Question about my Mac and SSD

[itpromike]

So I posted this in the general SSD forum but I realized folks in this forum might have more specialized input.
I'm thinking about getting a Samsung 830 for my MBP however I skimming some of the posts relating to Windows and SSD's there are several steps people suggest when you first get your drive to make sure you get good performance (different utilities to run and BIOS changes etc...). I'm wondering if there is anything I need to do in OS X (Mountain Lion) to accomplish the same? Also I had a question concerning which Samsung 830 to buy... there are notebook upgrade kits which cost $20 to $30 more than just buying the drive... how would I know if I need the 'Notbook Upgrade Kit'? And lastly, I'm ALSO thinking about getting a SSD for my tower, however I do video editing and I'm wondering would the SSD even improve my video editing performance since the OS itself will be stored on the SSD but chances are the project files and video files will not (since SSD's are so small)? So to recap:

1.) Do I need to do anything in OSX or run any utility to maximize drive performance?
2.) Can I just buy the drive or do I need to buy the 'Notebook Upgrade Kit'?

3.) Will SSD's improve video editing performance at all since only the program itself will be stored on the SSD and the project files probably won't?

MBP 2009 13inch
MacPro 2008

Thanks a lot for any guidance guys.

 

[ViRGE]

1) There is nothing you need to do in Mac OS X. Just drop it in and you're set.
2) The Notebook Upgrade kit is just the drive with a copy of Ghost and a drive spacer. You can't use that software on Mac OS X and you don't need the spacer, to the bare drive is fine.

 

[cheez]

OP, you'll get noticeable performance gain using two separate drives. One for OS, one for data. With SSD being the OS drive your swap files will be at full performance and there is not much multitasking to be involved within the drive. Same for the data / storage drive. But if you want even faster performance get two SSD drives and remove the old traditional hard drive. In my HTPC system I have several raptor HDD's running in raid0 and two other drives running separately for data and storage. I have another raptor drive made specifically for "swap files". The end result is supa dupa fast performance wet my pants and pass out... The concept is to use many drives to do one's work instead of relying on only one drive to do all the work.

 

[PCTC2]

Don't forget to install TRIM Enabler to get TRIM enabled on non-AppleOEM drives.

 

[itpromike]

Great input everyone. What about battery life and heat? I've heard SSD's have lower power consumption and no heat. So theoretically will I see battery life improvements in a cooler MBP or is it nominal at best?

 

[boomhower]

Don't forget to install TRIM Enabler to get TRIM enabled on non-AppleOEM drives.

Definitely don't forget this.

Great input everyone. What about battery life and heat? I've heard SSD's have lower power consumption and no heat. So theoretically will I see battery life improvements in a cooler MBP or is it nominal at best?

Looking at various 5400RPM drives the power use doesn't look to be drastically different. Assuming your replacing a 5400RPM drive you won't notice much difference in temp either. You will notice the silence though.