Mid 2009 MacBook Pro with 120GB OWC Electra 6G SSD

Recent hard drive upgrade for laptop for a family member.

Power-up to booting OSX 10.7.1 and auto-launching Safari, iTunes, Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook all in about 13 seconds (after EFI finishes initialization).

TRIM support has been enabled with TRIM Enabler. System profiler reporting 3gbps SATA connection with 1.5gbps negotiated.

Update - it turns out that if you do a 'Restart' the drive negotiates at 1.5gbps but if you power on from a shut down state it negotiates at 3gbps. Therefore, this video shows the drive at 3gbps.

The real power of this drive is it's ability to perform so many small tasks fast (60k IOPS). That's why it boots up so fast and feel so snappy and also explains why I didn't even notice the 1.5/3 difference while using it. The only clue anything was 'wrong' was seeing the System Profiler report. Basically the only time you'd ever notice the lower negotiation is when moving very large files and even then you'd need to know what to look for to see the difference.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• MacBook
• Apple
• OWC
• SSD

[sdschramm]

Thanks for the video. I have the same model computer and was looking to upgrade to this drive. I am puzzled about the SATA 1.5/3/6gbps thing. According to the OWC website it says this that even though the computer supports 3gbps, this drive will only use 1.5gbps.

[anticapitalize]

@sdschramm I'm not sure why the 2009 Macbook Pro I used it on would negotiate 3.0 if they say it can only do 1.5. I did not see that disclaimer before I purchased the drive. There is definitely a firmware bug confirmed by other users (google it), but I can tell you I did get 3.0 after startup from power off state. In any case, let me go back and say that I did not notice any speed difference between the two and only investigated the negotiated speed after I had read about the EFI bug.

[sdschramm]

@anticapitalize Thanks for the reply. I talked to a tech at OWC today and they said that if you use the 6G series in this MBP, the speed will be reduced to around 130mbps where as if the 3G series of SSD is used, you can get up to 250mbps. - What kind of speeds are you getting? Google "Blackmagic Disk Speed Test for Mac" for a free app to test. If you could provide some test results that would be greatly appreciated! You could also then see if there really is a difference between 1.5 and 3.0

[anticapitalize]

@mourningwouldcome86 Yes, that's what worked for me when I was investigating it.

[anticapitalize]

@AlexKratos Nope, I'll default to the end all answer for macs and say clear your PRAM and try again. That being said, I'll repeat that you shouldn't get too hung up on the negotiated speed, it's not going to make a huge difference unless you're doing huge file transfers all day long and if that's the case, it's worth upgrading to 6.0gbps version and a newer computer.

[sdschramm]

@sdschramm "2008/2009 MacBook/MacBook Pro 13", 15", and 17" models. (Model IDs: MacBookPro5,1; 5,2; 5,3; 5,4; 5,5 and MacBook5,1) While a 6G SSD does function, it will only do so at SATA Revision 1.0 (1.5Gb/s) speeds rather that the SATA Revision 2.0 (3.0Gb/s) speed the machine can deliver. Should owners of these machines desire another SSD option, the Mercury Extreme Pro 3G SSD does run at the full SATA Revision 2.0 (3Gb/s) specification."

[AlexKratos]

@anticapitalize I have the same exact SDD and probably the same MBP (mid 2009 - 5,3) and I have the same 1.5 Gb issue. Problem is, the "shutdown workaround" doesn't work for me. I always get the 1.5 connection. Any clue? :(

[mourningwouldcome86]

@anticapitalize What you're saying is, after a shutdown and power up, your MBP is negotiating a 3Gbps link, correct?

[anticapitalize]

@xbikepunkx Awesome! You'll love it and it will continue to impress you in person. Dollar for dollar it's definitely the best money you can spend for a MBP. The data doubler insert would be perfect if you have a spare HD. I only replaced the failed factory hard drive, the original optical drive is still in place. The person I replaced it for did not use or need tons of extra space so the 120gb was more than enough.

[xbikepunkx]

Very exciting. I've finally got a midrange OWC drive coming (6G 120 GB) and a 2009 13 MBP. Did you install in the drive bay or use a "data doubler" in the optical bay?