Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Fix for 2011 17-Inch MacBook Pro SATA Issues Found
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Absolutely the way to go - this *should* work. I imagine a quiet fix from Apple is going to come soon. These are the top end, cream of the crop machines so they should do SATAIII properly.
That's why OWC is one of my favorite stores for any kind of upgrades;
- great tutorials / instructions on the webpage
- if there is a problem they investigate and find solution
- they offer good deals for effected customers
- they anyway have great deals
Just love that site - should be first stop for upgrades for everyone.
- great tutorials / instructions on the webpage
- if there is a problem they investigate and find solution
- they offer good deals for effected customers
- they anyway have great deals
Just love that site - should be first stop for upgrades for everyone.
I totally agree, people expect Apple to test their products with parts that they don't sell and that are not even on the market at the time they released!
Nowhere in the spec does it say that they support SATA 3.0. Vertex 3, intel 510, OWC 6Gb... were not released at the time that the new mbps came out so even if apple wanted to test they would have had to work with beta drives that they don't officially support and have no interest in promoting.
I was in the same bandwagon before when I put an x25-m in my 2008 mbp and had issues. In the end it was not the drive it was a problem with the main board but it took me a long time to figure that out. That is the price of wanting to be on the cutting edge. And is not Apples fault.
I have a new 17" 2.2 quad with a 128Gb SSD from apple and I have no issues at all it run's without beachball like the Vertex 3 as an example.
Agreed.
Maybe... eventually. See this thread now over 500 posts. After over six months OWC now says they have a firmware and configuration fix for this problem, although the configuration fix requires you to send your drive back to them for the fix. It is not clear yet if this finally fixes the problem.
Not really. The OWC 120GB SATAIII SSD is $319. The comparable (and same controller) Vertex 3 120GB is $299 at Newegg.
Electrical Tape ≠ Shielding
Electrical tape would not shield the cable, it would insulate it, which is not necessary.
The better solution would be to wrap the cable in aluminum foil (very carefully this cable tears easily) and then tape all of that down with electrical or thinner tape (Kapton is best for its insulating properties in a low voltage application).
You can also find aluminum foil tape at Lowes or Home Depot in the duct section, but a roll of it is usually alittle pricey. Sticking some of that just over top of the cable and to the aluminum unibody should get you a good shield that's also chassis grounded. $2.99 seems a little much for a small piece of aluminum foil with some adhesive on it.
EDIT: http://www.amazon.com/Scotch-Aluminum-Foil-Tape-30/dp/B000KKPI1G is an aluminum tape with a rubber (non or low conductive) adhesive for ~$0.01/sq in for 2" width
If OWC is using silver adhesive backed aluminum shielding tape that is ~$0.11/sq in for 3/4" width (http://www.drillspot.com/products/484101/3m_1170__3_4_in_x_18_y_1170_emi_aluminum_shielding_tape?s=1)
Electrical tape would not shield the cable, it would insulate it, which is not necessary.
The better solution would be to wrap the cable in aluminum foil (very carefully this cable tears easily) and then tape all of that down with electrical or thinner tape (Kapton is best for its insulating properties in a low voltage application).
You can also find aluminum foil tape at Lowes or Home Depot in the duct section, but a roll of it is usually alittle pricey. Sticking some of that just over top of the cable and to the aluminum unibody should get you a good shield that's also chassis grounded. $2.99 seems a little much for a small piece of aluminum foil with some adhesive on it.
EDIT: http://www.amazon.com/Scotch-Aluminum-Foil-Tape-30/dp/B000KKPI1G is an aluminum tape with a rubber (non or low conductive) adhesive for ~$0.01/sq in for 2" width
If OWC is using silver adhesive backed aluminum shielding tape that is ~$0.11/sq in for 3/4" width (http://www.drillspot.com/products/484101/3m_1170__3_4_in_x_18_y_1170_emi_aluminum_shielding_tape?s=1)
Last edited:
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Let me understand this.... What you are saying is that just because Apple doesn't advertise or list their specs as saying their product supports something, then they aren't on the hook if the feature doesn't work properly?
Hmmm... Well, they DO advertise the new Intel processors...and these processors are used ONLY with the sandy bridge chipset...and that chipset is series 6 with 6Gb/S SATA speeds. So do you suggest that only the processor should work according to their posted specs and not the entire chipset?
Not trying to be rude but that argument is really not convincing. I would understand Apple not supporting the DRIVE itself, but the interface IS PART OF YOUR PURCHASE AND EXPECTED TO WORK WHEN BUYING THIS MACHINE.
I bought one of these shielding kits, it should be delivered today. I don't think I even needed it, but I'll post a new benchmark after I install it.
In the meantime, here's the "before" benchmark with my 120GB Vertex 3:
In the meantime, here's the "before" benchmark with my 120GB Vertex 3:
Code:
disktester rs -t 4G -i 20 Macintosh\ HD
------------- Averages for "Macintosh HD" (4GB/4MB, 20 iterations) -------------
Iteration Write MB/sec Read MB/sec
1 427 515
2 434 505
3 430 509
4 432 507
5 428 508
6 436 511
7 426 507
8 432 508
9 431 505
10 426 508
11 426 509
12 428 507
13 429 509
14 425 506
15 428 508
16 427 507
17 427 505
18 430 507
19 425 504
20 428 509
Slowest 425 504
Fastest 436 515
[B]Average 429 508[/B]
Median 428 508
Range 10.7 10.2
Command "run-sequential" executed in 361.19 seconds on Monday, April 18Of course this is page 2 news. It apparently does not apply to MacBook Pros as sold by Apple. The problems arise when someone decides to upgrade(?) the 'basic' 750 GB HD that comes with the machine. If one wants to pay a whole lot more - $450 MORE to get a 512 GB SSD instead of the 750 GB HD - then one might have a problem. I would not think that would be very likely.
They do not advertise the sata interface. So why should they test the sata interface with drives that are not even out?
Now you assume that just because the chipset supports SATA 3.0 Apple should automatically test it.
Well in theory my 2008 mbp contains a chipset that supports 8gb ram but in the mbp 6gb is the max that works and officially apple only supports 4gb in their spec. So should I go complaining to apple that they didn't support 8gb?
If you want an upgradable machine buy a PC. In a Dell XPS you can in theory even upgrade the video card.
Now does it suck that the brand new mbps have issues with sata 3.0 drives yes, but that is the price you pay for being an early adopter.
Even now OS X only supports TRIM for apple drives only (it seems).
Next generation will probably fully support sata 3.0 and intel just announced support for usb 3.0 in the chipset (that is a lot more wide spread than Thunderbolt).
So the conclusion is that yes is an issue but not necessarily something you should fault apple over as sata 3.0 drives were not even out when they were testing the early 2011 mbps.
Really? Hmmmm.... well the SHIPPING toshiba 750 GB 7200 RPM drive IS INDEED USING SATA III - LINK SPEED 6GB. Maybe not a sata iii SSD DRIVE but a sata iii drive nonetheless. So I guess it WAS "OUT"
And does it have the issues mentioned? Haven't heard that.
This isn't remotely a QA issue. If it is anything, it's a design issue.
But yes, the cable is link speed 3 Gbit, not a 6 Gbit link speed design.. so what? The 17" Unibody MBP is a chassis design that's three years old, now. There's no indication whatsoever that it does support 6 Gbit link speed anywhere on the apple website that I can see. Yes, the chipset supports it -- the chipset also supports a dozen USB ports and of SATA 2 6Gbit ports with 4 3Gbit ports. If you were really unlucky, the HD would have hung off one of the secondary slower ports.
This is one of the ways Apple can afford to spend so much on chassis design and production -- and don't think they don't -- they use a given chassis with very little changes for quite a while.
Apple's Response
If apple responds with a fix, what's the usual time frame?
If apple responds with a fix, what's the usual time frame?
Links Please, as a newcomer to the 17" pool.Tad disconcerting. This makes, what, 3 QA issues for the new MBP refresh?
Last edited:
So has anyone with sata 3 issues applied this fix yet??
Would love to know if it's worked!!!
Got 2011 17" mbp with a crucial m4 in the hdd slot and replaced optidrive with the mechanical hdd. I've updated to latest firmware/software, etc. but still getting beachballs (albeit occasional) when doing disk intensive work on ssd, e.g. disk utility, xbench, etc. Doesn't happen everytime, but it still happens and is pretty unpredictable
Any solutions out there?
Would love to know if it's worked!!!
Got 2011 17" mbp with a crucial m4 in the hdd slot and replaced optidrive with the mechanical hdd. I've updated to latest firmware/software, etc. but still getting beachballs (albeit occasional) when doing disk intensive work on ssd, e.g. disk utility, xbench, etc. Doesn't happen everytime, but it still happens and is pretty unpredictable
Any solutions out there?
You cannot compare apple ssd to vertex 3. My OWC 6G SSD runs faster than apple ssd while connected to a broken cable.
Personally I have tried the aluminum foil fix in like 10 different way and my mac won't even boot half the time. I tried cable only, cable and drive, only some of the cable, ect.
I hope there is a fix asap whether its apple or whoever. I mean its clearly an apple problem since multiple drives are having issues.
They promised 6Gbit connectivity and they should deliver on it.
The 17" MBP costs what? And you need < 5 ct ALUMINUM FOIL to make the SSD over 9 times faster?
WTH?
"Good" work Apple!
Hey is there any improvement on thermal paste application in the latest MBP? Or are we all still pushing 100 degrees celcius on a daily basis?
ssd problem
i was on the phone to apple today and they said it was definitely a software problem . the hardware can run sata 3 6gb/s the software cant. just have to wait on firmware now.
i was on the phone to apple today and they said it was definitely a software problem . the hardware can run sata 3 6gb/s the software cant. just have to wait on firmware now.