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Mac Pro 3,1 boot problem Velocity Solo x2

H

hamishb

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 14, 2002
40
0
Vic, Australia
I have a Mac Pro with Mavericks installed on the SSD mounted on the Velocity.

I also have Snow Leopard on one of the internal hard drives.

Mac Pro wants to boot into SL despite me setting 10.9 as the boot drive.

If I boot and hold down option key I can quickly and easily select the SSD with Mavericks installed.

When I was running 10.8 it would pick the SSD but only after having a bit of a think - almost as though it was hunting through the drives to find one which had been "blessed".

Ideas? Switch the slot the Apricorn Velocity is in? Clean install of Mav?

thanks
 
flowrider

flowrider

macrumors 604
Nov 23, 2012
7,230
2,957
Hmmm, I don't have that Issue. What SSD are you using (brand and size)? I have Lion, ML, and Mavericks on internal HDDs and I boot from my Samsung SSD/Apricorn Solo x2 combo with no issues. My Solo x2 is mounted in PCIe slot 3.

Edit: Sorry, didn't read the title:eek: What slot is the Solo x2 mounted in? In the 3,1 Mac Pro, Slots 3 and 4 (the 2 top slots) are PCIe spec. 1 slots, Slots 1 & 2 (the 16 lane slots) are PCIe spec 2 slots. To get maximum performance from a 3,1, the Solo x2 needs to be mounted in slot 2.

Lou
 
H

hamishb

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 14, 2002
40
0
Vic, Australia
OK

Slot 1 - Radeon 5770 (upgraded from stock card it came with)
Slot 2- Caldigit USB 3 adapter
Slot 3 - empty
Slot 4 - AHCI Controller (being the Velocity Solo Card)

System Profiler says:

Mac Pro SSD:

Available: 10.53 GB (10,526,867,456 bytes)
Capacity: 118.52 GB (118,524,362,752 bytes)
Mount Point: /
File System: Journaled HFS+
Writable: Yes
Ignore Ownership: No
BSD Name: disk0s2
Volume UUID: FA4E2B2C-CB36-3D6A-ABC6-0E71734979AB
Physical Drive:
Media Name: OWC Mercury Electra 3G SSD Media
Medium Type: SSD
Protocol: SATA
Internal: No
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified


I note the mount point is "/" and not "Volumes/..."
 
flowrider

flowrider

macrumors 604
Nov 23, 2012
7,230
2,957
^^^^As stated in my post above, on a Mac Pro 3,1 the Solo x2 needs to be in slot No. 2. Your Caldigit Card also requires a PCIe 2.0 slot to run USB3, so you appear to have a conundrum my friend.

However, FYI, the slots in a 4,1 or 5,1 Mac Pro are all PCIe 2.0 spec.

Lou
 
Killerbob

Killerbob

macrumors 68000
Jan 25, 2008
1,847
612
@flowrider,; I don't understand why you say the CalDigit USB3 card needs PCIe ver. 2.0?

According to MacSales it runs fine (for USB3) in PCIe ver. 1.0/1.0a. Only for the eSATA/USB3 combo is it performance hampering if the card is not in a PCIe ver. 2,0 slot.

However, USB3 does not utilise the PCIe ver. 2.0 capabilities, and runs fine on ver. 1.0! I have the combo card in the topmost slot on my Mac Pro 3,1, and it is plenty fast...
 
Macshroomer

Macshroomer

macrumors 65816
Dec 6, 2009
1,301
730
Killerbob said:
I have the combo card in the topmost slot on my Mac Pro 3,1, and it is plenty fast...
Click to expand...

As in how fast? I have the same card and seems to give decent speeds for me with either eSATA or USB3....would love to get closer to the max either of these interfaces can provide.

Also, I get my Lexar USB3 card reader today, hopefully it plays nice as I have heard people having issues with it.
 
Gav Mack

Gav Mack

macrumors 68020
Jun 15, 2008
2,193
22
Sagittarius A*
Solo X2 has to go in slot 2 of the 3,1. I had to sacrifice my esata card to get the solo to work properly in mine.

The caldigit I would swap out for a USB only fresco chipset like the Orico or Inateck cards which have driver support built in and work happily in slot 3/4 of a 3,1. esata you could always use the spare port of the Solo X2 to a PCI blanking plate.
 
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