Solid State Drive Upgrade
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- mg330
Holy damn this thing is fast now! Had some issues using a Time Machine backup to restore to a new SSD, but used Carbon Copy Cloner and everything worked well.
Ran benchmark tests of my original SSD against the new one:
Old Read / Write numbers were each in the mid 100s.
New Read / Write numbers are in the upper 400s and above 500.Considering I have 16 GB of RAM in this, I don't think there's anything I can do to make it any faster. Awesome.
- wagshaft0
Thank bitches. This was more than helpful.
- ernexbcn0
I have a Mac Pro (early 2008).
I added an SSD drive to it, I put it under the DVD drive and attached it with a SATA cable to a spare port that the mainboard has, it was a bit of a pain in the ass to pass the cable from the mainboard to the area where the DVD drive is.
It won't go at its full speed since the port is SATA 2 but it's way faster than normal drives.
I didn't want to use a special case for it or use any of the 4 hard drive slots.
- kalkal0
Most SSDs that fail, don't fail because they hit the limit of writes, they usually fail because the controller is crappy, mostly on older sandforce based models.
If you're only using it for your programs, it will last many years.
Smaller ones (like 128gb) can usually hold 3000-4000 full writes (and all writes to an SSD are as random as possible), so you're looking at writing hundreds of terabytes until it dies, and like I said, if you're only installing your apps on it, you're not going to be writing anything close to that any time soon.
- nocomply0
Once you go SSD you'll never go back! It's way faster.
I upgrading to an SSD on my old windows laptop about 2 years ago, installed windows 8, and my startup/shutdown times were less than 10 seconds. Apps like photoshop open within 5 or 6 seconds.
I bought a macbook pro with an SSD about a year ago and have noticed similar performance, but believe it or not windows still starts up and shuts down faster.
I use the SSD for my OS and all apps, and store all of my work files, music, movies, etc... on a USB 3.0 external HD. It's a system I've been doing for many years now and it works for me.
- Windows takes forever to shut down compare to Macs. It has a shutdown screen and all. Macs just turn off instantly.monospaced
- Sometimes. Since Mountain Lion, shutdowns have been a little funky for me.nikdaum
- Windows 7 on bootcamp via SSD shuts down perfectly fast for me?sem
- Windows 7 shuts down slower than Mavericks for me on my new iMacmonospaced
- I was referring to boot up / shut down times in Windows 8, which has been really quick for me with SSD.nocomply
- sem0
This is what I got in my MBP
http://www.ebuyer.com/353112-ocz…Great size and speeds for decent price. There is a cheaper version with better rating though (just lacks IOP performance) http://www.ebuyer.com/583285-ocz…
- OCZ went bankrupt btw, might want to be careful about warranty issues.zarkonite
- http://arstechnica.c…zarkonite
- Thanks for the heads up. I backup well though so should be ok.sem
- I have one of those sitting on my desk. Bricked ,out of no where with no warning. I hold onto it with the hope that one day we can resurrect it like walt disney.dorkKn1ght
- yurimon0
So if ssd's have limited write capacity? So how does virtual memory use effect ssd's lifespan? better to put all temp files or uses on another hd non solid state if you want to be more particular?
- ernexbcn0
SSDs have improved a lot, I think they are as reliable as magnetic media now.
If you are not on SSD yet do it, the difference is night and day. Put your main OS on an SSD and large media on traditional drives.
- yurimon0
Yes its faster, did it on a macmini 2009 for a friend.. you just need to make sure its compatible. the newest and greatest wasnt compatible for the 2009..
- sem0
Bare in mind, sometimes your Mac won't notice the new SSD on boot options. This is because sometimes you have to update the drives firmware first.
Also, if using two drives inside a MacBook Pro like I said above. A good tip is to move your itunes folder to the 1tb drive to save space on the SSD (esp if you have many game apps etc) you can also move any other big folders to the 1tb and make an alias (with the same name) to trick OSX into using the storage drive rather than the SSD.
If that makes sense to you, you'll have tons of space on your SSD for OS and Programs.
- sem0
For anyone questioning SSD
Boot Times:
Loading Apps:
- mg330
Someone in the past posted a link to a great article on the proper method of moving a time machine backup to a new SSD. Anyone know what that article is?
I've got a new SSD arriving today to upgrade from my 128GB SSD to 256 GB SSD. Just need to make sure I follow the best method of migrating a backup from Time Machine so everything is the same on the new one.
Thanks.
- akrok0
it's great. i got mine at macsales.com
- they have videos of how to install etc.akrok
- http://www.ifixit.co…sem
- ArchitectofFate0
I've done it on my Imac and 2007 macbookpro, the only issue I've had is that I needed a fan-control program since the sad didn't have the necessary triggers...
- mekk0
Is the fusiondrive available for your machine? Seems to be the easiest way to have big storage and fast speeds.. I have it in my 2010 or 2011 machine at work and it feels like SSD only
- zombee0
Yep, did exactly this on a 2012 Mac Pro. Was a doddle. Went for a Samsung 830 250GB SSD for OS and Apps, and used a couple of standard HDDs for working files and backup.
Only thing to bear in mind is you won't get SATAIII (6GB transfer) speeds if your using the Mac Pro's HDD bays as they are only SATAII (3GB transfer), but his still yields way faster read/write speeds than a spinning hard drive. If you're going for this option, would recommend one of these: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/O…
If you want full transfer speeds and you have a spare PCI slot, you'll need one of these: http://www.sonnettech.com/produc…
Also grab a free app called 'Trim Enabler' which will help manage garbage collection on the SSD: http://www.cindori.org/software/…
- why would one need insane transfer speeds of 6GB/s when the hdd is only at 200MB/s read/write?mekk
- drgs0
is it true SSD's only last for a couple of years?
- never heard of it, HDDs tend to break down because of their moving parts. Heat could be a problem with SSDsmekk
- not becaue of failure, they have a limited number of writes per celldrgs
- so you're saying planned obsolescence?mekk
- Yes and they fail instantly not gradually.animatedgif
- sources/tests?mekk
- there is software which can predict the rest life of your SSDdrgs
- see my postmekk
- MrT0
Done it (or rather a mate with skills did it) on a 2009 MBP and it's a vast improvement. Quick startups and no heat issues even on 46°C day last summer...
- nb0
For anyone questioning SSD:
I dropped an SSD in my machine a while back, and now the system starts up and shutdowns in about ten seconds. So great. I've really noticed a huge improvement in my relationships with family and friends with those extra four minutes of free time each week.
- Same here, since getting an SSD I found I have more friends in life and lost weight!sem
- rascuache0
Aye did this on a unibody macbook (the last gen of plastic ones), with a cheapo ebay optibay thing. The optibay thing was NOT well made, but everything went in fine and the computer's heaps faster. Like a new machine really!
Used an intel drive, can't remember which now...