Crucial M4 SSD on 2009 Macbook Pro

fjon

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.

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.

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?

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

Sad Professor

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

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.

opinion guy

How do you determine what EFI version you have ?

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

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

Sad Professor

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

opinion guy

Mine is neither of those!!

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

Sad Professor

Yeah it only applies to 2009 MacBook Pros.

opinion guy

Oh sorry guys!
Carry on!!

Colonel Panic

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

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!

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.

jenno86

Ah right. Cool.

How much did ya pay for the 512gb?

Dr.Sanchez

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

...€520!

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 ?

Dr.Sanchez

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

opinion guy

Dr.Sanchez wrote: »

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

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

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.

Dr.Sanchez

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

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

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.

Dr.Sanchez

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

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!

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.

Dr.Sanchez

jenno86 wrote: »

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

Strange, try this so...

http://eshop.macsales.com/tech_center/format2011/index.cfm

maggy_thatcher

Dr.Sanchez wrote: »

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

Another option (which is what I did), is to burn an install DVD (the disk image is embedded in the "Install Lion" application), and just do a clean install that way. See Macworld for details. If you've an 8GB (or larger) USB key, you can install it from this either.

opinion guy

fjon wrote: »

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.

The Samsung is a bit faster - which I want/need for some heavy duty work I will be doing

garion

I've got a 13" mid-2009 MBP and recently decided to give it an overhall.
Upgraded the RAM to 8GB (bought from Crucial) and also installed a 64GB Crucial M4 SSD I had spare. Install went fine but I started getting beachball constantly like the OP.
In the end I thought it was the M4 so decided to buy the 256GB Samsung 830. Then ran into issues when trying to install OS X Snow Leopard (getting "support files cannot be copied" error). Samsung drive seems fine as stuck it in a Dell and installed Windows fine.

I'm hoping the issues (with both SSDs!) will be resolved by downgrading the firmware down to 1.6 (I'm currently on 1.7). Will do that tonight and report back. Fingers crossed!

Sad Professor

garion wrote: »

I've got a 13" mid-2009 MBP and recently decided to give it an overhall.
Upgraded the RAM to 8GB (bought from Crucial) and also installed a 64GB Crucial M4 SSD I had spare. Install went fine but I started getting beachball constantly like the OP.

This, I suspect, was a firmware issue due to the EFI 1.7 update, which doesn't seem to like the M4. However, while I had problems installing OS X on my Samsung drive, I haven't experienced any problems since, which makes me think the firmware is okay with it.

In the end I thought it was the M4 so decided to buy the 256GB Samsung 830. Then ran into issues when trying to install OS X Snow Leopard (getting "support files cannot be copied" error). Samsung drive seems fine as stuck it in a Dell and installed Windows fine.

What copy of Snow Leopard do you have? Is it a retail copy or did it come with your Mac?

silvine

Hate to hijack a thread but it seems relevant...

Is ab OCZ Technology 240GB Agility 3 SSD a good fit/buy for a 2010 iMac?

http://www.dabs.ie/products/ocz-technology-240gb-agility-3-ssd-series-sata-6gb-s-2-5--solid-state-drive-7HR3.html?q=ssd&src=16

garion

Sad Professor wrote: »

This, I suspect, was a firmware issue due to the EFI 1.7 update, which doesn't seem to like the M4. However, while I had problems installing OS X on my Samsung drive, I haven't experienced any problems since, which makes me think the firmware is okay with it.


What copy of Snow Leopard do you have? Is it a retail copy or did it come with your Mac?

Hmm... just downgraded the firmware (after being forced to go from Lion to Snow Leopard!) but I now have the Boot ROM Version of MBP55.00AC.B00 instead of MBP55.00AC.B02.... hmmm.

Anyway will try install the Samsung now and see how things go.

garion

OK i'm posting this from my MBP with Samsung 830 installed!

Install went without a hitch once I downgraded the firmware. I suppose all I can do now is give it a few days and see if any issues occur. I seem to be making progress anyway.

Will report back in a few days.

Thanks to the OP and Sad Professor for their help. I was on the verge of returning the Samsung yesterday. Very glad I decided to ask for help on Boards!

Dr.Sanchez

I have an 830 in my pro, major improvement. Next step is to take out the DVD drive and stick in a second SSD

opinion guy

Fecking price of 512Gb Samsungs gone back up.

grrrr:mad:

I may bite on a Crucial M4 so.
Can anyone tell me - the firmware update requires a windows machine yes ?
Does it have to be done internally ?
Can I used a 2008 WinNT Hp laptop to update it ?

Colonel Panic

Nope, it doesn't need a Windows machine and will probably come with the latest firmware anyway.

garion

All still going well with my MBP since I downgraded the firmware during the week. It's flying along so delighted with it so far. I installed Windows 7 through Boot Camp too and its working great.

After the Windows install I decided to upgrade the firmware to see if it would still work. As soon as I rebooted after the upgrade both Windows and OS X froze on start-up! Downgraded again to 1.6 and all is back to normal thankfully. So the moral of the story is don't upgrade to 1.7 if you want to replace the stock HDD!

opinion guy

Price drop on pixmania on Samsung 830 512gb:

€429
http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/search/samsung-830-512gb

Promo code here for an extra €16 off: http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/cp-discount-code

Unfortunely delivery is a minimum of 8.99 :mad: