![SanDisk Ultra Plus 256GB SATA 6.0GB/s 2.5-Inch 7mm Height Solid State Drive (SSD) With Read Up To 530MB/s- SDSSDHP-256G-G25 [Old Version]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51cIaFr4HTL.__AC_SY300_SX300_QL70_ML2_.jpg)
![SanDisk Ultra Plus 256GB SATA 6.0GB/s 2.5-Inch 7mm Height Solid State Drive (SSD) With Read Up To 530MB/s- SDSSDHP-256G-G25 [Old Version]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41Rj2FKya1L._AC_.jpg)
![SanDisk Ultra Plus 256GB SATA 6.0GB/s 2.5-Inch 7mm Height Solid State Drive (SSD) With Read Up To 530MB/s- SDSSDHP-256G-G25 [Old Version]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41Rj2FKya1L._SS75_.jpg)
>>> Important update regarding Yosemite and aftermarket SSDs - see below
***Update: March 29, 2014. This is a great SSD - hits the sweet spot between price and speed. I've installed a few Crucial M500's and I believe this SanDisk is faster in the 128 and 256 GB range. The Crucial M500 is at full speed in the 480 and 960 GB models. (See AnandTech site for technical reviews of any/all SSD's)***
So far so good - as others have said, it gave a tremendous speed boost. No more spinning beach balls. For this price how can you not do this upgrade?
This was a very simple installation in a 13" macbook (Alum.) late 2008. The HDD is located next to the battery, just under the battery cover.
I put it in right out of the box. Others prefer to pre-load the SSD externally, using a SATA to USB adapter (not included) and I didn't have one so I tried my own approach and it worked fine. I use Time Machine, so I had a current back-up already. After installing the Sandisk SSD (out of the box) I booted in Recovery Mode. Press the power button while holding down Command + "R" until the apple logo appears, then you can let go of the two keys.
First, I used Disk Utility to format the new SSD (under Utilities in the menu bar). Choose the Sandisk SSD, click the tab for Erase, and then look in the lower right corner: the Partition Map Scheme needs to be GUID Partition Table. If it is, set the formatting to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). You can name it the traditional "Macintosh HD." This takes less than a minute.
If the Partition Map Scheme is not GUID, move on to the "Partition" tab in Disk Utility, and change the Partition Layout from "Current" to "1 Partition." Similarly, you can name the partition Macintosh HD (or Sandisk SSD if you prefer) set the formatting to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) - and then click on the "Options" button under the partition Layout. Choose GUID Partition Table and confirm with the "OK" button. Now hit "Apply", and then "Partition" to confirm.
Next, I downloaded and installed Mountain Lion (still within Recovery Mode). This requires having previously purchased Mountain Lion from the Mac App Store, so it's tied to your Apple ID. It's the same with Mavericks.
One of the options on start-up is to transfer data from another Mac. Choose that and in the next window choose Time Machine Back-up as your source. This took a while (150 GB) so I let it go overnight. Next morning, it was as if I had "cloned" my Mac, only this version was much, much faster. My old HDD is sitting in a drawer untouched, so if my new SSD weirds out in the next month or so, I can fall back to that one. After a month or two it will probably end up in an enclosure for use as an external hard drive.
The final step was to download and install the free Trim Enabler app from the cindori.org website (formerly groths).
From wiki: A Trim command (commonly typeset as TRIM) allows an operating system to inform a solid-state drive (SSD) which blocks of data are no longer considered in use and can be wiped internally.
OS X 10.7 and up supports TRIM, but this app is needed when using an aftermarket SSD. Confirm that TRIM is active by going to: About this Mac > More Info > System Report > Hardware > SATA/SATA Express. See that TRIM Support says "Yes," and that S.M.A.R.T status is Verified. As K.P. commented below, Trim Enabler must be reset to "on" each time you update OSX at the .x level (e.g. updating from 9.1 to 9.2). This will require a Restart. Tip: in Trim Enabler Settings you can activate "Check for Trim support on boot."
>>>>> Important notice about Yosemite and the Trim Enabler app. Before you upgrade to Yosemite, you must remove the Trim Enabler app if you installed it on your machine. Apple has made some changes to the OS so that on start-up it will detect any third party (non Apple) influence on the system. This is where Trim Enabler works and so Yosemite detects a problem and won't boot. If this happens, you'll get a gray screen with the circle/slash symbol, and the only solution I found was a fresh install of the OS. If you go with Yosemite, just plan on trusting the garbage collection which is native on the SSD. It only kicks in when the drive is idle. This means you should facilitate garbage collection by periodically booting with the "Option" key held down, then leave it in this state (the list of boot drive options shows on screen) overnight. This keeps the SSD powered up but idle, and it's garbage collection goes to work, cleaning out deleted data. HDD's can just write over old data on the fly, but SSD's need to "reset" the deleted fields to all zero's, in order to be written to again. In the morning just click on your boot drive icon, and your machine will boot as usual. Alternatively, I have used the energy saver panel in System Preferences to set the Computer Sleep to Never, then dim the screen to black and leave it like that overnight. If you don't trust garbage collection, don't upgrade to Yosemite. Trim Enabler still works fine in Mavericks.
*Update: I found a great enclosure for the old HDD:
Vantec NexStar TX 2.5-Inch SATA to USB 2.0 External Hard Drive Enclosure
. It's specifically made for a 2.5" drive and it fit well and felt really solid. The sleeve is aluminum, the 2 end caps are plastic. The 2 tiny screws that you need to set were tricky, and I had a much easier time using my own precision screwdriver (phillips, #1) rather than the included screwdriver. Fortunately, they gave me 4 screws and you only need two, so I now have 2 good screws in place after I chewed up the first two. They also have a faster USB 3.0 version if your machine has that capability. BTW - these aftermarket sleeves are not meant to be tossed around. They only secure the drive from one end, so it's wise to handle them with some care, especially if the drive is spinning. Not an issue for me as I would handle any drive with the same care.*
| Hard Drive | 256 GB Solid State Drive |
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