or so. so if you can get ther parts you are in the 150 dollar range maybe 140 or 160.

it is easy to break the gear! if you go external and get the 240gb mushkin the seagate adapter and a cable you are at 390 to 410 for 240gb. 250 or 270 for 128gb. it is more money but it is easy and it allows you to move your computer in a sense. you can take the ssd and plug it into any mini and boot it
 
Last edited:
philipma1957 said:
have you considered seagate t-bolt and an external ssd? the mushkin enhanced chronos deluxe 128gb ssd works very well with the seagate adapter.
Click to expand...

yeah I though about it and then I saw a benchmark comparaison of a SSD with sata and thunderbolt....which I unable to find again...but there was huge speed differences..
 
the performance lost is all bs bench marks. i will explain.


unless you have 2 ssds long fast copies don't happen since 1 drive is a hd

the oem hdd is like me walking around the block. if you put in a fast ssd 240gb and 256gb are the fastest you move up to race car speed. most of us would really feel the speed of a race car agianst the speed of walking. if you put the same ssd in the t-bolt you get a corvette instead of an indy car. so that is slower but 145 miles an hour vs 3 miles an hour walking is really big difference. yeah the indy is 190 or 180 miles an hour but the install is tricky. you can't swap it out with other machines. I only mention this because it is an option. there are many posts of second drive gone bad.

I do say try and get a bigger ssd then the 120 or 128 they are slower then the 180 intel or the 240gb or the 256gb ssds. I will find some canada links for you
 
Last edited:
philipma1957 said:
the performance lost is all bs bench marks. i will explain.


unless you have 2 ssds long fast copies don't happen since 1 drive is a hd

the oem hdd is like me walking around the block. if you put in a fast ssd 240gb and 256gb are the fastest you move up to race car speed.
Click to expand...

but in both case (t-bolt or sata) the second hard drive is HDD

and there was a huge performance lost. But I just saw one benchmark...
 
ssd

sorry for my technical ignorance, but hopefully one of you guys can figure out what I am trying to explain.

I understand that upgrading to a new hard drive on an iMac (just in the last 6 months or so), Apple now has firmware that regulates fan speed. If you use a 3rd party hard drive, the fan runs at a 100%. You need to purchase an official Apple Hard drive with the proper firmware to regulate fan speed.

Do the Mac Mini's have this issue?

Thank you for your help.
 
Dentifrice said:
is the t-bolt SSD your boot device ?

if so, can you anwser me for my other questions if you can (1 and 4) ?

thank you !
Click to expand...

question 4 is superduper and test boot if it has an issue try carbon copy cloner. don't use the time machine as it is slow.

question one is I don't bother with trim as I don't have small ssd's . 240gb and up.

If I record a tv show i use a 1tb ssd on my pegasus r6 when it fills to 600gb I off load the recordings to a few 2 tb hdds.

I push to most people 240gb ssds, 256gb ssds ,180gb ssds, don't go smaller.



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this is a good deal in the us

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Solid-S...1JJM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339519518&sr=8-1

134 usd after rebate.
 
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thanks philipma1957


dspiral said:
sorry for my technical ignorance, but hopefully one of you guys can figure out what I am trying to explain.

I understand that upgrading to a new hard drive on an iMac (just in the last 6 months or so), Apple now has firmware that regulates fan speed. If you use a 3rd party hard drive, the fan runs at a 100%. You need to purchase an official Apple Hard drive with the proper firmware to regulate fan speed.

Do the Mac Mini's have this issue?

Thank you for your help.
Click to expand...

this is a good question !
 
dspiral said:
sorry for my technical ignorance, but hopefully one of you guys can figure out what I am trying to explain.

I understand that upgrading to a new hard drive on an iMac (just in the last 6 months or so), Apple now has firmware that regulates fan speed. If you use a 3rd party hard drive, the fan runs at a 100%. You need to purchase an official Apple Hard drive with the proper firmware to regulate fan speed.

Do the Mac Mini's have this issue?

Thank you for your help.
Click to expand...

IF you put a ssd or hdd in a 2011 mac mini correctly (do not break a sensor or wire) there is no issue.
 
dspiral said:
sorry for my technical ignorance, but hopefully one of you guys can figure out what I am trying to explain.

I understand that upgrading to a new hard drive on an iMac (just in the last 6 months or so), Apple now has firmware that regulates fan speed. If you use a 3rd party hard drive, the fan runs at a 100%. You need to purchase an official Apple Hard drive with the proper firmware to regulate fan speed.

Do the Mac Mini's have this issue?

Thank you for your help.
Click to expand...
You can fix this with one command in the Terminal
 
Question 4, you asked about drive alignment. If you initialize the disk in Disk Utility, it will align the drive correctly. Super duper or ccc then do file copies, so the alignment is retained.

I have been running a Sandisk Extreme 240GB SSD on the Seagate TB adapter, running as the boot drive, for several weeks, without problem. It is plenty fast. And I have Trim enabled and it works perfectly.

However, tomorrow I am installing the SSD inside the Mini, along with a Samsung 1TB drive. Why? Because I wish to connect a new 2560x1440 display which means I need the thunderbolt output for the display. So unless you want to buy a Thunderbolt display (I do not) you cannot attach a external Thunderbolt disk to the Mini at the same time as a high resolution display. You cannot use the HDMI output since it is limited to 1920x1080.

The "cheap" (cough) Seagate adapter doesn't do TB pass through, and even if it did, I am not sure it would enable connection of a displayport display at the end of the chain (as opposed to a Thunderbolt display)?

Just something to bear in mind.
 
thanks !

I don't plan to buy a TB display, right now I have a Cinema display 24in and it's more than enough


I plan to buy a Corsair M4 here in Canada and the sata cable from amazon.com (I have a $20 gift card left so it will pay the shipping to Canada).
 
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Dentifrice said:
thanks !

I don't plan to buy a TB display, right now I have a Cinema display 24in and it's more than enough
Click to expand...

What's the resolution of the Cinema display? If its 1920x1080 then that is OK because you can connect it via the HDMI port. But if its greater than that then you would need to connect via the Thunderbolt port - which was exactly my point.
 
Chippy99 said:
Question 4, you asked about drive alignment. If you initialize the disk in Disk Utility, it will align the drive correctly. Super duper or ccc then do file copies, so the alignment is retained.
Click to expand...


when you're saying initialize the disk, are you saying create the partition first ?

If so, how will superduper or CCC handle the recovery partition ? Do I need to create this partition before too ?

thanks
 
Dentifrice said:
when you're saying initialize the disk, are you saying create the partition first ?

If so, how will superduper or CCC handle the recovery partition ? Do I need to create this partition before too ?

thanks
Click to expand...

Yes, create the partition in Disk Utility. CCC will create the recovery partition for you.
 
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