Solidstate hard drive advice

I would like to upgrade my 2011 13 inch macbook pro with a solidstate hard drive
Any suggestions of what brand drive to get, Im not sure if I need a sata ii or sata iii

Hi,
Well staring in medias res, I would suggest Samsung as a brand. I have worked with Samsung HDDs a lot, and with SSDs also a few times. I always choose Samsung hard drives as they have a good price/value ratio. If you want to pick from the high end, you can choose a Western Digital (WD) one.
I don't have the newest MacBook Pro, and I didn't find any specifications on Apple's website regarding the Serial-ATA version they are using, but I doubt, that it would be SATA III as SATA III drives are very expensive at the moment. You can check the SATA version used in your MacBook Pro by opening System Profiler, selecting Serial-ATA in the sidebar (it's in the hardware category) and reading the Link Speed. If it reads 3 Gigabit, you have SATA II, get a SATA II drive then. If it reads 6 Gigabit, you have SATA III. in this case, it doesn't matter what version your drive will be, as SATA III is backwards compatible.
Hope it helped.
Regards,
Gábor

Similar Messages

Need an external hard drive, advice?

Hi,
For awhile now I've been wanting an external hard drive but no nothing about them. I have a 160 GB 17" iMac 2GHz and I'm always running out of space. Right now I have 20GB free.
Anywho the big question is USB or Firewire? Now, I can get USB ones pretty cheap at a local store here and Future Shop has this 500GB USB one on sale right now.
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0665000FS10089693&catid=2 3795&logon=&langid=EN
or I could go much bigger and order this 1 TB one online too:
http://www.costco.ca/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=10299356&search=externa%20hard%2 0drives&Mo=4&cmre=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-CA&Nr=P_CatalogName:BCCA&Sp=S&N=0&wh se=BCCA&Dx=modematchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=PCatalogName:BCCA&Ne=4000000&D=externa%20hard%20drives&Ntt=externa%20hard%20drive s&No=0&Ntx=modematchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1
I"ve been told that Firewire is great for things like using iMovie or if you use your video camera for videos etc.
Down the road I want a video camera and may use iMovie more in the future. So how important is Firewire and how big should I go? I'm thinking bigger is better and know I need at least 500GB as I want to back up my whole system and have room for movies, TV shows etc. Also want something that isn't too loud.
Here are two other Canadian stores I've looked at briefly to see what they have,
http://www.tigerdirect.ca and http://www.canadacomputers.com
Any advice would be appreciated,
S.

There are dozens of posts that say basically this:
Bought a MyBook. (USB or FW) - it won't work anymore, period.
After you see 8 or 10 of those you take the MyBook off the list. If all it is, is a backup to a reliable drive then the risk is you lose the drive and need to buy a better one and redo the backups. I would not use a drive with a known failure problem as a backup ever. Certainly not the only media drive on my system.
The LaCie D2 cases do not use fans and I have 4TB of them working for years so that is not the reason the MyBooks fail - they fail because they are not well made. The LaCie cases are about 6 pounds of cast aluminum so they act as huge heat sinks. Even then I use a small desktop fan to blow air over them so they stay cooler.
I suspect the WD bridges are poor and the interface between the drive and the USB/FW port becomes unusable. This is why I don't buy the $10 Tiger Direct cases and put good quality drives in them . Rotten bridges.
One reason to buy them is if the sale price becomes cheaper than the raw drive price then you can open the case and get a new drive for less than buying one but then you wind up with a lot of trash.
Get a LaCie, OWC or G-Tech.
Message was edited by: Cannibals

FCPX external hard drive advice needed

I have on order the following iMac which will be used for video editing with FCPX.
3.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
16GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM-2X8GB (upping to 32mb when it arrives)
3TB Fusion Drive
NVIDIAGeFrc GTX 680MX 2G GDDR5
I'm coming from an older Mac Pro with internal hard drives, so I need some advice from the video editing experts on a quality external hard drive for the new iMac. Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

You've waited a long time...
Here's the deal: Thunderbolt has a bandwidth of 10Gb/s... TB2 a bandwidth of 20Gb/s. The G Raid uses 2 disk drives with 7200 RPM platters. These drives are the bottleneck and about the fastest transfers you can expect are in the 250MB/s range... I get that (and better) with a single SSD in a USB 3 enclosure. Three or more drives would get better transfer rates; you would need a larger enclosure.
You have to ask yourself: Do I want storage or do I want speed?
To make the best use of Thunderbolt speed, you can build your own RAID with an enclosure and buy the drives (matched) separately. A Thunderbolt enclosure with SSD drives will make the best use of the bandwidth provided by TB. You can find 4-bay enclosures and SSDs up to 960GB. You can expect transfer rates of over a gigabyte/second (I'm looking an an Akitio 4-bay enclosure with an advertised speed of 1375MB/s... [ customer reviews ] -- I am not affiliated with this product in any way... I think you'll get even more info here. )
Hope you find the info useful.

New to MacBook Pro - External hard drive advice

I just ordered a MacBook Pro last night which will be my first mac computer and would appreciate any insight on external hard drives. Here are the specs for the MacBook:
2.6Ghz Quad-core Intel Core i7, NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1 GB GDDR5 memory
8 GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB
750 GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm
Right now, for my PC I have a WD My Passport Essential SE 1 TB Ultra Portable external hard drive. This drive works but I've had a few hiccups with it (although I can't tell if its the drive or the PC) and figured I should just start fresh with a new external hard drive for the new MacBook. In terms of my use, here's what I'm looking to be able to do with the hard drive:
would prefer something portable (although doesn't have to be)
would like to be able to insert old hard drive into mac, insert new hard drive, and transfer all files from old hard drive onto new hard drive without having to temporarily store on mac
i don't really use the hard drive to back up the computer, i use it more to store all my files (pics, videos, movies, word/excel/pdf, etc.) and only keep certain files on computer (i use another hard drive to back up this hard drive)
i'd also like something fast that would work well with the MacBook's specs
price wise, would defintely like to be under $300 if possible
Again, just looking for any advice anyone might have that would help me out in making a decision! Thanks!

Any brand name external drive will work.

Hard Drive Advice Needed.. Much Appreciated

So I'm in the market for a new HDD for my Mid 2010 Macbook Pro 15". I'm currently looking for 1tb HDD, however I have come across 4 models of HDD's which seem to be the norm for 1TB HDD on the market today, and would like everybody's opinions on which is the best overall, And if there is any other 1TB HDD that have been forgotten and are worth mention please feel free to.
1) Western Digital Scorpio Blue 1TB 5400rpm
2) Hitachi Travelstar 5K1000 1TB
3) Samsung Spinpoint M8 1TB
4) Seagate Momentus LP STBD1000100 1TB
Thank You

Personally I only buy Western Digital. They are known for their reliability. Saving a few bucks just isnt worth potentially loosing all of your data.
I would think about going for the Western Digital Black 750GB 7500rpm hard drive. The speed difference will be very noticable. It will hurt your battery life a little, but its worth it. It costs the same, so your loosing 250gb, but again its worth the speed bump.
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Scorpio-Internal-2-5-Inch/dp/B004I9J5OG/re f=pd_cp_e_0
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=130

Portable External Hard Drive Advice

All: I'm needing a portable external hard drive to take back and forth to work and school. I'd like to take advantage of my MBP's Firewire 400 port but will need USB for home Mac desktop and school PC desktop.
I've read many of the post on this forum concerning external HDs and the Western Digital seems highly recommended. However, they do not make a portable with a firewire connection, only USB (according to their site). I also checked out the Lacie Rugged HD - love the orange bumpers on it - but the user reviews were not complimentary of this drive.
If you're using a portable HD that has both firewire/USB would you please advise what it is and how you like it? I appreciate your comments. Also, if you could tell me where you purchased it - the reason I ask is that I am trying to stay away from the huge electronic chain stores that require you to send in for multiple 'Rebates' to get the price they advertise (I won't mention names but their initials are B.B. and C.C.). Thanks!
MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Why don't you have a look at the G-Technology G-Drive mini…
http://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-DRIVE-mini.cfm

Hard drive advice

I have recently picked up a PowerBook G3 (Bronze keyboard) from the local university surplus center and found it has a bad HD. I looked at the original specs and found it came wih either the 4,6 or 10 GB thin drive. What drive capacity can I look forward to putting into it and what restrictions as far as partitions do I need to know about?

bulldog,
You can put in any ATA 2.5" HD no larger than 128GB, a limitation of the Powerbook G3 Series and earlier. The new Serial ATA (SATA) are not supported.
OWC is a very good company with a good selection of drives:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/

Hard drive advice - I'm in a bit of a bind for time.

My friends birthday is very soon, and he recently helped me out of a tough spot. His macbook 2.16 has a hard drive which is slowly loosing sectors - its killing his seek times for everything.
I need to get him a new drive, and I have always found western digital to be the best, so no need to debate that. Also, I'm not getting a 5400rpm drive. I plan to get the Western Digital Scorpio Black 7200rpm 250GB. My confusion is this - do I need to get the version with a "freefall sensor"? It seems rare, expensive and difficult to find. I don't feel its a big deal, but I wonder if the macbook will want it to be there.
WD2500BJKT - this is the 250GB model number with free fall sensor.
WD2500BEKT - this is the 250GB model alone, available everywhere for about 140 bucks.

Just FYI: there've been some reports of a couple bad batches of the 250GB Scorpios. Some people have found them to fail pretty quickly. I've got a 320GB Scorpio, and haven't had any trouble (and the people I know who've had the 250s fail on them have said that the 320s don't exhibit the same problem.)
YMMV though, just figured I'd pass on the information.

Hard drive advice needed please

Hi Guys
I'll shortly be taking the plunge on a shiny new MacBook Pro, after reading various threads I'm still unsure about HD size and RPM.
Ideally I'd like the 200GB drive, but in use just how much slower would it be? I need to access tiff, video and music files, and up to now use an external drive which occasionally chokes on video and music on my trusty 800MHz PowerBook
I use photoshop and various other graphics applications, as well as video editing........So will I find the HD rpm an issue? is it better to settle for the 160GB?
Your advice would be appreciated
ED
G4 Quicksilver + G4 PowerBook + AirPort Extreme Mac OS X (10.4.4) 60GB iPod video and several pet LaCie hard drives

The 200GB 4,200RPM drive is faster than most if not all 4,200RPM drives as it has a greater number of platters than most 4,200RPM drives.
Click the link below to see how it faired in some tests. It was near the bottom in terms of perfomance compared to faster RPM drives but against other 4,200RPM drives it did well.
http://tomshardware.co.uk/2006/10/12/fujitsusmhv2200btuk/page3.html

External Hard Drive Advice Needed

Hi
I'm thinking about getting one of these drives to back up whats on my macbook
http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/ukstore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=7C77401&fnode=h ome/shopmac/macaccessories/storage&nplm=TN735
The only stuff I'm really that fussed about not losing are my itunes library and photos. As I've only got the original 80gb black macbook I'd hope this will be big enough for some time and I like the size and colour of it.
Will this do the job for me? Also what is the easiest way for me to do this? I'm almost tempted to just keep copies of these and restart my macbook as I'm sure it's got all sorts of junk on it I've downloaded over the last 18 months.
I've not got Leopard yet but plan to get it soon, will that make any difference to what sort of external drive I ought to get?
Many thanks as always in advance!

This should be perfect for your requirements. I'd recommend using firewire over usb though!
As for how to backup. There are many different trains of thought for this. My personal workflow is thus:
Use .mac for bookmarks, keychains, etc....
Use external drive and copy my movies, music, desktop, documents, downloads and pictures folder.
If you use .mac there is an apple app to help you here: http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/9925
Hope that helps

SolidState hard drive... how can I use cd's and dvd's

Please help me. This new mac book pro has not DVD_CD player. Is there a way to pug one in?

you can purchase a external Superdrive from Apple or go to best buy and get an external usb cd/dvd drive...

Hard Drive Advice for FCP

Hello Forum!
I have a documentary project I am working on which needs approx a 500 gig drive. I want it to be backed up to a secondary drive at all times in case of failure. I was reccomended the LaCie Two Big 1 terabyte drive. It has 2 500 gig drives in one enclosure which included software keeps up to date at all times, it also needs a PCI card to work with my G5. My question is this... WHY BUY this instead of two 500 gig Firewire 800 drives from La Cie, I save 200$, I can install a similar backup program to backup at the end of each day, and they are in seperate enclosures in case I want to take a part of the project somewhere.
What do I get by going with a RAID type drive, is it faster? safer protection from data loss? why spend the extra 200 bucks?
P.S. thanks for helping me so much over the past couple years APPLE forums!
- Best
Cosmos

The 1TB LaCie may have two drive inside, but they are hardware Raided to look like one big drive. Just like the Lacie D2 and the G-Raids.
BUT...I'd recommend the G-Raids over the Lacies any day of the week. Better quality drives inside and better cooling. Cooling is a big factor. G-Raids have vents and fans.
Shane

Main Hard Drive Advice?

Hi,
Presently I have a very fast system, there is only one thing holding me back, my main drive. It is an older Sata II drive. WC I think. Otheriwse I have SSD's and four raided 2tb Hitachi's. I am going to replace my main drive. I can get one Sata 3 2tb Hitachi and use that for Windows 7 and applications. Would it be advisable to raid the main drive among two drive for faster access? I have a dedicated Raid card if I need one. Or could I raid the drives off the Sata III ports on my Gigabyte UD7 Motherboard? If raid would be an usuable option. Thanks Roman

You are not going to gain much in performance by replacing your main drive. Generally if you want slightly faster access time go with a 10,000 rpm drive like a WD Velociraptor. Do not go for a huge drive as it might end up being your garbage collection area and you do not want that.

Trying to install SL on a new hard-drive for my iMac, when asked which disk to install on it gave me no options, i followed advice from another forum and created a partition, now can't boot from the new drive at all. Help?

I've had **** with my iMac, the hard-drive failed so i replaced it with a new 1TB Samsung drive. Then when i tried to install SL from the install disk, all went to plan until it asked me which drive i wanted to install it on, where it came up with a box where my options should have been, but instead it didn't give me any options to install it on any drive i.e. it asked which drive i wanted to install it on but no drives came up to select.
So i followed the advice from another forum, look at the 'Extended Hard-drive preparation' response
( https://discussions.apple.com/message/10576009#10576009 )
After following these instructions i have now got a new partition, but when i restarted my computer to install SL on the drive, the option to boot from the drive is now not available, now i must boot from the install disk, whereas before i was able to boot from either the install disk or the hard drive. The hard drive is still visible in disk utility as it always has been, but i am now unable to boot from it, let alone install SL.
Please help my iMac has been broken for months and i've been trying to fix it for so long and am getting problem after problem. Thank you!
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Hi db2
That off the shelf MS-DOS / FAT-32 drive needs to re-partitioned GUID Partition Table / Mac OS Extended (Journaled) before you can install OS X and Startup your Intel iMac from it.
1. Boot from your original install or retail SL DVD and open Disk Utility.
2. Highlight the new HD in the list of drives and select the Partition tab.
3. Under Volume Scheme select 1 Partition and click on the Options... button.
4. Select GUID Partition Table in the drop down window and click OK.
5. Set the Format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and click the Apply button.
6. Once thats done, then you can do a clean SL Install, Restore from TM , your old HD or Bootable Clone.
Dennis

Hard-drive and audio interface set-up - Advice please

Hello,
Please offer me some advice if you can. I have the new 13" macbook pro 2.26Ghz with Logic Studio. I am going to get a hard-drive that has both usb and firewire 800 interfaces and need to decide whether to get a usb or firewire audio interface. The crux of my problem is in what configuration to use the devices, which will determine which audio interface I choose. E.g.
1. Firewire 800 hard-drive to record tracks onto and back-up + usb audio interface; or
2. Firewire 800 hard-drive as above + firewire 400 audio interface daisy-chained; or
3. Record onto the internal hard-drive and use a usb audio interface; or
4. Record onto the internal hard-drive and use a firewire 400 interface.
FYI, the audio interfaces I'm looking at are the E-Mu 0404 USB or Focusrite Saffire LE, both of which have had excellent reviews.
Questions to consider, please, are: Which configuration will offer the best performance and least latency? Is it worth recording onto external hard-drive (7,200) or will the internal drive (5,200) be faster/as fast? Will daisy-chaining cause a significant drop in performance? Do you have any alternative configuration suggestions? Plus any other comments you can think of.
Thank you in advance
Jamie

The good thing about #2, if the drive enclosure also has a USB 2.0 interface you have the option of using/trying that configuration as well. I know a few that get away with using USB drives for recording.
Make sure the audio drive is formatted Mac OS Extended, with Journaling OFF.
Don't trust the drive formatting as it's delivered.
pancenter-

Solidstate hard drive advice

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