SSD Help for Macbook Pro

mrmeister

mrmeister

mrmeister

Associate
Joined
2 Jun 2011
Posts
34
Hi,
I'm not sure whether to post this in the mac section or the hard drive section, but i'll try the mac section first.

I'm looking to buy an SSD for my Macbook Pro (late 2008) and i'm deciding between the OCZ Vertex 2E 240GB, or importing an OWC Mercury Pro 240GB from America. My reason for possibly importing is because you can update the firmware more easily on the OWC.
Apparently you can't update the firmware through bootcamp on a mac if the OCZ drive is the primary drive? Well, i don't have a computer to plug it into so i can only use my Macbook.

My question is; Do i need to update the firmware? I quite like the idea of keeping up to date (i download any update i can for all software) and i don't want my system to fall behind due to not updating.
I'm hoping that someone with a macbook/macbook pro and an OCZ Vertex 2E can shine some light on this please.

Any help is much appreciated
mrmeister
 
I bought exactly that drive (Vertex 2E) for my 15" macbook pro (2010 edition) as of last week and it's running very nicely. It's good value for money and there's no point in a Sata3 drive as the controller doesn't support it (2011 ones sort of do but lots of people have had issues).

I hadn't really considered any need to update the firmware but there's certainly nothing wrong with the firmware it ships with. Is there anything specific you were worried about with the firmware?

Worst case you could import one the caddys which change the DVD drive to a second hard drive bay and use that...
 
I'm not wanting to do an optibay conversion, i like having my DVD drive built in. I don't think i'm overly worried about the firmware, i just want it to work (as anyone would).
I take it TRIM support isn't needed? I think the OCZ has a pretty good "garbage collection"? (so i've heard).
Do you know how to keep from slowing down in months - years? Do i need to keep zeroing out the drive using disk utility?
 
I've also noticed that the OCZ has come down by £10 in the Overclockers store. Is it worth getting now (if i choose that drive) or do i wait a little while longer?
 
You can always buy a 2.5" USB for your existing HDD, put it into the caddy as extra storage and boot off of it when you want to upgrade the firmware on the SSD.
 
But you can't update the firmware in Mac OSX, only Windows, and i seem to remember seeing somewhere that you can't boot into BootCamp from an external drive, is that correct?
 
What about the momentus XT or do you really have to have the OCZ speed? 500gb for £80 and it has SSD caching, look up some reviews it does favour very well against a full blown SSD.
 
i have read reviews on these, and the part about the drive switching off when you're only using the SSD, then being turned on again when you need to access data from the disc... All in all, it'll end up being slower than what it was designed to do. I'd rather just go all out and get a full SSD
 
Fair enough, I'm just too cheap to shell out that much for a hard drive on a 3 y/o laptop - I have a 2008 MBP too and have been considering wringing a bit more speed out of it and as the ram is already maxed its down to the HDD. I'd be interested in seeing what a difference it makes for you!
 
Well as of now, i too can't afford it, but i'm hoping for some birthday money soon and i will be working my way through a big list of things (the hard drive isn't at the top). So when i get it (if i get it), i'll post on here as to how things are looking with it.
A 3 y/o laptop doesn't matter, its still an amazing machine and the faster hard drive (in my eyes) will be like having a new machine for a quarter of the price.
 
What about the new Agility series? or are these just rebadged Vertex 2e? They seem to have the same Read/Write speeds
 
It looks like they are. I am now very tempted with the 180gb vertex 2, I can get it for about £180 using my mum in America as a go between :D
 
Go for it, from reviews i've read i'm sure its the right choice. I just need some software and a bit more external storage before i can get an SSD myself, i just started this thread so i knew what i was going for so that when the time comes to shell out all that cash, i know i've made the right decision.
 
Hi,
I just had a thought, i want to run Windows XP with BootCamp so i can play a couple of games from time to time. How well does XP support SSD's? I don't want to move to Windows 7 because i rarely use the Windows side, i already have the XP install disc and 7 takes up more space (which is more of an issue as SSD's are smaller).
Has anyone had any experience with this or know how it will hold up?
mrmeister
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom