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Apple Any Mac advice for a SSD upgrade?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by nhojnomis, 19 Feb 2012.

  1. PocketDemon

    PocketDemon Modder

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    i was never saying that there *will* be a problem with any particular system - simply that there are reports that there *could* be issues with SFs & Trim with OSX.


    Now it *may* be that it was all down to an early version of trim enabler - & if so that's fine & dandy...

    ...&, separately, would fit in with my general rule of not using automated SSD tweak programs (other than WEi in Win7) - it being much better to manually adjust key settings wherever possible...

    ...but it also *may* be that this actually can cause issues on some Macs - & so knowing about it beforehand means that there's something immediate to look to if there is a problem with a significant degradation in speed over time (which appears to be the main issue looking further - with "disk integrity verification failed" errors being also mentioned from a quick search).


    As to trim having nothing to do with b/ms - well, the premise is that it marks LBAs as free so that the SSD knows that it can pre-erase them - predominantly increasing write speeds on non-SFs &, in the case of more severe degradation, reads speeds on SFs...

    ...whilst i do not like the testing methodology used in either case (as they're not representative of r.l.), both Bittech & Anand will run extreme torture tests on most SSD reviews - b/m - give a relatively small amount of time for trim & GC to do its thing - & then re b/m.

    Now as GC isn't *that* quick by itself - well, particularly on non-SFs like the M4 or whatever - then trim has to be doing something toward it... ...& that the original V1s got trim or GC f/ws before they were integrated into a single f/w & both worked in maintaining speeds shows that they can operate independently.


    Anyway, as with the tiny chance of SF bsod or Marvell freezing/cold boot issues when choosing a SSD, it was all about it being something to be aware of... ...& if it doesn't effect the OP's sister (or anyone else - as i don't randomly wish ill on people) then great.

    it's simply that i've only seen Anand be actually wrong about one thing to do with SSDs - he was originally quite scathing of GC & its potential effectiveness - & so, as info from a normally reliable source, it was worth mentioning imho.
     
  2. nhojnomis

    nhojnomis What's a Dremel?

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    progress

    Just to let you all know, she has bought a Samsung 830. I just know in 2 day's time I will be on the phone trying to help her get it running.

    Thanks for the advice
     
  3. Jehla

    Jehla Minimodder

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    Has she repaired the permissions? The girlfriends MacBook air (old one) was running horribly slow before we saw that suggested and gave it a go.
     
  4. Cei

    Cei pew pew pew

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    Permissions repair is never going to give you the speed boost that an SSD will...
     
  5. teppic

    teppic What's a Dremel?

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    Repairing permissions is never going to affect performance at all, it doesn't change anything that could possibly do so. It's a relic that does nothing useful any more.
     
  6. nhojnomis

    nhojnomis What's a Dremel?

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    I have no idea....Me being a mac virgin I have no idea what "permissions" are.

    Now if someone comes to me with an old pc I know of 1001 tweeks and tips to speed up things, most often beginning with CClean etc.

    I thought macs were immune to system garbage build-up.
     
  7. Jehla

    Jehla Minimodder

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    I'm in a similar position, I did not have have the option of upgrading anything though and had to do some googling.

    Based on the comments above it seems any improvements we saw were simply imagined , and even if weren't its not, its not worth doing because an ssd will mask any issues caused.
     
    Last edited: 23 Feb 2012
  8. Cei

    Cei pew pew pew

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    Not quite - I went up to visit my parents a few weeks back, and sat down to use my mum's 2008 iMac. Beach balls constantly, slow boot, and generally sluggish - I did the first permissions repair that machine has ever had, which took an hour, and the problems went away.

    Moral of the story? Permissions errors can slow things down, but only when majorly borked.
     
  9. teppic

    teppic What's a Dremel?

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    Really, believe me, repairing permissions cannot affect performance. It does no clean ups or tweaks, it doesn't optimise anything. It checks Unix access permissions on some system installed files, ones that applications don't affect, and your system wouldn't boot at all or would persistently crash if they were changed.
     
    Last edited: 23 Feb 2012
  10. nhojnomis

    nhojnomis What's a Dremel?

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    success

    Just to let everyone know, the installation of the Samsung went pretty well. She seems pretty happy with the performance upgrade. In her words the computer is "snappy". Somehow , I think she was wanting more, but beyond the RAM and SSD I cannot think of anything , beyond buying a new computer , that would give her more speed. There is only so much that a C2D(I believe) can do.

    She has now upgraded to Snow Leopard. She's asked me if she should/could install Lion. I reckon she could, although I don't yet know the disadvantages/advantages of such a move.

    Is there a Mac equivalent of SiSoftware/hd tune, which can test if the SSD and the rest of the machine is running optimally?

    Thanks for all your help. To her I now sound like a Mac expert:geek:
     
  11. firestarter03

    firestarter03 What's a Dremel?

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    Hi all, just about to install my 64 GB M4 into my MacBook Pro (mid 2009). The Crucial FAQ says:

    7. Verify that it has default selected "Mac OS Ex tended (Journaled)".

    Did everyone here use journaled? Are there any vital tweaks required? I know what to do for windows but not so much OS X.
     
  12. Cei

    Cei pew pew pew

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    http://www.macworld.com/article/52220/2006/08/repairpermissions.html
    This article is pretty comprehensive.
    If permissions on particular files are “incorrect”—i.e., not what Mac OS X expects them to be or not what they need to be for your Mac’s normal operation—you can experience problems when the operating system tries to access or modify those files. For example, you may have trouble logging in to your account, printing, launching applications, or even starting up your Mac. Similarly, if an application—from Apple or a third-party developer—needs access to a particular file or folder to function, and the permissions on that item have changed in a way that prevents such access, the application may not function properly (or at all).

    This is exactly what I was referring to. My mum's machine would beachball on various tasks, because the permissions were wrong - repairing permissions fixed the issue. Others were simply slow. I agree, it doesn't "tune" or optimise anything, it just corrects problems that can creep in over time...and when a Mac has been left without a repair being run since 2008, then a fair few errors can have cropped up.

    Glad it went well - and you're right, beyond RAM and SSD you can't do much, she's limited by the CPU/chipset and GPU.

    As for Lion, don't do it. It's technically possible, but Lion runs like a dog on anything with less than 4GB of RAM and it needs a discrete GPU for the animations to run smoothly. Needless to say, her MacBook isn't going to be great at that.

    Snow Leopard and Lion aren't massively different to the end user anyway. My advice would be to have her thinking about a new machine some time down the line.

    Journaled is the OS X standard for formatting, so most people use it. Don't make it case-sensitive though. Beyond that, no tweaks.
     

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