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User profile for user: m3adi3c
m3adi3c Author
User level: Level 1
14 points

Crucial M500 vs Samsung 840 EVO

Hello,


I hesitated quite a lot before starting this discussion, thinking that people are already sick and tired of SSD comparisons, but I really haven't found my answer and would greatly appreciate your opinions.


So, I have a Mid 2012 13" MBP which I want to upgrade with a SSD to replace the 5400rpm HDD and I'd like to buy one before Mavs comes out, so that I will use it for a fresh install of Mavs.


I'm aiming for a 500GB-ish drive and the two finalists for me are Crucial m500 480 GB and Samsung 840 EVO. Of course, I would consider the 840 Pro or non-pro if you think it's better, but please, no OWC, Corsair, Intel, SanDisk or other recommendations.


I am leaning towards the M500, mainly because of what professional reviews say (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/crucial-m500-1tb-ssd,3551.html), that although it's a tad slower than the 840 EVO, it's more robust, it has better security and, overall, more reliable. Moreover, I think about Apple's increasing number of fights and lawsuits with Samsung, which could eventually result ins ome disadvantages for Samsung product users in Macs. I'm thinking about future firmware updates from Samsung (which could be hard or impossible for Mac users), or even that Apple could implement some features in a future OSX release or some app which could not work for Samsung products.)


On the other hand, Crucial is not a competitor for Apple and it is known that many people love it in their Macs. Moreover, the slightly better speeds in the Samsung I doubt that they will be noticeable in a daily use. What could they mean: 2-3 sec difference when booting up or 5-10 sec when copying (say) a 10GB file? I think I'm okay with that 🙂


So, what are your opinions?


Thanks a lot!

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on Oct 14, 2013 1:11 AM

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User profile for user: m3adi3c
m3adi3c Author
User level: Level 1
14 points

Oct 21, 2013 10:17 AM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

Thanks, I can't wait for Mavericks to actually put it to use 🙂 Now I keep it in its box, since the main reason for which I bought it is to do a clean install of Mavericks on it and start using it from then.


Enjoy yours, as well (or goot luck saving money for it 🙂 ) !

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User profile for user: clintonfrombirmingham
clintonfrombirmingham
User level: Level 7
30,106 points

Oct 21, 2013 10:25 AM in response to m3adi3c

Oh, I couldn't leave it in the box! I guess we'll find out tomorrow when Mavericks will be released (maybe even tomorrow?).


I paid $600 for my Crucial 512GB m4 series back in April of 2012... now I'll be paying a little less for my Crucial 960GB M500 series. Bummer - but I'm looking forward to it.


So maybe - just maybe - you can install that puppy tomorrow!


Clinton

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User profile for user: m3adi3c
m3adi3c Author
User level: Level 1
14 points

Oct 21, 2013 10:30 AM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

Actually, this wasn't quite the intention. I mean I wanted to stockpile all the requiring tools and stuff for Mavericks (including today, when I went into a 4 hour tour of the city to find those ****** #00 and T6 screwdrivers! 🙂 ) and now I feel like I'm saying to Apple "Bring it on, bro!" 🙂


To be honest, I thought the whole acquisition and delivery process of the SSD, screwdrivers + information would take longer. But, in fact, my SSD is lying in its box for about a week, the documentation is well read and understood and, thanks to my "trip" today, the screwdrivers are here.


So...bring it on! 🙂

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User profile for user: esnandakumar
esnandakumar
User level: Level 1
0 points

Nov 1, 2013 2:32 AM in response to m3adi3c

Hi,


After much afterthought, I went for a crucial 960GB M500 for my mid 2012 macbook pro. It has been wonderful, and I have been using it for 5 months already. I also maxed up the ram to 16GB and made a 8 GB RAMDISK for making a partition where I put folders into which I read/write a lot !!!! You will be surprised with the speeds you can get with that 🙂 Remember to enable TRIM support on your SSD though 🙂


Cheers,

Nanda.

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User profile for user: clintonfrombirmingham
clintonfrombirmingham
User level: Level 7
30,106 points

Nov 1, 2013 2:37 AM in response to esnandakumar

Terrific! Another happy M500/MacBook Pro user - I'm still sitting on the fence... I'll have the money this month but... I have to admit, making a Retina upgrade would just make another SSD purchase silly, now (not to imply that I'm going to jump to a Retina model anytime soon).


Goodness!


Clinton

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User profile for user: Lexiepex
Lexiepex
User level: Level 6
14,102 points

Nov 1, 2013 2:45 AM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

Hi Clinton,

I just stumbled on this thread, otherwise I would have posted earlier.

An important difference between SSD's is the controller:

The (rather crude) Sandforce controller only handles compressable data transfer well, Samsung has its own "clone" of the Sandforce controller, that is the reason the ssd will be much slower while transferring uncompressable data.

The (pro) Marvell controller handles both compressable data and uncompressable data.

This difference is the cause that Marvell can be very well firmware updated, which is not so for the Sandforce: practically only programming faults can be corrected in the Sandforce, while also structure and flexibility can be firmware handled in the Marvell.

You see the Marvell in very pro ssd's.

The choice made by the OP is the best: Crucial uses the Marvelll controller.

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User profile for user: m3adi3c
m3adi3c Author
User level: Level 1
14 points

Nov 1, 2013 4:08 AM in response to esnandakumar

Guys, I thought I'd share with you my experience with the M500 under Mavs. It's been a week already and I truly love it!


One thing, though, regarding TRIM... As I have mentioned here https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5492795?answerId=23552925022#23552925022 , TRIM enabler, both via the app and via Terminal (with the kext modification) gave me an apocalyptic error when performing fsck in Single User Mode.


I think the main reason is the fact that Mavericks is still "in its early childhood" and more and more apps have to update in order to be optimized for it.


After days of thinking, I decided NOT to enable TRIM and I also searched the Crucial Support forum where an official from Crucial said that TRIM is, in fact, a matter of taste, because the M500 has already its "garbage" system which somehow makes TRIM redundant. So I have decided rather to leave TRIM disabled than be confused or scared of that fsck big failure.


Other than that, BlackMagic tests show constant 400MB-ish read/write speeds, the boot time is around 12 seconds, restart is under 10 seconds, I copied 100 GB on it in 15 minutes... So I truly love the M500 and I'm very happy with my purchase!

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User profile for user: Ico_ss
Ico_ss
User level: Level 1
0 points

Nov 1, 2013 4:18 AM in response to m3adi3c

Hey there!


what about the OWC Mercury Electra SSD, I was first inclined to buy the samsung evo 840 120 GB, but after reading thru this and other discutions threads I´ve switched to Crucial´s M500, but then I came across this SSD from OWC...


What do you guys think about it? I own a mac mini 2012 2.0GHz i7, which one should I go with Crucial´s or OWC´s?


Thanks!!!

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User profile for user: Lexiepex
Lexiepex
User level: Level 6
14,102 points

Nov 1, 2013 4:39 AM in response to m3adi3c

About trim:

This command if you have a non Apple ssd, disappears after an update (sometimes) and after an upgrade (always).

TrimEnabler worked not good in the beginning (SL) and then later on (V2 and later) it worked a bit. The later versions do sometimes not work well in Mavericks.

You have to restore the Mavericks installation in order to correct the situation:

start your Mac while olding CMD+R and click the restore OSX button: it will completely restore the OS, but leave your data alone (But ofcourse you have backups).

Then after that the Trim command is gone.

Do not try to make the change in the kext file, as publicized a long time ago, with Terminal!!!

The Trim command does not do much for you when you have a ssd with Marvell controller (M500 for example), and certainly not when you have enough space free on the ssd.

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User profile for user: m3adi3c
m3adi3c Author
User level: Level 1
14 points

Nov 1, 2013 6:00 AM in response to Lexiepex

Well...I have made the kext mod as presented, via Terminal. But I have restored the system afterwards.


For curiosity: the method is not recommended because it could damage the OS, I assume, not the hardware, hopefully :)


And yes, I always have at least a quarter of my space free on the ssd, if not more.


So I'm happy without trim anyways. Thanks.

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User profile for user: Lexiepex
Lexiepex
User level: Level 6
14,102 points

Nov 1, 2013 7:29 AM in response to m3adi3c

Yes, I saw that you used terminal, that's why I did my remark to m3adi3c. All the time the IOAHCIBlockStorage.kext changes when something in Apple's hardware parts cabinet changes. That's why you are never up to date with changing this file. And even IF you are aware of the changes, you should never mess around in these core items!!!

It will not harm the hardware (90% sure), but it may cause drastic crashes.

Your other Q: OWC sells very good and compatible ssd's.

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User profile for user: m3adi3c
m3adi3c Author
User level: Level 1
14 points

Nov 1, 2013 7:54 AM in response to Lexiepex

Thank you, Lex. As I said, I have restored the system files, so I should be fine.


I haven't asked about owc, as you can see, I'm the OP (m3adi3c), so I bought the M500 and I messed with that kext :)


Nevertheless, I second your appraisal for owc that Ico_ss asked, I only read good reviews for them, but they were too expensive for me.


Thanks again.

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Crucial M500 vs Samsung 840 EVO

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