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Macbook Pro 15" w/ SSD Problem

T

Tersch

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 6, 2014
10
0
Hi all,

I currently have a late 2011 15" (i7 - 16GB ram) Macbook Pro. I purchased a Kingston V300 Series 240GB SATA III drive to put into my laptop; I put the HDD where the optical drive was, and the SSD where the HDD used to be.

The problem I'm having is that my laptop won't recognize the SSD - it would show up once and awhile and then disappear again. Only drive listed in disk utility is the basic 750GB "Macintosh HD". I took it to my local Apple Re-seller that does repairs, and the service tech said that SATA III is actually too fast for my mac, and it "just happens sometimes". He suggested I put a SATA II drive in, which to my knowledge is somewhat hard to find nowadays.

Does this sound right? and if not; any ideas?

Thanks! I appreciate any input.
 
I had a similar problem with a SATA 3 drive in the optibay. From what I'd read, the optibay port on some of them can't handle SATA 3 and won't fall back to 2 since it identifies as SATA 3. If the drive will work, then it won't be stable and you will have issues.

I tried to put a Seagate XT 750 (hybrid) in the optibay and it wouldn't work. Buy any other slower SATA 2 drive was fine. The drive was OK also - works perfectly as the main drive or in an enclosure.

I'd switch your setup, have the SSD as the main, and the stock 750 in the optibay - that setup worked fine for me.
 
nudoru said:
I had a similar problem with a SATA 3 drive in the optibay. From what I'd read, the optibay port on some of them can't handle SATA 3 and won't fall back to 2 since it identifies as SATA 3. If the drive will work, then it won't be stable and you will have issues.

I tried to put a Seagate XT 750 (hybrid) in the optibay and it wouldn't work. Buy any other slower SATA 2 drive was fine. The drive was OK also - works perfectly as the main drive or in an enclosure.

I'd switch your setup, have the SSD as the main, and the stock 750 in the optibay - that setup worked fine for me.
Click to expand...

He has the SSD as his main drive. It's his HDD in the optical bay.

The V300 works fine in my early 2011. These computers use SATA III connections for the main drive, so that service tech is wrong. I'd try booting it without the HDD in the optical bay. Just have the SSD connected in the main drive bay and see if it is detected.
 
556fmjoe said:
He has the SSD as his main drive. It's his HDD in the optical bay.
Click to expand...

I was just about to say that :)

I'll give that a shot. I just powered my laptop up after getting it back from service, and the SSD is appearing.. but as soon as I try to do a fresh install on the drive, it disappears again. Quite annoying.
 
Okay, so.

1) I tried removing just the HDD, and left the SSD as is; that didn't do anything. When I held option at startup, I was given a blank list of drives to select from.

2) I tried putting the SSD in the optical drive caddy, and the HDD back to it's original spot; no luck.

It seems that once I boot up for the first time after my laptop has been shut down completely, "Macintosh SSD" appears, but once I restart (again) to boot to it, it's gone. :confused:
 
If the original HDD won't work in the main bay then you may have a problem with the SATA cable. Easy for it to get damaged.
 
Sorry, I wasn't very clear.

The HDD works perfectly fine in both the optibay and HDD bay. Nothing wrong there.

The SSD isn't recognized in either of the bays.

Thanks.
 
Tersch said:
I suppose. I would have thought it just wouldn't appear at all if it was faulty - but I guess anything is possible.
Click to expand...

If the symptom moves around with the SSD, even if intermittently, then that is at fault. Cable or controller would stay with the HDD bay or Optical bay as appropriate.
 
simonsi said:
If the symptom moves around with the SSD, even if intermittently, then that is at fault. Cable or controller would stay with the HDD bay or Optical bay as appropriate.
Click to expand...

Okay, fair enough. Thanks for your 2 cents, Simon. I'll see what kind of warranty Kingston has.
 
Though the earlier Kingston's were an absolute nightmare with older Macs with the Intel ICH8/9 SATA chipset with epically dreadful write performance (I got a V100+ swapped for a V300 by Kingston under warranty for this) and the newer ones aren't supposedly I stick to my rule of only sticking Samsung or Crucial SSD's in the Macintosh full stop...
 
Last edited:
Gav Mack said:
Though the earlier Kingston's were an absolute nightmare with older Macs with the Intel ICH8/9 SATA chipset with epically dreadful write performance (I got a V100+ swapped for a V300 by Kingston under warranty for this) and the newer ones aren't supposedly I stick to my rule of only sticking Samsung or Crucial SSD's in the Macintosh full stop...
Click to expand...

Some other people haven't had any problems with the Kingston's, maybe I'm just unlucky :rolleyes: Thanks, Gav Mack. I'll keep that in mind if I am able to return this one for a different one, or purchase another one in the future.
 
Tersch said:
Some other people haven't had any problems with the Kingston's, maybe I'm just unlucky :rolleyes: Thanks, Gav Mack. I'll keep that in mind if I am able to return this one for a different one, or purchase another one in the future.
Click to expand...

I found generally like others with Sandforce controllers they are a lottery, and I prefer sure fire bets knowing barring a cabling or a rare fault they will simply just work. I don't have time to troubleshoot hence why I am still putting Samsung 840 EVO's in for larger types while the 850 is brand new with bugs I don't want to help iron out thanks!

The Crucial MX100 works great in all the Mac's I have used all 128, 256 and 512 sizes with no hiccups whatsoever and they are pretty cheap!

Just checked there is a firmware update for the V300 on Kingston's site, I have bought their drives with very old firmware before so could be worth checking out. Windows only though it seems.

The late 2011 barring cable damage runs SATA3 to both the HDD and ODD port- the early 2011 ODD port is SATA 2 due to a bug in the Intel chipset so Apple downgraded it by default.
 
Last edited:
Gav Mack said:
Just checked there is a firmware update for the V300 on Kingston's site, I have bought their drives with very old firmware before so could be worth checking out. Windows only though it seems.

The late 2011 barring cable damage runs SATA3 to both the HDD and ODD port- the early 2011 ODD port is SATA 2 due to a bug in the Intel chipset so Apple downgraded it by default.
Click to expand...

I saw that as well.. If I bought a USB to SATA adapter, could I update the drive that way?

I've taken into consideration that the cable could be damaged, but the basic HDD worked perfectly fine in the HDD bay with the same SATA cable the SSD was using (which didn't work). I just find it bizarre that sometimes the mac recognizes it and once I restart, it doesn't anymore. Hard to tell if it's my computer or the drive.

----------
Badrottie said:
Why not try Intel SSD? They are good. Anyway does V300 need a firmware update? :apple:
Click to expand...

Kingston's website says it might - but it's only for Windows. :confused:

----------

I also found this..

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSD7E3G240/

SATA II - which the tech said worked for him. This is what he told me in an email:

"Any Sata II/3G drive I was testing the unit with did not seem to have this issue, and the 6G Sata 3 Kingston SSD drive which you had also seemed to work fine outside of this unit. I also tested your unit with a different known good hard drive cable and had the same results. I have not had this issue with a 2011 MBP before, but I have had similar issues with other earlier MacBook Pro’s with a Sata II controller which only works at Sata I speeds. It does not affect every one of these units, most of them work fine without issues, and only the odd few will only work at the lower Sata Speed."
 
Incase anyone else has this problem in the future; it was the drive.

I decided to buy a Crucial M500 240gb from my local computer shop and it works beautifully. So fast.

Thanks for everyones help!
 
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