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Crucial M4 SSD on 2009 Macbook Pro

  • 20-06-2012 4:24pm
    #1
    fjon
    Registered Users Posts: 2,083 ✭✭✭


    Has anyone else used this SSD?
    I'm having a lot of issues with spinning beachballs and am trying desperately to find any sort of solution.
    I've emailed Crucial and got the rather technical answer below from them. I can't really make it out - I don't suppose someone could explain in layman's terms what it means? My understanding is I just need to leave my laptop on for an extended period of time? I'm also not sure if this will make any difference though.
    If anyone has any experience with this drive and managed to resolve this issue it would be greatly appreciated.

    The behavior you are describing is consistent with TRIM commands not executing on the drives (which RAID controllers typically prevent on connected SSDs). The accumulation of 'junk' data from file deletions, even reformats, basically clog up the drives and reduce or sometimes even halt performance and dismount the drives. A secondary feature called Garbage Collection activates when the drives are powered, but have no data throughput, for an extended period, and does background cleanup on our SSDs which can make up for the lack of TRIM.

    If this is the cause of your drives' behavior, deleting the existing partitions followed by a period of idling the drives without any data being written or read actively will improve their performance. We recommend you perform this idle period on a desktop computer because it allows you to only connect the SATA power connection. However, a USB enclosure with an external power source will also work. A laptop computer will also work, but you’ll have connect the drive and navigate to the systems BIOS menu. (Please refer to your system manufacture’s documentation on how to access the BIOS.) For laptops, we don’t recommended using a USB enclosure powered via USB. In addition, Apple laptop users must boot the system to the open firmware. Just power the drives and let them sit, preferably overnight, but even a few hours should improve performance if this is the cause of your drives' erratic performance.


«1

Comments

  • #2
    Colonel Panic
    Registered Users Posts: 2,012 ✭✭✭Colonel Panic


    Is the firmware on the M4 up to date? I've seen people complain about 0F and have lots of luck with 309 but I'm on 0F on a 2011 MBP with zero issues.

    In layman's terms, what he's talking about is reconditioning your SSD in the absence of TRIM but tbh, you'd need to be doing GBs and GBs of random writes to your SSD to get to that point.


  • #3
    fjon
    Registered Users Posts: 2,083 ✭✭✭fjon


    Thanks!
    The drive was delivered with 0F firmware. It now has 0309, but it didn't make any difference.
    Yeah, I don't think the email I got will work. I've only had the drive 2 days and have a fresh install of Snow Leopard on it.
    One other thing I might try is downgrading EFI firmware from 1.7 to 1.6.

    I also read that some 2009 MBPs will not allow non-Apple SSDs. I wonder is there any truth to this? Could I be one of the unlucky ones?


  • #4
    Colonel Panic
    Registered Users Posts: 2,012 ✭✭✭Colonel Panic


    If you've only had it a few days then you're getting the run around from Crucial. Did you drop to 309 at their request? I wouldn't go downgrading EFI firmware or anything for the sake of an SSD. I would consider returning it tbh.


  • #5
    fjon
    Registered Users Posts: 2,083 ✭✭✭fjon


    Actually I'm not entirely sure the drive is faulty. I briefly tried it as as external drive with a Windows PC, and it worked ok.
    I tried replacing the HDD previously but had similar issues with it, and ended up returning the drive.
    I'm starting to suspect that I'm having this issue because of EFI Firmware 1.7. There are a number of people saying that since they updated to this they are having issues with aftermarket drives, and they were fixed when downgrading to 1.6.
    I've erplied to Crucial/ Micron also to see if they can offer any other tips.
    I'll let you know how I get on!


  • #6
    fjon
    Registered Users Posts: 2,083 ✭✭✭fjon


    Just in case anyone is having a similar issue:

    In my case downgrading the EFI firmware from 1.7 to 1.6 solved the issue.
    From my understanding the 1.7 upgrade broke the support for a number of aftermarket drives.
    I guess the only disadvantage now is that the 1.7 update always shows up in my Software Update. I wonder is there any way to get rid of this?
    Edit: removing the EFI update from Software Update is as simple as highlighting it and deleting.


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  • #7
    Sad Professor
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,668 CMod ✭✭✭✭Sad Professor


    I wonder if that EFI update is the reason I had so much trouble trying to re-install OS X earlier in the week after replacing my HDD with a Samsung 830. I initially booted up using Lion Recovery and attempted to download Lion, but it kept hanging on the verification screen. Then I made a USB drive with a full Lion install and the machine kept freezing on startup. I eventually gave up and restored from a Time Machine backup. No problems since though.


  • #8
    fjon
    Registered Users Posts: 2,083 ✭✭✭fjon


    I too had a lot of difficulty doing a fresh install of SL and Lion too - each took about 5 hours.


    For anyone else that wants to try this here are the instructions I followed

    1) Download the linked .dmg file.

    http://hotfile.com/dl/109001076/5dfaf39/aluminum.macbook.pro.recovery.dmg.html

    2) do not mount file

    3) plug in a usb drive any size

    4) REformat this USB drive in Mac OSX HFS+ Journaled in disk utility.

    5) Click on the newly formatted drive Volume, then click on the tab restore (same row as erase).

    6) in this panel you will see two white input boxes, in source you will browse and select the .dmg downloaded in step 1, you can either brose it or drag and drop it in the source bow.

    7) in the Destination box, drag and drop the newly formatted Volume from step 4/5

    * no need to have the erase destination box checked/ticked.

    8) hit the restore button/

    9) once this is done, unplug and replug the usb drive, shut down the machine

    10) boot up the machine while its booting up, before the apple icon pops up, press and hold the OPTION button until your drives/partitions pop up.

    11) in my case i had three pop up, my bootcamp partition my main mac harddrive, and the BOOTABLE USB drive i just made, select the bootable USB drive (yellow orangish color) Use Arrows to navigate and Enter button to select

    12) once this is selected the apple logo will come up and a dark gray bar will start to move right under it. Sit relax and wait for the process to be done.

    END: you have now downgraded to EFI firmware 1.6


  • #9
    Sad Professor
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,668 CMod ✭✭✭✭Sad Professor


    Downgrading to 1.6 will limit you to SATA 1 speeds though, won't it?


  • #10
    fjon
    Registered Users Posts: 2,083 ✭✭✭fjon


    Yes, 1.5GBps rather than 3. Still preferable to having a practically unusable machine. I upgraded from the stock HDD to an SSD so the difference in speed is huge, even with the limitation.


  • #11
    opinion guy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 11,001 ✭✭✭✭opinion guy


    How do you determine what EFI version you have ?

    Was almost aobut to buy an M4 - you are giving me second thoughts!


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  • #12
    fjon
    Registered Users Posts: 2,083 ✭✭✭fjon


    Click Apple button - About this Mac - More Info - System Report, select Hardware and check "Boot ROM Version"
    If it says MBP53.00AC.B03 you're on 1.7, if it says MBP53.00AC.B02 you're on 1.6


  • #13
    Sad Professor
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,668 CMod ✭✭✭✭Sad Professor


    Or if you have a 13-inch like me, MBP55.00AC.B03 means you have EFI 1.7 as well.


  • #14
    opinion guy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 11,001 ✭✭✭✭opinion guy


    Mine is neither of those!!

    Wait now - is this something only relevant to older macs ? Mine is only a few months old


  • #15
    Sad Professor
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,668 CMod ✭✭✭✭Sad Professor


    Yeah it only applies to 2009 MacBook Pros.


  • #16
    opinion guy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 11,001 ✭✭✭✭opinion guy


    Oh sorry guys!
    Carry on!!


  • #17
    Colonel Panic
    Registered Users Posts: 2,012 ✭✭✭Colonel Panic


    I'm got a 512GB Crucial M4 in an early 2011 15" MBP and it works fine, opinion_guy!


  • #18
    jenno86
    Registered Users Posts: 2,634 ✭✭✭jenno86


    Hey!

    Im hopefully getting a new 13" Macbook Pro in the next few weeks. Instead of getting a SSD from Apple I'm thinking of getting one myself. Is there anything I should be looking out for? Or what one would ye recommend?

    How would I get the OS onto the new drive too?

    Thanks!


  • #19
    Dr.Sanchez
    Closed Accounts Posts: 675 ✭✭✭Dr.Sanchez


    jenno86 wrote: »
    Hey!

    Im hopefully getting a new 13" Macbook Pro in the next few weeks. Instead of getting a SSD from Apple I'm thinking of getting one myself. Is there anything I should be looking out for? Or what one would ye recommend?

    How would I get the OS onto the new drive too?

    Thanks!

    I've just done the exact same thing you're about to do. I bought a Samsung 830 SSD (512GB) Its lightning fast.

    Theres plenty of guides online on how to get it up with the OS and stuff. I didn't have much trouble as I've a 2008 pro, so it was more or less a straight copy.


  • #20
    jenno86
    Registered Users Posts: 2,634 ✭✭✭jenno86


    Ah right. Cool.

    How much did ya pay for the 512gb?


  • #21
    Dr.Sanchez
    Closed Accounts Posts: 675 ✭✭✭Dr.Sanchez


    Oh not much, just an arm and a leg...

    ...€520!


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  • #22
    opinion guy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 11,001 ✭✭✭✭opinion guy


    Dr.Sanchez wrote: »
    Oh not much, just an arm and a leg...

    ...€520!

    Thats actually cheap for that drive - where did you get it ?


  • #23
    Dr.Sanchez
    Closed Accounts Posts: 675 ✭✭✭Dr.Sanchez


    Correction, €530... How's your german?


  • #24
    opinion guy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 11,001 ✭✭✭✭opinion guy


    Dr.Sanchez wrote: »
    Correction, €530... How's your german?

    hahah not good enouhg to figure out if they deliver here!


  • #25
    AlmightyCushion
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 35,041 Mod ✭✭✭✭AlmightyCushion


    I wouldn't go with a 512GB Samsung 830 right now. The lower capacity ones have dropped in price and the Crucial M4s (all capacities including 512GB) have dropped as well. The 512GB 830 is due a price drop too I'd say.


  • #26
    Dr.Sanchez
    Closed Accounts Posts: 675 ✭✭✭Dr.Sanchez


    €530 wasn't a bad price considering its going for €610ish most other places...


  • #27
    opinion guy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 11,001 ✭✭✭✭opinion guy


    It has actually just dropped on pixmania:
    http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/11671595/art/samsung/ssd-internal-desktop-kit.html

    But still I will wait - these prices are going only one direction over next few months. I will put it off as long as possible


  • #28
    jenno86
    Registered Users Posts: 2,634 ✭✭✭jenno86


    Im ordering a new 13' Macbook pro at the weekend. I'll soldier on for a few months with the standard HDD until the prices coem down on the 512mb models.


  • #29
    Dr.Sanchez
    Closed Accounts Posts: 675 ✭✭✭Dr.Sanchez


    When you do get the SSD, use these instructions (method 2) for installing the new drive.


  • #30
    jenno86
    Registered Users Posts: 2,634 ✭✭✭jenno86


    Dr.Sanchez wrote: »
    When you do get the SSD, use these instructions (method 2) for installing the new drive.

    Cheers, that link isn't working for me tho!


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  • #31
    fjon
    Registered Users Posts: 2,083 ✭✭✭fjon


    I'm not sure there is much in the difference between the Samsung and Crucial ones. The Crucial one fluctuates around the £300 mark on Amazon which is cheaper than the €530 for the Samsung.

    I've had mine installed for about a week and it's going great. I had to downgrade my EFI firmware to 1.6, but since I did that everything is working fine. I'm not getting full SATA 3 speeds on it, but I don't think there's anything I can do about that until Apple release a new EFI firmware that works (doubtful). It's still a lot faster than my old HDD.


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