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G. Skill 256GB Titan SSD in my MacBook Pro... Thoughts, Benchmarks, Pics, & Ramblings

I got a 128MB version of G.Skill Titan from NewEgg also and tried installing it in my 17" MacBook Pro early 2007 edition with 2.4Ghz CPU. Unfortunately, OSX Installer would not recognize the drive, so I had to do that trick of putting it in external USB enclosure and then installing OSX on it that way. Once the installation was done, I removed it from USB enclosure and connected it directly to the SATA connector again and then it booted fine.

I guess the drivers that come with OSX 10.5 installer do not recognize SSD drives.
Oh well, it's working now and I'm happy... :) No issues with sleep as some other folks mentioned (knock*3)...
 
I'm having a horrible time with the Titan 256GB SSD Drive. I'm on my 2nd drive from an eBay vendor. After reading all the threads on this site, gskill.com and the Apple Support forums, I removed the 320GB drive from my Unibody 17" MBP. I put the Titan 256GB drive in it's place, and rebooted with the OSX 10.5 Install disc. I used the disk utility on the install disc. On the first two tries, it did not see the drive at all. I tried two different USB enclosures, and a firewire enclosure and received either input/output errors or Resource Busy errors.

I then tried using the three various enclosures connected to my 24" iMac, and received the same errors in Disk Utility and the OSX 10.5 setup. I even tried putting my 320gb HD back into my MBP and trying to format it as an external HD. It was able to see the drive, but the same errors happened.

So, I tried once more connected directly via the SATA in the 17" MBP, and now it says that the disk is failing. I'm RMA'ing this drive, but what is the right way to get this drive formated? I've read on other forums, not to put the drive near a USB enclosure. Any help would be great. Thanks.
 
Seems like this thing is really giving folks a tough time when it comes to installation. Mine is up and running, though - and has been running without a hitch since installation. Just the heat / battery reduction annoyances...
 
spaceballl said:
Seems like this thing is really giving folks a tough time when it comes to installation. Mine is up and running, though - and has been running without a hitch since installation. Just the heat / battery reduction annoyances...
Click to expand...

I think I have an idea what the issue is. It's just a guess, but could it be the 10.5 install disk?

People who have used 10.5.4 or higher install disks don't seem to be having the issue. There might be a driver needed in a later install disk.
 
bugout said:
I think I have an idea what the issue is. It's just a guess, but could it be the 10.5 install disk?

People who have used 10.5.4 or higher install disks don't seem to be having the issue. There might be a driver needed in a later install disk.
Click to expand...

I should have been clear. I used the 10.5.6 install disc that was in the boxed set.
 
Help! I just received the G.Skill 256 SSD. I took out my old hdd and put it on my new MPB. I started up the machine with the OSX install DVD but the disk utility couldn't see it. However it does show up properly inside system profiler. I tried to put it into a usb HDD case but it doesn't show up as well. Does anyone know how I can get OSX to see it?

Thanks!
 
kanon14 said:
Help! I just received the G.Skill 256 SSD. I took out my old hdd and put it on my new MPB. I started up the machine with the OSX install DVD but the disk utility couldn't see it. However it does show up properly inside system profiler. I tried to put it into a usb HDD case but it doesn't show up as well. Does anyone know how I can get OSX to see it?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I'm in the same boat. Try a different computer to format it or a different USB enclosure. That worked for some people. Some USB enclosures do not work with the new SSD drives.
 
ECJ said:
I'm in the same boat. Try a different computer to format it or a different USB enclosure. That worked for some people. Some USB enclosures do not work with the new SSD drives.
Click to expand...

The problem is I only have 1 enclosure at home. I just tried booting into Windows 7 but it cannot detect the drive at all. I don't know if I get a defective drive or if I did something wrong :(
 
Ok I don't know what I did but this is what happened: I hooked up the SSD using the same enclosure to my previous gen mac mini. It couldn't see the drive. Then I hook it back with my MPB using the SATA port. I booted from OSX DVD and then in DU suddenly it can see the SSD :eek: So I formatted it and now OSX is installing. The only difference is that I didn't put the hhd screws on (I expected it not to work and I'd have to remove it anyway). I hardly doubt that's what "fixed" it but anyhow. OSX is installing. I'll report back if it installs successfully.

edit: OSX installed successfully. Now I'm migrating my old stuff over
 
kanon14 said:
Ok I don't know what I did but this is what happened: I hooked up the SSD using the same enclosure to my previous gen mac mini. It couldn't see the drive. Then I hook it back with my MPB using the SATA port. I booted from OSX DVD and then in DU suddenly it can see the SSD :eek: So I formatted it and now OSX is installing. The only difference is that I didn't put the hhd screws on (I expected it not to work and I'd have to remove it anyway). I hardly doubt that's what "fixed" it but anyhow. OSX is installing. I'll report back if it installs successfully.

edit: OSX installed successfully. Now I'm migrating my old stuff over
Click to expand...

Dang it. Ok, let me try again. It can't hurt. I was going to send it for a RMA today. So, wish me luck.
 
ECJ said:
Dang it. Ok, let me try again. It can't hurt. I was going to send it for a RMA today. So, wish me luck.
Click to expand...
Yea since you're sending it in anyway try to plug it into as many PCs/Macs as you can. I doubt it'll fix it but that worked for mine apparently. Hope you can get it works :)
 
kanon14 said:
Yea since you're sending it in anyway try to plug it into as many PCs/Macs as you can. I doubt it'll fix it but that worked for mine apparently. Hope you can get it works :)
Click to expand...

I've had everything setup, which includes installing Windows 7 beta via boot camp. Everything is a blast once OSX decided to play nice with my SSD. I'm updating the gane Lord of the Rings Online and hope to do some game testing once it's finished.

p.s. I do notice something abnormal. The MBP seems to be running HOTTER than before. I'm not sure if it's because I'm installing all the updates and stuff or because of it requires more power to run the SSD (it makes no sense), or because of Windows 7. Guess I'll need to do more testing.
 
I bought a new MacbookPro a couple of days ago and just had my new Vertex 120 GB SSD installed. Installation went smoothly and the lapto takes 2 seconds 2 shutdown, applications open right when you click on them with no loading times and laptop boots up in around 25-28 seconds.

I believe the bootup time is a bit slow though. I was expecting it to start up in under 20 seconds.
 
kanon14 said:
p.s. I do notice something abnormal. The MBP seems to be running HOTTER than before. I'm not sure if it's because I'm installing all the updates and stuff or because of it requires more power to run the SSD (it makes no sense), or because of Windows 7. Guess I'll need to do more testing.
Click to expand...
No this is on par - take a look at some of my earlier posts in this thread. Seems like this SSD does run a bit warmer than a typical drive. Furthermore, it does consume a bit more power, and it will decrease your battery life by ten to twenty percent.

Intuitively, this makes no sense. SSDs have no moving parts. Shouldn't there be less power usage and less heat? Since the Titan actually has to power dual jmicron controllers and an internal raid controller, "they say" this is where the extra power / heat comes from. And I'm also sure G. Skill hasn't done much power optimization. It's a really fast drive, and I'm happy to have it, but it really just whets my appetite for what is coming down the pipe 6 to 18 months from now.
 
Tip for folks who are having issues with coming back from sleep

I personally don't have this problem, but one way to avoid issues with hang on coming back from sleep mode is to always use "hibernate" mode in Mac OS X.
It's actually really simple to switch between traditional sleep (when data is still in memory) and hibernate (when everything gets dumps on SDD).

To see what is your current mode, run this command:

$ pmset -g | grep hibernatemode

To switch to "hibernate" mode, run this command:

# sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0

These are the modes that are supported:

# 0 - Old style sleep mode, with RAM powered on while sleeping, safe
sleep disabled, and super-fast wake.
# 1 - Hibernation mode, with RAM contents written to disk, system
totally shut down while “sleeping,” and slower wake up, due to reading
the contents of RAM off the hard drive.
# 3 - The default mode on machines introduced since about fall 2005.
RAM is powered on while sleeping, but RAM contents are also written to
disk before sleeping. In the event of total power loss, the system
enters hibernation mode automatically.
# 5 - This is the same as mode 1, but it’s for those using secure
virtual memory (in System Preferences -> Security).
# 7 - This is the same as mode 3, but it’s for those using secure
virtual memory.

Hope this helps. I've been using hibernate as I sometimes leave Mac off for a few days. This should keep the battery running longer since it would presumably go through fewer recharge cycles as well.

I would be interested to know if this tip helps folks who are having sleep issues.
 
loccie said:
I personally don't have this problem, but one way to avoid issues with hang on coming back from sleep mode is to always use "hibernate" mode in Mac OS X.
It's actually really simple to switch between traditional sleep (when data is still in memory) and hibernate (when everything gets dumps on SDD).

To see what is your current mode, run this command:

$ pmset -g | grep hibernatemode

To switch to "hibernate" mode, run this command:

# sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0

These are the modes that are supported:

# 0 - Old style sleep mode, with RAM powered on while sleeping, safe
sleep disabled, and super-fast wake.
# 1 - Hibernation mode, with RAM contents written to disk, system
totally shut down while “sleeping,” and slower wake up, due to reading
the contents of RAM off the hard drive.
# 3 - The default mode on machines introduced since about fall 2005.
RAM is powered on while sleeping, but RAM contents are also written to
disk before sleeping. In the event of total power loss, the system
enters hibernation mode automatically.
# 5 - This is the same as mode 1, but it’s for those using secure
virtual memory (in System Preferences -> Security).
# 7 - This is the same as mode 3, but it’s for those using secure
virtual memory.

Hope this helps. I've been using hibernate as I sometimes leave Mac off for a few days. This should keep the battery running longer since it would presumably go through fewer recharge cycles as well.

I would be interested to know if this tip helps folks who are having sleep issues.
Click to expand...

Yech!

If I wanted a machine that sticks coming out of sleep, I'd buy a Windows laptop. I've come to expect things to work on my mac, and this is one of them. I've got my Titan working nicely in my machine. you all should too, otherwise, something is wrong!
 
Ok this is what I got in Xbench.

Stock Hitachi 320GB 5200rpm drive:
Disk Test 38.59
Sequential 89.62
Uncached Write 104.17 63.96 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 100.77 57.02 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 60.47 17.70 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 116.64 58.62 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 24.59
Uncached Write 7.98 0.84 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 74.01 23.69 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 66.23 0.47 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 115.13 21.36 MB/sec [256K blocks]

G.Skill 256GB SSD
Disk Test 74.50
Sequential 90.34
Uncached Write 196.30 120.52 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 164.09 92.84 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 32.72 9.58 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 395.55 198.80 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 63.39
Uncached Write 18.10 1.92 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 181.57 58.13 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 1204.04 8.53 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 662.05 122.85 MB/sec [256K blocks]
 
louden said:
Yech!

If I wanted a machine that sticks coming out of sleep, I'd buy a Windows laptop. I've come to expect things to work on my mac, and this is one of them. I've got my Titan working nicely in my machine. you all should too, otherwise, something is wrong!
Click to expand...

As I said my Titan works fine as well. I'm using hibernate because I want to increase battery time. When I close my laptop I don't know in advance when I'm going to be using it next time. In my experience, the battery drains in about 2-3 days in sleep mode, and I don't mind waiting for 20 seconds or so on wakeup.
My point was that reads are super fast with this SSD, so hibernate becomes much more useful than with regular drives.
 
spaceballl said:
No this is on par - take a look at some of my earlier posts in this thread. Seems like this SSD does run a bit warmer than a typical drive. Furthermore, it does consume a bit more power, and it will decrease your battery life by ten to twenty percent.
Click to expand...

Really? Good to know, that thing will never get into my notebook :)
 
spaceballl said:
No this is on par - take a look at some of my earlier posts in this thread. Seems like this SSD does run a bit warmer than a typical drive. Furthermore, it does consume a bit more power, and it will decrease your battery life by ten to twenty percent.
Click to expand...

Straight from the horse's mouth (posted by one of GSkill people on their forums):

Power Consumption
i. Standby: 0.2A @ 5V, 1W
ii. Sustained Read/Write: 650mA @ 5V, 3W
iii. Average RMS: 600mA @ 5V
iv. Maximum Peak: 1.5A @ 5V

Does anybody know what is the typical power consumption for regular drives?
 
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