HuntsMan75

Q: Replace Hard Drive with SSD

System Info: MacBook Pro running OS X 10.9, mid 2009, 13", PN MB991LL/A (2.53 GHz), 8GB RAM

 

I started having some problems with my system, mainly slow downs, especially when using Safari. I got a copy of Scannerz (http://scsc-online.com/Scannerz.html) and it confirmed drive platter damage. I know some of these units are supposed to have cable problems but Scannerz tested that too and found no problems with the cable, so this is a bonafide drive problem (it's 6 years old, you know).

 

I'd like to go ahead and replace it with an SSD and have some questions:

 

  1. Maybe I'm getting models mixed up but I seem to remember something about a drive thermal sensor on Apples not being compatible with generic drives. I know I read that somewhere I just don't remember where?
  2. I assume, if #1 above isn't a problem, that I can basically use any SATA SSD. Now I know I should get the fastest interface possible, but are there any caveats or incompatibilities that some brands of SSDs may present?
  3. What about stuff like trim and wear leveling. WIll this be in a driver for the SSD or does the OS take care of it automatically?
  4. Are there any brands/models to stay away from?
  5. Should I replace the cable too? I've heard they can get bad.

 

Thanks in advance.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Apr 4, 2015 12:06 PM

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Q: Replace Hard Drive with SSD

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  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Jun 9, 2016 12:08 PM in response to R.K.Orion
    Level 9 (60,909 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 9, 2016 12:08 PM in response to R.K.Orion

    I remember "if you want to run System 7, it requires more than 1MB** of RAM"

     

    **yes, those are the right units.

     

    6.0.8 required a lot less.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Jun 10, 2016 6:57 AM in response to ZV137
    Level 9 (50,412 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 10, 2016 6:57 AM in response to ZV137

    You can still use Snow Leopard if that is what floats your boat, equally others can use any modern OS that suits them

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Jun 10, 2016 7:42 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 9 (60,909 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 10, 2016 7:42 AM in response to Csound1

    The Internet it starting to say, "the encryption supported by 10.6.8 is not good enough"

     

    • Bank of New York (no small player) says that as of today, 10 June 2016, you cannot use an older version of Safari (such as the one in 10.6.8) to log in to their site.

     

    • Users report that Gmail has told them that shortly, they will not be able to use the version of Apple Mail from 10.6.8 to automatically fetch their Gmail.

  • by MrJavaDeveloper,

    MrJavaDeveloper MrJavaDeveloper Jun 11, 2016 12:08 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (64 points)
    Jun 11, 2016 12:08 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    You could overcome both those shortcomings with FireFox and Thunderbird, however it's likely that soon even some of the binaries developed for Snow Leopard using Garbage Collection may be rendered useless sometime in the coming years. You can always go to Mavericks or Mountain Lion for those that don't like the "new" look.

  • by R.K.Orion,

    R.K.Orion R.K.Orion Jun 17, 2016 12:03 PM in response to MrJavaDeveloper
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Jun 17, 2016 12:03 PM in response to MrJavaDeveloper

    Over 30% of Mac users are still using the "old style", appearance wide, version of OS X.  By "old style" I mean Mavericks and before. I think a fair number of people found the new, flat look somewhat polarizing. The most used  "old style" OS X is Mavericks followed by Snow Leopard. Some people just refuse to give up on Snow Leopard, security holes or not.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Jun 17, 2016 12:14 PM in response to R.K.Orion
    Level 9 (50,412 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 17, 2016 12:14 PM in response to R.K.Orion

    Many users do not have Macs that are compatible with the newest versions of OS X, but they have no intention of abandoning their machines because of it. That percentage is in no way surprising, if anything it seems a little low.

  • by ZV137,

    ZV137 ZV137 Jul 6, 2016 11:23 AM in response to R.K.Orion
    Level 1 (54 points)
    Jul 6, 2016 11:23 AM in response to R.K.Orion

    R.K.Orion wrote:

     

    Over 30% of Mac users are still using the "old style", appearance wide, version of OS X.  By "old style" I mean Mavericks and before. I think a fair number of people found the new, flat look somewhat polarizing. The most used  "old style" OS X is Mavericks followed by Snow Leopard. Some people just refuse to give up on Snow Leopard, security holes or not.

    Where did you get that statistic from out of curiosity?

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Jul 6, 2016 12:16 PM in response to ZV137
    Level 9 (50,412 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 6, 2016 12:16 PM in response to ZV137

    It is an internal stat, internal to the poster I mean.

  • by R.K.Orion,

    R.K.Orion R.K.Orion Jul 7, 2016 11:13 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Jul 7, 2016 11:13 AM in response to Csound1

    You're right - it is an internal stat. We use Google Analytics to monitor our web site and you can get reports on user stats (OS version, browser type, screen resolution, etc. etc.) to help us design and test web pages. I don't have the stats handy at this time but I remember the following:

     

    1. El Capitan is easily dominant
    2. Of the "old style" user interface OSes, Mavericks is clearly in the lead followed by Snow Leopard.
    3. Poor old Lion is down in the mud, as are PPC based OSes (less than 1% for each)

    That's what I can report from memory. I could run a new set of data and provide a full breakdown sometime later if interested.

  • by ZV137,

    ZV137 ZV137 Jul 19, 2016 10:59 AM in response to R.K.Orion
    Level 1 (54 points)
    Jul 19, 2016 10:59 AM in response to R.K.Orion

    If you get the time, I wouldn't mind seeing that list in detail, if you could do it some time. Needless to say it isn't critical.

  • by alex7375,

    alex7375 alex7375 Jul 19, 2016 1:28 PM in response to HuntsMan75
    Level 2 (230 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 19, 2016 1:28 PM in response to HuntsMan75

    I upgraded my MBP mid-2012 with 480gb. OCZ trion-150-series SSD and 16gb. of Crucial ram. which I purchased on Amazon.com for about $200 total.

     

    My MBP performs great now. I have it loaded with bootcamp and dual boot El Capitan and MS-Windows-10.

     

    My MBP just flies threw any task I put it to.

     

    Highly recommend you do the upgrades. Your computing experience will be better, and your MBP will perform much better.

     

    I have had no problems with my MBP since the upgrades.

     

    Depending on what SSD you choose you may need to enabe "trim" support.

     

    After install and loaded with OS open "terminal app" and enter the following command:

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

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Jul 19, 2016 2:08 PM in response to ZV137
    Level 9 (50,412 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 19, 2016 2:08 PM in response to ZV137

    ZV137 wrote:

     

    If you get the time, I wouldn't mind seeing that list in detail, if you could do it some time. Needless to say it isn't critical.

    It is just a guess.

  • by R.K.Orion,

    R.K.Orion R.K.Orion Jul 20, 2016 11:40 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Jul 20, 2016 11:40 AM in response to Csound1

    Csound1 wrote:

     

    ZV137 wrote:

     

    If you get the time, I wouldn't mind seeing that list in detail, if you could do it some time. Needless to say it isn't critical.

    It is just a guess.

     

    No, it isn't a guess, and here's how it's done:

     

    • The website needs to be "Google Analytics" aware. Going into this is well beyond the scope of this post and the procedures are outlined by Google.
    • Once made aware, open Google Analytics to the "Site Overview" section. It should show a graph and a pie chart showing usage, but is configurable, so it will likely be different for each user.
    • Scroll down and on the left section theres a hyperlink for "Operating System." Click on that.
    • When the list of operating systems shows up, click on "Macintosh".
    • When the "Macintosh" section opens up, click on the "Secondary Dimension" tab.
    • From the drop down, there will be a list of options. From the "More Dimensions" tab (not the recommended tab) select "Users" and then select the "Operating System Version" option.

     

    Over the past three months the percentage distribution of Mac OS X breakdown is as follows:

     

    El Captan: 66.7%

    Yosemite:   14.3%

    Mavericks   7.5%

    Mountain Lion   2.8%

    Lion   3.4%

    Snow Leopard   5.0%

    Leopard     0.3%

     

    Google Analytics will allow you to get full reports on the number of mobile users, Windows users, mobile OS versions, etc, etc. Since our site isn't Mac specific the breakdown above is for Macintosh computers only.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Jul 20, 2016 11:41 AM in response to R.K.Orion
    Level 9 (50,412 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 20, 2016 11:41 AM in response to R.K.Orion

    And that's from a sample of how many? and who selects the sample

     

    You can prove anything you want if you pick the sample accordingly.

  • by R.K.Orion,

    R.K.Orion R.K.Orion Jul 21, 2016 12:50 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Jul 21, 2016 12:50 AM in response to Csound1

    To be honest, I'm not trying to prove anything, just more or less casual observations. FWIW, the sample size was in the vicinity of 4500 visitors and it's of people who visited the website. The information Google Analytics provides is so you can adjust your site to handle visitors. For example, what percentage are using mobile, and how big are their displays, and will your pages show up properly on their devices. It's not a de facto measurement of actual OS usage, and it isn't intended to be.

     

    Cheers.

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