Can I install OSX and on a ExpressCard/34 SSD

[bigbadbenny]

Let us know what the resolution is!

 

[B74A]

Let us know what the resolution is!

Sure, I just need to find a larger drive I can send it to. Maybe I will just buy a new 500GB drive, I need to get one for a friend anyway. Then I can super duper my existing 500GB onto that new one, and give him the older one (which is almost new anyway).

 

[John89]

Just purchased the 96gb FileMate SSD and a 500gb WD hard drive to go with it.

Been using the 48gb SSD for a while now with a VMware Fusion XP image on it. was brilliant, never had any speed problems when running XP and OSX at the same time. Everything ran smoothly. But I find myself using XP less and less, so thought I would get a bigger SSD and use it like everyone else is

 

[John89]

...so I have a used 48gb Wintec FileMate if anyone's interested and want's to give this a try?

 

[bigbadbenny]

give this a try?

...so I have a used 48gb Wintec FileMate if anyone's interested and want's to give this a try?

Send me a PM with your offer!

 

[John89]

Had the 96GB SSD for a while now with no problems. Works brilliantly as my boot drive.

I have set up my 500gb hard drive with 3 partitions. First one is for all my media (music, movies, pictures), second one is windows bootcamp, and the 3rd is a mirrored copy of the SSD which backs up every night.

 

[steelmarco]

Hi there! I'm thinking of putting a Wintek FileMate 24GB in my MBP 4.1.

I read all the thread and it seems that the 48GB version is blazing fast unlike the 64GB version.

Is there anyone who can confirm me if the 24GB version is fast as much as the 48/96GB?

And

..and the 3rd is a mirrored copy of the SSD which backs up every night.

What application are you using to back it up automatically on the internal drive?

Thanks everyone!

 

[bigbadbenny]

Backup the Wintec/Apps on other drives

Carbon Copy Cloner can make a bootable clone on you backup disk/partition.
Once you have your clone setup you can then apply the scheme to CCC's schedule tool. I partitioned my Home folder/data disk with a 50GB scratch/swap partition first (technically fastest/AKA short-stroked), home/data folder next and lastly a 50GB SSD backup partition. CCC backs up weekly on schedule.

 

[B74A]

Go for FileMate 96GB

Hi there! I'm thinking of putting a Wintek FileMate 24GB in my MBP 4.1.

I read all the thread and it seems that the 48GB version is blazing fast unlike the 64GB version.

Is there anyone who can confirm me if the 24GB version is fast as much as the 48/96GB?

And
What application are you using to back it up automatically on the internal drive?

Thanks everyone!

Be aware that not all these cards work equally well. Not only are the transfer speeds different, but some of them have heat issues, reliability and so on. I am sure the ones that get really hot also use more power.

I know of three MBP 15" with the 96GB FileMate card, one of them being my own, all of them bought in 2008. All three of us are very happy with this card. It is like a brand new MBP. I must say that on top of that, I changed the internal HD to a 500GB, as well as changed RAM from 2GB to 4GB. But it is the 96GB filemate that made all the difference.

This card seem to have proven itself, with regard to speed, stability and heat. The only caution I can think of about using this card is to make sure you do not accidentally eject the card while the MBP is running.

I only had the card eject a few times, while the MBP was sleeping. If you insert it again before waking the MBP, it will not matter at all. What actually happens if you eject it while running the MBP, I don't know, but I think there is a risk you would have to reboot. Maybe.

 

[B74A]

225 usd

I just checked prices, and it seems the FileMate 96GB holds up just over 200 USD at the moment. I would still say it is well worth that price, the best mid-life update you can give your 15" 2008 MBP - or any other computer with a vacant ExpressCard slot ...

 

[John89]

Hi there! I'm thinking of putting a Wintek FileMate 24GB in my MBP 4.1.

I read all the thread and it seems that the 48GB version is blazing fast unlike the 64GB version.

Is there anyone who can confirm me if the 24GB version is fast as much as the 48/96GB?

And
What application are you using to back it up automatically on the internal drive?

Thanks everyone!

I used an application called SuperDuper! which is brilliant. Same as Carbon Copy Cloner I think.

 

[bigbadbenny]

Re 24Gb

From memory, the 24Gb has similar performance to the 48 and 96GB versions.
Generally, larger capacity SSD's have somewhat superior performance, so this may also be true for the Wintecs.
If you do opt for the 24Gb make sure you can fit all of your apps on it as well as the OS!
I believe symlinking is a possible solution for apps that won't fit.
Additionally you might want to explore moving your home folder to the HDD/SSD and optimizing your setup to reduce the amount of writes made to the Wintec.
For example most cache related stuff is written by default to the Home (HDD) folder. I'm running my web browsers (inc. profile and cache) from a RAMdisk (backed up to the HDD). Noatime. Swap/Scratch written to first HDD partition. VM's in Documents folder in Home folder on HDD and so on.

I'd definitely consider a 96GB Wintec, but SSD prices have fallen to the point that examples that exceed the SATA bus performance of my MBP 3,1 are now available for a similar price here in Australia (alas Wintecs are not).
So in an ideal world, I'd boot from the Wintec, Home & Scratch/Swap/Sleep Partitions on the SSD and data and backups on a big HDD in an optibay.

Definitely wringing every last drop of performance from an older MBP!
Worth it too - I recently sucessfully completed some 8GB PSD's for a mural print job - so the scheme works IMO.

 

[blacknova]

Wintec FileMate ExpressCard + Safe Sleep (aka Hibernate)?

Hi B74A,
Thanks for posting a detailed account of your experience with the 96GB Wintec FileMate ExpressCard. I've been reading this thread with great interest and am now considering purchasing a Wintec ExpressCard SSD to install in my, late-2007, 17" MacBookro3,1 too (albeit perhaps the 24 or 48GB one though).

My questions to you: with the Wintec FileMate, have you had any issues with:
1) hibernating? (Apple confusingly refers to this as "Safe Sleep"), and
2) standby (aka "sleep") mode?

The reason I ask is that a lot of posts, on this forum and others, seem to mention "sleep" issues (besides reliability), and if getting a Wintec card means foregoing standby and/or hibernate mode, this may be a deal-breaker for me

Wintec's Support FAQ page actually has a response to a question titled "Why can’t my MacBook Pro go to sleep with the ExpressCard inserted into the ExpressCard slot?" but their answer to that question seems to contradict the advice given in point 2 of "How do I optimize my ExpressCard for the Macbook Pro?"

I know in a few of your posts you had mentioned accidentally ejecting the SSD while the mac was "sleeping" but I wasn't really sure if you were referring to Safe "Sleep" (AHCI [1] S4 mode, ie: where the machine saves RAM to disk and powers off) or standby mode (AHCI S3 mode, ie: where the machine is still powered and you see the standby light slowly pulse). From your description of possibly needing to reboot, I'm guessing you were referring to the latter, but I wanted to confirm.

While OSX's default configuration will allow you to simply close the lid of your macbook pro to test #2, #1 normally doesn't occur unless your battery reaches a hard-coded "5% battery life" [2] (if someone knows a way to dynamically change this, please let me know!). However, if you use the Deep Sleep widget, as I do, it will allow you invoke hibernate mode on demand- which is great if you're in the middle of a whole bunch of stuff and you don't want to lose your place by having to re-open everything after shutting down and powering back up (I've also found this historically to be faster than booting)

Anyhow, I'd appreciate any additional details you can provide in regards to the above.

Thanks in advance!
-B


[1] See this for more details on the different AHCI states

[2] unlike in Windows where you can invoke this on demand or even configure at what battery level this occurs (which appears to be important as the batteries on these macbook pros age they seem to be prone to cutting out at battery %s > 5%, which effectively renders the "Safe Sleep" useless... grrr!)

 

[eron]

It's hard to say if the Expresscard SSD causes the sleep issue for me.

On my late 2008 15" mbp, I had the 96gb ssd + a 1TB WD HDD. I sometimes have deep sleep problems on the both the Mac on the SSD, and the windows on the HDD (can't have bootcamp on the SSD). Deep sleep here meant I just left it to sleep overnight.

However, after I got my logicboard replaced due to flickering problems, I don't have any sleep issues on my Windows. The HDD is back to the standard 320gb though. This is still recent, so I'll report back if there's issues. Havn't slept much on the Mac.

Overall, I think it's a great purchase. Just don't get the mydigitaldiscount one. It doesn't work.

 

[B74A]

Sleep / Hibernate

I close the lid when I am done, and open it when I want to resume. I presume ... that there might be some issues regarding sleep/hibernate. You mean, if the power quits entirely, will it boot from disk, or do I have to restart?

So far, I just use it, as I did before, and I don't have any issues. And as you noted, I can even take out the 96GB card, and re-insert before I power on again. No problem.

Except ... be aware that it does pop out when you press it. I almost lost it a few months ago in airport security. I was doing the "laptop-out-laptop-in" leisure exercise, and then the security guy asks me "Is this yours?" - and at the first split second I did not recognize it and said "No" then ... oh, yes, that's my hard drive. And it has no name on it or anything - I might never have gotten it back (oops!)

From now on I always check that I still have my card, when I transit my MBP, especially in those nasty security checks ....

 

[blacknova]

Sorry for the delay in my response, for some reason macrumours didn't send any reply notification email (even though I subscribed to this thread)

So far, I just use it, as I did before, and I don't have any issues. And as you noted, I can even take out the 96GB card, and re-insert before I power on again. No problem.

If the power is completely off that should never be a problem since the mac wouldn't have been aware of it.

Except ... be aware that it does pop out when you press it. I almost lost it a few months ago in airport security. I was doing the "laptop-out-laptop-in" leisure exercise, and then the security guy asks me "Is this yours?" - and at the first split second I did not recognize it and said "No" then ... oh, yes, that's my hard drive. And it has no name on it or anything - I might never have gotten it back (oops!)

From now on I always check that I still have my card, when I transit my MBP, especially in those nasty security checks ....

Yeah, may be a good idea to write your name on it too (something I should probably do on my MBP as well)

You mean, if the power quits entirely, will it boot from disk, or do I have to restart?

Yes, the former is correct. It will boot from disk with all your applications open exactly where you left off. IIRC, Apple added it in 10.4. Safe Sleep should automatically occur at 5% battery life, or if you use the widget, any time you want.

Do you think you can try out the Deep Sleep widget (which has good documentation) and let us know what the results are?

Once installed, you can invoke "Safe Sleep" (hibernate) by just bringing up the Dashboard and clicking once on the "Click to enter Deep Sleep" text on the moon icon (the first time you do so, it will ask for authorization). Make sure you're (for the most part) idle before you click on it, and once clicked, don't touch the trackpad/keyboard or close the lid (completely) yet, since it may confuse the machine by trying to invoke standby mode as well. In about 10-30 sec (probably depending on the amount of RAM you have) you should notice all hard-drive activity cease, the screen go blank, and the power go off (the standby light should be OFF, indicating that power has been turned off, VS pulsing[1]). At this point you can close the lid (completely) and put the laptop in the bag without worrying about standby time.

When you're ready to use your laptop again, turn it back on and your machine will begin reading memory contents from disk (you should see a progress bar like this as it wakes up). After the screen comes back up, make sure you give a few seconds for the keyboard driver to re-initialize [2] and you're back in business, *exactly* where you left off

If you've never used "Safe Sleep" (hibernate) before you may want to try booting off the hard disk drive (HDD) first to test this to get an idea of how the process should behave. Once you do that, try it booting off the ExpressCard FileMate SSD to test.

If you're still unsure of the widget, you can always boot off the HDD and leave the laptop till the battery level reaches 5% and you should see "Safe Sleep" initiate automatically and then compare that behavior with booting off the ExpressCard FileMate SSD, but this will take a while, so I recommend just using the widget instead (which honestly just invokes the same functionality).

I look forward to hearing your results! Hopefully hibernation works as expected.
If it does work, I will probably order the FileMate this weekend!
If it doesn't work, it may be worth first checking whether your hibernation file /private/var/vm/sleepimage is stored on the FileMate or the HDD (as rumor has it that the ExpressCard FileMate doesn't wake up early enough in the boot process, despite it being on the PCI-e bus).
If it's the former, try relocating it to the latter (via the following commented Terminal.app commands):

# 1. save the original settings (remember where you put this file)
sudo pmset -g > pmset_values_original.txt

# 2. note the original value for "hibernatefile"
cat pmset_values_original.txt

# 3. point "hibernatefile" to the new location, 
#    where HDD = the name volume name of the HDD
#    (this assumes HDD has OSX installed on it, if not just remove the 
#     "private/var/vm/" part from the path below) 
sudo pmset -a hibernatefile /Volumes/HDD/private/var/vm/sleepimage

# 4. reboot off FileMate and retest

- OR - via the following modified & commented script (based off a suggestion from Frederik Poller's blog):

# 1. save the original settings (remember where you put this file)
sudo pmset -g > pmset_values_original.txt

# 2. note the original values for "hibernatefile" and "hibernatemode"
#    (the latter of which should not be 0)
cat pmset_values_original.txt

# 3. disable hibernate mode temporarily
sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0

# 4. remove the old sleepimage
sudo rm /var/vm/sleepimage

# 5. create a new dummy sleepimage file in the new location, 
#    where: HDD = the volume name of the HDD 
#    (this assumes HDD has OSX installed on it, if not just remove the 
#     "private/var/vm/" part from the path below) 
sudo touch /Volumes/HDD/private/var/vm/sleepimage

# 6. create a symlink to the new file where the old one was
#    (this assumes HDD has OSX installed on it, if not just remove the 
#     "private/var/vm/" part from ONLY the first parameter of the path below) 
sudo ln -s /Volumes/HDD/private/var/vm/sleepimage /private/var/vm/sleepimage

# 7. re-enable hibernate mode, where <original_hibernate_mode_value> is 
sudo pmset -a hibernatemode <original_hibernate_mode_value>

# 8. reboot off FileMate and retest

If anything goes wrong in either of the above you should be able to boot into single user mode via -s and then revert back to the old settings defined in pmset_values_original.txt (or disable hibernate mode completely via hibernatemode 0) and/or rm the old sleepimage file. Foregoing that, you can boot your mac in target disk mode (hold down T) and delete the sleepimage file from another machine (you may wish to update your EFI & SMC firmware before doing any of the above though)

I realize this is asking a lot. FWIW, I tried emailing the SSD engineer at Wintec ~8 days ago but still haven't heard back from him, which is why I'm hoping B74A (or anyone else) can answer this question.

If you can try the above this weekend, I'd greatly appreciate it! especially if safe sleep doesn't work, as I will need to continue researching alternatives and won't get a chance to do so during the week because I will be completely swamped with work and I soo desperately need to purchase a new drive (somehow I've been surviving on 3GB of free space, even after deleting a bunch of stuff )!


Thanks in advance!
-B

PS: On a related note, if you haven't done so already, it may also be worth mentioning relocating your swapfile(s) to your HD. Although having the swapfile(s) on an SSD may speed reads up, it may shorten the life of the SSD whenever writes occur (maybe someone knows whether it's possible to mount a partition in "pass-through write mode" or so? ie: writes passed through to the non-SSD HD and reads being directed to a mirrored set of files on the SSD?).



[1] If the standby light is pulsing it means the machine went into standby mode instead. Just wake the machine back up (I usually just hit the Fn or ctrl key), confirm the widget is set for "Deep Sleep" by clicking the "i" to flip the widget over, and try again. This rarely happens to me and only if your machine hung while attempting to hibernate previously, which usually only happens if you were doing something stupid while attempting to hibernate (ie: actively watching a video, doing some sort of file operation, or in general not being idle). See bottom of FAQ of p6 of the widget doc.

[2] If not, the keyboard may not be responsive after coming out of hibernation (see bottom of p3. of the widget doc)

 

[B74A]

I have had the Deep Sleep widget for several years, and I have just checked - I have the latest version, 1.2.

I did not connect it to the SSD drive, but maybe that is it. If I ask it to "deep sleep", all the same happens, as if I close the lid. I know this, because the LED on the front pulsates after I activate deep sleep.

I am a little too busy to mess with all that sudo judo budo at the moment, and I am not that familiar with it. So for that, I can only answer half your question.

As for the swap file ... not sure where it is located, I saved the link and will check some other day. Thank you for the heads up on that.

 

[blacknova]

Thanks for the quick response back!

I did not connect it to the SSD drive, but maybe that is it. If I ask it to "deep sleep", all the same happens, as if I close the lid. I know this, because the LED on the front pulsates after I activate deep sleep.

Hmm, sounds like hibernate mode is disabled. If you click the (i) and flip the widget over, is "Widget Sleep" mode set to "Quick"?

I am a little too busy to mess with all that sudo judo budo at the moment, and I am not that familiar with it. So for that, I can only answer half your question.

Yeah, I don't think I realized how involved the last part of my post was till after I posted it, sorry about that!

Regardless, thanks for your time and if you do get a chance to test some more, please post back

 

[B74A]

Thanks for the quick response back!



Hmm, sounds like hibernate mode is disabled. If you click the (i) and flip the widget over, is "Widget Sleep" mode set to "Quick"?



Yeah, I don't think I realized how involved the last part of my post was till after I posted it, sorry about that!

Regardless, thanks for your time and if you do get a chance to test some more, please post back

It has been set to widget deep sleep, but does not go deep even so.

No problem, I would have liked to solve this myself, but there are other things on my todo list which have higher priority at the moment. What you suggest might be able to solve it.

I do believe the new Lion has a feature where it does something in between a conventional shutdown and a deep sleep. Shutting down altogether, but leaving all programs as the were (as an option, I think). And Lion should be here within ... a month, maybe less?

Let's see what happens ...

 

[ebeard]

hibernate killed by SSD, kindof...

My SSD (WinTec 96GB) has been running for 2 months and then my MBP hibernated and now I can't boot from it. I get a kernel panic and must boot from my internal HDD. I can mount and use the SSD and Disk Utility says the "volume SSD appears to be OK." But it's not.

Has anyone recovered from this?
What tools did you use?

The kernel panic:


Interval Since Last Panic Report: 109112 sec
Panics Since Last Report: 2
Anonymous UUID: 689293C1-1E80-446B-9D26-9374BC19CDAB

Sat Jun 25 20:09:55 2011
panic(cpu 1 caller 0x2aab59): Kernel trap at 0x00d3d1fb, type 14=page fault, registers:
CR0: 0x8001003b, CR2: 0x00000000, CR3: 0x00100000, CR4: 0x00000660
EAX: 0x00000001, EBX: 0x00538ab6, ECX: 0x01500000, EDX: 0x00000000
CR2: 0x00000000, EBP: 0x00d3b084, ESI: 0x0877d300, EDI: 0x085e3000
EFL: 0x00010246, EIP: 0x00d3d1fb, CS: 0x00000008, DS: 0x087e0010
Error code: 0x00000000

Backtrace (CPU 1), Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
0x5897bad8 : 0x21b510 (0x5d9514 0x5897bb0c 0x223978 0x0)
0x5897bb28 : 0x2aab59 (0x59aeec 0xd3d1fb 0xe 0x59b0b6)
0x5897bc08 : 0x2a09b8 (0x5897bc20 0x0 0xd3b084 0xd3d1fb)
0x5897bc18 : 0xd3d1fb (0xe 0x87e0048 0x58970010 0x87e0010)
0xd3b084 : 0x5d8928ec (0x0 0x0 0x0 0x0)
Unaligned frame
Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0x83e58955
Kernel Extensions in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily(1.10)@0xd31000->0xd47fff

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task

Mac OS version:
Not yet set

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 10.7.0: Sat Jan 29 15:17:16 PST 2011; root:xnu-1504.9.37~1/RELEASE_I386
System model name: MacBookPro5,1 (Mac-F42D86C8)

System uptime in nanoseconds: 619786318
unloaded kexts:
(none)
loaded kexts:
com.apple.BootCache 31
com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib 1.0.0d1
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage 1.6.3
com.apple.driver.AirPortBrcm43xx 423.91.27
com.apple.driver.AirPortBrcm43224 427.36.9
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHub 4.1.7
com.apple.driver.AppleSmartBatteryManager 160.0.0
com.apple.driver.AppleFWOHCI 4.7.1
com.apple.driver.AppleAHCIPort 2.1.5
com.apple.nvenet 2.0.15
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBEHCI 4.1.8
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBOHCI 4.1.5
com.apple.driver.AppleEFINVRAM 1.4.0
com.apple.driver.AppleRTC 1.3.1
com.apple.driver.AppleHPET 1.5
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIButtons 1.3.5
com.apple.driver.AppleSMBIOS 1.6
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIEC 1.3.5
com.apple.driver.AppleAPIC 1.4
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagementClient 105.13.0
com.apple.security.sandbox 1
com.apple.security.quarantine 0
com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall 2.1.11
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement 105.13.0
com.apple.iokit.IOCDStorageFamily 1.6 - last loaded 618757997
com.apple.driver.AppleFileSystemDriver 2.0
com.apple.driver.XsanFilter 402.1
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCISerialATAPI 1.2.5
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily 2.6.5
com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family 314.1.1
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBUserClient 4.1.5
com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireFamily 4.2.6
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIFamily 2.0.4
com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily 1.10
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily 4.1.8
com.apple.driver.NVSMU 2.2.7
com.apple.driver.AppleEFIRuntime 1.4.0
com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily 1.6.5
com.apple.iokit.IOSMBusFamily 1.1
com.apple.kext.AppleMatch 1.0.0d1
com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet 6
com.apple.driver.DiskImages 289
com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily 1.6.2
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform 1.3.5
com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily 2.6
com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily 1.3.0
Model: MacBookPro5,1, BootROM MBP51.007E.B05, 2 processors, Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.53 GHz, 4 GB, SMC 1.33f8
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT, NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT, PCIe, 512 MB
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, PCI, 256 MB
Memory Module: global_name
AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x14E4, 0x8D), Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.10.131.36.9)
Bluetooth: Version 2.4.0f1, 2 service, 12 devices, 1 incoming serial ports
Network Service: AirPort, AirPort, en1
PCI Card: sppci_expresscard_name, AHCI Controller, ExpressCard
Serial ATA Device: Hitachi HTS543232L9SA02, 298.09 GB
Serial ATA Device: MATSHITADVD-R UJ-868
Serial ATA Device: Wintec ExpressCard 96GB, 86.08 GB
USB Device: Built-in iSight, 0x05ac (Apple Inc.), 0x8507, 0x24400000
USB Device: Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad, 0x05ac (Apple Inc.), 0x0236, 0x04600000
USB Device: IR Receiver, 0x05ac (Apple Inc.), 0x8242, 0x04500000
USB Device: BRCM2046 Hub, 0x0a5c (Broadcom Corp.), 0x4500, 0x06100000
USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller, 0x05ac (Apple Inc.), 0x8213, 0x06110000

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[blacknova]

I do believe the new Lion has a feature where it does something in between a conventional shutdown and a deep sleep. Shutting down altogether, but leaving all programs as the were (as an option, I think)

Thanks for the tip, I did some more research into the feature and watched the keynote demo of it and it seemed pretty cool. My big question is whether it's something that works out of the box with all apps or if it requires developers to add support for it in their apps.

...so I have a used 48gb Wintec FileMate if anyone's interested and want's to give this a try?

Is this still for sale? If so, I'd be interested in purchasing it (I'm assuming you're in the UK?). Can you PM me your offer inclusive of shipping to Atlanta, GA, USA?

My SSD (WinTec 96GB) has been running for 2 months and then my MBP hibernated and now I can't boot from it. I get a kernel panic and must boot from my internal HDD. I can mount and use the SSD and Disk Utility says the "volume SSD appears to be OK." But it's not.

Does the machine attempt to restore the hibernation file from the SSD when you try to boot from it? Some things to try:

- try disabling hibernation (man pmset) on it and/or deleting (renaming) the hibernation file temporarily if it's stuck trying to restore from a corrupt hibernation file. - try booting in verbose mode [(Apple-)v during boot] to watch the boot process to get a better idea of where it's crapping out
- does booting in single-user mode work? [(Apple-)s during boot]
- try symbolizing the memory addresses to function names in the stack back trace using something like Symbolicator or so to get a better idea of where it's crapping out.

HTH
-B

 

[Core 2 Duo]

I know I'm late to the party but I'm here to tell anyone still interested in the old "Core 2 Duo" that there are a few things it, in fact, can do!

#1 - You can make a bootable ExpressCard/34 to install OSX with
#2 - You can make a bootable ExpressCard/34 to install Windows 7 64 bit with (Yes I said 64 bit with all hardware supported and working correctly!)
#3 You can make a dual boot by replacing the super drive with a hard disk OR a SSD and have OSX on one disk and Windows 7 64 bit on the other!