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What is the "good" SSD to buy now?

chrono1081

chrono1081

macrumors G3
Original poster
Jan 26, 2008
8,810
5,581
Isla Nublar
Hi guys,

What is a good SSD to buy now? I used to see everyone recommend the OWC ones but now it appears they've fallen out of favor due to something with the sandforce controllers. Anyone have recommendations on what a good one to get would be?
 
The Samsung 840 is still a good choice if you using the stock hard drive slots (or optical bay ports).

I wouldn't bother with the 840 Pro unless you are planning to by the Apricorn Velocity Solo X2 as well [which gives you SATA 3 ports).
 
How are those Samsung 840s on garbage collection?

Thinking about getting one for the PS4 when it comes out, but AFAIK the system does not handle TRIM at all.
 
Personally I'm ordering a Samsung EVO today, along with an Apricon Velocity X2 card and 166GB USB memory stick.

Time to put Mavericks one, and about time I switched to an SSD.

Samsung have been touted for their reliability since they started with SSD's, and the performance is top notch considering the price.
 
^^^^Good choice. I'm running the Solo x2 alongwith a 500GB Samsung 840 Series. The EVO was not yet out when I bought my SSD or I would have chosen it.

A 116GB USB stick:confused:

I have an 8GB USB3 stick waiting for Mavericks to use an an install disk. I hope the procedure hasn't changed from ML.

Lou
 
I'd have preffered to have a 500GB SSD, but with all my apps, documents, dropbox and FCP X projects I'm barely using 90GB.

Once I'm done with something I move them to a mechanical drive, and external.

I have the GM of Mavericks, and when I ran .app it asked me which Drive I'd like to install to. Figured now is the time to get an SSD, and free up that extra HDD.
 
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Crucial M500. It's predecessor, the M4 was rock solid and while the new M500 slightly trails the 840 Pro in performance, it's got a huge bang-for-the-buck advantage. It also has better consistency than the 840 Pro under heavy usage and the added side benefit of not putting money into Samsung's pockets. The 960GB version is going for only $100 more than the Samsung 512GB 840 Pro.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6884/crucial-micron-m500-review-960gb-480gb-240gb-120gb
 
For me, the Samsung EVO was cheaper than Cruicial's offering, and since both are good I went for the cheapest.
 
^^^^Yep, your right, but IMHO, it's the best SSD out there.

But look at one of Samsung's biggest customers, Apple. They buy Macbook displays, macbookSSDs and many discrete electronic components from Samsung.

Apple has reduced it's dependence on Samsung, but they still spend a lot of money over there.

Lou
 
VirtualRain said:
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Crucial M500. It's predecessor, the M4 was rock solid and while the new M500 slightly trails the 840 Pro in performance, it's got a huge bang-for-the-buck advantage. It also has better consistency than the 840 Pro under heavy usage and the added side benefit of not putting money into Samsung's pockets. The 960GB version is going for only $100 more than the Samsung 512GB 840 Pro.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6884/crucial-micron-m500-review-960gb-480gb-240gb-120gb
Click to expand...

I maxed out two stock i5 2011 Mac mini's with 16gb ram and added the second drive kit, one with a 960 m500 a month before and two weeks ago a 1tb 840 evo. I thought they would be identical in performance but the samsung shaved a second off the boot time (9.4 seconds lol) and the write speed seemed to be a lot faster than the m500. That made my mind up!

Samsung are the daddy of NAND!
 
I still would insist you get OWC Mercury Electra 6G which is super fast & very reliable too
 
OCZ for fastest IOPS, Sandisk Ultra Plus for power safe. Double check your MBP compatibility before buying.
 
I'm debating on whether to raid two 840pros for 900+MB/s boot drive or just stick with the 400MB/s + with a single drive. Then use the other as a scratch/export drive. If I do i'll need another velocity x2 or the pricey sonnet tempo pro.

Gotta love those 840pros
 
I wouldn't RAID the 840 Pros they are super, also stand alone. Better use the other scratch disk.
 
I have an early 2008 3.1.

If I purchase a SamSung EVO and a Velocity 2x card, do I have to give up one of my two optical drives (one is an after market LightScribe) or one of my current 4 main drive bays to mount the SSD? Is there another place to stick the SSD drive?
 
choreo said:
I have an early 2008 3.1.

If I purchase a SamSung EVO and a Velocity 2x card, do I have to give up one of my two optical drives (one is an after market LightScribe) or one of my current 4 main drive bays to mount the SSD? Is there another place to stick the SSD drive?
Click to expand...

The SSD would mount on the Velocity Solo X2.
 

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pastrychef said:
The SSD would mount on the Velocity Solo X2.
Click to expand...

Wow… that looks like the solution I was hoping for. Do you need to run a separate cable for "power" to the drive?

I guess this would also work in the 2010-2012 Mac Pros also.. right?

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N19h7m4r3 said:
That's exactly what I did. Although with Mavericks the boot up time is quite a tad slower, but the speed increase is brilliant with it. :)
Click to expand...

By "Quite a Tad" - how much are we talking about?

Do we know why? Is this something that the OS may remedy in the future or is it maybe some kind of SSD Drive or Card firmware issue?
 
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