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Hard Disk Drive Replacement Options

Hi:

I have a 2009 MacBook Pro. Recently it started acting funny and a friend suggested it might be the hard drive. I got a copy of Scannerz to check the drive and about 10 minutes into the scan it started finding problems. I ran Scannerz in diag mode to confirm it wasn't the SATA cable, and it passed that with flying colors. I need a new hard drive.

Here's my dilemma: I'm on a budget. The most I can afford is between $125 to $150 to replace the hard drive. The question is, can I get a decent SSD for this much money?

Before I continue, I should state that I use a dual boot system. I still have a 100GB partition with Snow Leopard on it because I have some old applications that are older PPC applications. They're rarely used, but they do get used a few times a year. The rest of the drive is Mavericks.

I see the following as possible options:

1. Get an SSD that I can split so that I have 2 partitions again. It would need to be at least 256GB, and that's probably pushing it, probably more like 350GB is what I'd like.

2. Just get a hard drive. I've read on here that some of the Hitachi drives are fast for old mechanical drives and they're cheap too. I'd have money left over.

3. Create a Fusion drive with a smallish SSD and a hard drive. Setting it up using an article I read about in CNET doesn't look that hard, but the idea of taking out the optical drive and putting some type of adapter in there to hold either an SSD or HDD just seems a little risky. Also, isn't the speed of the optical drive slower than those of drives? Do I need a new cable if I consider doing this?

4. The Scannerz tech support people said I might want to get a new SATA cable anyway. Any idea why they would say that? They don't sell parts so that obviously wasn't the motivation.

When answering, please keep costs in mind. The total I'm will to spend, absolute max, is $150.

Thank you.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), Hard Drive Replacement

Posted on Feb 17, 2015 5:42 PM

117 replies

Csound1

Level 9

59,985 points

Jun 13, 2016 1:47 PM in response to MrWilliams201

Check again, Samsung SSD's feature often in "Why does my new SSD not work" posts. The most reliable (by far) are Crucial and OWC

Jun 18, 2016 11:58 AM in response to Csound1

I'd call that anecdotal evidence. Samsung is a big company with their products all over the place. From where I am right now I can go to 3 stores all within a 10 minute driving distance and they all have Samsung SSDs. None of them will have OWC or Crucial. The comments I just made are themselves anecdotal. A true measure would need to be done for SSD reliability to determine what constitutes the best, most reliable brand.

Csound1

Level 9

59,985 points

Jun 18, 2016 3:01 PM in response to ThomasB2010

Certainly if you restrict yourself to neighborhood shopping you will be limited for choice, but why limit yourself

Jul 12, 2016 11:03 AM in response to Csound1

Csound1 wrote:

Check again, Samsung SSD's feature often in "Why does my new SSD not work" posts. The most reliable (by far) are Crucial and OWC

How do you know that Crucial and OWC are "by far" the most reliable SSDs on the market?

Csound1

Level 9

59,985 points

Jul 12, 2016 12:04 PM in response to MrWilliams201

Buy your SSD from Crucial or OWC, both are excellent so let prices be the deciding factor. I use Crucial in a 2009 Macbook Pro, runs at 3GB.

The cable can be (a) old or (b) new, as you are taking the drive out (b) is preferable

Csound1

Level 9

59,985 points

Jul 12, 2016 12:05 PM in response to ThomasB2010

ThomasB2010 wrote:

Csound1 wrote:

Check again, Samsung SSD's feature often in "Why does my new SSD not work" posts. The most reliable (by far) are Crucial and OWC

How do you know that Crucial and OWC are "by far" the most reliable SSDs on the market?

Experience, what SSD's have you tried?

alex7375

Level 3

695 points

Jul 12, 2016 8:53 PM in response to MrWilliams201

I just did a 500gb. SSD and 16gb. of Crucial memory upgrade on my MBP.

I used boot camp to create 2 ( 250gb. ) partitions. One for El Capitan and the other for MS-Windows-10.

Worked out great. 250gb. partitions was more than large enough for the operating systems and app and my files.

The OS's only use about 15gb. of disk space each. I have the partitions loaded with allot of apps and my files, In total they only used up about 120gb. of disk space on each partition.

My MBP performs very well now. I could not be happier with it.

Here are the parts I used.

SSD - Samsung Evo 850-series ( 500gb ). = $150

However now the OCZ trion 150-series SSD has come down in price at $110 for 480gb.

I have used OCZ trion 150-series SSD's in Mac's and they work very well also and benchmark very well.

A good SSD for the price.

Memory - I used Crucial 16gb. or ram. = $56

If you use a 240gb. OCZ trion 150-series SSD for $56

You can do an entire system upgrade for under $115

Two 120gb. partitions is more than enough for El Capitan and apps and files and Windows-10 and apps and files.

Check for prices at Amazon.com or Newegg.com

Here are some how to videos:

https://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/macbookpro_15_unibody_mid10/

Just remember to enable "trim" support for your SSD.

After OS installation open terminal app and enter the following command

"sudo trimforce enable" then select YES and YES again....reboot when done.

I helped my friend upgrade his 2010 MBP the other day. It is easy to do and he was very happy with the results.

You will need a torx-6 screw driver.

Jul 23, 2016 12:12 PM in response to Csound1

Samsung, Crucial, and Sandisk.

There's not, IMHO, sufficient evidence on SSDs to explicitly point at one brand necessarily being superior to another. There are a few brands with bad reputations, but beyond that little proof of anything regarding true reliability. Nearly everything is anecdotal.

Csound1

Level 9

59,985 points

Jul 23, 2016 12:15 PM in response to ThomasB2010

True, but so is everything else (or irrelevant)

alex7375

Level 3

695 points

Jul 23, 2016 1:39 PM in response to ThomasB2010

Samsung Evo 850-series and OCZ trion 150-series are my go to budget SSD's for the Mac. They are inexpensive and work great in a MacBook/Mac Pro.

I have seen tests done on the OCZ SSD with over 3 million terabyte writes before failure. That far exceeds the manufacture warranty.

ZV137

Level 1

54 points

Aug 11, 2016 11:04 AM in response to alex7375

OCZ went bankrupt in 2013 and what was left of it was purchased by Toshiba. I believe the "problematic" OCZ drives all pre-date this. When you buy an OCZ now I'd suspect it's actually a Toshiba.

For more info:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OCZ

At the bottom of that link in the "Reliability history" section it indicates the failure rates for some of their SSDs as high as 52%. Ouch!

Aug 15, 2016 11:40 AM in response to ZV137

I was at a computer store a few days ago and they had some of the new OCZ. They all had the word "Toshiba" printed across the bottom with white letters and a gray background with the OCZ logo sort of in the background...at least that's the impression it left me with.

Hard Disk Drive Replacement Options