OWC SSD experiences (for 2010-11 MBA)?

jamesryanbell · Nov 10, 2011

I just ordered the 240GB SSD from OWC for my 2010 MBA. I had the 128GB SSD option, and I was out of space in a matter of months (and that's being VERY conservative with my media, and absolutely no videos whatever on the SSD...only on external drives). Overnighted it...it'll be here in the morning, along with an enclosure to clone the existing drive to the new one.

For those of you that upgraded, what's your experience with these SSDs? Is there a noticeable speed difference? Any weird issues? Warranty issues? Just curious.

jamesryanbell · Nov 10, 2011

Not a single person, and it has 355 views. lol.

Oh well. I'll just take the info I found with a search (I just figured there may be more who have gotten one by now).

jimboutilier · Nov 10, 2011

I upgraded the stock 128gb SSD on my 2010 11.6" MBA to an OWC 240gb SSD.

The tools included worked well and the hardware replacement was simple and fast.

But I had to make an image backup to an external USB HD before and restore it after. Then wait for spotlight to reindex everything. Turning a 5 minute job into several hours.

But several hours very well spent. The OWC SSD is significantly and noticeably faster. And the size gave me a lot of breathing room making my MBA a much more practical machine for my uses.

I've been using the new SSD for a number of months now with no glitches or slow downs. So for me, money well spent.

jamesryanbell · Nov 11, 2011

jimboutilier said:
I upgraded the stock 128gb SSD on my 2010 11.6" MBA to an OWC 240gb SSD.

But I had to make an image backup to an external USB HD before and restore it after. Then wait for spotlight to reindex everything. Turning a 5 minute job into several hours.

I bought the external USB 3.0/2.0 enclosure to put the new drive in, and I was planning to use Carbon Copy Cloner to just clone the existing drive onto the new one. That should work, right?

Then I was just going to use the stock 128GB SSD as an external drive if I need it (or possibly sell it on eBay if I decide not to use it).

Wonder how long the CCC process takes for something that size?

jamesryanbell · Nov 11, 2011

Cloning now. Seems to be moving along very quickly.

Cheffy Dave · Nov 11, 2011

jamesryanbell said:
Not a single person, and it has 355 views. lol.

Oh well. I'll just take the info I found with a search (I just figured there may be more who have gotten one by now).

JRB, we have posted about this before, I believe, but we have 3 / 2010 11" MBA's with the OWC 480 GB option. Wicked fast, and I have no tests to prove it but twice as fast is a fair assessment, over the Apple SSD. Two of them run our business, and my Daughter is studying for her Masters with hers. We have an extensive customer base, and we carry them with with us everywhere

jimboutilier · Nov 11, 2011

Cool, when I got mine there were no "blade SSD" enclosures available. Should be a LOT quicker as only one copy and to a fast SSD

Beware if you are running LION that the copy will likely miss the hidden recovery partition which may cause you recovery issues if you need it later unless you recreate it and may cause immediate issues if using FileVault.

jamesryanbell said:
I bought the external USB 3.0/2.0 enclosure to put the new drive in, and I was planning to use Carbon Copy Cloner to just clone the existing drive onto the new one. That should work, right?

Then I was just going to use the stock 128GB SSD as an external drive if I need it (or possibly sell it on eBay if I decide not to use it).

Wonder how long the CCC process takes for something that size?

jlluna · Nov 11, 2011

Man, I wich I could afford to buy the new ssd. 128 is just not enough space. I need at least a 480. Congrats on your purchase. Let us know how you like it.

jamesryanbell · Nov 11, 2011

jimboutilier said:
Beware if you are running LION that the copy will likely miss the hidden recovery partition which may cause you recovery issues if you need it later unless you recreate it and may cause immediate issues if using FileVault.

This concerns me. What do I do to fix this? How do I recreate it?

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jlluna said:
Man, I wich I could afford to buy the new ssd. 128 is just not enough space. I need at least a 480. Congrats on your purchase. Let us know how you like it.

It's installed! Nice to have the extra space. Haven't done a read/write test on it yet.

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Oh...one problem. The OWC drive is substantially LONGER than the stock drive. I couldn't even screw it down. Just said heck with it and put the lid on anyway. I'm going to write them about this. I expected better fit and finish. Lid fits on fine though.

robvas · Nov 12, 2011

Anandtech just did a review on those:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5076/...ress-6g-review-a-fast-macbook-air-ssd-upgrade

Cheffy Dave · Nov 12, 2011

jamesryanbell said:
I bought the external USB 3.0/2.0 enclosure to put the new drive in, and I was planning to use Carbon Copy Cloner to just clone the existing drive onto the new one. That should work, right?

Then I was just going to use the stock 128GB SSD as an external drive if I need it (or possibly sell it on eBay if I decide not to use it).

Wonder how long the CCC process takes for something that size?

Yes to the first question, 30 minutes est to the second question

jamesryanbell · Nov 12, 2011

How do I get the Lion Recovery portion of the disk back? I downloaded "recovery disk assistant" and it won't even let me run it. It just tells me this:

"The Recovery HD on this computer is damaged or not present. Recovery Disk Assistant requires a functioning Lion Recovery HD to create an external Lion Recovery."

(Keep in mind I have the original drive in an external case plugged in via USB.)

That obviously doesn't work, and I was told Carbon Copy Cloner *doesn't* copy that part of the drive when it clones.

How do I get that portion of the disk back? (or install it)

BTW: I finally got it to fit after messing with it for fifteen minutes or so, although I couldn't ever get the screw in.

hfg · Nov 12, 2011

Boot from the external SSD you removed from your computer (hold option at boot), then run the "recovery disk assistant" and install to the new (now internal) drive. You may have to partition and format your new SSD before you can use it as well.

If desired, you could then boot the internal disk recovery program (command-R on boot) and actually do a re-install over the network (takes a long time). Then when first booting, you can migrate everything from your external (original SSD).

Or ... use CCC and copy it.

Or ... use time machine to backup your original SSD to a external hard disk, then restore from your backup when booting the restore partition.

Note: The restore partition is created as a hidden partition and you will not be able to see it without dropping down into Unix with terminal and mounting it and the files it contains. You can verify it is actually there by using the "command & R" keys at boot to enter the recovery menu. You can exit that if you don't want to really proceed with the choices given.

jamesryanbell · Nov 12, 2011

hfg said:
Boot from the external SSD you removed from your computer (hold option at boot), then run the "recovery disk assistant" and install to the new (now internal) drive. You may have to partition and format your new SSD before you can use it as well.

If desired, you could then boot the internal disk recovery program (command-R on boot) and actually do a re-install over the network (takes a long time). Then when first booting, you can migrate everything from your external (original SSD).

Or ... use CCC and copy it.

Or ... use time machine to backup your original SSD to a external hard disk, then restore from your backup when booting the restore partition.

Note: The restore partition is created as a hidden partition and you will not be able to see it without dropping down into Unix with terminal and mounting it and the files it contains. You can verify it is actually there by using the "command & R" keys at boot to enter the recovery menu. You can exit that if you don't want to really proceed with the choices given.

I partitioned the disk when I got it via the external housing, and then used CCC to clone it. But what I'm assuming is that CCC will NOT copy the Lion Recovery partition. Am I correct in assuming that? If so, maybe I ought to just restore from Time Machine. I just don't want to go through all of that if CCC DOES copy the Lion Recovery partition. I don't know how to check to see if it did.

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By the way, thank you for your time in helping me!

jlluna · Nov 12, 2011

jamesryanbell said:
This concerns me. What do I do to fix this? How do I recreate it?

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It's installed! Nice to have the extra space. Haven't done a read/write test on it yet, but it sure seems to launch programs faster.

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Oh...one problem. The OWC drive is substantially LONGER than the stock drive. I couldn't even screw it down. Just said heck with it and put the lid on anyway. I'm going to write them about this. I expected better fit and finish. Lid fits on fine though.

So could you just leave the drive unscrewed? I am very supprise that it did not fit. That is very interesting. Thanks for all the updates!

jamesryanbell · Nov 12, 2011

jlluna said:
So could you just leave the drive unscrewed? I am very supprise that it did not fit. That is very interesting. Thanks for all the updates!

It fits *SUPER* tightly, whereas the Apple one did not. The OWC drive is the slightest bit longer. If you're looking at the drive from above (computer sitting flat on the table with its lid off, hinge at the top), the lower right corner of the OWC drive doesn't just sit perfectly in that space by the batteries. You have to force it into that corner. I talked to OWC, and they assured me with some pressure that it would fit. Turns out they were right, but it took a LOT of pressure (like to the point that I was questioning if I was going to break something several times). Never broke anything, and it finally went in. It fits so tightly though that there's no way it could come out without some prying. The screw is kind of unnecessary at this point. OWC may send me a replacement one if they have it (it was the original Apple screw that held in the factory SSD, so they may not stock it...supposed to hear from them on Monday).

Maclver · Nov 12, 2011

Just ordered my OWC 6G SSD, anyone have that? how does it perform on your 2011 MBA?

scarred · Nov 12, 2011

Anandtech noted that the 6g drives were harder on the battery. Does anyone know if the 3g owc drives also have a negative impact on the battery?

hfg · Nov 12, 2011

jamesryanbell said:
I partitioned the disk when I got it via the external housing, and then used CCC to clone it. But what I'm assuming is that CCC will NOT copy the Lion Recovery partition. Am I correct in assuming that? If so, maybe I ought to just restore from Time Machine. I just don't want to go through all of that if CCC DOES copy the Lion Recovery partition. I don't know how to check to see if it did.

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By the way, thank you for your time in helping me!

I think you are correct that CCC will not copy the hidden partition.

Try this to see if it actually is there...
You can verify it is actually there by using the "command & R" keys at boot to enter the recovery menu. You can exit that if you don't want to really proceed with the choices given.
- or -
Here's what to do to see the disk partitions:
Open the Terminal, and type this command to list all partitions on your hard drive or SSD:

diskutil list

Look for 'Recovery HD' in the list, and note its identifier. It will be something of the form diskXsY, where X and Y are numeric digits. (On my machine, it's disk0s3).

-howard

PittAir · Nov 12, 2011

Glad you like it. I've had the 240 GB 6G since they came out two months ago and it has been awesome. It fit perfectly fine. I am not worried about the Lion recovery partition, since I made my own Lion recovery USB drive if I get into trouble.

The benchmarks are exactly like Anandtech reports. The only issue is expense.

jlluna · Nov 12, 2011

jamesryanbell said:
It fits *SUPER* tightly, whereas the Apple one did not. The OWC drive is the slightest bit longer. If you're looking at the drive from above (computer sitting flat on the table with its lid off, hinge at the top), the lower right corner of the OWC drive doesn't just sit perfectly in that space by the batteries. You have to force it into that corner. I talked to OWC, and they assured me with some pressure that it would fit. Turns out they were right, but it took a LOT of pressure (like to the point that I was questioning if I was going to break something several times). Never broke anything, and it finally went in. It fits so tightly though that there's no way it could come out without some prying. The screw is kind of unnecessary at this point. OWC may send me a replacement one if they have it (it was the original Apple screw that held in the factory SSD, so they may not stock it...supposed to hear from them on Monday). Drive is crazy fast though in comparison. Absolutely love it. I can't even imagine the speeds that the newer 2011 MBAs are seeing with the SATA-III drives. This is one is the fastest SSD I've ever used personally. The difference in everything is very noticeable.

Wow! Great info! thank you so much for the detailed explanation. I would love to get one, but I am going to wait until I buy my 13" MacBook air. I have the 11" 2010, but I wanted a little bigger air , and the lighted keyboard.

Maclver · Nov 12, 2011

PittAir said:
Glad you like it. I've had the 240 GB 6G since they came out two months ago and it has been awesome. It fit perfectly fine. I am not worried about the Lion recovery partition, since I made my own Lion recovery USB drive if I get into trouble.

The benchmarks are exactly like Anandtech reports. The only issue is expense.

Which standard drive did you have; samsung or toshiba?

rw3 · Nov 12, 2011

Reinstall Lion without erasing the current partition. This will recreate the recovery partition.

Don't worry, reinstalling will not affect any user data at all.

alflavor · Nov 13, 2011

Tempted to put one of these in my 2010 Air, or then again do I wait for a late 2012 upgrade to the line, hmm?

fyrefly · Nov 13, 2011

rw3 said:
Reinstall Lion without erasing the current partition. This will recreate the recovery partition.

Don't worry, reinstalling will not affect any user data at all.

This is 100% correct. I've done this on two macs that I upgraded to SSDs and discovered that the Lion Recovery partitions were not present (I cloned the drives from external cases back to the SSD once installed).

Reinstalled Lion over the existing installation fixed it, and didn't mess up any user data (I still backed up before doing it though!

).

OWC SSD experiences (for 2010-11 MBA)?

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