6 ms·

SSD's are not there yet, if you ask me. I've been running on a custom SSD on my Mac mini, with restarts required once daily after crashing (mostly due to chrome

SSD's are not there yet, if you ask me. I've been running on a custom SSD on my Mac mini, with restarts required once daily after crashing (mostly due to chrome). A dozen friends of mine also had a buggy experience with SSDs. They are super fast, I mean. But not so reliable at this point in time. Will I go back to a HDD? Probably not. HDD is really good for backing up stuff, but for speed, SSD's are unmatched. There's no icon-bouncing each time I click on an app in the bottom menu of my mac. Even a restart a day is totally worth it for me :D (Just kidding, don't fucking downvote me)

nwh 13y ago
I wouldn't say that. I've been using SSDs since 2009, and I've never had an issue with them. Every MacBook I've owned since then has had a hybrid of SSD + HDD for speed and capacity, and it seriously works a treat. The only issue I have ever encountered with them was an issue between a very specific combination of drives, once that was nutted out it's been solid as a rock. I would never go back.
- reneherse 13y ago
  I run an SSD for the system and a HDD (in the optical drive bay) for storage in my (aged) MBP. Any advice to get the HDD to wind down when not in use? This setup is fantastic when plugged in, but battery life suffers with the HDD in the aftermarket location unable to go to sleep...
  - JSadowski 13y ago
    Yes... swap the two drives. The optical bay cannot properly put the HDD to sleep. I am running a similar setup, but with the HDD in the original bay, and the SSD in the optical bay and have no issues.
    - reneherse 13y ago
      Ah, yes. I think with my machine being a very old model (MBP 4,1) there was some issue for why I didn't do this. Perhaps the maximum speed of the optical bay? I'll have to look up the specs again to see if it wouldn't be worth the trade off, as it would be great to make the old goat more portable. Thanks for the tip!
      - nwh 13y ago
        My original SSD setup didn't actually have any problems in the 2007 model MacBook Pro, so I can't imagine you would either. The speedup is absolutely incredible, even with a cheap Chinese SSD.
  - aroch 13y ago
    If I'm going portable and need every last minute of battery life I'll transfer files I need over to my SSH (or to a 64GB SD card if they're very large files) and unmount the platter drive in my MBP
  - nwh 13y ago
    I've never had an issue with getting a HDD in the optical bay to sleep. Just checked the option in the settings and used a tool (CHUB? CHUD?) to set the minimum spindown time to be lower than normal.
danieldk 13y ago
SSD's are not there yet, if you ask me. I've been running on a custom SSD on my Mac mini, with restarts required once daily after crashing (mostly due to chrome). A dozen friends of mine also had a buggy experience with SSDs. They are super fast, I mean. But not so reliable at this point in time. There are some ugly SSDs out there with firmware problems (e.g. some people have reported problems with OCZ). I have been using different SSDs for three years (Apple branded, Samsung, and Intel) and I never had any problem or bugs. In fact, since Apple uses Samsung themselves, I have also used Trim Enabler without problems.
- slowdown 13y ago
  You are talking based on your own experience. I am talking based on mine and 12 others I know of. No offence, but you get the point, right? :)
  - foobarbazqux 13y ago
    The thing about personal experience is that you can't really quantify it. His 3 anecdotes (3 SSDs over 3 years) are just as valid as your 13 anecdotes.
  - danieldk 13y ago
    That's the whole point of my comment. It's anecdotical evidence and you'll find as many people having the opposite experience (ie. me). If you look at the actual failure rate, it's well known that the failure rates of SSDs are well below those of HDDs: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2319966 http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2319966 (With the notable exception of the aforementioned brand.)
- casperc 13y ago
  I was under the impression that OSX already supported trim. Is that not the case, or is it only for certain models?
  - danieldk 13y ago
    Trim is only enabled by OS X on Apple-branded SSDs.
uptown 13y ago
I suppose it depends on the drive, controller and firmware. I slapped an OCZ SSD into my Early 2011 Macbook Pro on day one, and it's been running flawlessly ever since.
joe_bleau 13y ago
"restarts required once daily"? Do you mean restarting the crashed application (Chrome), or an actual daily reboot of the OS?
shadesandcolour 13y ago
Have you really be able to track crashes back to your SSD? This could be an issue with so many things.

nwh 13y ago

I wouldn't say that. I've been using SSDs since 2009, and I've never had an issue with them. Every MacBook I've owned since then has had a hybrid of SSD + HDD for speed and capacity, and it seriously works a treat. The only issue I have ever encountered with them was an issue between a very specific combination of drives, once that was nutted out it's been solid as a rock. I would never go back.

reneherse 13y ago
I run an SSD for the system and a HDD (in the optical drive bay) for storage in my (aged) MBP. Any advice to get the HDD to wind down when not in use? This setup is fantastic when plugged in, but battery life suffers with the HDD in the aftermarket location unable to go to sleep...
- JSadowski 13y ago
  Yes... swap the two drives. The optical bay cannot properly put the HDD to sleep. I am running a similar setup, but with the HDD in the original bay, and the SSD in the optical bay and have no issues.
  - reneherse 13y ago
    Ah, yes. I think with my machine being a very old model (MBP 4,1) there was some issue for why I didn't do this. Perhaps the maximum speed of the optical bay? I'll have to look up the specs again to see if it wouldn't be worth the trade off, as it would be great to make the old goat more portable. Thanks for the tip!
    - nwh 13y ago
      My original SSD setup didn't actually have any problems in the 2007 model MacBook Pro, so I can't imagine you would either. The speedup is absolutely incredible, even with a cheap Chinese SSD.
- aroch 13y ago
  If I'm going portable and need every last minute of battery life I'll transfer files I need over to my SSH (or to a 64GB SD card if they're very large files) and unmount the platter drive in my MBP
- nwh 13y ago
  I've never had an issue with getting a HDD in the optical bay to sleep. Just checked the option in the settings and used a tool (CHUB? CHUD?) to set the minimum spindown time to be lower than normal.

danieldk 13y ago

SSD's are not there yet, if you ask me. I've been running on a custom SSD on my Mac mini, with restarts required once daily after crashing (mostly due to chrome). A dozen friends of mine also had a buggy experience with SSDs. They are super fast, I mean. But not so reliable at this point in time. There are some ugly SSDs out there with firmware problems (e.g. some people have reported problems with OCZ). I have been using different SSDs for three years (Apple branded, Samsung, and Intel) and I never had any problem or bugs. In fact, since Apple uses Samsung themselves, I have also used Trim Enabler without problems.

slowdown 13y ago
You are talking based on your own experience. I am talking based on mine and 12 others I know of. No offence, but you get the point, right? :)
- foobarbazqux 13y ago
  The thing about personal experience is that you can't really quantify it. His 3 anecdotes (3 SSDs over 3 years) are just as valid as your 13 anecdotes.
- danieldk 13y ago
  That's the whole point of my comment. It's anecdotical evidence and you'll find as many people having the opposite experience (ie. me). If you look at the actual failure rate, it's well known that the failure rates of SSDs are well below those of HDDs: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2319966 http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2319966 (With the notable exception of the aforementioned brand.)
casperc 13y ago
I was under the impression that OSX already supported trim. Is that not the case, or is it only for certain models?
- danieldk 13y ago
  Trim is only enabled by OS X on Apple-branded SSDs.

uptown 13y ago

I suppose it depends on the drive, controller and firmware. I slapped an OCZ SSD into my Early 2011 Macbook Pro on day one, and it's been running flawlessly ever since.

joe_bleau 13y ago

"restarts required once daily"? Do you mean restarting the crashed application (Chrome), or an actual daily reboot of the OS?

shadesandcolour 13y ago

Have you really be able to track crashes back to your SSD? This could be an issue with so many things.