Samsung Evo 840 For Music Production On Macbook Pro (2012)

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Samsung Evo 840 For Music Production On Macbook Pro (2012)

My Macbook Pro is a 2012 model, i7 2.9 GHz, and 8gb ram (upgrading to 16gb).

I spoke with a Samsung representative the other day about buying a Samsung Pro 840 SSD for my Macbook Pro. I quickly decided not to get the Pro 840 as he said the 5 year warranty is voided if you write more than 40gb in one day (weird, right?). Anyways, the Samsung rep was really dissuading me about buying the either of the Samsung 840 SSDs, which I was confused about. He said the Macbook Pros have controllers in them which will not allow a Samsung SSD to run at SATA 3 speed, but more closer to SATA 2 speed (and quite possibly SATA 1 speed). However, it almost seems like he had some underlying motives for me not to buy the SSD. I say this because I have seen multiple people on here really enjoy their Samsung EVO SSDs in their Macbook Pros and not have problems with them. I have seen people use theirs for even a year and say it still runs lighting fast... he told me that it would only last about a month before it would crash... The Samsung rep told me to buy the SSD that Apple offers instead (which I would do, but, even after talking to an Apple rep, could not get the name of the SSDs they put in their Macs from him... The Apple rep said they do not offer them for external retail).

Now keep in mind that I am into music production so I may do more writing to my SSD then the average use, but from what I've gathered, this doesn't really matter with SSDs anymore. And yes, I know I should just boot all of my programs off my SSD and use an actual hard drive for my samples, however I can really only one SSD because I have a laptop (and I'm not interested in removing optical drive to have two drives).

Lastly, he told me that I cannot put my Macbook Pro to sleep if I have an SSD in it... but does that mean they disable the sleep in the Macbook Airs that come standard with a SSD? I've read both where people put them to sleep and have no problems, then where others don't put them to sleep because they are cautious. I feel maybe it is something like the rule where you're not supposed to move your Macbook Pro (if you have a hard drive in it) while it's on or sleeping, but the majority of the people do it anyways and never have problems. These are a few things I am curious about.

SO... that's the description, here are my questions (I looked around on other forums and couldn't find anything specific for my computer... so please bare with me and if there is forum thread I missed, feel free to link that to me):

Has anyone's Samsung Evo 840 got slower with time? Down enough to the point where it's at a SATA 1 speed?
Any music producers out there? If so, since I am in a pickle with only having space for one hard drive (I don't want to have to use an external because I am on-the-go a lot...), do you think I'll have problems if I use my samples on my SSD? If so, why?
Can I put my Macbook Pro with SSD to sleep without having problems? If not, why? Has anyone been putting theirs to sleep and not had problems with their SSD?
He also mentioned something about how TRIM on the Macbook Pros won't work correctly with the Samsung SSDs because it's specific to Apple... is this true? I couldn't find more information on it... Seemed kinda bologna for him to say that. However, thoughts?

That's all the questions I have. I want to go with the Samsung Evo 840 (I would go with the Pro 840 because it is faster, however I hear they're phasing them out - my thought is they're going to come out with a faster drive than the Evo 840 - also, it's pretty lame that writing more then 40gb/day voids your warranty).

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Also, if there is anything I'm not covering... please let me know.

Posted on Jun 30, 2014 11:55 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 1, 2014 12:38 AM in response to Waldoctg

The Samsung rep is full of bunk. The 840 Pro is not only one of the fastest SSDs around, no amount of data you read/write a day is going to affect your 5 year warranty. I've had nothing but SSDs in my machine since April of 2012 and my MacBook Pro sleeps quite well. Now to address your concerns, point by point:

I've never heard of any Samsung EVO getting 'slower' the longer it's used. Theoretically, of course, all SSDs will 'slow down' after a 12-20 years.
Csound1 may have some info for you on music.
Yes, you can put your Mac to sleep with no problems. I have no idea what the Samsung rep was talking about (sounds as if he didn't know, either).
You can enable TRIM on any third party SSD by using Trim Enabler or Chameleon. TRIM is not exclusive to "Apple" SSD (Apple doesn't even manufacture the drives that they sell - most are Samsung.

Either the 840 Pro or the EVO would be fine choice. Personally, I've always had Crucial drives but that's just a preference.

See my one and only user tip -> Upgrading Your MacBook Pro with a Solid State Drive.

Good luck,

Clinton

MacBook Pro (15-inch Late 2011), OS Mavericks 10.9.4, 16GB RAM, 960GB SSD, 27” Apple Thunderbolt Display

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Answer 2

Waldoctg Author

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Jul 1, 2014 4:05 PM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

OK. Well I was looking at the data sheet and it actually said this (page 3 near the bottom with the ***), "For enterprise applications, 5 years limited warranty assumes a maximum average workload of 40GB/day (calculated based on host writes and on the industry standard of 3 - month data retention). Workloads in excess of 40GB/day are not covered under warranty." However, I wonder how they would actually be able to tell...

I'll have to message Csound1. Thanks.

Thanks for all the responses, I really appreciate it! I heard the Samsung Evo 850 Pro is about to come out, so I think I'll wait for that to be released then just get that. What Crucial ssd do you like? I was actually thinking of getting a Crucial, but all the reviews pointed to the Samsungs (although they are a bit pricier...).

One last thing, he said that I should get the TRIM software that costs like $10 because it takes care of the memory in a better way (or something like that). Is Does that matter?

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Answer 3

Waldoctg Author

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Jul 1, 2014 4:18 PM in response to Waldoctg

BTW, doesn't look like I can message people directly... Anyway in how I can contact Csound1?

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Answer 4

kkd_ldn

Level 1

6 points

Sep 10, 2014 8:56 AM in response to Waldoctg

Hi Waldoctg,

I have exactly the same setup as you, produce music using Logic and I'm looking to upgrade to an SSD. The price point of the Samsung Evo 500gb and performance (for consumer workloads) makes it the strongest contender for me.

If you went for the EVO which storage capacity did you go for, and how is it holding up?

Having researched quite a bit into this SSD, the main feature that sets it apart from other SSDs (apart from it's price) is it's Turbowrite feature.

However, whilst most reviews outline that the Turbowrite buffer would never get full up under an average consumer workload, I worry that producing music , tweaking synths, editing audio etc may stretch what is considered to be a 'consumer workload', resulting in the Turbowrite buffer filling up and ultimately lead to the SSD becoming sluggish when it has to revert back to standard write/read rates.

Any experience you've had with the SSD or additional info you've uncovered about it's use as a music production SSD would be very useful.

Hope you can help,

Kieran

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