intel ssd 320 series on MBP 2011 & Bootcamp

I thought I should share my experience about installing an Intel 320 SSD on a MBP 2011 with bootcamp. Had I known what I know now I would not have bought the SSD.

I have an MBP 2011 with a Windows 7 bootcamp partition. I had a momentus XT and because of all the raving about the speed of SSDs I bought an intel 320 300gb ssd (I chose intel because, according to reviews - for instance those on newegg.com - it seems to be the most reliable) .

I used copycatx to clone the hdd, and pretty much I expected everything to work out of the box. Right? No, wrong. Friday, after installing the SSD, I run windows without being aware of any issues. Something felt off, the speed was not what I was expecting, it was almost the same as my previous HDD, if not a little bit worse. What did I pay for? Then I started to look on the internet.

Apparently windows 7 on bootcamp doesn't run in ahci mode which is needed to squeeze all the performance out of the ssd. Two days ago I didn't even know what ahci is. Once again, apple screwing us over. MacOS x runs in ahci mode btw, which is why osx was booting in under 10s.

Luckly, I found this link:

Guide Enabling AHCI for Windows on MBP 2011 now possible

I followed the instructions and I got it working. I installed the intel rapid storage driver. When I rebooted this morning a BSOD greeted me. But things are back. The bootcamp control panel doesn't run. Not that I was spending a lot of time using it.

So, is the SSD worth the money I spent on it? I don't think so. But everybody is different and time is money, so I guess it might make economical sense to have an SSD in long run. But let's say if in average an SSD is 5 times more expensive than a counterpart HDD with the same size (in the intel 320 600gb case is 10 times), it is certainly not 5 times faster, at least it doesn't feel like it and from my tests it is not.

I am thinking of returning it but I am not too sure I can do it.

I think we should ask apple to provide support out of the box for AHCI in windows bootcamp.

 

I have a 2010 13'' MacBook Pro, and did my research before buying a Intel 320 series 120 GB SSD. This 2010 model uses Nvidia chipset, and there is no hack that can enable AHCI in Windows. The method you linked to only works on MacBook with Intel chipsets (don't know why it BSOD for you). So I knew beforehand that if I use Boot Camp, the SSD will only run in the slower IDE mode.

However, I bought the SSD anyway because it's going to be magnitudes faster in pure seek time and random writes, even in IDE mode, than a mechanical HDD. And that's also my experience - it flies in OS X, and is a very pleasant upgrade even in Windows when compared to the old HDD.

But yes, Apple's, by purpose, crappy support for Windows will not go away. That's why it's not recommended in any way to buy Macs and think you'll get a problem free Windows experience.

 

Apple has always made OS X a more enjoyable experience on their hardware compared to Windows. This was true when they first started supporting Windows and continues to this day. I understand why Apple does it as they want to show the (flawed) superiority of their software (ie they aren't really showing how OS X is superior as they are crippling the experience). With the right drivers, a MBP would run Windows just like any other notebook on the market. That isn't the case though. You can look at it this way: at least Apple is supporting the installation of a competition OS. Dell, Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, Sony, or anyone else isn't going to officially support the installation of OS X on their hardware and most will support Linux distros only if it came pre-installed (and most companies are putting Linux on dumb books or netbooks in the home consumer arena), otherwise the end user is left with the task of finding the right drivers, using a well documented distro, etc.

I also think your experience is why many people go the optibay route. They take out their optical drives, put an SSD in the primary HDD spot, and move the HDD to the optical drive bay. They put OS X on the SSD and partition the hard drive so that it stores media files for OS X and Windows.

 

You didn't get screwed, I certainly don't see how? You bought a Mac computer that Apple makes and has an OS installed that's made for it that they fully support which makes sense. Your Mac CAN install Windows but be real about it, they are not going to fully support Windows they way you may want them to. Why should they? You didn't buy a Windows machine.

Apple may take your request as soon as Microsoft finally makes an Office suite for Mac 100% the same as the Windows version complete with One Note. Don't count on either thing to happen.

Yep and it should be of no surprised based on what I said earlier. Microsoft and Apple want to draw in their customers in certain ways and while they will offer support for their competing platform, they will always do more for their own. Makes sense.

QFT. That's the way it is. I've gotten upset for Microsoft cutting corners on the Mac community to keep people on Windows and they will continue to do it and so will Apple. There's no ONE system for everybody. No reason for the OP to get upset at Apple about it, it's business. Nobody's being "screwed".

 

bikerc -

Have you run any disk benchmarks in Windows? I suggest running a quick & simple one such as AS SSD. That way, we can see if you're getting the performance expected from an Intel 320.

 

Here's the funny thing. I installed a 256GB SSD in my 2011 13" MBP. Running Win7 x64 via Parallels 6, WEI HD score is 7.8. Running Win7 via Bootcamp, WEI HD score drops to 6.9 LOL. I never intend to run Windows in Bootcamp anyway as it runs horribly. You're much better off running it virtually.

 

I tried a couple of SSDs, including Intel 320 and Vertex 3 on my MBP 2011.

In the end I went back to Seagate XT, which offers the best value for money in my opinion.

Performance is nearly the same as SSD with my limited usage pattern.