Reminder on (SATA2) Mac models that Run SATA3 Drives at SATA1 speeds:
It's been mentioned several times over the years (including a note on my 2nd SSD swap in a 2012 Mac Mini) but after seeing a recent post in Apple's forums from a 2009 Mac Mini (mini3,1) owner that his new Samsung EVO SSD shows a (negotiated) 1.5Gbps link speed (despite having a SATA2/3Gbps interface), wanted to post a reminder about mac models that exhibit this. (As noted on sponsor OWC's SATA3 SSD pages (like this one), 2009 iMacs (iMac9,1/10,1/11,1), 2008-2010 MacBooks (MacBook5,1/5,2/6,1/7,1), 2008-2009 MacBook Pros (MacBookPro5,1/5,2/5,3/5,4/5,5) and 2009 Mac mini (macmini3,1).) For these models (Nvidia MCP79 based IIRC), it's recommended to use an SATA2 Drive/SSD instead of current SATA3 models.
There have been some owners that said they've been able to get 3Gbps link speeds with some SATA3 drives/after repeated restarts, swapping HDD & Optical cabling/positions etc, but the above info is just something (commonly reported) to be aware of when replacing or upgrading a drive in those models.
(BTW: Saw a later (7/29/2014) Apple forum thread where some Mid-2010 Mac mini owners (2010 mini has MCP89 chipset, vs MCP79 in 2009's) apparently had similar issues with some drives (3Gbps link, negotiated link speed 1.5Gbps), but one owner said swapping drive cable/positions seemed to help in his case. (His post had MCP79 in the text comments, but his screenshot shows MCP89 - a 2010 Mac Mini.) YMMV but just a FYI.)
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