Can anyone with experience with these SSDs give their opinions? Any complaints so far? Apparently their firmware updater only runs on windows, which is worrying to me...
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OWC Mercury SSD
- Thread starter collegembp
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MaximumPC did a review of the Mercury Extreme 100GB in the June issue and they seemed to love it...it has the Sandforce controller, which is a huge improvement in all aspects over all 1st-gen SSDs. I can't really answer your question about the updater, though I also can't imagine that OWC, a seller of Apple upgrade parts, would make a Windows-only updater. Plus the OWC SSDs are assembled in the US, which I think is neat.
yeah, i've heard great things as well. I just finished chatting with one of the guys in the tech department over there and the firmware updater IS windows only for now, one compatible with macs will be available soon hopefully. He said that kind of thing requires extensive testing though.
He also said that the sleep issue some have reported with the OWC SSDs in macs has been addressed. If you buy a new SSD from OWC it will not be a problem.
Just installed a 200gb a couple days ago. Sold my Crucials 225 units and it seems just fine, even a little boost in speed. I been using SSD a long time so I am not wowed anymore. Looking for reliability as well as speed. There are no sleep issues either anymore.
Do you know if their firmware updater is out officially and available for download from their website? I couldn't find it and their tech promised to let me know once the update is out. I got the drive 2 months ago and couldn't use it reliably due to the sleep issues I had.
Here is a link to the firmware updater:
OWC SSD Firmware
I've been using the drive reliably in my machine for a while now and it's amazingly fast. I ran an X25-M before that and there is a difference in performance. X-Bench is not the best benching app but FWIW my X25-M (160gb G2) gets a 370 and the 100gb OWC got a 417.
My machine boots so quickly that the circle animation, if it displays at all, doesn't even make it one time around.
Now... this is in a 4ghz OC'd i7 box with 1600mhz memory.... that helps a bit too.
Also, I had no luck getting the firmware updater to work in Win 7 as it would never detect the drive. I had to boot up off my XP install and run the updater from there to get it to work, but it did just fine.
Am running on the new firmware update and so far so good - really happy now..! No sleep issues encountered yet...
OWC SSD is excellent
Check out the report by Barefeats, which is one of the best resources available. Barefeats has high praise for the OWC SSD.
http://barefeats.com/mbpp19.html
Furthermore, Lloyd Chambers did extensive testing to see which SSD drives had problems after extensive use. The conclusion: With an aggressive price, max read performance, and easily superior write performance, the OWC Mercury Extreme is the runaway winner.
http://macperformanceguide.com/SSD-RealWorld.html
Check out the report by Barefeats, which is one of the best resources available. Barefeats has high praise for the OWC SSD.
http://barefeats.com/mbpp19.html
Furthermore, Lloyd Chambers did extensive testing to see which SSD drives had problems after extensive use. The conclusion: With an aggressive price, max read performance, and easily superior write performance, the OWC Mercury Extreme is the runaway winner.
http://macperformanceguide.com/SSD-RealWorld.html
I just tried to upgrade with their updater and had no such luck.
I did see Downloading Firmware 64 sectors once but then it said it failed.
I've got OWC SSD in Optical bay 2 and the bootcamp in tray 1.
Updater either does nothing or freezes after clicking Download Firmware to Selected Drive.
I did see Downloading Firmware 64 sectors once but then it said it failed.
I've got OWC SSD in Optical bay 2 and the bootcamp in tray 1.
Updater either does nothing or freezes after clicking Download Firmware to Selected Drive.
Here is a link to the firmware updater:
OWC SSD Firmware
I've been using the drive reliably in my machine for a while now and it's amazingly fast. I ran an X25-M before that and there is a difference in performance. X-Bench is not the best benching app but FWIW my X25-M (160gb G2) gets a 370 and the 100gb OWC got a 417.
My machine boots so quickly that the circle animation, if it displays at all, doesn't even make it one time around.
Now... this is in a 4ghz OC'd i7 box with 1600mhz memory.... that helps a bit too.
Also, I had no luck getting the firmware updater to work in Win 7 as it would never detect the drive. I had to boot up off my XP install and run the updater from there to get it to work, but it did just fine.
I bought a 240 GB OWC SSD last week and it has FW 343A13F0. I do not have the sleep issues, but I disable hibernate anyway to save the 8 GB of disk space used by the sleepfile.I have the 120GB one and LOVE it. I do have the sleep issues and am running 343..... firmware.
Can somebody please confirm the new firmware # for the newest update? If it fixes the issue I might update that tonight
Ah, yeah. I hav 343 as well. It's still an issue then
It's never been 100% issue and I haven't seen many folks with the bigger drives having the issue for whatever reason, but it's still in 343
I thought somebody said the new firmware fixed it, apparently they were one of the lucky ones. I'll keep my eye out on a new firmware fix.
Not sure this is the case. Their site says latest update was Nov. 1st. And I'm running the latest update... I still have the issue.
That being said, the SSD is amazing. I highly recommend it. The issue is now OWC specific but sandforce related.... it'll get fixed soon. For not just set sleep via idle off and you are set. I can shut my lid and sleep with no issues at all.
I just received mine today on firmware version 343, and it is NOT fixed. They also have yet to release a Mac firmware updater.
johnnyturbouk
macrumors 68000
im gonna wait till either the SF2000 comes out by OWC
or their is a massive plummet in price
i think i will not sell my 8wk old macbookpro.. will wait for the next gen macbook once OLED screens are available.. and by then sata3 may of become redundant!
or their is a massive plummet in price
i think i will not sell my 8wk old macbookpro.. will wait for the next gen macbook once OLED screens are available.. and by then sata3 may of become redundant!
Is anyone else waiting for the intel g3 SSDs? They have certainly been delayed forever... but I want the lower price for the additional space. I just can't bite at the current pricing structure.. it still seems very early-adopter to me.
Given the slow pace of developments with respect to a Mac-specific firmware updater for the current-gen OWC SSDs, I'm afraid we're going to get left behind once the SF2000-based drives get released. The current workaround (disabling sleep, disabling hibernation, etc) isn't really acceptable in the long run.
OWC will release their SSDs with the new SF-2000s controllers sometime in the next 3 months, so I'm sure SF will get something out by then, if not, there will be updates for the SF2000s series.
This is why I'm holding off from buying any SSD atm.
This is why I'm holding off from buying any SSD atm.
I have a 120GB from last September, not sure how to check the firmware. No issues in my 2010 i7. Been loving it.
The windows firmware updater, and the note about needing formatting the drive as MBR vs GUID doesn't make me happy. But I have no issues so I guess its not a big deal. I look forward to them working out an easier way to allow the majority of their customers to update the firmware.
The windows firmware updater, and the note about needing formatting the drive as MBR vs GUID doesn't make me happy. But I have no issues so I guess its not a big deal. I look forward to them working out an easier way to allow the majority of their customers to update the firmware.