Solid State Hard Drive For Mac
Posted : admin On 10/4/2019SSDs, short for “Solid State Drives”, were only a few years ago out of the price range of consumers and their personal computers – Being used primarily by business users and computer enthusiasts. In 2013, however, SSDs are becoming increasingly affordable, and are a viable option for storage on personal computers – In particular, laptops, as they are sensitive to power consumption and physical wear & tear. This article will explain to you the pros and cons of installing a SSD in your Mac, and ultimately wether it’s worth the money. For those of you who are just looking for our top product recommendations, see the table below. If you’re interested in reading about the benefits and comparisons of an SSD, jump below for our in-depth article.
- Solid State Hard Drive For Mac Desktop
- Solid State External Hard Drive For Macbook Pro
- Solid State Hard Drive Vs Regular
- Best Solid State Hard Drive For Macbook Pro
- Best External Ssd For Imac
- Solid State External Hard Drive
OWC SSDs are the fastest SSDs available for Mac Pro. Get up to 6x more capacity and 106x faster speeds than the original Apple factory drive.
- Hard drives have been the bottle Neck for any OS for a long time and these solid State drives even though new tech seem to be the answer for this. More Less mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.8).
- Store files safely on this 512GB SanDisk solid-state drive. It has write speeds of up to 530MB/sec. For quick data transfers, and its SSD dashboard helps you optimize the disk's performance. This SanDisk solid-state drive is constructed with no moving parts to protect it against damage from shock and vibrations.
So, which Macs can a SSD be installed in? It’s an important thing to know, as there’s no point in reading this article and learning all about SSDs if you can’t even install one in your Mac – Or if your Mac already has a SSD built in, but you don’t know it!
Basically, any Mac that has a user-replaceable hard disk can have a 3rd party SSD installed in it – These include the Classic MacBook Pro, the white Polycarbon MacBook, the Mac Mini and the iMac. Therefore, if you own one of them, this article is for you. And as for the Retina MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air: If you already don’t, you’ll be pleased to know that they already have SSDs pre-installed; standard.
Cost is quite possibly the biggest factor you’ll have to weigh up when deciding wether to buy a SSD for your Mac or not (and if so, which one). A few years ago, SSDs that were little over 100GB in size cost the better part of a grand in price – Nowadays, however, 128GB SSDs barely cost more than their 128GB HDD (mechanical hard disk) counterparts. It’s only when you get up to 256GB and beyond that the SSD pricing begins to pull up & away from HDD pricing. Therefore, the less space you use, the more economical and practical it is for you to get a SSD for your Mac. Don’t know how much space you’ll be needing? Then read on, and we’ll find out how much you’ll most likely need!
One good indicator of how much hard drive space you’ll need is how full your current hard drive is. Finding this out is relatively easy – Simply download iStat Pro freely from MacUpdate here. Once it is installed on your Mac’s dashboard, have at the “disks” section of the widget. Unless you have more than one hard drive installed in your Mac, or have a disk, external drive or memory stick plugged in, a single drive should be displayed. Beneath the name of the drive there will be a two numbers – One marked “U” (for “used”) and one marked “F” (for “free”. Ignore, the “F” digits, and check out the “U” ones. This is how full your hard disk is. Once you’ve noted it down, read on to the next section, to see what sized SSD you’d be looking at if you decide to buy one.
There are four standard sizes of Solid State Drives: 64GB, 128GB, 256GB & 512GB – Although the 64GB size is pretty irrelevant these days, due to it’s small size and the fact that it only costs $20-$30 more to get a 128GB one, which is double the size. So in this article we’ll just look at the latter three models.
When thinking about which SSD size to get, you should look at the amount of space you’re currently using on your current hard disk and round it up a bit – Maybe 30-50GB, as it’s good to have a bit of extra space on your SSD, in case you need it later on. Not to mention the fact that a full or almost-full drive will preform more slowly that one with plenty of free space. So, if you’ve got 70GB used up, for example, the 128GB SSD model would be a good choice. If you had 120GB used up, the 256GB model would be the best choice. Or if you had 300GB used up, the 512GB model would be the best option.
In the United States & Canada, a 128GB SSD costs around $120 US, a 256GB $190 and a 512GB $380. From this you can decide wether or not getting a SSD is worth the money, after you have read about the advantages in the rest of this article. For example, if you only need a 128GB drive, you might think getting a SSD is worthwhile, however if you need a 512GB drive you might decide that getting a SSD is too expensive.
Speed
Solid State Hard Drive For Mac Desktop
The primary reason people buy SSDs is because of the speed. Unlike HDDs, which use a spinning platter much like a DVD to store data, SSDs use electronic circuits to achieve the same goal. SSDs most closely resemble USB thumb drives and SD cards, in the way that they use electronic circuits with no moving parts to store data. SSDs are, however, much faster than USB sticks, as they use higher quality components and aren’t slowed down by the sluggish USB interface. So, exactly how much faster are SSDs than traditional hard drives with spinning platters?
Depending on the speed that the platter spins at, traditional hard disk drives usually have a write speed of anywhere between 50 and 120MB/s. High quality SSDs, on the other hand, are almost always above 200MB/s, and the best ones can exceed 500MB/s. This means that you can expect the average SSD to be roughly double as fast when writing data as the average HDD, and in some cases more. But when will you notice this speed increase, while using your Mac?
Since SSDs read & write data faster, tasks on your Mac that require it to read & write data will be faster. These include saving files, opening files, loading games, opening applications and starting up/shutting down. The graphs below compare the speed of a MacBook Pro HDD to a MacBook Pro SSD and a MacBook Air SSD when preforming various tasks:
Durability
Having no moving parts, SSDs are very durable – Much more durable than regular, mechanical hard drives. This won’t be a huge advantage if you use a desktop Mac, such as an iMac or Mac Mini. However it’s a significant advantage in the case of MacBooks, as you’d no longer have to worry about your Mac’s hard drive being damaged if you drop the computer or subject it to sudden movements. Traditional HDDs are quite sensitive to shock damage, as the head (the arm that reads the platter) can go off-course and scratch the platter, resulting in corruption of the data stored on it. SSDs, however, can be bashed around quite a lot without getting damaged – One of the reasons that they have been used in portable devices like cameras for so long.
Silence
Due to the fact that SSDs have absolutely no moving parts, they’re dead silent. This makes your Mac quieter in general, especially when preforming hard drive intensive tasks, such as copying large files. And while you might not appreciate the silence of a SSD over a traditional HDD during everyday use, you will if you ever do things like leave your Mac on overnight to download a large file, or to do some other task – Your Mac will be 100% silent unless the fans spin up. You also may find, if you happen to own a MacBook, that the computer won’t vibrate as much, due to the fact that most of the vibration of the case would have been caused by the mechanical hard drive’s platter spinning.
Power Consumption
Yet another secondary advantage of SSDs having no moving parts is the fact that they don’t use up as much power. And while this doesn’t matter much when it comes to desktop Macs, it’s a note-worthy advantage when it comes to MacBooks (which SSDs are more commonly found in). The interesting thing is that SSDs neither read nor write data more energy-efficiently than HDDs – So how do they manage to be more energy-efficient overall?
Whilst SSDs don’t read/write more efficiently than HDDs, they do preform the tasks faster. This means that the SSD will finish the task earlier than the HDD, and thus have more idle time – Being idle consuming less power than reading or writing data. However this advantage doesn’t always show up in benchmark tests, as during the course of most power efficiency tests both the drives would be reading or writing data constantly for a set period of time. In the real world though, the SSD will always read or write for shorter periods, due to the fact that it is significantly faster. And therefore the Solid State Drive is more energy efficient than the mechanical Hard Disk Drive.
If after reading the points above you have decided that it’s worth the money to buy a SSD for your Mac, feel free to check out the drives below so that you won’t have to spend lots of time hunting around for one that’s compatible with your computer. With a SSD from each storage tier (64, 128, 256 & 500GB) Crucial, Sandisk and Samsung manufacture high quality drives that have a good reliability record with Macintosh computers. If you’re interested in purchasing one, simply click the “Purchase Amazon” button to be redirected to the Amazon listing, where you can get the SSD with free shipping
When most of us think of where our Macs store data, we are used to saying “the hard drive”.
But the truth is, not all drives are physically spinning HDDs anymore, and the Solid State Drive (or SSD) is becoming an increasingly common upgrade for MacBook Pros of all ages. Reinstall office for mac 2011.
Because SSDs have a number of advantages compared to HDDs, they are more speedy, reliable and quieter — yes, you won’t hear the click sound from a spinning hard drive. However, SSDs are also a little bit expensive than HDDs though the price difference is diminishing.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through picking the best SSD drive to upgrade your MacBook Pro’s old hard drive or existing SSD and point out how we chose the favorite products along the way.
Quick Summary
Need a brief summary of our top picks? Here’s the best SSD replacement for your MacBook Pro depending on your specific needs.
- For general users who want a quality, affordable SSD, you won’t go wrong with Crucial MX500 — which has exemplary read and write speeds, with awesome energy-saving features that will keep your MacBook from overheating or using up excessive amounts of battery.
- For those of you who want to shop an SSD from a reputable brand, get SanDisk Ultra 3D — which will be able to keep up with your work all day, every day with all-around improvements to your booting, loading, and processing times.
- For power users who want a drive that’s durable and built to last, pick up Samsung 860 PRO — which allows you to make the most of every gigabyte, and meet your need with a great warranty and optimized processing technology.
Who Should Get This?
It’s a digital world, and we all like to have the shiniest gadgets on the market. But do you really need to install a new internal flash storage and dump the old hard disk drive? Well, it all depends and here are our suggestions.
You should consider upgrading your MacBook Pro with an SSD if:
- You work with large files regularly.
- Your MacBook starts up very slow or performs sluggishly in general. This is common for old MacBook Pros such as 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 models.
- The internal hard disk drive is showing its age and might die out any day. Here’s a guide that shows how to determine if it’s failing.
- You often use resource-intensive apps such as Adobe Photoshop for photo editing, or Premiere Pro for video editing, etc.
- You need the greater reliability of file storage or want to minimize negative experiences with overheating and potential damage.
- You want to upgrade your MacBook without purchasing an entirely new machine.
You may NOT need an SSD replacement if…
- You mainly use the Internet and document editing functions on your Mac and do not make use of heavier applications.
- You use your Mac fairly carefully or do not keep important or sensitive files on the drive.
- You are using a new MacBook (with Retina display), because “removing the SSD is possible, although it’s not an easy job. For starters, the bottom aluminum side is harder to remove. Then, the SSD is kept in place under the speaker module and has a very strong tape covering the interface port.” as pointed out in BGR.
Internal SSD Upgrade for MacBook Pro: What to Consider?
Capacity
When making a purchase, you may find yourself willing to compromise on storage capacity because of the cost compared to an HDD. Don’t do this! Because storage capacity is a key factor that determines how much use you get out of your new drive, and as computers progress, you’re going to want to have the space to keep up. Additionally, using external drives can slow down your Mac, so it’s best to splurge for extra space now rather than regret it later.
Reading and Writing Speed
Every disk drive is rated with a certain set of speed that describes how fast it can read and write files. The range of a good product usually stays between 500MB/s and 550MB/s. The higher these numbers are, the better. Please note that the advertised numbers are not representative of real-world conditions though, in which you’ll probably experience speed about two-thirds of those rated.
Memory Type – MLC and SLC
SSDs have two types of memory: multi-level cell and single-level cell. The first is cheaper to make and stores more information, but the later has a lower rate of error. However, some SSDs come with error-correcting features to minimize this difference, so it’s up to you to decide which best fits your needs.
Solid State External Hard Drive For Macbook Pro
Reliability
While judging a book by its cover is generally frowned upon, when it comes to flash storage, it’s perfectly acceptable to judge performance and reliability from the brand name alone. Well-known companies usually have good reputations for reliability and quality control of their products, and you’ll want that name-brand security when it comes to something as critical to daily functions.
The Best SSD for MacBook Pro (Internal Upgrade): Our Picks in 2019
Note that the SSD drives we recommend below are rated based on our own opinions and preferences. They are by no means made in this order.
1. Crucial MX500 250GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD
If you are on a budget and need dependability and security for your data, this drive from Crucial fits the bill. Its energy efficient features will protect your MacBook from overheating or draining of the battery. This is an SSD that should meet most users’ needs. In our opinion, 250 GB is the best choice, but you may also choose a larger one such as 2TB.
- Pros: It has four different capacities available for you to choose from. The drive is speedy as it’s rated for read and write speed of 560MB/sec and 510 MB/sec respectively. Also, the drive includes energy adaptive features to prevent overheating and excessive battery use — this is especially helpful if you’re still using an old MacBook with a battery under fairly poor conditions.
- Cons: It’s not the fastest drive on the market and some users may need a spacer to make this fit correctly inside their MacBook.
2. SanDisk Ultra 3D NAND 500GB Internal SSD
SanDisk is a world-famous storage solution provider that offers many types of products especially memory cards, flash drives, etc. If you’re a photographer, chances are you’re using or have used an SD card manufactured by SanDisk. What you may not know is that the company also offers solid state drives. If you need a drive that will perform well under pressure, then Ultra 3D NAND SATA III from SanDisk can definitely fill that need. With lightning-fast read and write speeds, improved startups, and shorter loading times all around, this drive will keep up with you throughout a busy working day.
- Pros: It’s very fast as rated at 560 MB/sec in reading and 530 MB/sec in writing. The drive also comes with specialized caching methods to enhance performance while maintaining a cool and quiet operation. Plus, there are a variety of available storage capacities to choose.
- Cons: It doesn’t come with a cloning software which means you need to take some time to transfer the data from the old drive to the new one.
3. Samsung 860 PRO V-NAND 1TB SSD
Boasting a 5-year warranty, cloning software, and a respected name, it’s hard to know where to start with this Samsung drive’s best attributes. You’ll benefit from increased speeds for loading applications and saving files, as well as a variety of options for storage capacity to meet your specific needs.
- Pros: It’s extremely dependable and known for use among heavy users, will work efficiently with your MacBook (reads 560 MB/sec, writes 530 MB/sec), and includes an outstanding warranty. Also, it uses 3D V-NAND to increase speed and rated for 150 terabytes written — more than enough to outlast your MacBook Pro itself.
- Cons: Some users reported that they had problems with the built-in data migration software.
Useful Tips and Resources
Whenever you consider making any significant changes to your MacBook Pro, it’s always a good practice to make sure you have a recent backup of all the important files. See this Apple guide for different ways to back up a Mac machine. Therefore, when it comes to replacing your Mac’s internal hard drive with a new SSD, you’ll want to make sure that everything is backed up properly in case any potential risk.
The SSD installation process is fairly simple to computer geeks, but general users may find it challenging. That’s why this guide from CNET is worth checking out, it features a step by step tutorial on how to upgrade the internal drive and walks you through the precautions and help you stay on your feet.
Solid State Hard Drive Vs Regular
Using a MacBook Pro with Retina display (most models after the year 2013)? These Macs don’t officially support being taken apart so you should consider carefully whether or not you want to go through with it. However, if you do decide to take a look under the hood, LaptopMag has a great tutorial on how to do so without jeopardizing your Retina MacBook in the process.
Also, if you decide to replace the old drive and install a new SSD all by yourself (aka, DIY), make sure you get the right screwdrivers ready as you need them to open the bottom case of your MacBook Pro. The RION Pentalobe 6 Pentalobe 5 Phillips Tri-wing Screwdrivers is a great choice.
Best Solid State Hard Drive For Macbook Pro
Final Words
Best External Ssd For Imac
It may seem like SSDs have been slow to take off, but they really are the drives for many laptop computers in the future. They’re generally faster, more durable, and more efficient than any similar-sized HDD, and you can count on them to store your files and applications safely.
Solid State External Hard Drive
If you’ve decided to make the internal SSD upgrade for your Mac, tell us what your experience was like. We’d love to hear which drive you chose and how your MacBook Pro functioned afterward.