2008 MacBook running slow on new SSD

[henchr]

Hello folks,

I've got a late-2008 MacBook (The aluminum unibody) that I just upgraded with a new 250gb Samsung 850 SSD drive. I've already upgraded the RAM to 8GB. Before I updated the drive, I still used the old 160GB 5400RPM drive that came originally with the MacBook. Back when I had the original HDD, the Mac ran quite alright, with a boot-up time of around 24 secs, but now with the SSD it takes around 58 seconds; it takes roughly 30 seconds just to get the start-up Apple logo. As expected, the read/write speeds are around 210mb/s, which is no surprise considering I only have SATA II, but it shouldn't be a problem seeing as the old read/write speeds were around the 80mb/s-mark. I copied the old hard drive using SuperDuper! and simply plopped the disk in, but there was hardly anything besides my software, some photos and my iTunes library on the old disk. Anyone got any sort of tips? Might it be the SSD that's faulty?

Please and thank you.

 

[harryb2448]

G'day and welcome to the forums.

The cloning may be the problem. Some manufacturers, including Samsung, make available their own cloning software. Often slow platter drives will record errors when cloned to a SSD. Have a read of this link:-


http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/global/html/support/downloads.html

 

[henchr]

G'day and welcome to the forums.

The cloning may be the problem. Some manufacturers, including Samsung, make available their own cloning software. Often slow platter drives will record errors when cloned to a SSD. Have a read of this link:-


Samsung SSD Downloads | Samsung SSD

Tally-** and hooroo t'you, Harry.

So, my mac has now started turning itself off at random moments and also just simply stop working from time to time, which really isn't what I'm looking for in a mac. It also overheats a lot, which have made my cat far too aware of its presence than I'd like to.

So say the cloning was the root of the problem; what's the process from here? I've already wiped the old HDD and now use it for movies, but should I wipe it clean, clone the SSD over to the HDD and then reverse the whole process using Samsung's software? Or do I really have to to a clean start, wiping the SSD totally clean and reinstall OS X? I really don't want to reinstall OS X, seeing as I have no idea where half of my serial numbers to my apps are.

Cheers.

 

[harryb2448]

Well it is seven years old. What happens when you run it in Safe Mode?

 

[henchr]

I'll admit it's starting to grow old, but that shouldn't have anything to do with this problem. It worked flawlessly when I updated it to 8GB RAM, apart from a tad slow boot-up and App-start, hence why I bought an SSD. Heck, it didn't heat up significantly when I multitasked with huge documents in Photoshop, InDesign and Chrome - which is a brave enough task for any computer. So I'm safe in assuming that the main problem is the SSD.

I'll check Safe Mode and come back. Though, I'm starting to think I might just have to wipe the entire drive, which I'm still reluctant to do considering wear on the SSD and the fact that Mavericks still won't let me use third-part TRIM. But, as I said, I'll come back.

 

[henchr]

Safe Boot went good, but didn't notice any significant difference when I turned it back on. Hasn't turned itself off for a few minutes, with Safari, Mail and SuperDuper running. I tried several times to back up the SSD with SuperDuper, but the mac just shut itself off time and time again. After the Safe Boot, it successfully managed to duplicate the drive onto the old HDD, in case anything goes adundas. I also bought TechTool Pro 7, in a desperate hope that a full check should uncover something in the file structures - and as a last resort I'll check the directory corruption. Hopefully something comes up.