Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

m4v3r1ck

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 2, 2011
2,565
506
The Netherlands
Just received a Velocity DUO X2 - beta. Very excited!!!

apricorn_velocity_duo_x2.jpg


Preparing for testing on my Mac Pro 3.1 this week!
Keep you posted...

Cheers
 
Last edited:

Earl Urly

macrumors regular
Jul 11, 2004
221
1
Lucky guy!

Damn, and I just placed an order for the Solo after Amazon put up rebate coupons! Oh well, it's not like they're gonna can the Solo because of the Duo.
 

Gav Mack

macrumors 68020
Jun 15, 2008
2,193
22
Sagittarius A*
My #1 on my to-test-list!

Cheers

I'm behind hfg in the queue looking forward to the results, fingers crossed. Will retire my x2 thermal sticky pad twin 840 evo SSD bodge job if it boots win 7 on a 3,1 ok.

Wondering how long the card is, particularly how close it gets to the fan on a reference gtx 680. Should be ok as the orientation is changed on the drives though, and hey Apricorn if you need another beta tester you can send me a pm, I did offer my services to you six months ago :D
 

m4v3r1ck

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 2, 2011
2,565
506
The Netherlands
Easter Egg on Apricorn Velocity SOLO-X2 ????

Hey guys,

Still in feedback-mode with Apricorn to solve some (serious) issues with the DUO X2:

Moved SSD's 1:1 from the SOLO to the DUO, both in PCIe slot #2.

1. None of the SSD-1 nor SSD-2 raid0 shows on the OSX bootscreen! On the SOLO they showed as SSD_OSXML5 and OSX_OSXML5 2 - two separate SSD's - on bootscreen but both bootable to the raid0.

2. Unable to boot SSD-3 Windows 8 while in bay #1. No SOLO X2 Bios at boot.

Turned the table and installed the SOLO X2 back again:

1. Installed SSD-1 & SSD-2 on the SOLO. They show as external SSD's

2. Using DiskUtil -> SSD-1 HFS+ / SSD-2 FAT32

3. SSD-1 clean install OSX 10.9.2 while connected to the SOLO-X2 (because my OSX ML is > 500GB)

4. SSD-2 restored Winclone image of Windows 8 Pro 64 while connected to the SOLO-X2 on extra port with SATA-3 cable.

Et Voila, OS X 10.9.2 on bootscreen, Windows 8 on bootscreen and both bootable.

Possible easter-egg on the SOLO-X2? :D

Windows 8 is now NATIVELY running in AHCI mode! Ran a WEI and added a 1.1 to the disk perfromance index, from 7.0 -> 8.1 Now the CPU and RAM are the limiting factors. :confused:

SSD-3 in HDD bay #1 (IcyDock SATA-3 converter) at SATA-2:

Samsung%201%20-%20840%20EVO%20500GB%20SATA-II%20RAPID%20%28OSX%20BootCamp%205%29.JPG


SOLOX2-NON-AHCI-BAY1.JPG


CrystalDiskMark%20x64%20-%20840%20EVO%20500GB%20SATA-II%20RAPID%20%28OSX%20BootCamp%205%29.JPG


SSD-3 connected to the SOLO X2 with SATA-3 cable:

SAMSUNG-MAGISIAN-SOLOX2-AHCI-CONN2-SATA3.JPG


SOLOX2-AHCI-CONN2-SATA3.JPG


CrystalDiskMark%20x64%20-%20840%20EVO%20500GB%20SATA-III%20RAPID%20%28OSX%20BootCamp%205%29.JPG


Still a lot of moving around to do with the SSD's on the SOLO- & DUO-X2....
But so far, the SOLO X2 with bootable OSX 10.9.2 & Windows 8 is my winner.

Keep you updated on the DUO and perhaps some of you with the SOLO could try the above to reproduce it on other systems 3.1/4.1/5.1?

GL & Cheers with your SOLO X2!

NOTE: all 3 SSD are Samsung 840 EVO 500GB
 
Last edited:

m4v3r1ck

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 2, 2011
2,565
506
The Netherlands
I'm behind hfg in the queue looking forward to the results, fingers crossed. Will retire my x2 thermal sticky pad twin 840 evo SSD bodge job if it boots win 7 on a 3,1 ok.

NOPE! - not yet? ;(

Wondering how long the card is, particularly how close it gets to the fan on a reference gtx 680. Should be ok as the orientation is changed on the drives though, and hey Apricorn if you need another beta tester you can send me a pm, I did offer my services to you six months ago :D

180mm x 120mm

Cheers
 

hfg

macrumors 68040
Dec 1, 2006
3,621
312
Cedar Rapids, IA. USA
Great information ... thanks for sharing it with us.

Hope they get the issues settled with the DUO x2 card soon!


The only problem I can see with the dual-OS on a SOLO x2 would be if you were running a Windows VM using the bootable Windows image such that both drives were active simutaneously with the single SATA controller being a bottleneck. I was hoping that the DUO x2 card would have separate controllers for each drive which would help in RAID or dual-OS situations with the 2 drives.
 

brosenz

macrumors 6502
Apr 26, 2011
342
90
Great information ... thanks for sharing it with us.

Hope they get the issues settled with the DUO x2 card soon!


The only problem I can see with the dual-OS on a SOLO x2 would be if you were running a Windows VM using the bootable Windows image such that both drives were active simutaneously with the single SATA controller being a bottleneck. I was hoping that the DUO x2 card would have separate controllers for each drive which would help in RAID or dual-OS situations with the 2 drives.

Is it possible to install 2 "Apricorn Velocity Solo x2 cards" in the same computer?
 

m4v3r1ck

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 2, 2011
2,565
506
The Netherlands
Great information ... thanks for sharing it with us.

YMW and thanks for your input.

Hope they get the issues settled with the DUO x2 card soon!

Me too, so fingers crossed then! Problem now is that the OS X partition is not visable at bootscreen at all on the DUO. Great guys at Apricorn so they will surely workout something to resolve the issues.

The only problem I can see with the dual-OS on a SOLO x2 would be if you were running a Windows VM using the bootable Windows image such that both drives were active simutaneously with the single SATA controller being a bottleneck. I was hoping that the DUO x2 card would have separate controllers for each drive which would help in RAID or dual-OS situations with the 2 drives.

Do you mean running VMware Fusion in OS X using the bootable Windows 8 partition? I'm running VMware Fusion myself.

----------

Is it possible to install 2 "Apricorn Velocity Solo x2 cards" in the same computer?

Tried both the SOLO & DUO, but in my MP 3.1 a no-go! My plan was setting up a SSD raid0 on the DUO for OS X and single SSD on the SOLO for Windows 8. Very glad to see that the SOLO now works in AHCI mode in Windows 8. Quite a speedbump there.

Bootproblems seem to be happening with the DUO. AFAIK Apricorn is working on all reported issues.
 
Last edited:

hfg

macrumors 68040
Dec 1, 2006
3,621
312
Cedar Rapids, IA. USA
YMW and thanks for your input.



Me too, so fingers crossed then! Problem now is that the OS X partition is not visable at bootscreen at all on the DUO. Great guys at Apricorn so they will surely workout something to resolve the issues.



Do you mean running VMware Fusion in OS X using the bootable Windows 8 partition? I'm running VMware Fusion myself.

----------



Tried both the SOLO & DUO, but in my MP 3.1 a no-go! Bootproblems seem to be happening with the DUO. Apricorn is working on all issues.

I have had the "Boot Option" screen problem come and go with my Sonnet Tempo Pro dual drive card ... it's working now, but I don't know what I did to enable that. Sonnet was able to reproduce the problem (I was on a MP 3,1 at the time, now on a 5,1).

The Solo x2 card does not achieve double throughput speeds if both SATA channels are operating at the same time (such as in RAID-0 with a single card) due to a single controller for both ports. This speed limitation "may" occur with virtual machines using the bootable Windows image (VMware or Parallels) since both OS X and Windows installations are being accessed through the 2 separate SSD interfaces. I haven't tried it... and don't know how you would measure it since it would only occur within the VM.

I have 2 of the Solo x2 cards and was never able to get them to work at the same time ... but I was also fighting controller conflicts with several different eSATA cards (including CalDigit eSATA/USB3.0). Once I removed the eSATA card and went totally USB 3.0 for external drives, I was able to get my current configuration working (MP 5,1):

-- OS X on Sonnet Tempo Pro with RAID-0 SSD
-- Windows 8.1 on Solo X2 SSD
-- Inatek 4-port USB 3.0 (new Mac version)
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.