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Ian wrote some weeks back regarding SSD upgrade, I am considering doing the same on my MacBook Pro.
Prices have dropped considerably lately, but prices can vary for what on paper at least look the same spec. I know this doesn't always tell the whole story.
A 128gig Crucial around £90, Sandisk just over £80, Vertex over a £100 (the write speeds look a little faster) and Samsung over £90.
Hi Patrick, am just about to install a Kingston SSDNow 128GB V+200 SSD into my desktop tower after installing a 120GB Sandisk Ultra in my laptop last year.
An excellent feature of the Kingston kit is that they provide a stylish USB case for your old drive so you can use it as an external drive and software and accessories like cables are provided for making the migration to SSD much easier.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure that the software provided is Mac-compatible. There is no mention of Mac compatibility anywhere on the box. That doesn't mean the drive is incompatible, it just means that if now migration software is provided you will have to do the formatting and sector alignments and transfer manually.
Hi Patrick, am just about to install a Kingston SSDNow 128GB V+200 SSD into my desktop tower after installing a 120GB Sandisk Ultra in my laptop last year.
An excellent feature of the Kingston kit is that they provide a stylish USB case for your old drive so you can use it as an external drive and software and accessories like cables are provided for making the migration to SSD much easier.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure that the software provided is Mac-compatible. There is no mention of Mac compatibility anywhere on the box. That doesn't mean the drive is incompatible, it just means that if now migration software is provided you will have to do the formatting and sector alignments and transfer manually.
Ian
Thanks Ian
I shall contact Kingston and see what I can find out, Crucial supply Mac formatted SSD, I cant see Kingston not doing so. I like the idea of an enclosure for the old drive.
If they don't do a Mac formatted I can put it in the enclosure connect to the Mac and format and perhaps even install Lion straight on before fitting.
Where did you buy yours from and how was the price.
The Kingston unit I have was supplied for review. I don't know how well it performs yet. It's not a super-fast specification (although on paper twice as fast as the Sandisk Ultra I installed in the laptop); but looks ideal for those who are less technically minded. According to Google the price ranges from £93-£140 for the 128GB Kingston.
The Kingston unit I have was supplied for review. I don't know how well it performs yet. It's not a super-fast specification (although on paper twice as fast as the Sandisk Ultra I installed in the laptop); but looks ideal for those who are less technically minded. According to Google the price ranges from £93-£140 for the 128GB Kingston.
Ian
Hi Ian
eBuyer have the Kingston 120GB V+200 SSD - 2.5" SATA-III for £69 just have to check re: formatting for Mac.
Just bought on Amazon SSD OCZ AGT3-25SAT3-120G Agility 3 120GB SATA III 2.5 inch .
It will be with me by Friday 25th will report on how things work out.
Patrick
The SSD arrived today very efficiently from Amazon, DPD the carriers emailed to say it would be delivered between 11:47 to 12:47, it was delivered at 11:45 very impressive.
The SSD required formatting for my MacBook so I put it in a enclosure to do the formatting. I had already downloaded Lion and made a disk to install so I simply installed it onto the new disk without restarting the MacBook.
I then restored everything from my Mac time-machine. I then took the back off the Mac and replaced the H/D with the SSD.
On rebooting it re se my email automatically, I had to reset Dropbox myself. I shut down again and rebooted, I was amazed at the speed.
The MacBook now boots in a quarter the time the iMac boots which has always been the faster of the two.
Not sure about programs as yet they appear to be less impressive loading times than booting times.
There is a little problem with Photoshop it says the licence is invalid, presumably it sees the SSD as a new computer, so will have to sort that out.
I put the old H/D in an enclosure as it was with everything in place, so as an external drive it will load all its programs I shall de-register CS4 and try and re-register.
I have read its a good idea to do a permissions repair on changing a drive so have now also done that.
Sounds good, Patrick. With the laptop upgrade I did it was a fresh installation of Windows and I had De-activated Photoshop beforehand so I didn't have the activation issue you did. The next ssd I'm upgrading will be like yours, migrating an existing installation, so I will be watching out for the activation issue.
The SSD arrived today very efficiently from Amazon, DPD the carriers emailed to say it would be delivered between 11:47 to 12:47, it was delivered at 11:45 very impressive.
The SSD required formatting for my MacBook so I put it in a enclosure to do the formatting. I had already downloaded Lion and made a disk to install so I simply installed it onto the new disk without restarting the MacBook.
I then restored everything from my Mac time-machine. I then took the back off the Mac and replaced the H/D with the SSD.
On rebooting it re se my email automatically, I had to reset Dropbox myself. I shut down again and rebooted, I was amazed at the speed.
The MacBook now boots in a quarter the time the iMac boots which has always been the faster of the two.
Not sure about programs as yet they appear to be less impressive loading times than booting times.
There is a little problem with Photoshop it says the licence is invalid, presumably it sees the SSD as a new computer, so will have to sort that out.
I put the old H/D in an enclosure as it was with everything in place, so as an external drive it will load all its programs I shall de-register CS4 and try and re-register.
I have read its a good idea to do a permissions repair on changing a drive so have now also done that.
Patrick
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian
Sounds good, Patrick. With the laptop upgrade I did it was a fresh installation of Windows and I had De-activated Photoshop beforehand so I didn't have the activation issue you did. The next ssd I'm upgrading will be like yours, migrating an existing installation, so I will be watching out for the activation issue.
Ian
I have come to the conclusion with my brief time with the new drive clean installations are the best option.
The problem with CS4 was easily solved, I uninstalled and then reinstalled running perfectly now and faster than the iMac. But other program's such as Lightroom are much the same as before the new drive, conclusion is clean installs to get maximum benifit will be uninstalling and reinstalling other program's to confirm or prove wrong my theory.
If I remember correctly, I didn't notice much of an improvement with Lightroom, suggesting it's not so disk-intensive.
Ian
I decided to start over again, clean reinstalled Lion and installed CS4, Lightroom, Aperture, & Microsoft Office for Mac so fare.
CS4, Microsoft Office faster loading than the iMac, Aperture equal perhaps a shade faster, Lightroom may be marginally improved.
CS4 & Bridge see the most improvement in loading, that and the machine bootup.
Is it worth the change, undoubtedly, other than the disappointment with Lightroom (I am increasingly using Aperture in its place anyway) my MacBook is like a new higher spec machine.
My iMac is 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, my MacBook 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
It will be interesting when I upgrade my iMac to the 27in i5 Quad core with a SSD, to see how fast that is.
One small concern with the MacBook now the internal fan seems to run a lot since I upgraded, any thoughts, it should run less, the SSD is cooler than the standard H/D.
I don't know about Macs, but I would guess it's similar to Windows in that there is a profile for fan activity based on processor temperature. The temperature can be moderated not only by the cooling fan but also by throttling the CPU. Windows by default offers power saving, balanced, and full speed profiles. Balanced is the usual one to be used and this throttles back the CPU when it is not being used heavily by applications. Is it possible your OS reinstallation has changed the CPU/power profile to a high performance mode?
I don't know about Macs, but I would guess it's similar to Windows in that there is a profile for fan activity based on processor temperature. The temperature can be moderated not only by the cooling fan but also by throttling the CPU. Windows by default offers power saving, balanced, and full speed profiles. Balanced is the usual one to be used and this throttles back the CPU when it is not being used heavily by applications. Is it possible your OS reinstallation has changed the CPU/power profile to a high performance mode?
Ian
Hi Ian
It's rather strange it appears to be settling down, it does come on but less frequently that when I first installed the SSD.
Thinking about it more, it perhaps makes sense anyway, data can be uploaded from the drive a lot quicker so the CPU must have to work harder to deal with it, is this correct thinking?
It's rather strange it appears to be settling down, it does come on but less frequently that when I first installed the SSD.
Thinking about it more, it perhaps makes sense anyway, data can be uploaded from the drive a lot quicker so the CPU must have to work harder to deal with it, is this correct thinking?
Patrick
Maybe.
Your Macs don't have i-series Intel CPUs? like Core i3 or i5?
my email automatically, I had to reset Dropbox myself. I shut down again and rebooted, I was amazed at the speed.
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