Questions about hard drives in notebooks

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Does anyone have much experience with the SSDs supplied with the new Mac Book Pros?

I have read that they wear down over time by writes. How quick does this happen?

Do the drives have the wear levelling facility? Or, can you get software to make the drive do so?

Best ;D
 
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I heard the cells last up to 10,000 writes a piece, enough to last 30-40 years with avg use, but YMMV.

according to this, wear leveling is already in place with the SSDs that Apple sells, so despite Mac Pros being listed, I'm certain the technique is in the MBPs as well.
 
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HDDs and SSDs (Hot swapable?)

Are the drives (both SSDs and HHDs) hot swapable? Is it easy for a user at home to change the drives without causing any problems?
 
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I mean.. hot-swapable is probably a bad term to use. You can change them out, but not without a little difficulty. I just upgraded my HDD recently and it wasn't exactly like poppin' in another stick of ram. But you can put in a SSD to replace your HDD without any modification or software change.

Just make sure you go to ifixit.com and print out one of their guides and make sure you have the right tools. And also, if you are going to be doing this soon, when you take off the cable from the drive to the logic board, be gentle. I had to pay 40 bucks and wait a week because I broke my cable trying to get it off the logic board.

Good luck!
 

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I would also spend a significant amount of time researching the various SSD models as performance varies widely. The worst thing you could do would be to plunk down $400+ on a drive that makes your system 'stutter' as some of the drives are known to do.

Read this article before you start shopping:

AnandTech: The SSD Anthology: Understanding SSDs and New Drives from OCZ
 

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Please ensure that you are using the right terminology when asking a question. Hot swappable when it applies to hard drives (either traditional platters or SSD) refers to pulling a live drive out of a running machine and replacing it with another one (or the same one) without it causing any harm to the OS/machine..

Only servers comes with the necessary hardware protection to allow you to hot swap a drive at any time. Desktops/laptops don't have that protection, so here you're just talking about swapping the drive out..

Regards
 
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Please ensure that you are using the right terminology when asking a question. Hot swappable when it applies to hard drives (either traditional platters or SSD) refers to pulling a live drive out of a running machine and replacing it with another one (or the same one) without it causing any harm to the OS/machine..

Only servers comes with the necessary hardware protection to allow you to hot swap a drive at any time. Desktops/laptops don't have that protection, so here you're just talking about swapping the drive out..

Regards

Can't you do it with the current Mac Pro?
 
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I would also spend a significant amount of time researching the various SSD models as performance varies widely. The worst thing you could do would be to plunk down $400+ on a drive that makes your system 'stutter' as some of the drives are known to do.

Read this article before you start shopping:

AnandTech: The SSD Anthology: Understanding SSDs and New Drives from OCZ

I was thinking of getting my Mac configured with one of Apples SSDs. Do we know what models Apple use/supply? Are they good?

Please ensure that you are using the right terminology when asking a question. Hot swappable when it applies to hard drives (either traditional platters or SSD) refers to pulling a live drive out of a running machine and replacing it with another one (or the same one) without it causing any harm to the OS/machine..

Only servers comes with the necessary hardware protection to allow you to hot swap a drive at any time. Desktops/laptops don't have that protection, so here you're just talking about swapping the drive out..

Regards

Well I did mean hot swap until you have corrected me! I read somewhere the new MBP had a hot swapping facility! Sorry!
 

cwa107


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I was thinking of getting my Mac configured with one of Apples SSDs. Do we know what models Apple use/supply? Are they good?

Every person I've seen on this forum that has one factory-equipped has been happy with it. And no, I'm not sure what brand/make/model they are.
 

cwa107


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Yeh, I thought so too! Cant remember where I read this, will have a look around.

Can anyone enlighten?

Yes, the Mac Pro has hot-swappable drive bays. Note that this is the desktop machine, not the MacBook Pro.
 
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Warranty/Apple Care

If you install/change the drive or upgrade memory DIY, does it effect your warranty or Apple care at all?
 
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cwa107


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If you install/change the drive or upgrade memory DIY, does it effect your warranty or Apple care at all?

No. They are considered user-upgradeable parts (although that wasn't the case with the previous generation machines).
 

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