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Is it safe to install an SSD with EFI 1.7? -- SSD + SL problems even without 1.7

Mazda 3s

Mazda 3s

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 29, 2006
608
1,107
I have a 13" MacBook Pro, and I have refused to upgrade to EFI 1.7 (even though updater keeps telling me to upgrade) because I had heard of problems with that firmware and SSDs.

Now, I finally have a 128GB Patriot SSD coming in today and was wondering should I leave the current firmware on my notebook, or just go ahead and upgrade it to 1.7?
 
I have heard far too many horror stories about people with non-apple hard drives installed and the EFI 1.7 firmware update rendered them unusable. Possibly to force more people to pay for there expensive hard drives?

Do not update to 1.7. It is difficult to reverse it.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I'll install the SSD and Snow Leopard and forgo EFI 1.7. Hopefully Snow Leopard doesn't force install the update.
 
I think it's a matter of luck. 13" MacBook Pro, EFI 1.7 installed, Intel X25-M 80GB (gen1) SSD and no problem. I've been running on this setup for 1.5 week with a lot of use.
 
Its not safe to install EFI 1.7 period. The HDD incompatibility with it is huge so you run the risk of ruining your computer. Judging by benchmarks it also dramatically reduces performance of stock non-ssd apple drives. Its a horrible firmware.
 
I'm about to get a 15" MBP in matte and was considering putting my X25 in it
guess I will avoid 1.7
 
Some Guy 555 said:
I have heard far too many horror stories about people with non-apple hard drives installed and the EFI 1.7 firmware update rendered them unusable. Possibly to force more people to pay for there expensive hard drives?

Do not update to 1.7. It is difficult to reverse it.
Click to expand...

i'm one of them...
 
Well, I just tried to install Snow Leopard and that was a disaster -- I didn't even try to upgrade to EFI 1.7.

1) First, I removed my 160GB HDD and installed the 128GB Patriot Torqx. I then loaded up the SL install upgrade DVD that I received from Apple yesterday for purchasing my MacBook Pro. I formatted the drive in the setup program and did a clean install.

Everything seemed to go fine, but the progress bar stayed stuck at 29% for about an hour and wouldn't budge. I restarted the machine, reformatted the drive again, and same problem.

2) I tried yet again and fell asleep during the night while it was working. I woke up this morning to find my system completely dead, fans spinning with no response from the keyboard. So I rebooted and tried a different approach.

3) So I installed Leopard on the SSD (the DVD that came with my MacBook) and it installed fine. I then went to install the Applications DVD and it froze the machine up at 32%.

4) So I got tired of all of this bullcrap and installed my old 160GB HDD and did a regular upgrade to Snow Leopard over my existing data -- no problems.

So I guess there's an incompatibility with the Torqx drive and my MacBook even though I haven't even installed EFI 1.7?

I know the SSD is working fine because I got it from my good buddy Anand who just finished up his exhaustive SSD article.
 
it's been said a thousand times already

the SSD to be most likely compatible with EFI 1.7 no matter which OS you have (Leopard or SL), is Intel X25

you can return your Patriot and get a Postville ;)
 
macchiato2009 said:
it's been said a thousand times already

the SSD to be most likely compatible with EFI 1.7 no matter which OS you have (Leopard or SL), is Intel X25

you can return your Patriot and get a Postville ;)
Click to expand...

Yeah, but that doesn't make sense though. It's a SATA drive -- SATA is a standard. Any SATA drive should work, unless Apple doesn't adhere to SATA specifications.
 
2 parts here: hardware (SATA specs) and software (firmware)

it doesn't concern the SATA specs

the firmware only recognized some third party HD and SSD

you can sue Apple if you want

this issue is known for 2 months now and Apple doesn't give a **** about it

it's a way to force us buying expensive HD as options when ordering CTO mac :mad:
 
macchiato2009 said:
2 parts here: hardware (SATA specs) and software (firmware)

it doesn't concern the SATA specs

the firmware only recognized some third party HD and SSD

you can sue Apple if you want

this issue is known for 2 months now and Apple doesn't give a **** about it

it's a way to force us buying expensive HD as options when ordering CTO mac :mad:
Click to expand...
Heh, I'm not gonna sue ;)

But it is still a pretty sh***y thing to do to their customers. It shouldn't be that damn hard to get your SATA hardware/firmware working properly. I mean, we've all been running SATA drives for years now -- there's no reason why people should having problems with HDDs and SDDs that aren't exactly like the ones prescribed by Apple.
 
Well, I got it to work -- for now.

I used SuperDuper! to backup my 160GB HDD with Snow Leopard to my 128GB Torqx. Everything is working great and is SOO blazingly fast!!
 
Well done, I guess that's a trick to overcome the ssd compatibility problem with mac hardware.:)
 
**Sigh** I just can't win. I keep getting random beach balling even with the 1.6 firmware.

The system will get the spinning beach ball, the mouse will move, but the entire system is unresponsive. I can't access any applications and hitting command+option+escape doesn't respond either. It requires shutting down the system to fix it.

I even tried doing a clean install of Snow Leopard (clean install on my HDD, then SuperDuper to my SSD, then Time Machine restore of documents/apps) and it still does it.

This is really starting to piss me off.
 
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