New SSD for Mid 2009 Macbook Pro 17" Please Help!

My original HD recently crapped out so I was given a very nice Kingston HyperX 3k 240g SSD "Sata 3" 6.0g/s Hard drive as a gift.

I understand my Unibody 2009 17" Pro cannot run Sata 3 BUT my Negotiated link speed is only set to 1.5 Sata 1 speeds... Which is pathetic.

This is my model identifier: MacBookPro5,2

Ive spent the last two day something like 14 hours researching for solutions and there have been SO many posts about this issue its impossible for me to find something that actually pertains to my simple situation. It seems that all the Models both before and now after mine are all capable of running SATA 2. So why the **** can't I run SATA 2, I know there is a way... I followed the firmware update instructions ro run SATA 2 but I receive an error that says "you don't need an update" ...

PLEASE HELP! This is driving me NUTS!

No one?

I did an experiment, I put my old WD Black drive back into my Macbook Pro and checked it under the info tab, it showed a "negotiated link speed" of 3.0/g\

So I know the computer is capable of running SATA 2 speeds, Why wont a SATA 3 SSD run at least SATA 2 speed then?

Also, is this really going to effect performance, when would I need to read or write over 1.5g/s ?

I used a performance utility the "blackmagic disk speed tester" on the old and new drives. Old spinning drive was 75mb/s read and write

New HyperX SSD is doing 103mb/s Read and Write... whats that like a 20% increase? Pathetic...

what osx is your macbook pro ? how did you install the osx ? with ccc carbon clone ? Time Machine ?
the end result should be clean install of OSX. For the speed of sata 2 should be around 158 to 170 write and read should be over 200.

First, if you have a SATA3 ssd, and can't run close to 250mbps r/w with SATA2 cables, that ssd is garbage.

Second, even though SATA3 SSDs can technically automatically step down to SATA2 speeds for SATA2 equipped computers, MBPs have been known to have problems achieving consistent runs, if you can even get it working, on SATA2 equipped MBPs. Don't worry about your MBP though, this problem is found throughout the industry when SATA3/6G SSDs came out. Makes you wonder what the point of a SATA3 ssd being able to run on SATA2 is, doesn't it?

Also, if the SSD and its drivers are fully compatible with your MBP's connection allowed, it should automatically show the negotiated speed at 3.0 Gigabit. If there are issues, such as SSD driver compatibility, or your MBP not having the newer EFI updates(at least 2.2 update, but you probably already have it), your MBP will show the Negotiated Speed at 1.5 Gigabit...which pretty much can decrease consistent speeds by more than half.

No matter how many times you re-install OSX, you will have this problem. OtherWorldComputing(OWC) had a fix for this, involving new cables I believe, but I haven't really checked up on that.

Clean lion install...

I did a new OS install of Lion and then just transfer files later...

I understand there have been some issues with the SATA 3/6.0G SSD's on the 2009 Macbook pro's and I did find several threads that SOME SSD's actually had software that works at SATA 2... Ive heard about this issue for over the last year but I figured at this point apple/intel would have gotten it sorted out on most major HD's

My SSD is the Kingston HyperX 3k 240g, and for whatever reason it wont run more than the negotiated link speed of 1.5G

I have the same HyperX SSD in my desktop PC and I get close to 600 mbps read/write... So the SSD is fast, but just wont do it in my mac

I did email Kingston but who knows...

Let me ask you guys this. The company I know that has SSD's designed to run SATA 2 speeds on 2009 Macbooks is OCZ

So, im considering swapping my HyperX for an OZC. If I do get SATA 2 link speeds with it will I even really see a performance difference over the 1.5g negotiated speeds?

Or should I just be happy my SSD works at all...

Ace5high said:

Let me ask you guys this. The company I know that has SSD's designed to run SATA 2 speeds on 2009 Macbooks is OCZ

So, im considering swapping my HyperX for an OZC. If I do get SATA 2 link speeds with it will I even really see a performance difference over the 1.5g negotiated speeds?

Or should I just be happy my SSD works at all...

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There are many companies that have SATA2 ssds that will run fine on your computer...Crucial, OWC, OCZ. I wouldn't spend money on a 6G ssd. And, yes, you will notice a speed difference between 1.5 and 3 Gigabits. Depending on drives(like an OWC ssd), consistent speeds can be up to as much as twice the speed of a 1.5 linked ssd. I wouldn't waste money on a 6G ssd right now considering 3G drives are pretty cheap, and by the time you do upgrade to a computer with SATA3, those 6G drives will be cheap enough to for both of your drives to equal the price of one 6G ssd today.

iggibar said:

There are many companies that have SATA2 ssds that will run fine on your computer...Crucial, OWC, OCZ. I wouldn't spend money on a 6G ssd. And, yes, you will notice a speed difference between 1.5 and 3 Gigabits. Depending on drives(like an OWC ssd), consistent speeds can be up to as much as twice the speed of a 1.5 linked ssd. I wouldn't waste money on a 6G ssd right now considering 3G drives are pretty cheap, and by the time you do upgrade to a computer with SATA3, those 6G drives will be cheap enough to for both of your drives to equal the price of one 6G ssd today.

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Ive heard that Samsung SSD's work fine on macbooks of all kinds, mainly since they do not use the same sand force controllers as many others. NewEgg doesnt have any SATA 2 available any longer, Im thinking they may have discontinued the 470 with the lower prices of the 830..

So the plan is to get a the Samsung 830 to replace it with, Ive heard they run fine at 3.0G can anyone confirm this?

Ace5high said:

Ive heard that Samsung SSD's work fine on macbooks of all kinds, mainly since they do not use the same sand force controllers as many others. NewEgg doesnt have any SATA 2 available any longer, Im thinking they may have discontinued the 470 with the lower prices of the 830..

So the plan is to get a the Samsung 830 to replace it with, Ive heard they run fine at 3.0G can anyone confirm this?

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Do you mean they don't have any Samsung SATA2 drives, or just SATA2 drives in general? Because they have over 100 different kinds of SATA2 drives available.

iggibar said:

Do you mean they don't have any Samsung SATA2 drives, or just SATA2 drives in general? Because they have over 100 different kinds of SATA2 drives available.

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What I said, or meant was it appears they discontinued the 470 (Samsungs SATA 2) or at least newegg doesnt sell them anymore with the popularity of the 830..

So has anyone else had good success with using the Samsung 830's running at SATA 2 speeds? Ive read on other forums they work well but was hoping to confirm from someone who tired it.

samsung ssd 830 is good, i have it on my mid 2010 mbp, that is a sata 3 runs on data 2 speed, it has the speed rate for write is 200 and read at 250. I can guarantee you if you follow the previous post I set up, you can do that speed rate as well. Go for it.

ycl1688 said:

samsung ssd 830 is good, i have it on my mid 2010 mbp, that is a sata 3 runs on data 2 speed, it has the speed rate for write is 200 and read at 250. I can guarantee you if you follow the previous post I set up, you can do that speed rate as well. Go for it.

Click to expand...

So in other words just do a clean install ofLion and it should run at SATA 2 correct?