Got a new SSD for my 2011 macbook pro!

[amdhunter]

What was wrong with the MBP? Dammit. I missed the sale on the Crucial M4. However, there is a sale on the Kingston V100 64 GB. $82.

The Sandforce chipset units (eg. lots of OCZ models) scare me.


It has? So, does it use the version 2 kext?

Here are the hex methods:

http://digitaldj.net/2011/07/21/trim-enabler-for-lion/

Is it a problem not to have the erase free space option in Disk Utility? The Trim Enabler thread elsewhere, started by the original guy, says you're supposed to erase free space after activating TRIM.

Ah. I guess I really shouldn't mess with it until more factual data comes out. My SSD has garbage collection anyway.

 

[Eug]

So I tried using the command line method, but it didn't work on my Kingston V100. So, I used TRIM enabler 1.2, and it worked fine. I had to get it working, because the V100 doesn't have the garbage collection that the V+100 has.

Anyways, it's great. Feels uber fast. Biggest upgrade I've ever done in fact. Not bad for $82. However, in retrospect maybe I should have gotten a 96 GB or 128 GB version. After all my main apps are installed, I'll have about 40 GB left out of this 64 GB drive, but load up a couple of movies, and I'll halve the remaining storage space. Nah, I'll just wait until prices come down, and then transfer this SSD to my Win 11-incher, and get a bigger one for the MacBook Pro.

 

[Carousel]

^^ Did you turn on TRIM, or are you just using its built in garbage collection?

I've ordered the SSDNow V100 (64 GB). I really want a 120+ GB drive but I don't really want to spend $200 on one at this point. $82 is a good start to get my feet wet in SSDs.

I'll have to activate TRIM on it, but that's fine. I'm just glad that these unibody MacBook Pros from 2009 are supposedly very easy to upgrade. I'll upgrade it to 4 GB RAM as well.

I chose not to activate TRIM due to the aggressive garbage collection on this drive.

the V+100 is sloooow. cheap but slow. finally got my amazon rebate today . phew!

Only slow in benchmarks.

 

[Eug]

Only slow in benchmarks.

Indeed. My MacBook Pro with the supposedly even slower V100 in benchmarketing now actually feels like the fastest computer in the house. Despite only having a Core 2 Duo 2.26 GHz, it feels noticeably faster than my iMac Core i7 for general OS and business usage. It also feels noticeably faster than my Windows 7 triple-core 2.9 GHz AMD Athlon X3. Both those machines have 7200 rpm 3.5" drives.

It's too bad the SSD option for the iMac weren't cheaper, or an aftermarket item. A 256 GB SSD boot drive with a 1 to 2 TB data hard drive would be perfect.

 

[Minerva]

I don't know guys...I'm getting the occasional hang (beach ball) that happens randomly and I have to force end apps that are affected. It seems to recover on its own after a while. Not sure if the SSD is the cause or not.

I'm thinking I may be better off with a mechanical drive after all.

What about Momentus XT hybrids? Are they worth it on MBPs? I can get one for $80 which is a hell of a lot cheaper than $400 and has twice the space.

Too bad my HP Envy13 takes a 1.8" HDD. I'd love to put that M4 in there.

 

[Eug]

Too bad my HP Envy13 takes a 1.8" HDD. I'd love to put that M4 in there.

Heh. We think along the same lines. I ended up taking out my 64 GB Kingston V100 and sticking it in my Acer 11" 1810TZ. I bought a clearance 128 GB Kingston V Series for $150 and that's what's in the MacBook Pro now. 40 GB free space for my MBP, my main laptop, was going to be rather restrictive. Now I have over 100 GB free.

Ah. I guess I really shouldn't mess with it until more factual data comes out. My SSD has garbage collection anyway.

This old V Series from 2009 doesn't advertise its garbage collection, but it would seem that like its later generation V+100 descendant, the V Series has aggressive garbage collection. Nonetheless I have turned on TRIM, with no apparent ill effects so far.

Results	275.16	
	System Info		
		Xbench Version		1.3
		System Version		10.7.1 (11B26)
		Physical RAM		2048 MB
		Model		MacBookPro5,5
		Drive Type		KINGSTON SNV425S2128GB
	Disk Test	275.16	
		Sequential	199.45	
			Uncached Write	227.53	139.70 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	233.98	132.38 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	111.81	32.72 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	409.39	205.75 MB/sec [256K blocks]
		Random	443.50	
			Uncached Write	313.32	33.17 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	335.27	107.33 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	919.21	6.51 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	569.17	105.61 MB/sec [256K blocks]

These aren't lightning fast speeds, but it's about normal for the drive, which came out in 2009.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I don't know guys...I'm getting the occasional hang (beach ball) that happens randomly and I have to force end apps that are affected. It seems to recover on its own after a while. Not sure if the SSD is the cause or not.

I'm thinking I may be better off with a mechanical drive after all.

What about Momentus XT hybrids? Are they worth it on MBPs? I can get one for $80 which is a hell of a lot cheaper than $400 and has twice the space.

Too bad my HP Envy13 takes a 1.8" HDD. I'd love to put that M4 in there.

I use a Momentus XT (500GB) on my MBP and have been nothing but pleased with it since I installed it about a year ago. I've heard of people having issues with these drives on Macs but thus far mine has been problem-free.

 

[alfa147x]

I use a Momentus XT (500GB) on my MBP and have been nothing but pleased with it since I installed it about a year ago. I've heard of people having issues with these drives on Macs but thus far mine has been problem-free.

I can second this.

 

[Eug]

I use a Momentus XT (500GB) on my MBP and have been nothing but pleased with it since I installed it about a year ago. I've heard of people having issues with these drives on Macs but thus far mine has been problem-free.

What problems?

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

What problems?

http://www.google.com/search?client...tus+xt+problems+macbook+pro&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

 

[Minerva]

I made a Lion disk on a SD card last night and did a fresh install. So far so good. I did not enable TRIM though. The last image was cloned from the factory install and trim was enabled. It may have been incorrectly enabled as the enabler I used was for Snow Leopard. :\

 

[Emulex]

http://www.mactrast.com/2011/07/how-to-enable-trim-support-for-all-ssds-in-os-x-lion/

there ya go. remember to open the lines up in textedit so they don't wrap from the web.

 

[Minerva]

Isn't the GC on the M4 good enough to work on its own though?

I rarely use the ODD so I'm considering putting one of those adapters in there and tossing a 1TB 5400 RPM disk for storage. I wish this (MBP) had USB 3.0 as I have a Seagate Free Agent Go 1.5TB that's USB 3.0 and on a PC with USB 3.0 I get > 100MB/S transfers! Sweet!

The other bad news is there's no way to use 6Gbps SATA with that adapter due to cable noise issues so it would be pointless to stripe a pair of 512GB M4s. But if it were plausible that would be a helluva sweet setup!

Going on the wishing path...a pair of 8GB SODIMMS bringing memory to 16GB. Yeah the MBP does work with 16GB but it will cost more than a pair of 512GB M4s! Holy chickens that's ridiculous. Why didn't they put 4 SODIMM sockets in there like the Dell Precision M6600? Yeah that can hold a whopping 32GB but the RAM costs as much as the laptop...including a 256GB SSD!

Interesting times we live in.

 

[secretanchitman]

I use a Momentus XT (500GB) on my MBP and have been nothing but pleased with it since I installed it about a year ago. I've heard of people having issues with these drives on Macs but thus far mine has been problem-free.

same here as soon as i updated to the SD24 firmware.

 

[Eug]

http://www.mactrast.com/2011/07/how-to-enable-trim-support-for-all-ssds-in-os-x-lion/

there ya go. remember to open the lines up in textedit so they don't wrap from the web.

I tried this. I assume it's the same, because it looks the same, but it was at another site.

For some reason it just wouldn't work. So finally I just used TRIM enabler 1.2.

---

BTW, I returned my last SSD purchase. The speed was wonderful, but my laptop took a battery life hit. I had purchased it based on Anand's review:

The V Series power utilization was the same as the V+100 at idle and much lower at load, and there was one on sale at the store on clearout. I was bit perplexed after I installed it though because my battery life really seemed to suffer, and the fan was coming on more often. Well, it turns out that the larger drives from the same V-Series line use MUCH more power. For the 30 GB model, it's rated at 1.7 W typical active, and 0.05 W sleep. Great. However, the 128 GB model from the exact same line is rated at 5.2 W typical active, and 0.7 W sleep. Ouch.

So I returned it and got the more expensive V+100 128 GB, which is the one the article was written about. Yeah, the V+100 doesn't have the best power characteristics at load, but I've discovered that much of my usage has the machine sitting doing nothing most of the time. This one is rated at 0.05 W idle and 3.6 W typical active. Not stellar active stats, but great idle power at 0.21 W measured by Anand.

 

[Minerva]

Is it worth updating to the new 0009 firmware?

http://www.crucial.com/support/firmware.aspx

 

[Eug]

Hmmm... Maybe, since you're encountering problems:

•Changes made in version 0002 (m4 can be updated to revision 0009 directly from either revision 0001 or 0002)
•Improved throughput performance.
•Increase in PCMark Vantage benchmark score, resulting in improved user experience in most operating systems.
•Improved write latency for better performance under heavy write workloads.
•Faster boot up times.
•Improved compatibility with latest chipsets.
•Compensation for SATA speed negotiation issues between some SATA-II chipsets and the SATA-III device.
•Improvement for intermittent failures in cold boot up related to some specific host systems.

 

[Eug]

Have you tried updating your Crucial m4 yet? I'm curious to see if that solves the MacBook Pro problems.

 

[Minerva]

Have you tried updating your Crucial m4 yet? I'm curious to see if that solves the MacBook Pro problems.

Yes I just got it back in and running. Read speeds peg out the disk benchmark program at 500MB/S! Writes around 250MB/S.

Definitely fast coming up, no problems so far.

Will enable TRIM next...

The (MBP) FLIES with this drive on 0009.

 

[Eug]

Nice.

However, I'm wondering if the best idea for 3rd party SSDs in Macs are either Toshiba or Kingston SSDs with the Toshiba controller, or else the Samsung 470 series, since Apple likes to ship Toshiba and Samsung SSDs in their laptops.

What other SSDs get shipped inside Macs?

 

[Tyranicus]

I don't know guys...I'm getting the occasional hang (beach ball) that happens randomly and I have to force end apps that are affected. It seems to recover on its own after a while. Not sure if the SSD is the cause or not.

I had the same issue with my OCZ Vertex2 until I enabled TRIM. Since I did that, it has been smooth sailing.