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2011 MacBook Pro - SATA 6 Gigabit Link Speed
- Thread starter crellion
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I have seen no claims that an OS update has physically reconnected an optical bay port to a SATA III port...
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Heres somthing weird that I want to throw out there.
We have two 2.3 15" MBP's an the one with 6x3 overclocks like a champ while the 6x6 won't at all.
Have no clue if it's related to the new revision.
Heres somthing weird that I want to throw out there.
We have two 2.3 15" MBP's an the one with 6x3 overclocks like a champ while the 6x6 won't at all.
Have no clue if it's related to the new revision.
True but i think Apple is addressing SATA connections in the next update. I read somewhere about a user who installed the latest beta and saw his SSD/SATA connection problems fade away
So your 6/6 6750m cannot be pushed over the default clock/mem speeds at all? Have you tried the ATi tool as well as MSI etc.?
Please, somebody else with 6/6 tell me theirs isn't the same. Otherwise, it would seem we can't have our (apple) cake and eat it!
And this is based on an n of 2? Obviously not many scientists in these forums. Anyone else care to speculate beings we have a p value of around 0.5?
But is those "problems" that the Optical drive is connected to a SATA II port?
Doesn't seem possible that an OS update would change that. I do not claim to be an expert and would be happily proven wrong.
No. I went back to check and the problems were stability issues. What if the previous firmware updates laid the foundation for 10.6.8?
Would love to see links to the "websites" spouting this drivel. I highly doubt this as much as I would love to believe that the lack of 6GB Optical Bay Port can be adressed by a mere firmware update. I'm sure its a hardware limitation typical Apple crap always screwing early adopters, if it is fixable via software I'll gladly eat my pee pee off... Think my weiners safe though 
OK.....just got an RMA for my 6/3 from Apple (Online) and got them to waive any restocking fee. Also bought a 2.3 15" with anti-glare from a physical Apple store and confirmed before leaving the store that it was 6/6.
Would have bugged me.
I think at some point I will want dual SATA 3 SSD drives in it. For now, will put a Mercury Extreme 6G in the main bay, and a Scorpio Black in the Optibay. Will probably switch out the Scorpio for another SSD down the road.
Would have bugged me.
I think at some point I will want dual SATA 3 SSD drives in it. For now, will put a Mercury Extreme 6G in the main bay, and a Scorpio Black in the Optibay. Will probably switch out the Scorpio for another SSD down the road.
Would love to see links to the "websites" spouting this drivel. I highly doubt this as much as I would love to believe that the lack of 6GB Optical Bay Port can be adressed by a mere firmware update. I'm sure its a hardware limitation typical Apple crap always screwing early adopters, if it is fixable via software I'll gladly eat my pee pee off... Think my weiners safe though
The 2011 iMacs were shipped with SATA that would only connect at SATA II and a firmware update bumped them to SATA III, so it might be possible to do the same thing with a MBP. I doubt Apple will do this for an optical port, but it might be possible.
New 2011 MacBook Pros silent update, Shipping with SATA 3.0 Connectivity in Optical
http://blog.macsales.com/10433-macb...a-3-0-6-0gbs-update-5272011?APC=XLR8YourMac09
http://blog.macsales.com/10433-macb...a-3-0-6-0gbs-update-5272011?APC=XLR8YourMac09
Unfortunately that is not true. I have installed 10.6.8 10K537 and the beach balls will appear after more than 2 hours and a few reboots.
Another data point to add to the discussion... I have a MBP 17" (Early 2011), 2.3GHz, built the week of June 13, SATA III (6Gb) supported on both ports. Installed a Crucial M4 256GB SATA III SSD, and have had all the same stalling and beachball problems everyone else is having.
I've flashed the SSD to the 0002 firmware, tried enabling TRIM, installed the LPM patch, reset the SMC controller and finally last night, upgraded to 10.6.8.
None of these have worked, and the machine still stalls out with the SSD in the internal HD bay. I'm now going to try returning it for a SATA II SSD, which are known to work fine.
Basically, SATA III is broken in the Early 2011 MBP...
I've flashed the SSD to the 0002 firmware, tried enabling TRIM, installed the LPM patch, reset the SMC controller and finally last night, upgraded to 10.6.8.
None of these have worked, and the machine still stalls out with the SSD in the internal HD bay. I'm now going to try returning it for a SATA II SSD, which are known to work fine.
Basically, SATA III is broken in the Early 2011 MBP...
From what I've seen, it helps some, and not others (and made it worse for at least a few folks). I've already ordered a SATA II drive to replace the M4... I need a machine that works - have wasted too much time on it already.
My 17" Macbook Pro was built in the first week of march and I have no issues at all. Works perfectly and I get read and writes up to 530Mb/s. Apple should have fixed this by now.
Don't forget SATA III is completely broken in the optical bay in both 15" and 17" units that report 6Gbps/6Gbps. I recently bought a 15" built end of May and a SATA III SSD simply doesn't work at all in the second bay. The main bay is fine though.
Do you think this is a HW issue or just a software fix or just Lion will most likely fix things up?
I got 3Gb/s in the optical bay. So there's no issue for me I hope Apple will come up with a fix, so everyone can enjoy 6Gb/s SSD's.
I hope Apple will come up with a fix, so everyone can enjoy 6Gb/s SSD's.
The quality (or speed, for the end user) of a signal transmission (analog or digital) depends on the quality of the cable. SATA v3.0 uses very high frequencies, so longer AND lower quality cables (less shielding) can cause speed limitations. The only way to fix the speed problem is to use an appropriate cable. I do not recommend an improvised shielding, because it can result in other problems.
(The above assumes, that the chipset supports SATA v3.0.)
An interesting note from serialata.org (on page 3):
"The primary challenge designers face when moving from 3 to 6Gb/s is that losses in signal amplitude over boards and cables increase as data rates rise. Higher frequency signals have increased sensitivity to attenuation and jitter. When attenuation and jitter become too pronounced, signal quality degrades and throughput drops significantly because of an increasing number of resends. Attenuation is also affected by cable length."
(The above assumes, that the chipset supports SATA v3.0.)
An interesting note from serialata.org (on page 3):
"The primary challenge designers face when moving from 3 to 6Gb/s is that losses in signal amplitude over boards and cables increase as data rates rise. Higher frequency signals have increased sensitivity to attenuation and jitter. When attenuation and jitter become too pronounced, signal quality degrades and throughput drops significantly because of an increasing number of resends. Attenuation is also affected by cable length."
My MBP 17" i7 2.3 was build in May and supports 6G in the Optibay. Got the Nimitz Optibay frame and have it working with a 3G 2.5" 5400rpm HD now.
I tested my Crucial M4 6G SSD and it is linked at 6G, but the link is very unstable. On bootcamped Windows the Intel AHCI driver more or less instantly falls back to 3G when the drive is taxed and the MSAHCI driver stalls several time until it falls back to PIO (which still performs good with SSD).
If the link instabilities are based on the Nimitz (=frame + adapters + internal cable) or on the Macbook circuitry/cable I cannot say.
I tested my Crucial M4 6G SSD and it is linked at 6G, but the link is very unstable. On bootcamped Windows the Intel AHCI driver more or less instantly falls back to 3G when the drive is taxed and the MSAHCI driver stalls several time until it falls back to PIO (which still performs good with SSD).
If the link instabilities are based on the Nimitz (=frame + adapters + internal cable) or on the Macbook circuitry/cable I cannot say.
my 15" 2.0 base mbp is only 6/3. coconutID tells me that it was built may 9th through may 15th.
i ordered it from amazon a week ago, so would i be able to use the 14 day exchange from apple at an apple store? i registered the mbp and all.
worse case is i would have a sata3 ssd in my hdd location and a hdd in my optical bay location. could someone clarify how the mbp handles the sms? is it built into the stock hdd or is the sensor in the computer and when triggered it disables the sata connection to the hdd location?
i ordered it from amazon a week ago, so would i be able to use the 14 day exchange from apple at an apple store? i registered the mbp and all.
worse case is i would have a sata3 ssd in my hdd location and a hdd in my optical bay location. could someone clarify how the mbp handles the sms? is it built into the stock hdd or is the sensor in the computer and when triggered it disables the sata connection to the hdd location?