I'm looking to replace my DVD drive on my Unibody MacBook Pro with an SSD drive.
What specs should I look for in buying an SSD (128 gig) for using it to host a Windows 7 VM (VMWare Fusion)
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The Super User Blog has some articles on how to find the hardware necessary to put an SSD in the optical bay, but shopping recommendations are off topic, so this question needs to be closed. Windows doesn't require any particular SSD, anyhow.– nhinkleAug 9, 2011 at 5:55
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I've got an OWC Mercury Electra 6G 480 as a primary drive and a Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500 in a OWC data doubler inside the dvd cavity for archive data and it works like a champ.
I run 4 to 5 Fusion virtual machines simultaneously and spin up and down another 3 or 4 regularly. My suspend and restore speeds are down to about 2 seconds on the SSD. I could never go back.
The big thing to keep in mind is the lack of TRIM support for non-Apple SSD drives in OS X.
Update: Another data point to consider
HardOCP: NAND Flash Faces Off - Synchronous vs. Asynchronous
The OWC Electra uses Asynchronous Flash and the OWC Extreme uses Synchronous Flash. I upgraded from a 3G 240GB Extreme to a 6G 480GB Electra. I haven't performed any benchmarks but the Electra seems as fast if not faster than the older Extreme even though the HardOCP article would suggest otherwise.
