OCZ Vertex 4 256GB SSD + 2007 MBP = Speed Demon!!!
This is almost word for word what my review was on NewEgg one month ago when I purchased the OCZ Vertex 4 SSD:
Pros: The Vertex 4 SSD made my older 2007 3,1 C2D MacBook Pro (OS 10.6.8) a new notebook all over again! This SSD fit perfectly in my MBP and my boot ups went from 1 minute 27 seconds with the 320GB 5400RPM WD platter drive to a blazing 12 seconds with the SSD! Opening applications happen as soon as I double click an icon. No more long waiting for app execution and spinning pinwheels for me! Also, shutting down my MBP is now instantaneous... well ok... 2 seconds but it's better than 48 seconds with a platter HD. lol
I researched for months and visited just about every SSD and Mac forum/blogs to find a reliable SSD but there hardly is any info out there for the older Mac notebooks with SSDs. I found a bunch nay sayers and as well as praisers about the OCZ brand. I for one will be a long time consumer of OCZ products from my first and only experience.
At first I was hesitant about installing an SSD with SATA III 6Gbit/s speed in a SATA 1.5GBit/s connection to the motherboard (Logic board) but all is still working great and faster than the older WD 5400RPM HDD.
Cons: Updating the firmware. Not so much a con, but make sure you update the firmware (1.5) for the Vertex 4 SSD before you start to format the drive. There is excellent step-by-step info on the OCZ forum about booting from a thumb drive to update the firmware.
Other Thoughts: If you are going to add your first SSD to your Mac, follow these steps by Googling for more information and the correct procedures for Terminal:
- turn off time machine snap shots
- turn off hibernation
- turn off the sudden motion sensor
- turn off hard drive sleep
- delete sleepimage file (I freed up 6GB)
- don't defrag the SSD!
- secure delete everything in the Trash (I've always done this even with the platter HD)
As for TRIM, I found on other forums/blogs that some people say to enable it and others say not to enable it. I tried with and without TRIM and didn't really noticed any differences. It has the Indilinx branded controller so I left TRIM enabled.
There are donationware apps on the web to help you to enable TRIM on your Mac.
Another thing I'd like to add, I use my MBP as my main Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) and for DJing. The SSD is so much snappier and quick when music programs store and retrieve my music projects using an external FW800 HDD.
I'm trully glad I made the switch to an SSD!