Comments on: OCZ Vertex SSD in a 17″ Santa Rosa MacBook Pro http://blog.gtuhl.com/2009/03/26/ocz-vertex-ssd-in-a-17-santa-rosa-macbook-pro/ Development, IT, Gadgets, and Startups Mon, 15 Aug 2011 08:57:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Cheap Home Network Storage | gtuhl: startup technology http://blog.gtuhl.com/2009/03/26/ocz-vertex-ssd-in-a-17-santa-rosa-macbook-pro/comment-page-1/#comment-3705 Cheap Home Network Storage | gtuhl: startup technology Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:12:18 +0000 http://blog.gtuhl.com/?p=218#comment-3705 [...] since I installed an SSD in my Macbook Pro I have been finding ways to move more and more stuff off of my laptop hard drive. I wanted to move [...] [...] since I installed an SSD in my Macbook Pro I have been finding ways to move more and more stuff off of my laptop hard drive. I wanted to move [...]

]]> By: Joe http://blog.gtuhl.com/2009/03/26/ocz-vertex-ssd-in-a-17-santa-rosa-macbook-pro/comment-page-1/#comment-3700 Joe Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:32:53 +0000 http://blog.gtuhl.com/?p=218#comment-3700 It is indeed the ICH8M controller. Interesting read, appears it is capped in my MBP revision too. The capping in the latest MBPs is especially troublesome. It is indeed the ICH8M controller. Interesting read, appears it is capped in my MBP revision too. The capping in the latest MBPs is especially troublesome.

]]> By: Claus http://blog.gtuhl.com/2009/03/26/ocz-vertex-ssd-in-a-17-santa-rosa-macbook-pro/comment-page-1/#comment-3699 Claus Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:25:16 +0000 http://blog.gtuhl.com/?p=218#comment-3699 Or maybe its just capped like the new Macbook Pro 13"... Yours is probably a ICH8M SATA controller. If so, I think you should have a look at this: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=4882948 Or maybe its just capped like the new Macbook Pro 13″…

Yours is probably a ICH8M SATA controller. If so, I think you should have a look at this:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=4882948

]]> By: Joe http://blog.gtuhl.com/2009/03/26/ocz-vertex-ssd-in-a-17-santa-rosa-macbook-pro/comment-page-1/#comment-3698 Joe Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:38:00 +0000 http://blog.gtuhl.com/?p=218#comment-3698 I'm only at 1.5 Gbit/s. But I believe that's simply due to the hardware in this version of the MBP as that was my speed before SSD. So that could be hurting me a little bit, that speed didn't really matter until fast SSDs started showing up. I’m only at 1.5 Gbit/s. But I believe that’s simply due to the hardware in this version of the MBP as that was my speed before SSD. So that could be hurting me a little bit, that speed didn’t really matter until fast SSDs started showing up.

]]> By: Claus http://blog.gtuhl.com/2009/03/26/ocz-vertex-ssd-in-a-17-santa-rosa-macbook-pro/comment-page-1/#comment-3697 Claus Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:34:46 +0000 http://blog.gtuhl.com/?p=218#comment-3697 Are you getting the full SATA-300 (3 Gbit/s) interface speed? Look under Seriel ATA in the System Profiler. It should say speed 3 Gbit/s. Are you getting the full SATA-300 (3 Gbit/s) interface speed?

Look under Seriel ATA in the System Profiler. It should say speed 3 Gbit/s.

]]> By: Joe http://blog.gtuhl.com/2009/03/26/ocz-vertex-ssd-in-a-17-santa-rosa-macbook-pro/comment-page-1/#comment-3689 Joe Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:01:55 +0000 http://blog.gtuhl.com/?p=218#comment-3689 Hey John. I haven't noticed increased battery drain myself but my MBP has a few years on it and the battery life isn't so great to begin with. My battery, with SSD, only lasts about 1.5 hours - a little bit longer if I drop the screen brightness substantially but I don't remember it being much less than that before the SSD. I almost always have my laptop plugged in so don't have a lot of data. I don't believe defrag is an issue with OSX as it isn't necessary with the HFS+ file system that OSX uses. There is a relevant article <a href="http://osxbook.com/book/bonus/chapter12/hfsdebug/fragmentation.html" rel="nofollow">here</a> if you want to read more. The conclusion states that in general fragmentation is not an issue with HFS+. OSX doesn't defrag on its own so unless you are running a defrag tool yourself you should be in good shape. There are definitely new firmware releases for the SSDS, and there have been several for the OCZ Vertex. There are benchmarks online showing very large performance increases on the newer firmware versions. I still haven't upgraded myself just due to the hassle of getting drives in/out of this model of MBP and because you need a Windows machine (last I checked) to apply firmware updates to the OCZ Vertex. Hope that helps. It has been awhile since I last commented so i'll add that i've had this drive in my MBP for over 2 months now and have had no issues at all. No freezes and no degradation of performance and I run my computer pretty hard. In fact I just did an xbench run and my overall disk score is higher (174) than it was when I wrote this post. Joe Hey John. I haven’t noticed increased battery drain myself but my MBP has a few years on it and the battery life isn’t so great to begin with. My battery, with SSD, only lasts about 1.5 hours – a little bit longer if I drop the screen brightness substantially but I don’t remember it being much less than that before the SSD. I almost always have my laptop plugged in so don’t have a lot of data.

I don’t believe defrag is an issue with OSX as it isn’t necessary with the HFS+ file system that OSX uses. There is a relevant article here if you want to read more. The conclusion states that in general fragmentation is not an issue with HFS+. OSX doesn’t defrag on its own so unless you are running a defrag tool yourself you should be in good shape.

There are definitely new firmware releases for the SSDS, and there have been several for the OCZ Vertex. There are benchmarks online showing very large performance increases on the newer firmware versions. I still haven’t upgraded myself just due to the hassle of getting drives in/out of this model of MBP and because you need a Windows machine (last I checked) to apply firmware updates to the OCZ Vertex.

Hope that helps. It has been awhile since I last commented so i’ll add that i’ve had this drive in my MBP for over 2 months now and have had no issues at all. No freezes and no degradation of performance and I run my computer pretty hard. In fact I just did an xbench run and my overall disk score is higher (174) than it was when I wrote this post.

Joe

]]> By: John Garcia http://blog.gtuhl.com/2009/03/26/ocz-vertex-ssd-in-a-17-santa-rosa-macbook-pro/comment-page-1/#comment-3688 John Garcia Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:33:31 +0000 http://blog.gtuhl.com/?p=218#comment-3688 I have the OCZ 120gb vertex as well and not the latest firmware. What I noticed negatively is battery drain. Any comments in that regard? OCZ says that the drives should not be defragmented because it shortens its life but the Mac OS does that automatically. Apple rep told me that the OS can be configured not to do that. He also said there might be firmware upgrades to make the ssds a better fit for the Macs. I will research this but if you have info on this, please email me. Thanks. I have the OCZ 120gb vertex as well and not the latest firmware. What I noticed negatively is battery drain. Any comments in that regard?

OCZ says that the drives should not be defragmented because it shortens its life but the Mac OS does that automatically. Apple rep told me that the OS can be configured not to do that.

He also said there might be firmware upgrades to make the ssds a better fit for the Macs. I will research this but if you have info on this, please email me. Thanks.

]]> By: Bryan http://blog.gtuhl.com/2009/03/26/ocz-vertex-ssd-in-a-17-santa-rosa-macbook-pro/comment-page-1/#comment-3680 Bryan Sun, 26 Apr 2009 09:52:04 +0000 http://blog.gtuhl.com/?p=218#comment-3680 Good stuff, thanks for the reply, and for the article :) Good stuff, thanks for the reply, and for the article :)

]]> By: Joe http://blog.gtuhl.com/2009/03/26/ocz-vertex-ssd-in-a-17-santa-rosa-macbook-pro/comment-page-1/#comment-3679 Joe Sun, 26 Apr 2009 02:00:02 +0000 http://blog.gtuhl.com/?p=218#comment-3679 Did indeed clone the drive with SuperDuper. Not "exact" in the sense that certain items get excluded from SuperDuper clones (Spotlight index for example) but relatively close. I should have omitted that word from the sentence. Fragmentation could certainly have been a factor. I think the disk was potentially on its way out. Fragmentation has a smaller (though not nonexistent) impact on hfs+. SSD is a big step up, are benchmarks online now showing entire arrays of server-grade 15k SAS drives failing to keep up with a single Intel SLC SSD (in random IO). Did indeed clone the drive with SuperDuper. Not “exact” in the sense that certain items get excluded from SuperDuper clones (Spotlight index for example) but relatively close. I should have omitted that word from the sentence.

Fragmentation could certainly have been a factor. I think the disk was potentially on its way out. Fragmentation has a smaller (though not nonexistent) impact on hfs+.

SSD is a big step up, are benchmarks online now showing entire arrays of server-grade 15k SAS drives failing to keep up with a single Intel SLC SSD (in random IO).

]]> By: Bryan http://blog.gtuhl.com/2009/03/26/ocz-vertex-ssd-in-a-17-santa-rosa-macbook-pro/comment-page-1/#comment-3678 Bryan Sun, 26 Apr 2009 00:54:43 +0000 http://blog.gtuhl.com/?p=218#comment-3678 "The data on my hard drive was unchanged between non-SSD and SSD tests - exact same content." How did you achieve this? Did you clone the drive using a utility like SuperDuper? I'd wager the slower performance of your original drive was worsened by fragmentation, and the gap might be narrower if the 5400rpm drive was cloned prior to testing too (especially in the boot-up and app launch times). “The data on my hard drive was unchanged between non-SSD and SSD tests – exact same content.”

How did you achieve this? Did you clone the drive using a utility like SuperDuper?

I’d wager the slower performance of your original drive was worsened by fragmentation, and the gap might be narrower if the 5400rpm drive was cloned prior to testing too (especially in the boot-up and app launch times).

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