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Boomhowler

macrumors 6502
Feb 23, 2008
324
19
I can't get this to work with either of my bootable drives, the SSD and a hard disk. It only works on the non-bootable raid and hard disks. The Start button just flashes blue on the bootable drives. Am I missing something?

You have to enable read/write on the boot drive for the user you are using. It is disabled by default.

Right click on the boot drive, choose "info". At the bottom of the info frame you can add users and what they are allowed to do.
 

phpmaven

macrumors 68040
Jun 12, 2009
3,466
522
San Clemente, CA USA
The boot time of my Mac Pro 2010, « time from pressing power button », take 27 second in SATA II native and 37 second with Solo x2 . Therefore, the boot time with Solo x2 was 10 second more slower than the SATA II native. Anyone know why?

My SSD is a Plextor M3 256GB SATA III.

P.S.: Sorry for my english, I'm french.

Actually with my Accelsior the boot time increased significantly from booting off a single SSD in a standard drive sled. It must have something to do with it being in a PCI slot.
 

matthewtoney

macrumors regular
Aug 17, 2009
183
1
Charlotte, NC
You have to enable read/write on the boot drive for the user you are using. It is disabled by default.

Right click on the boot drive, choose "info". At the bottom of the info frame you can add users and what they are allowed to do.

Hah!!! Where have you been - I've been wondering for ages why I couldn't get the darn AJA test to run on my RAID0 boot drive. :)

Write: 572.6
Read: 670.1

Pretty similar scores to what I saw with xBench (2 Crucial M4 256gb SSD both on the X2)
 

Kierkegaard

macrumors member
Aug 11, 2012
49
0
Made in Quebec
Boot time with Solo x2

Actually with my Accelsior the boot time increased significantly from booting off a single SSD in a standard drive sled. It must have something to do with it being in a PCI slot.
It is regrettable that boot time with Solo x2 is more slower than the native SATA II, about 10 second more slower with Solo x2. My boot disk is however well selected through system preferences.

I have submitted this problem to the technical support from Apricorn and they do not have the solution.
 

matthewtoney

macrumors regular
Aug 17, 2009
183
1
Charlotte, NC
It is regrettable that boot time with Solo x2 is more slower than the native SATA II, about 10 second more slower with Solo x2. My boot disk is however well selected through system preferences.

I have submitted this problem to the technical support from Apricorn and they do not have the solution.

I've seen the same, and it seems to be the added time the mac takes to scan the PCI bus - see the bootable SATA controller and then whatever time the X2 takes to scan/check the drives before the booting starts. (if you boot this thing up in windows, you can see the bios-boot info that the X2 throws up displaying attached drives, etc.)

I don't think there IS any real way around this with the X2, although boot times were not something I felt like I needed improvement on so its not bothering me.
 

VirtualRain

macrumors 603
Aug 1, 2008
6,304
118
Vancouver, BC
Hah!!! Where have you been - I've been wondering for ages why I couldn't get the darn AJA test to run on my RAID0 boot drive. :)

Write: 572.6
Read: 670.1

Pretty similar scores to what I saw with xBench (2 Crucial M4 256gb SSD both on the X2)

That's great you finally got this sorted... and respectable performance.

Q: (for anyone) has there been any issues or delays resuming from sleep?
 

phpmaven

macrumors 68040
Jun 12, 2009
3,466
522
San Clemente, CA USA
It is regrettable that boot time with Solo x2 is more slower than the native SATA II, about 10 second more slower with Solo x2. My boot disk is however well selected through system preferences.

I have submitted this problem to the technical support from Apricorn and they do not have the solution.

It's more of just a curiosity for me. I leave my Mac running 24/7, so it doesn't really matter much to me.
 

matthewtoney

macrumors regular
Aug 17, 2009
183
1
Charlotte, NC
That's great you finally got this sorted... and respectable performance.

Q: (for anyone) has there been any issues or delays resuming from sleep?

I let mine put the monitors and the drives to sleep but I don't let it put the pro itself in sleep mode - I haven't had any trouble but I'm assuming that's what you're really asking about.
 

VirtualRain

macrumors 603
Aug 1, 2008
6,304
118
Vancouver, BC
I let mine put the monitors and the drives to sleep but I don't let it put the pro itself in sleep mode - I haven't had any trouble but I'm assuming that's what you're really asking about.

I put my MP to sleep when I'm not using it... I just wonder if the machine has trouble waking from sleep when the system drive is on one of these cards.
 

Kierkegaard

macrumors member
Aug 11, 2012
49
0
Made in Quebec
Speed limit of the Solo x2 in current use

While this Solo x2 card announces transfer rates up to 550MB/s in both read and write, I doubt a single SSD SATA III will ever reach 500MB/s in sequential read with this card.

However, a Crucial M4 128GB can easily reach, since the firmware update build 0009, the 500MB/s in sequential read with incompressible data.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPnlpF3sLtI

I have not seen a case on this thread, a single SSD approaching the 500MB/s in sequential read, specially with incompressible data.

In fact, I'd be curious to know how fast this Solo x2 saturated with sequential read and write with incompressible data. I doubt it will ever reach 500MB/s and 400MB/s in read and write.
 

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derbothaus

macrumors 601
Jul 17, 2010
4,093
30
Ok with the Intel 520 240GB SSD as boot drive on the x2 only got:
write 451 MB/s
read 467MB/s

Depends on the options and test settings and how full the drive is. My OWC 6G which is slower just got 503 Read, 483 Write. The speed of the 520 is much more about the balanced firmware and iOPS and response and fast 4K writes. You wont notice 467MB/s vs 500MB/s anyway really.
 

VirtualRain

macrumors 603
Aug 1, 2008
6,304
118
Vancouver, BC
While this Solo x2 card announces transfer rates up to 550MB/s in both read and write, I doubt a single SSD SATA III will ever reach 500MB/s in sequential read with this card.

However, a Crucial M4 128GB can easily reach, since the firmware update build 0009, the 500MB/s in sequential read with incompressible data.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPnlpF3sLtI

I have not seen a case on this thread, a single SSD approaching the 500MB/s in sequential read, specially with incompressible data.

In fact, I'd be curious to know how fast this Solo x2 saturated with sequential read and write with incompressible data. I doubt it will ever reach 500MB/s and 400MB/s in read and write.

The nature of the data (incompressible or not) will not impact Read speeds on SSD's. That will only affect write performance and only on SandForce-based SSD's.

Almost all current gen SSD's can achieve 500MB/s Reads on SATA3 (M4, 830, 520, Vertex 4, etc.) so we would expect them to perform to that level with this card. However, as you point out, many are not, so it's possible there is some bottleneck on the card, the PCIe bus, or the way Intel handles it in the ICH. And the bottleneck is even more apparent when you connect two drives in RAID0 to this card.

So far the way to ultimate performance seems to be to buy two of these cards, use a single SSD on each, and RAID0 the pair. Member allYcad was able to achieve 1GB/s Read's this way :eek:
 
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Kierkegaard

macrumors member
Aug 11, 2012
49
0
Made in Quebec
The nature of the data (incompressible or not) will not impact Read speeds on SSD's. That will only affect write performance and only on SandForce-based SSD's.

Almost all current gen SSD's can achieve 500MB/s Reads on SATA3 (M4, 830, 520, Vertex 4, etc.) so we would expect them to perform to that level with this card. However, as you point out, many are not, so it's possible there is some bottleneck on the card, the PCIe bus, or the way Intel handles it in the ICH. And the bottleneck is even more apparent when you connect two drives in RAID0 to this card.

So far the way to ultimate performance seems to be to buy two of these cards, use a single SSD on each, and RAID0 the pair. Member allYcad was able to achieve 1GB/s Read's this way :eek:
En effet, tu as parfaitement raison. Le traitement des données incompressibles affectent celles en écriture et non celles en lecture. Quant aux SSD les plus touchés par les données incompressibles, ce sont ceux qui sont dotés d'un contrôleur SandForce, comme tu l'as si bien souligné.

Cela dit, je doute fort qu'un seul SSD via la Solo X2 puisse jamais atteindre les 500MB/s en lecture. C'est une bonne carte mais elle ne remplacera jamais le SATA III natif, comme chacun sait.
 
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VirtualRain

macrumors 603
Aug 1, 2008
6,304
118
Vancouver, BC
En effet, tu as parfaitement raison. Le traitement des données incompressibles affectent celles en écriture et non celles en lecture. Quant aux SSD les plus touchés par les données incompressibles, ce sont ceux qui sont dotés d'un contrôleur SandForce, comme tu l'as si bien souligné.

Cela dit, je doute fort qu'un seul SSD via la Solo X2 puisse jamais atteindre les 500MB/s en lecture. C'est une bonne carte mais elle ne remplacera jamais le SATA III natif, comme chacun sait.

C'est ce que je pensais aussi, mais allYcad a posté ses repères montrant une paire de Vertex3 atteindre 1000+ MB/s en RAID0
 

Kierkegaard

macrumors member
Aug 11, 2012
49
0
Made in Quebec
Allright you guys, I got TWO of the Velocity Solo X2's and configured them with TWO 120GB Vertex3's, RAID0.

I then used DiskTester 2.4.0 64-bit and ran the sequential-suite test.

I've attached the full report.

Below is the averages...:)

--------------- Averages for "Vertex3" (4GB/start, 5 iterations) ---------------
Transfer Size Write MB/sec Read MB/sec
32K 301 292
64K 397 378
128K 501 486
256K 582 592
512K 648 655
1MB 651 704
2MB 687 813
4MB 757 890
8MB 800 968
16MB 836 997
32MB 849 1018
64MB 853 1022
128MB 852 1030
256MB 858 1031

Command "run-sequential-suite" executed in 915.74 seconds on Saturday, August 25, 2012 11:32:20 AM PT​

Et ton OWC Mercury Accelsior PCI Express SSD 480GB, quelle vitesse réussit-il à atteindre en lecture et en écriture avec l'application Blackmagic Disk Speed Test? Je pose la question parce que j'aimerais savoir comment il assure avec les données incompressibles.​
 

phpmaven

macrumors 68040
Jun 12, 2009
3,466
522
San Clemente, CA USA
Allright you guys, I got TWO of the Velocity Solo X2's and configured them with TWO 120GB Vertex3's, RAID0.

I then used DiskTester 2.4.0 64-bit and ran the sequential-suite test.

I've attached the full report.

Below is the averages...:)

--------------- Averages for "Vertex3" (4GB/start, 5 iterations) ---------------
Transfer Size Write MB/sec Read MB/sec
32K 301 292
64K 397 378
128K 501 486
256K 582 592
512K 648 655
1MB 651 704
2MB 687 813
4MB 757 890
8MB 800 968
16MB 836 997
32MB 849 1018
64MB 853 1022
128MB 852 1030
256MB 858 1031

Command "run-sequential-suite" executed in 915.74 seconds on Saturday, August 25, 2012 11:32:20 AM PT​


Can you do an AJA test on that? I'de like to compare it to the performance of my Accelsior, but I don't want to buy Disktester to do it. I suspect that many of those numbers you got will be much higher than the AJA test.​
 

derbothaus

macrumors 601
Jul 17, 2010
4,093
30
Never heard of the "entente cordiale"?

I'm from the US, of course not. We are terrible historians and only teach our children that everyone else is inferior:eek:
But I do now. Thanks.
My comment was more Quebec vs. Ontario vs. BC. Which socially is still very much an issue. It was also very tongue in cheek.
 

tuxon86

macrumors 65816
May 22, 2012
1,321
477
I'm from the US, of course not. We are terrible historians and only teach our children that everyone else is inferior:eek:
But I do now. Thanks.
My comment was more Quebec vs. Ontario vs. BC. Which socially is still very much an issue. It was also very tongue in cheek.

I know that it was... I just forgot about inserting a smiley at the end :D
 

allYcad

macrumors newbie
Aug 25, 2012
3
0
Not ONE, Not TWO, but THREE Velocity Solo X2's each with 120GB Vertex3's...

Can you do an AJA test on that? I'de like to compare it to the performance of my Accelsior, but I don't want to buy Disktester to do it. I suspect that many of those numbers you got will be much higher than the AJA test.

Here you go, I added a third card, just for fun. Here's the Disktester number's...

--------------- Averages for "Vertex3" (4GB/start, 5 iterations) ---------------
Transfer Size Write MB/sec Read MB/sec
32K 230 208
64K 329 306
128K 441 407
256K 622 610
512K 771 784
1MB 911 947
2MB 933 1038
4MB 1039 1193
8MB 1123 1324
16MB 1172 1439
32MB 1214 1489
64MB 1233 1528
128MB 1012 1540
256MB 1224 1548

Command "run-sequential-suite" executed in 894.47 seconds on Monday, August 27, 2012 10:05:09 AM PT

and the AJA numbers for each. :)
 

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hfg

macrumors 68040
Dec 1, 2006
3,621
312
Cedar Rapids, IA. USA
Several posters in this thread have mentioned that the Velocity Solo X2 will not boot in a 2008 Mac Pro 3,1 computer. Checking the Apricorn web page for this produce seems to indicate that it does boot on a 2008 Mac Pro.

Is this something that has recently been upgraded?

http://www.apricorn.com/products/desktop-ssd-hdd-upgrade-kits/vel-solox2.html

MAC PRO
The Velocity Solo x2 will function in all Mac Pro models, but will only boot in EFI64 machines which are the last 3 models known as Mac Pro 3,1 4,1 and 5,1 Your Mac model can be found by doing an "About This Mac", and then "More Info". The first two models known as Mac Pro1,1 and 2,1 are EFI32 so won't boot from the Velocity Solo x2, but will function as high performance storage.



-howard
 

phpmaven

macrumors 68040
Jun 12, 2009
3,466
522
San Clemente, CA USA
Several posters in this thread have mentioned that the Velocity Solo X2 will not boot in a 2008 Mac Pro 3,1 computer. Checking the Apricorn web page for this produce seems to indicate that it does boot on a 2008 Mac Pro.

Is this something that has recently been upgraded?

http://www.apricorn.com/products/desktop-ssd-hdd-upgrade-kits/vel-solox2.html

MAC PRO
The Velocity Solo x2 will function in all Mac Pro models, but will only boot in EFI64 machines which are the last 3 models known as Mac Pro 3,1 4,1 and 5,1 Your Mac model can be found by doing an "About This Mac", and then "More Info". The first two models known as Mac Pro1,1 and 2,1 are EFI32 so won't boot from the Velocity Solo x2, but will function as high performance storage.



-howard

I just did a bit of searching and it could be that the comment Iv'e seen on several product pages "The 2008 Mac Pro 3,1 is EFI64 but does not boot reliably, and therefore is not supported" might be in reference to the Solo X1, even though I've seen that on pages selling the X2. I guess some brave soul will have to give it a shot. :)

----------

Here you go, I added a third card, just for fun. Here's the Disktester number's...

--------------- Averages for "Vertex3" (4GB/start, 5 iterations) ---------------
Transfer Size Write MB/sec Read MB/sec
32K 230 208
64K 329 306
128K 441 407
256K 622 610
512K 771 784
1MB 911 947
2MB 933 1038
4MB 1039 1193
8MB 1123 1324
16MB 1172 1439
32MB 1214 1489
64MB 1233 1528
128MB 1012 1540
256MB 1224 1548

Command "run-sequential-suite" executed in 894.47 seconds on Monday, August 27, 2012 10:05:09 AM PT

and the AJA numbers for each. :)

Pretty impressive.
 

hfg

macrumors 68040
Dec 1, 2006
3,621
312
Cedar Rapids, IA. USA
I just did a bit of searching and it could be that the comment Iv'e seen on several product pages "The 2008 Mac Pro 3,1 is EFI64 but does not boot reliably, and therefore is not supported" might be in reference to the Solo X1, even though I've seen that on pages selling the X2. I guess some brave soul will have to give it a shot. :)

I have seen that too ... it is even on the Amazon description for the Solo X2 (unavailable). I even thought I had seen it on the Apricorn web site recently, but it sure indicates that the 2008 Mac Pro is compatible now. I think I may try one... :)



-howard
 
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