Corsair P256 CMFSSD-256GBG2D / Mac OS X / MBP

[Corato]

I too have a MBP 5,1, mine is 2.53GHz 15" and I would like to purchase a P256 but am concerned about spending the money and then not being able to use it. The resellers are typically not allowing returns on SSD drives. Is the MBP fully supported with the P256 or should I wait for some future testing/validation before purchasing? Unlike the previous poster I do not have another machine to use the drive in.

[Neon11234]

I'm going to be getting the New Unibody MacBook Pro 17" 2.93Ghz. And i was also wondering if the P256 can be used, as it on paper has great specs especially compared to apple's own Toshiba SSD which is the same price but soooo much slower. con artists.. :mad:

 

I like the solid SSD case which goes so well with the Mac, but i don't want to have Shipped it from America, to the UK and notice it under performing. Thanks. :):

[RAM GUY]

I am sorry but you would need to talk to Apple about compatibility with SSD in general. Apple is not like Off the shelf X86 parts that are designed to be more universal.

1. Will the drive with with these systems? Yes I am sure they will, as long as they are S-ATA and support any other SSD drive?

2. Will the drives offer better performance? Yes at a hardware level but it will really depend on the version of O.S. that is used in your system if it will truly be able to take advantage of the performance.

3. I'm going to be getting the New Uni body Mac Book Pro 17" 2.93Ghz. And I was also wondering if the P256 can be used? Any system manufactured after January of 2008 that supports SSD and S-ATA should support our SSD drives, however as stated Apple is the best source of information on system compatibility. They are not like X86 platform systems.

[Neon11234]

i found reports from mac users that, problems of unexplained slow downs have been found. :(:

 

I'm going to wait, and see what happens. Otherwise i'll buy an Intel hardware SSD, with an external Corsair in a Firewire 800 case acting as a Time Machine.

[RAM GUY]

NP I am sorry we do not have a better answer for you at this time but I think this is a new area for Apple as in the past they have not supported changing any hardware in their systems at any level.

[amro]

for the record i'm running 4GB w/ a new unibody MBP 15" and not having problems..heh. i have the 2.53GHz model.

[Neon11234]

Ok thanks, for that. Therefore I'm assuming that the latest MBP will have fewer problems.

Maybe it was the way in which other Mac users installed OS on their SSD.

[RAM GUY]

Anything is possible but as Legend stated previously we have tested a number of different Mac systems at Apple and did not have any problems as long as it was with the latest version of the Leopard O.S.

[Neon11234]

Fantastic news. i might give it a go :):

[amro]

Yea, performance is a little lower than I'd like but I actually think that's the nvidia sata controller in the unibody mbps and not so much the drive (even though mine). Performance has dropped 15-20%, give or take, since I bought the drive. Over all, still pretty snappy and less "beachballs." :) Worth the $700 I paid.

[leexgx]

i had an look turning the cache on the HDD for an mac(failed an bit there) it should be on by default but could be off,

 

on windows with my corsair SSD writes tanked a lot when write caching set to off could be that write caching is off for some reason, as that would make the p256 operate badly if your doing a lot of Write with read at the same time, and will perform worse then an hdd

 

i had an Quick look but cant find any thing about it if there is an option to do that ask that question in the mac forum

[RAM GUY]

They have 128MB of cache and I would just use the default settings, from the press release:

Fremont, CA, May 11th, 2009 – Corsair® http://www.corsair.com, a worldwide leader in high-performance computer and flash memory products, today announced the launch of the Corsair Storage Solutions P256 high-performance 256GB solid-state drive (SSD).

 

The Corsair Storage Solutions P256 has been designed using cutting-edge technology to deliver the highest performance and compatibility, in a capacity that is big enough to replace conventional storage solutions in a high-performance PC. The P256 uses specially selected Samsung MLC flash memory and a sophisticated Samsung Controller IC, coupled with 128MB of super-fast cache memory and Native Command Queuing (NCQ) support for blistering, stutter-free performance, delivering read speeds of up to 220MB/sec and write speeds of up to 200MB/sec.

And here is a review that gives some performance marks

[leexgx]

this is an Question about the OS X having the Write cache turned on or not, just need to check to see if it is on or not as i am not an mac user not sure where to look

 

the 128mb of cache is not used if the OS has not turned it on or not supported by the OS

 

as with windows you need to get up to date drivers some times to make sure the Defaults work as intended (Write cache on is default an all OS norm unless there is an problem with the driver)

[RAM GUY]

That is not true the cache will be part of the HDD Controller and there is no way to turn it off the setting if there is one is only for the O.S. to cache it self in active memory.

[leexgx]

what you just posted is not true

 

in windows 7 alone explains what it does (vista and XP same options but worded bit differently but the same options)

http://rd1ugg.bay.livefilestore.com/y1p1pdia_Ea_T9pAEclzKrQnNFpI3OxvyALog738YE3ugOv7SpdPgELzRC3NUu8B02VNHB-buY9ksG-s34GGzXH9n8_QoUqMOiG/write%20caching.png

the Device must obey the cache option or data could be loss (more so at shutdown of pc), if the OS does not turn it on data could be loss if the device turns it on any way

 

the above option is default on and should not be turned off as system write speed will suffer and can impact on read if both are happening at the same time

 

(if there is one is only for the O.S. to cache it self in active memory.)

that option can only be used in RAID called Write-back cache (intel ICH but same name for it on Hardware based raid as well)

 

 

any way hopefully apple will fix the performance issues with SSDs overall as it should just work

[RAM GUY]

It will depend on how the driver is written but normally the cache on any HDD is hardware controlled by the HDD SSD controller, and the setting in Windows would be if it is using Windows memory for caching of the data to and from the HDD. Check the memory resource tab in system properties with it enabled and then disabled the amount of memory will change

[leexgx]

the option is for the disk it self, not for windows cache management

 

http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2009/05/05/support-and-q-a-for-solid-state-drives-and.aspx

 

Does Write Caching make sense on SSDs and does Windows 7 do anything special if an SSD supports write caching?

 

Some SSD manufacturers including RAM in their devices for more than just their control logic; they are mimicking the behavior of traditional disks by caching writes, and possibly reads. For devices that do cache writes in volatile memory, Windows 7 expects flush commands and write-ordering to be preserved to at least the same degree as traditional rotating disks. Additionally, Windows 7 expects user settings that disable write caching to be honored by write caching SSDs just as they are on traditional disks.

 

this info applies to all OS's

[RAM GUY]

From your Link!

For devices that do cache writes in volatile memory, Windows 7 expects flush commands and write-ordering to be preserved to at least the same degree as traditional rotating disks. Additionally, Windows 7 expects user settings that disable write caching to be honored by write caching SSDs just as they are on traditional disks.

[amro]

From your Link!

 

With all due respect, doesn't that quote back up what leexgx said? :confused:

 

Edit: Found this (old) Apple KB article that references write behind caching on HDDs:

 

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1375

 

Aggressive read-ahead and write-behind caching means that minor fragmentation has less effect on perceived system performance.

 

I assume there's no way to turn it off, given that text, so I think you're good to go, leexgx.

[RAM GUY]

LOL I think we are saying the same thing just in different terms.

[maxito]

Sorry guys but the thread is about a question on a MBP and you spent the last page talking about Windows......

[leexgx]

still know i am right (i stop posting in here as its an pointless to keep this up, last post was going to be my last this one will be :) )

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_buffer

 

on macs the write cache or disk buffer on the HDD/SSD should not be able to be turned off on an mac unless you edit the options directly or an error happens that made it turn off, on windows you can untick the option on the disk in device manager so Writes go directly to the SSD/HDD flash/disk and bypass the cache on the SSD/HDD it self (if there is an error most of the time driver, caching on the disk gets turned off until driver is updated)

 

has an Full hard disk format been performed on this SSD as if so you my need to RMA it (do not know if samsung/corsair have an SSD wipe tool) full format or completely fill the drive so there is no space left for some reason has had some issues with corsair/samsung where the SSD goes very slow, guess that be fixed on the next firmware update (most likely be around when windows 7 comes out)

[maxito]

From Bit-tech.net test:

 

"....we decided to perform a full format (rather than a quick format) on the drive to ensure “as new” performance. However, after formatting we found the P256’s awesome write speeds had slowed to a crawl and our FC-Test write tests now took over six times as long to complete. The drive’s write performance was now terrible.

 

After consultation with Corsair the problem remains unexplained and while entirely avoidable so long as you only ever quick format the drive, it's a potential landmine to those not aware of the issue. Once a full format has been completed the only way to restore the drive’s true performance is to use a low level erase program such as DOS based HDD Erase, a procedure that’s a fair bit more complicated than fitting a S-ATA hard disk drive and we’re concerned that some users will simply think their SSD is faulty and try and RMA it to Corsair. "

[Wired]

Let's see the WHOLE quote:

 

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2009/06/05/corsair-p256-256gb-ssd-review/10

 

When repeating our HD-Tach tests in Windows Vista we decided to perform a full format (rather than a quick format) on the drive to ensure “as new” performance. However, after formatting we found the P256’s awesome write speeds had slowed to a crawl and our FC-Test write tests now took over six times as long to complete. The drive’s write performance was now terrible.

 

After consultation with Corsair the problem remains unexplained and while entirely avoidable so long as you only ever quick format the drive, it's a potential landmine to those not aware of the issue. Once a full format has been completed the only way to restore the drive’s true performance is to use a low level erase program such as DOS based HDD Erase, a procedure that’s a fair bit more complicated than fitting a S-ATA hard disk drive and we’re concerned that some users will simply think their SSD is faulty and try and RMA it to Corsair.

 

Corsair had this to say regarding the format bug:

 

"Corsair is in the process of putting together FAQs and other items to show users how to recover performance on the drive if a full format is done in Vista. And we are continuing to work with Samsung to get a better understanding of what causes this anomaly. In the event that customers experience the problem, our tech support team will work with them to recover their performance, rather than asking the customer to return the non-defective drive."

[picea]

hi,

 

today i got a brand new device from corsair, but the problem still exists. what should i do now, throw my macbook pro out of the window? i hate nvidia for producing such a piece of crap of a chipset.

 

to be sure that the ssd is ok, i now run it in a normal desktop computer with debian lenny installed on it. the write and readperformance of this device is incredible.

 

thanks ramguy and corsair for the fast replacement of my old device but as i said it wont help to send me a new device :)

 

cheers

picea