The only SSD drive that I can recommend at this time, after extensive research, are the X25-M drives from Intel. I have one of them in my MacBook and Mac Pro. They are used for the OS and the applications. I only have the 80GB version, but how I have things set up this works fine for such a small drive. Let me come back to that, but first point you to a few articles. I’m linking to the conclusion pages. You can dig further into them if interested.
- This is the review from September 2008 sold me on the Intels.
- This review from March 2009 revisits the state of SSD’s.
- This article addresses the fix Intel issued for the slowdown of the drives over time.
- Linus Torvalds on the Intel X25-M: “That thing absolutely rocks.”
Update: August 30th, 2009
My MacBook is not my main computer. After loading up my MacBook with the OS and apps, I still have about 45GB remaining on the drive. For day-to-day use this is plenty of space. If I ever go on trips or need more space I will simply attach a 2.5″ drive in a small external enclosure. I think this is workable even if you use the MB as your desktop. If you have a unibody Macbook you can also look into the Optibay for additional storage – http://www.mcetech.com/optibay/
Snow Leopard will reclaim a few GB of space to use for storage over Leopard.
On the Mac Pro the SSD is attached to the SATA bus in the lower CD/DVD bay, which still leaves open the four drive bays in the computer for data storage. The drive is simply laying on the shelf where the DVD drive would go. I do leave my mail on the SSD drives since it only takes up a few GBs of space and makes mail very fast. Everything else goes on a regular hard drive.
Now that the 80GB X25-M can be had for under $300 it’s a viable solution considering what it brings to your system in terms of speed and reliability.
I’m truly sold on the SSD’s. They make the computer lightning fast compared to a traditional hard drive. If you are not sold yet on the speed, see the little video I made.
