Adding SSD to a Mac Pro, and a bug in the Crucial M500 SSD

I bought the Newertech Version to put an SSD in my Mac Pro:

The top is the Sabrent version and a few dollars cheaper.

$12-$14 shipped from Amazon here: http://amzn.to/20hl2Z2 (PLEASE use my Amazon links.)

It works as expected and is well made.

Benchmarks for the M500 SSD:

That's easily 3-4 times faster than a decent hard drive. An SSD will make your computer feel like new.

However, this is far less than it could be since the SSD will work at 6GBps but my 2008 Mac Pro only has 3Gbps SATA ports.

So, I got the OWC Accelsior S: http://amzn.to/1Jlu57k which is a card that the SSD mounts on, then the card goes in a Mac PCI slot.

Preferably a 16x slot PCIe slot, which is the one above the graphics card in the bottom slot.

The SSD should hit at least 40% or so higher speeds on this card.

BUT there is a problem with MU05 firmware and the M500 and the Accelsior S: it only links at 3Gbps; no better than the onboard ports.

A PNY SSD I had around (http://amzn.to/1Jlurux) connected at 6Gbps no problem. I RMA'd drives and cards and Crucial is sending me an M550 to test.

Update: the M550 fared no better. Updated the firmware to MU02 with no change.

Tried a Crucial BX200 and that linked at 6Gbps. It has the Silicon Motion SM2256.

The M550 and M500 have the Marvell 88SS9189 and 88SS9187, respectively.

Hope this helps, please bookmark http://amamzin.com to start your Amazon purchases.

(See what I did there?)