Solid state drives for 2011 mbp

[mrk123]

OK I will have to be super quick before my Mac Pro decides to spit his dummy out... Again.

Some of you may know I have a major Hard Drive failure. I have the old 'spinning beach ball' syndrome.

I have 2 questions.

1. This is definitely a hard drive problem is it? I tuen on computer, the grey screen with apple logo might take 5 minutes before it decides to even let me put in log in details, then when i do it will take another 3 minutes to load up and open so I can use it, then even loading web pages will take a few minutes and then after 5 or 10 mins will freeze and i will have to close down. Sometimes I may get more time?

2. Solid State Drives. I am looking to get one. I think the extra money paid will be a good investment. Can anyone suggest any links or stores in the UK where I can get a good priced one? Or just let me know exactly what I am looking for. I mean I keep seeing PC/MAC SSD etc and getting confused, are they all the same?
And is it 7mm 2.5 what I am after?

3. What's peoples best method to export bookmarks from firefox? I have tried unsuccessfully.

Can someone please let me know the basic requirements what I am looking for?

I have pretty much copied a lot of my info now onto my external (when I get new OS and HD I will look into setting up time machine with a new external drive formatted to MAC.

 

[chas_m]

1. This is definitely a hard drive problem is it?

Nobody here in virtual-land could say "definitely," but it sure sounds like a failing hard drive to me (former AASP tech).

2. Solid State Drives. I am looking to get one. I think the extra money paid will be a good investment.

This depends a lot on what machine you have, its age, its internal connections and other factors.

As for where to get one, nearly anyplace that sells HDs I should think. I can't answer the question about a 2.5-inch 7mm except to say that nearly all Macs that use 2.5-inch drives use the 9.5mm size, so unless the 7mm has a 9.5mm adapter I would avoid those. More data on the machine you have would produce a better answer.

 

[mrk123]

Hi thanks for your sound advice, the 7mm thing was a crucial one then. I will look for 9.5mm.

What type of information would you like?

 

[chas_m]

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/ne.../313284-writing-quality-post-printthread.html

 

[mrk123]

Hi.

MBP, 2011, MAC OS X 10.7.5.
2.3 GHz Intel Core i5
4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3

Mac mostly used for internet, Adobe software, Music Production and other creative endeavors.

Currently have 4gb DDR3, and 250GB hard drive of which 50gb is free space.

Any more info?

 

[chas_m]

No, that's what we were looking for.

You probably want to look for a good deal on a 250GB (I'd suggest 500GB) 2.5-inch 9.5mm form factor SSD. Samsung's SSDs are well-regarded, and as for price I've long used the rule of it needed to be no more than 50 cents per GB for me to be interested (so less than $250, or £165 for the UK). I'm starting to see that threshold met much more often now, mostly from online retailers like Amazon now.

If that's still a little pricey for you, I'd suggest investing in more RAM -- 4GB is kind of "minimum" these days, and your future (and quite overdue) upgrade to Yosemite will thank you for 8GB or more.

 

[MacInWin]

chas_m, what is the state of TRIM these days? I ask because Apple is now blocking unsigned kexts in Yosemite so the one third party TRIM implementation doesn't work unless you disable that security feature. My SSD from OWC claims not to need TRIM as it's built into the controller, so I'm not too worried, but I wonder about others.

For the OP, just ignore this side discussion for now. TRIM is a cleanup process for SSDs that may or may not actually impact drive performance in Macs. Hence my question to chas_m.

 

[chscag]

Hi thanks for your sound advice, the 7mm thing was a crucial one then. I will look for 9.5mm.

What type of information would you like?

No need to look for a 9.5 MM drive. Just check with Mac Sales as all their SSD drives they sell come standard with an adapter for mounting. SSDs are usually 7 MM thick although some models are thicker. I don't know if Crucial drives come with an adapter, you'll need to ask them.

 

[mrk123]

I am thinking of going for standard drive... I will upgrade the RAM and benefit from doubel ram and a new drive.

What are the Hybrid drives like?? Any good?

As well... Cache or MB... What is the minimum I really want? I have seen 64mb and 8mb I think. I know it's generally a numbers game is it?

 

[S.SubZero]

I had the previous gen Seagate 750GB hybrid. It wasn't bad, bootup times were near-SSD speed and it was generally responsive. I think the spinny disk part didn't age well, lots of drives are faster, and may be faster enough to make up for the hybrid storage part.

The latest gen Seagate hybrids aren't even 7200RPM, they are only 5400RPM, which seems like a step backwards. They are trying to cache as much as possible intelligently so the disk part isn't as much of a factor in general performance. I have my doubts.

At my work we have been replacing all hard drives with SSDs in the pre-Retina MacBook Pros. It substantially improves their experience.