Honest opinions on SSD drives

I've read the blog by the Lenovo employee about the drive. I'm looking for comments/opinions about the drive offered by Lenovo from people who don't work for the company.
Is the price worth it?
If I really do want the SSD, is it more worthwhile to buy the cheapest drive from Lenovo and buy an SSD independently?
What kind of gains can I expect? Is it worth paying extra for a hard drive and saving on the CPU?
I saw the article by Tom's hard drive. I assume I should not make this decision with battery power in mind.
Hard drive space is not an issue.
All the work I do is in Matlab and involves lots of monte carlo runs of simple procedures that have to initialize variables and kill them. It involves many matrix inverses and inefficient and poorly written code.
Thank you

The advantage of a SSD drive is that the battery last a bit longer because it use less power. There are less heat and less noise, no movable parts which is an advantage especially for a laptop that is usually moved around a lot.
And of course it's faster which is true especially for reading. The SSD is much faster for reading operations then writing operations. The disadvantage is the price and size, but if the size is no issue then i guess the price is the only drawback.
If you decide to buy the SSD separate from somewhere else make sure it's a SLC and not a MLC. SLC is much faster and usually very expensive compared to the MLC. You can read more about SLC/MLC if you google for something like "SSD SLC MLC".
For me i don't think it's worth the cost since i need more space then the SSD can offer and find the price to be a bit to high. If i could get at least a 250gb SSD for a reasonable price then i would consider to buy one even if the price is pretty much higher then a HD. If size is no issue and you don't think the price is way to high then i would recommend to buy a SSD. But don't expect miracles since i didn't find the difference to be huge using a SSD compared to a 7200rpm harddrive.
Message Edited by gan on 03-09-2009 08:30 PM

Similar Messages

Question about installing a SSD drive and how to clone

Greetings,
I have a 2007 white macbook w/ 80GB HD. I have been thinking about installing a 60 GB SSD drive from OWC as the price has come down tremendously and honestly just to see how it improves boot time, launch, applications etc. I don't keep much stuff on this macbook as it is purely a "browsing" computer but I was wondering how to best clone the hard drive to the new one?
From what I understand, I use an application like Carbon copy cloner and backup "all data". Then, I turn the macbook over and follow the instructions for installing the new drive. Then, I guess I boot up and format the new drive with Snow Leopard.
When do I actually tell the recently formatted computer to transfer the data from the backup clone? Do I do this during the opening migration screen? I know how to import data from another computer using Firewire and a cable, however, does the new SSD formatted computer understand how to boot from the carbon copy cloner backup without installing this software on the new drive?
Cheers.

Julie:
I am no expert on SSDs. Here is how I would do it with a regular HDD. Note: You will need an external 2.5" enclosure.
Clone Old HDD to new HDD using SuperDuper
• Install new HDD in enclosure
• Connect to the computer and boot from internal HDD.
• Launch Disk Utility and format new HDD in enclosure (post for step by step directions, if needed)
• Download and launch SuperDuper
• In the Copy field select your internal HDD
• To is your newly formatted HDD in enclosure
• Using *backup all files*
• Click Options button
• Check *Repair Disk Permissions on Source*
• During copy Erase Destination HDD then copy from Source
• On successful completion Quit SuperDuper
• Shut down computer and with external still connected
• Option boot from external HDD to check clone.
• If everything checks out, remove new HDD from enclosure and install in computer.
• Install old HDD in enclosure (if desired)
cornelius

Getting SSD Drive for my Core i5 Laptop

still-learning wrote:
I am sorry Sid, I didn't get your last sentence. " it literally turns them into another computer". I am sorry I am very confused and my another reason for upgrading to 2.5" SSD drive is to welcome the new Windows 10 and ofcourse boot time is high speed.
That's cool. Let me ask you a question, have you timed how long it takes to boot your computer from the time you hit the power button to the time you see the hard drive light on your laptop stop flashing? My guess would be in the neighborhood of three minutes or better. Most of the i3's I upgrade will be usable in around 30 seconds. Everything is faster.

Hi everyone, I currently have Lenovo G550 and its been more than an year and a half , the laptop is working fine and just needed a hard drive replacement few months back due to S.M.A.R.T errors/warnings I was receiving on older one. Now, sometimes looking at lot of new laptop ads I plan to get a faster machine just for the sake of quick boot or running of applications and to open files and emails/pdf in a blink of an eye instead of waiting for few seconds. Honestly, I am happy but I am in a dilemma if I should really go for a Quad Core based laptop or simply just switch to Samsung Evo or Pro SSD. If it is really worth a shot to upgrade on the current setup instead of paying double to get a core i7 or Quad core based laptop, ofcourse that will be again with a mechanical drive instead of SSD.My current config :-Lenovo...
This topic first appeared in the Spiceworks Community

Better ssd driver for windows 7

I've been using boot camp to run windows 7 on my macbook air flawlessly for about 6 months now (13.3 inch, 128gig SSD, core 2 procs).
However, the SSD driver is really starting to wear on me. I've used windows 7 with an SSD before and it's resume times are near instant. The boot camp driver is not good. Does Apple have any plans to change this? I honestly can appreciate you don't want Windows performing too well on these machines and would rather people use OSX, I completely get that and to a point I agree with it, but there is also the very valid point that I spent close to $1400 on a machine that has windows 7 support and it should be able to perform properly with an SSD. Some of us are tied to using windows, I like OSX, but I can't change the windows 7 dependancy I have for work.

Try Windows 8, it feels better.
I have seen and read where Apple has been "doing things their way" and not using AHCI for well ever since Mac Pro came out iwth Intel 5 yrs ago.
Apple does not provide thermal fan control, a big no-no.
Which is why I have been telling people 95% is not good enough, and why I spent a fortune building a couple PC workstations. Cost as much or more than getting another Mac Pro, for each, but then I got to choose the parts and knew what I would have and getting into.
So yes, totally understand switching back to PC.
Macintosh Performance Guide: Thoughts on the future of the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air
My MacBook Pro 17" Has Gone Back to Apple for A Full Refund
http://macperformanceguide.com/blog/2011/20110814_1_MacBookPro--ssd.html
OS X has lacked TRIM and suffer degredation and other issues under OS X which is what a majority of people look and ask for, and which was only lately supported with OEM Apple SSD and not retail 3rd party.
But there are and will be limitations to the whole "Windows on Mac" experience.
OWC is working to provide a good SSD experience and they have a new SSD for Air.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Aura_Pro_1.8
2011 MacBook Pro SATA Problems Resolved! | Other World Computing Blog
I just don't think Apple stacks the deck or cares or tries, I just think there are a lot of areas where they are just Mac focused and not always in the best manner there either.
With Apple EFI/SMC you are not going to see firmware updates, I still get some for older PC but Apple did post this:
Macintosh Performance Guide: Apple EFI Firmware Update Fixes Some SATA 6G Problems?
Intel working on OpenCL-capable Ivy Bridge chips bound for Apple's MacBook Air

Putting an SSD drive in Pavilion dv6436nr

I am wondering if it is feasible to upgrade the hard drive in my Pavilion dv6436nr with an SSD drive. The original drive (computer was purchased in July 2007) is 160GB and I have 2GB of RAM. How easy is it to make this upgrade and what are the interface specifications to check before purchasing an SSD drive? Thanks.

No you will not be able to run an SSD at optimum settings. On the dv6499 and lower model numbers with AMD processors, the SATA controller is not really SATA; it is IDE through a physical SATA port. That is why we were able to load XP on them without using a SATA driver with an F6 installation. That means no ahci. An SSD may be a little faster than a hard drive but to be perfectly honest and frank I would not invest any significant money on that machine at this point.

2010 i7 Won't boot from cd with new ssd drive.

I have an ssd that was in my windows pc that I want to use with my MBP. My PC motherboard actually supports uefi so to my surprise when I put it in the mac it booted right to windows. I wanted to boot from dvd and install osx on the drive but the boot stalls out whenever I try to boot from cd.
I took the drive out and hooked it up to a drive dock I have connected to my Mac Mini. I used disk utility and repartitioned the drive to one partition. Now when I option boot I no longer see the ssd, only the cd.
I tried booting from and external cd drive I have. It would start. I can hear the cd spinning up but after 2 mins or so it stops and nothing happens. Same as the internal dvd.
I put the old hdd back in and thought I'd try the boards to see if anyone else has any ideas.
Am I missing something obvious?

Try this first:
Reset SMC - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
Reset Pram - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
If not try using an external sata to usb connector and erase the SSD completely. The SSD honestly should not have an effect on the super drive. There may be more underlying hardware issues. Try resetting those two up top then erase the SSD drive. Try a retail disc for Snow Leopard. Bring it to an ARS and see if they can boot into an optical media...

How do I change the install drive default for Creative Cloud Suite? I have a 64 gb SSD drive as dri

I bought another 128 GB SSD drive just for the Adobe applications. I can't figure how to change the download destination as it download or before it installs. What am I missing here?

I am sorry Scottcommercialrealtor I missed the fact you were installing Creative Cloud, we have had a lot of traffic with the release of CS6 and Creative Cloud, you can only customize the install location for Creative Cloud. You can do so by clicking on your name in the Adobe Application Manager and selecting preferences. The install files will have to be downloaded to your OS volume but you can choose to install many of the components of the applications on a separate drive. The shared components though will also need to be installed on your OS volume.
SSD solutions I would honestly recommend having your OS and Apps installed on the same drive so you can maximize your performance. You can then use a standard hard drive for your documents, videos, and images. You mentioned that you purchased a 128 gig SSD. You might consider cloning the 64 gig drive over to the 128 and then having your OS and Apps installed on the same drive.

What SSD drives will work in the GT60 0NE?

I'm about ready to give up on my GT60. I have purchased two different SSD drives and neither one is recognized in the bios when placed in the first drive slot. They are recognized in the 2nd drive slot, but not the first. I've updated everything, bios and firmware. Will someone tell me what model and brand SSD drive will work int the GT60? When the operating system is install in the second drive slot, i can't use the first drive slot for data because it won't boot windows. So, i have to leave the first drive bay empty. Tech support could not help me.

Quote from: maximus216 on 10-February-13, 21:51:49
I'm about ready to give up on my GT60. I have purchased two different SSD drives and neither one is recognized in the bios when placed in the first drive slot. They are recognized in the 2nd drive slot, but not the first. I've updated everything, bios and firmware. Will someone tell me what model and brand SSD drive will work int the GT60? When the operating system is install in the second drive slot, i can't use the first drive slot for data because it won't boot windows. So, i have to leave the first drive bay empty. Tech support could not help me.
It's rather difficult to recommend a drive....
What drives did you already try?
Are you trying to use the SuperRaid drives?
Do you need a normal 2.5" drive or mSATA drives?
Honestly, any drive should work, it just may not work perfectly. For instance, Samsung 840 Pro drives are known to only operate at SATA II speeds, even when installed in the SATA III slot.
Any Sandforce 2281 based drive should work fine. Intel 520 series should work well, along with 530 as well.

I have replaced my old hard drive with a new SSD drive. Can I restore a complete Time Machine backup

I have replaced my old hard drive on a MacBook Pro midyear 2010 with a new SSD drive. I have a complete system backup of my old drive in an external hard drive using Time Machine.
Questions that I would like to get answered.
1) Can I connect my external hard drive to the macbook pro and use that to boot up my machine by pressing and holding down the Options key? Once booted up successfully, can I use Disk Utility to format the new SSD and then restore the complete time machine backup?
2) If that is not possible, can I use my old drive which I can connect using a USB adapter and use that to boot up by following the same strategy as listed in Step#1 above?
3) If neither options are possible, do I need to use a bootable USB drive for Mavericks OS X to boot up the machine,
I have Mavericks OS X ( 10.9.6) and I do not have a DVD of the OS.
Any help is appreciated.

Let me first document the steps that did not work and then I will document the steps that worked.
1) Replaced the hard drive with SSD.
2) Connected the original hard drive using a USB adapter to the MacBook to make it behave like an external device.
3) Powered on the machine and on hearing the chime pressed Command-R to start in recovery mode.
4) Chose the Disk Utility option to erase and format the SSD. The format chosen was Mac OS Extended Journaled.
5) Once the formatting was done, then clicked on the "Restore" tab in Disk Utility
6) In the Source field, dragged my original hard drive from the left pane and placed it in the field
7) On the destination field, choose the new SSD drive. Clicked on "Restore". Gave me a warning, accepted the warning and the restore was under way.
8) I had 236 GB to restore so took 3.5 hours before it was done.
9) Disconnected the external hard drive ( my original internal HDD), shut down the machine and powered on again.
10) Heard the chime and after that it was a white screen with no Apple logo.
Was visibly upset and started thinking what my next move will be. Then tried these steps
1) Again powered off the machine.
2) Connected my internal HDD once more as an external drive
3) Powered on and on hearing the chime, pressed Command-R as before
4) Once the OS X utilities screen popped up, this time chose Install OS X
5) Erased the contents of SSD once more and reformatted it using Mac OS Extended Journaled.
6) Installed OS X by following the prompts.
7) Once the OS was installed, I was presented with an option on how to transfer data to this new Mac
8) Chose the option to move the data from my original HDD.
9) Took another 3 hours to move the data.
10) Removed the original HDD once the transfer was complete, powered down the machine and started it once more.
11) Booted successfully and all my content is now accessible on the new SSD.
Moral of the story - It is the spirit that counts.

Could anyone of you please who has a clean install of Windows 8.1 on the SSD drive look at some settings of certain services (below)?

Hi everyone,
could anyone of you please
who has a clean install of Windows
8.1 on the SSD drive look at some settings
of certain services (below)?
Thank you.
Prefetch and Superfetch. In registry located on way
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM \CurrentControlSet\ Control\ SessionManager \MemoryManagement \PrefetchParameters.
I am interested in EnablePrefetcher and
EnableSuperfetch REG_DWORD value.
Just a number in parentheses.
ReadyBoot. In registry located on way HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM \CurrentControlSet\Control \WMI\Autologger\ReadyBoot.
I am interested REG_DWORD value of
Start. Just a number in parentheses.
Run dfrgui command. Go to Change settings and have a look if SSD on which is the system installed is included in regular optimalization schedule.
Registry can be accessed running regedit command.

Hi,
Prefetch and Superfetch means that most commonly used files are stored to disk to be more quickly accessed later.
For Prefetch:
Disable Caching: 0
Cache Applications Only: 1
Cache Boot Files Only: 2
Cache Everything (default): 3
For SuperFetch:Disable Caching: 0
Cache Boot Processed Only: 1
Cache Applications Only: 2
Cache Everything (default): 3
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\WMI\Autologger\ReadyBoot\Start value means:
disable: 0
enable: 1
For more information about clean installation of Windows 8.1 on SSD, I suggest you read below article:
Windows 8.1 SSD Settings, Etc.
http://www.tweakhound.com/2013/11/02/windows-8-1-ssd-settings-etc/
Please Note: Since the website is not hosted by Microsoft, the link may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information.
Karen Hu
TechNet Community Support

Not enough space on my new SSD drive to import my data from time machine backup, how can I import my latest backup minus some big files?

I just got a new 256GB SSD drive for my mac, I want to import my data from time machine backup, but its larger than 256GB since it used to be on my old optical drive. How can I import my latest backup keeping out some big files on the external drive?

Hello Salemr,
When you restore from a Time Machine back up, you can tell it to not transfer folders like Desktop, Documents. Downloads, Movies, Music, Pictures and Public. Take a look at the article below for the steps to restore from your back up.
Move your data to a new Mac
http://support.apple.com/en-us/ht5872
Regards,
-Norm G.

Can I upgrade my HP ENVY 14 DR DRE Laptop to a blueray and SSD drive?

HI all,
Can I upgrade my HP ENVY 14 DR DRE Laptop to a blue ray and SSD drive?
cheers

You can upgrade from HDD to SSD drive, but will not recommend it as it will void the warranty on the unit.
Pertaining to bluray drive, you might have some compatibility issues unless you find the right model.
Although I am an HP Employee, I am speaking for myself and not for HP.
Make it easier for other people to find solutions, by marking my answer “Accept as Solution” if it solves your problem.

I installed a new SSD drive in my computer and now Adobe Creative Suite Web Premium says I don't have a license. I have license. It was very expensive. I am disabled now, and I need this software working.

I installed a new SSD drive in my computer and now Adobe Creative Suite Web Premium says I don't have a license. I have license. It was very expensive. I am disabled now, and I need this software working. Adobe Acrobat has been a primary tool for accommodating memory problems after a brain injury. (A car ran me down while I was out getting exercise.) I installed the SSD because I needed my management of PDF files to run faster. I called tech support for help when the software first stopped working, but they needed me to give them a number from my original disks. Because of my disability, I've been having someone come in to clean, and the shelves where I kept my software packages were cleared. I've been hunting for them ever since, but I can't look for them myself for very long at a time. Today I finally found them, but now I can't seem to contact tech support. What happened? I don't want to delete my old files because I need the setup to remain unchanged, because I don't do well with changes. I think all I should need is to have someone located the license file on drive E: and move it to wherever it is needed on the SSD drive, but I don't know what to look for.

Tech support is not normally available on weekends. You should contact them as soon as the weekend passes and pick up where you left off with them.

Can't resize partition after upgrading to Yosemite (using SSD drive)

I upgraded to 10.10 and using SSD drive now. When I was using OS X 10.8.5, I could freely resize partition but not anymore. I guess because of the SSD drive and the new version of OS X, and Logical Volume Group could be involved. I don't want to waste 80 GB of SSD drive so really looking for a solution now. Thanks in advance.

Yes, that's exactly what I did. I had to go back to my old snow leopard install DVD, use the disk utility on that to repartition the drive. I made 2 partitions, installed Snow Leopard on one, used that to install Yosemite on the other partition and trashed the snow leopard install.
I haven't yet tried the Yosemite USB install method which would have probably been faster as I could have avoided installing SL.

How do I copy the removed SSD drive from a water-damaged MB Pro to another Mac?

My son's MacBook Pro (early 2012) was ruined by a pint of water. The insurance company kept the laptop but returned its 256GB SSD drive. I've looked everywhere online – Apple's telephone support is as good as useless given they want a serial number and want to charge me £35 – for a caddy or SATA adaptor of some sort to copy files from the Sandisk SSD drive. I basically need something I can plug the SSD drive into that has a USB lead to plug it into another Mac so I can copy photos, word docs and MP3s. I can't believe it could be so difficult - it's just a hard drive, after all. Your help greatly appreciated.

Keetle wrote:
...I basically need something I can plug the SSD drive into that has a USB lead to plug it into another Mac so I can copy photos, word docs and MP3s. I can't believe it could be so difficult - it's just a hard drive, after all. Your help greatly appreciated.
This should do the trick, and will work with laptop and desktop drives too. And it doesn't rely on power from the USB port to make the drive work, which can sometimes be an issue.

Honest opinions on SSD drives

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