Which SSD to choose for MacBook. Changing the HDD to a fast SSD in the Apple MacBook Pro Which ssds are suitable for macbook pro

Let us immediately note that the information will not be useful for owners of the most modern laptops, since, firstly, they come only with pre-installed solid-state drives, and secondly, the installed drives have an unconventional form factor and interface.
But for owners of laptops with a 2.5” form factor and a SATA interface, the presented instructions will help improve the performance of the laptop without significant costs.

You can, of course, ask for a replacement drive at an official Apple service center, but the service may turn out to be quite expensive, and besides, you will probably be offered some kind of Solit-State Drive Kit - “official, from the manufacturer,” the price of which, to put it mildly, is will not match performance.

We, in turn, invite you to replace the HDD with an excellent SSD yourself and are ready to provide.

In the photos below you can see the SanDisk SSD. It was this solid-state drive that ended up in our laboratory at the time of writing this article. This SSD instance is based on the SandForse SF-2281 controller, which has proven itself in other solid-state drives. They are distinguished by high read/write speeds and increased fault tolerance.

So what do we need?

This whole procedure will not take you even 30 minutes, but the performance of the laptop will increase quite seriously - the operating system and applications will load almost instantly and in general the laptop will “respond” to your requests much faster. This is because the system will have instant access to data, and this is exactly what is necessary to increase the speed of operation.
In addition, it does not make any sounds even when actively working with data, so your MacBook will become even quieter.
In addition, due to the significantly lower power consumption of SSDs, compared to any 2.5" HDD, the MacBook will be able to work slightly longer on a single battery charge - this is another undeniable advantage of using solid-state drives in laptops.
The only thing that yours will lose is a couple of grams of weight, because an SSD is also a little lighter than a hard drive.

Solid state drives are making their way to replace hard drives in Mac computers. Today, Apple installs them not only in laptops and desktop computers.

Often, free space runs out not only on your iPhone or iPad, but also on your Mac computer - especially if you have a 128 GB SSD under the hood. Many people immediately run to help third party applications, but firstly, they are most often paid, and sometimes developers are cunning, forcing you to buy a new version of the application every time after a major OS update. And secondly, there are ways to clean Mac standard means operating system, and they are available even in.

Thousands of experts and authors have been talking and writing about the fact that the previous file system was backward and worthless for ten years now. At the time she was already about thirty years old, she really didn’t shine with fashionable innovations, but, oddly enough, if her backwardness bothered anyone, it was very few. She was not noticed, that is, she coped with her duties perfectly. There were no problems with it, which cannot be said about the new one. file system– not bad, but still too young.

We can say that the times when we considered storage devices to be something very expensive and inaccessible are irrevocably gone. In a few years, classic HDDs will be a thing of the past, and we will all be using solid-state drives, which will become even cheaper. This has not happened yet, but good and inexpensive SSDs from different manufacturers can be bought now.

Many users, when choosing a potential computer, prefer all-in-one PCs. Large, high-quality, high-resolution screen, excellent performance and a relatively compact body. All this combined makes the iMac a great choice for almost everyone. But Apple all-in-one PCs have one very significant drawback. We'll talk about it today.

Remember the good old days when you changed the battery in a couple of minutes, added RAM and installed an additional drive? If you are a user, all this is a thing of the past for you, but upgrading your hard drive is still possible, and Apple developers still allow us to do it. In 2010, Apple introduced its proprietary solid state drives- "blade" SSD. The company touts their read/write speeds and reliability, but rarely explains the details of the technology used in SSDs, which are designed only for Apple computers.

If you happen to have a Mac mini 2011 or 2012 or an old / MacBook Air, do not rush to send them to retirement ahead of time and run to buy a new generation of computer, which costs much more. The most affordable computer in Apple's lineup is pretty upgradable, and with an SSD you can give it a second life.

Fair, not overpriced and not underestimated. There should be prices on the Service website. Necessarily! without asterisks, clear and detailed, where technically possible - as accurate and concise as possible.

If spare parts are available, up to 85% of complex repairs can be completed in 1-2 days. Modular repairs require much less time. The website shows the approximate duration of any repair.

Warranty and responsibility

A guarantee must be given for any repairs. Everything is described on the website and in the documents. The guarantee is self-confidence and respect for you. A 3-6 month warranty is good and sufficient. It is needed to check quality and hidden defects that cannot be detected immediately. You see honest and realistic terms (not 3 years), you can be sure that they will help you.

Half the battle is Apple repair- this is the quality and reliability of spare parts, so a good service works with suppliers directly, there are always several reliable channels and your own warehouse with proven spare parts for current models, so that you do not have to waste extra time.

Free diagnostics

This is very important and has already become a rule of good manners for service center. Diagnostics is the most difficult and important part of the repair, but you don't have to pay a penny for it, even if you don't repair the device based on its results.

Service repairs and delivery

Good service values your time, so he offers free shipping. And for the same reason, repairs are carried out only in the workshop of a service center: correctly and according to technology can only be done in a prepared place.

Convenient schedule

If the Service works for you, and not for itself, then it is always open! absolutely. The schedule should be convenient to fit in before and after work. Good service works on weekends and holidays. We are waiting for you and working on your devices every day: 9:00 - 21:00

The reputation of professionals consists of several points

Company age and experience

Reliable and experienced service has been known for a long time.
If a company has been on the market for many years and has managed to establish itself as an expert, people turn to it, write about it, and recommend it. We know what we are talking about, since 98% of incoming devices in the service center are restored.
Other service centers trust us and refer complex cases to us.

How many masters in areas

If there are always several engineers waiting for you for each type of equipment, you can be sure:
1. there will be no queue (or it will be minimal) - your device will be taken care of right away.
2. you give your Macbook for repair to an expert in the field of Mac repairs. He knows all the secrets of these devices

Technical literacy

If you ask a question, a specialist should answer it as accurately as possible.
So that you can imagine what exactly you need.
They will try to solve the problem. In most cases, from the description you can understand what happened and how to fix the problem.

Now there is a large selection of external hard drives. When choosing, you should consider speed, strength, size and much more. We have collected for you best HDDs And SSD drives for Mac and PC.

Before purchasing hard drive you must understand what you will use it for and what characteristics are more important to you. Let's look at the main ones.

SSDorHDD

SSDs or solid state drives are very popular. They do not have removable parts, unlike HDDs (hard drives) with a rotating plate inside.

SSDs will last longer due to the lack of moving parts, but you'll get less storage unless you're willing to pay a premium.

SSDs are also significantly faster than traditional ones hard drives.

Ports

It is very important what ports are on your computer - Micro USB, USB-C or Thunderbolt 3. Data transfer speed is also important.

New hard drives contain USB-C port, as well as a USB-C/USB-C or USB-C/USB-A cord included to work with almost any computer.

Thunderbolt 3 is the newest and fastest technology, but drives with this connector are more expensive than others.

RAID

There are several different types RAID hard drives, but the most popular of them is RAID 0.

If there are two disks inside the device, it reads and writes to both at once, almost doubling the speed. RAID 0 drives are fast and efficient.

Now let's move on to the list itself.

Western Digital My Passport SSD

The Western Digital My Passport is one of the most popular options and also one of the most affordable.

U new version USB-C connector, and the kit includes an adapter for older computers.

It's an SSD, so the drive is fast. The only negative is that fingerprints remain on the case.

Small size, simple design
Fingerprints remain
USB-C cord and adapter
From 256GB to 1TB, price from $99 to $296

OWC Envoy

OWC is famous for its huge selection of memory options. The company has a unique product – Envoy.

You can buy ready-made hard drive or a Mac modification kit. They both allow you to increase internal memory Mac.

There is no USB-C support yet, but you can always buy a cord separately.

If you are purchasing a modification kit, please select suitable model and be confident in your skills.

Separately or as a set
Aluminum housing
Lots of different options, including a $279 Pro model.

Samsung T5

We couldn't help but include the Samsung T5 in the list. This hard drive is very small, fast and popular.

It supports USB-C and comes with a USB-A cable.

Great design
USB-C and USB-A support
Fast Samsung V-NAND memory
Available in options from 250GB to 2TB for 8800-18000 rubles.

Satechi USB-C Enclosure

You can create your own external hard drive by purchasing a Satechi case. It is metal and very easy to assemble.

The speed depends on the type of drive you're using, but the case supports USB-C anyway.

Made from aluminum
Easy to assemble
Any disk can be used
Available in space grey, silver and gold
Available on Amazon for $34.99

Seagate Ultra Slim+

Seagate is another popular company. The Ultra Slim+ drive is quite thin, and inside there is a traditional HDD. The design is quite modern and has a nice logo at the bottom.

The model has not yet been updated for USB-C, but as usual you can buy an additional cord. Due to the HDD inside, this disk is accessible in price. The 2TB model can be purchased for just $79.

Silver or gold color
Affordable price

G|Drive R-Series SSD

G|Drive is considered a more premium brand. This hard drive looks absolutely amazing.

This hard drive is IP67 certified and can withstand 450kg weight and a 3m drop. It is very fast, speed reaches 560Mb/s. This is faster than the 540Mb/s of the Samsung T5.

Good protection, incl. and from water
Great design
5 year warranty
500GB, 1TB and 2TB options available

Oyen Digital Raid Enclosure

The Oyen Digital drive is similar to Satechi, but allows you to add additional disks. There are several types of RAID available, but the best one is RAID 0.

Instead of buying a 1TB SSD, you can buy two 500GB ones for much less and put them together. This drive will bring them together, and you will get an excellent hard drive.

The body, although large, is durable. It is made of aluminum and is easy to assemble.

An affordable option for creating a fast SSD
Good quality
Space for two SSDs (or HDDs)
USB-C support
Available on Amazon for $99

Crucial SSD

If you are going to buy just an external case, then you will need disks for it. You may already have them.

If not, you can buy a Crucial SSD, it's reliable and fast, but not too expensive.

Collect your drives
Affordable price and high speed
Can be purchased from 256GB to 2TB

Glyph Raid Atom SSD

Glyph has the fastest portable SSD. There are two V-NAND memory blocks inside, which means the speed is really high.

This drive can reach speeds of 770MB/s, which is much faster than others.

The case is quite reliable, the aluminum is covered with an anti-slip lining. Eat USB-C support. If speed is your top priority, choose Glyph.

Speed 770Mb/s
Anti-slip
USB-C

LaCie Porsche Design

LaCie produces premium wheels with a simple design. This drive is thin, beautiful, and supports USB-C. He does a great job. This disc will look great next to any Mac.

Porsche Design available in gold, copper-gold and silver
Chrome corners
USB-C
1TB for 5290 rub.

CalDigit Tuff

CalDigit's Tuff is one of the most durable drives on the list. The set includes a case in which you can carry additional discs.

The aluminum drive is covered in a neon green casing that should protect it from drops. The ports are protected from dust and water. The disc can be immersed for 30 minutes in water to a depth of 1 m.

There are SSD and HDD versions, all with USB-C support.

Lasting
Case
Water, dust and drop protection
The 2TB version is available on Amazon for $179

LaCie Rugged

Over the years, this company's discs have changed. The version with USB-C has a detachable cord, which is very convenient. If it ever stops working, you won't have to change everything.

The drives are available in SSD and HDD variants and with different amounts of memory.

Protection against falls and rain
USB-C
Unique design
Available with 2 TB RUB 13,110.

LaCie 2Big Thunderbolt 3

The LaCie 2Big Thunderbolt 3 has 20TB of storage and supports Thunderbolt 3 charging.

On the front there is a USB-A connector, a slot for CompactFlash flash cards, as well as SD. At the back there is an additional Thunderbolt 3, DisplayPort and USB-C connector.

It has two compartments that can be removed or changed, which is very convenient.

Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C
Removable drives
Memory from 8TB to 20TB
Prices vary from 43,000 rubles. up to 83,000 rub.

CalDigit AV Pro 2

CalDigit AV Pro 2 is similar to the LaCie 2Big Dock. There are two USB ports on the back. This drive will be slightly faster than others due to data optimization.

It works both vertically and horizontally.

USB 3.0 or USB-C
Vertical and horizontal position
Removable drives
USB connectors
Charging 30W
1TB to 6TB for $199-$399 on Amazon

OWC Thunderblade V4

The fastest drive on our list is the OWC Thunderblade V4. It's just a beast.

The drive is well made and works only via Thunderbolt 3. The kit includes a case for more reliable protection.

The maximum speed that was achieved is 2067 MB/s write and 1722 MB/s read. This drive is many times faster than all the others.

OWC tries to make its drives as portable as possible, but this one still requires a power source.

The fastest hard drive in the world
Additional Thunderbolt 3 port
Case included
Reliable strong case
You can buy with 1, 2, 4, 8 TB of memory

If you don’t know how to buy on Amazon from Russia, you can read our instructions:

5.00 / 5 (Total 1)
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TRIM on Mac: Apple OEM drives only

We already know that SSDs write data in 4KB blocks. The process of moving data, deleting obsolete data, and using the freed space for new data uses larger blocks. This process is known as “garbage collection” and is typical for any SSD.

The problem is that SSDs and operating systems don't usually communicate closely. When you delete a file, the OS marks the space occupied by the corresponding data as free, but the drive itself knows nothing about this. After some time, a lot is formed free space(from the operating system's point of view), which the SSD considers as still occupied with the necessary data. And only when the OS gives a command to write information to a block that is filled with data, the SSD finally figures out that this data is no longer needed. Up to a certain point, such data fragments are scattered throughout the entire volume of the drive (the so-called “garbage collection points”, garbage collection), slowing down the operation of the drive and wearing out free NAND memory cells.

This is where the TRIM team comes into play. When a file is deleted, the operating system sends a TRIM command to the SSD, marking such sectors as free. In this situation, the drive “knows” that it does not need to perform “garbage collection” on these sectors.

Of course, TRIM support must be present at several different levels. The drive, controller, and operating system must be compatible. Fortunately, the process of creating an ecosystem to support the implementation of the TRIM command began quite a long time ago. Windows 7 Windows Server 2008, Linux, OpenSolaris, FreeBSD and OS X all have TRIM support.

But just because the combination of hardware and software supports TRIM does not mean that the command will always work. In the case of the latter Windows versions We are lucky because we are dealing with open operating systems that provide wide compatibility. But Apple is not so friendly. It allows you to use TRIM only on your OEM drives, whereas if you install a third-party SSD after purchasing a computer Mac given function is disabled.

The ways to get around this artificial limitation are not secret. In this review, we will show our readers one of these methods, after which we will conduct several tests to verify its effectiveness.

Test SSD: Samsung 840 Pro

Unlike the MacBook Air, which requires the use of an SSD drive in a proprietary form factor (for example, OWC's Aura Pro 6G + Envoy), MacBook Pro provides greater flexibility: you can use a 2.5-inch SSD. This makes it possible to use any drives that support different controller technologies and firmware versions. Samsung 840 Pro – good example for today's test. It's one of the fastest SSDs we've ever tested, and as a result, it's what we use in all of our test bench configurations. However, the 840 Pro does not support SandForce/LSI's DuraWrite technology, does not benefit from data compression in speed, and its controller uses its own "garbage collection" technology. In the case of the Aura Pro drive for MacBook Air, the manufacturer says that enabling TRIM is not required: the drive is based on a SandForce/LSI controller, and DuraWrite technology eliminates the need to use TRIM at the hardware level. In fact, everything is not entirely true, since DuraWrite and TRIM are rather complementary technologies that complement each other. Either way, using the Samsung 840 Pro on a MacBook Pro gives us more reason to enable the TRIM command.

Although Samsung recently introduced new 840 EVO, which should soon replace the “regular” SSD 840, the older model 840 Pro is still the flagship in the line. Let us remind you that this drive is based on its own S4LN021X01-8030 NZWD1 controller and uses the SATA 6 Gb/s interface for data transfer. In models 840 and 840 EVO A 3-bit NAND cell (Tri Level Sell - TLS technology) is used, which affects reliability and performance. But Pro-series drives are based on the familiar MLC memory, produced on the basis of 21-nm technology.

Technical Samsung specifications 840 Pro

Manufacturer	Samsung
Model	840 Pro
Serial number	MZ-7PD256
Form factor	2.5" (7 mm)
Capacity	256 GB
Price	$240
Controller	Samsung MDX
NAND memory type	21nm MLC Toggle-mode
Sequential read/write speed	540 / 520 MB/s
Random read/write performance (4 KB, queue depth = 32), IOPS	100,000 / 90,000
Volume of reserved space (over-provisioning)	0,07
Cache	512 MB
Interface	SATA Gbit/s
Add-ons	Samsung Magician software
Guarantee	Five years

TRIM Enabler, test system and software

Again, Apple supports TRIM through OS X, but only when you use one of the OEM drives that come with your computer. As soon as you replace a particular drive, TRIM is disabled. We've heard horror stories about enabling TRIM using third party utilities, and it is for this reason that we decided to check the result on our own experience.

Fortunately, Apple's restrictions on third-party SSDs turned out to be not too harsh in terms of hardware. There are some manipulations that need to be done to meet Apple's SSD requirements, but the procedure is .

This time, in order not to waste time, we decided to try the utility right away TRIM Enabler. It is as easy as possible to use. In the program, you just need to move the slider from left to right - and you're done. One caveat to keep in mind is that when updating the operating system, you will likely need to repeat this procedure again.

Before using TRIM Enabler, you must enable an option in your system settings that allows you to install software of any origin, and not just those available through App Store or certified developers.

Test system and software

We use a MacBook Pro as our test system. More specifically, we are talking about the most compact model of the eleventh generation, introduced in mid-2012, also known as the 9.2-inch MacBook Pro.

Initially, the laptop was equipped with a 500 GB hard drive, which we removed and placed in an external box with a USB 3.0 interface. Its place in the laptop case was taken by the Samsung 840 Pro SSD drive. The system would boot from the original hard drive.

Apple MacBook Pro
Model	MacBook Pro
Model number	MacBookPro9,2
CPU	Intel Core i5-3210M
Clock frequency	2.5 GHz
Number of cores	2
L2 cache (per core)	256 KB
Shared L3 cache	3 MB
Memory	4 GB
System hard drive	Seagate ST500LM012 (500 GB; 5400 rpm)

Test software

We'll put the Samsung 840 Pro through two rounds of benchmark tests. First, we will perform a complete wipe of the drive - for this task we use the secure erase procedure, which instructs the controller to clear all blocks on the disk. Then we bring the drive to the state in which it was at the time of sale, that is, in this state it had the highest possible performance. We'll then run the first round of tests, which involves running AJA System Test and DiskTester twice without using TRIM. This provides a clear comparison of the performance of a fresh drive out of the box and a drive that has been used for quite a long time under standard everyday load.

In the second round of testing, we will repeat the secure erase procedure again, and then run the set of benchmarks twice again with the TRIM command enabled. Thus, in total we get four results:

TRIM disabled, first test run (out of the box state).
TRIM disabled, second test run (drive after active use).
TRIM is enabled, first test run (out of the box state).
TRIM is enabled, second test run (drive after active use).

Here is a detailed report on the test progress:

Installing TRIM Enabler and restarting the MacBook Pro is only for the second round.
Fully fill the drive with data using DiskTester three times to simulate a used SSD.
Fully filling the SSD drive with video files.
Break 30 minutes.
Running the AJA System Test benchmark (test file size 16 GB).
Running the DiskTester benchmark (block sizes 4 KB and 8 KB).