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OWC Worth It?

The vast majority of 13" and 15" 2011 MacBook Pros have no issues with 6G Link reliability we have a dozen or so and 100% are A-OK 6G

The 17" MBP 2011 is a different story.. We have a couple that are perfect with 6G, including one that benefited from a shielding solution... and another half dozen that are from complete crap with any 6G to those that are not 100% - but pretty close to.. Luck of the draw with 17"... The most recent unit to come into our lab today was at the bottom of the back, total lock up with 6G.

So - if you have a 17" that's working well with 6G - congrats. 🙂


Philflow said:
Crucial M4 with firmware 2 and Vertex 3 worked flawless in my MBP 2011. This seems to be the experience of many people.
Click to expand...
 
If you actually went to our site and looked at our 6G SSD listings, you'd see that we have a substantial call out on all of our 6G models concerning problems with Apple's 6G link on the 17" Models.

Please - look at the description of any OWC 6G SSD. the compatibility tab is the default display tab and we call out the 17" as well as a bug in the 2008 5,1 model's chipset which limits 6G drives to 1.5G instead of 3G.

examples:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSDEX6G120/
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSDMX6G480/
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSDMX6G240T/

🙂

We have also publicly discussed this issue for about three months via our blog as well.

IMHO, it's embarrassing to have a flagship 17" laptop that can sell for as much as $3000 to have this kind of problem and leave it unresolved. If this were a PC, there would be no mercy. Further, based on initial actions of actually buying some of the units with their 6G drives (two systems with our SSD inside that we know Apple bought back computer and the drive with it as part of the deal), I am pretty confident that this was some kind of unintentional oversight, whatever is causing the problem.

Apple also doesn't support 6G in the iMac 2011 either.... but clearly they want to see people brag about the top end numbers you get with 6G. Why would I say that? the 2011 iMac shipped initially with all links limited to 3G. Then, about a week later, they enabled the 6G link speeds via the two 6G capable ports - via an EFI update. They didn't say anything about that either. 🙂

Weaselboy said:
I appreciate you coming here and answering questions, but the comment you make here is where I have a bit of trouble with OWC.

SATA III in the 2011 Macs is not supported by Apple and you just acknowledged here you are aware of certain 2011 machines that are more prone to SATA III problems, yet this information is not disclosed to potential customers on the OWC product website. A customer coming to your site looking for an SSD for their Mac is going to see statements about all the great speeds from the new 6G drives you sell and of course be drawn to this, while being completely unaware there are known problems with SATA III drives in 2011 Mac hardware.

Full disclosure of all these issues on the main site would be more forthcoming to the consumer IMO.

To be fair, no other vendor I know of is disclosing these problems either, but they are not touting themselves as Mac specialists who have tested on current Mac hardware.

Saying you have a generous exchange policy if these drives don't work is nice, but that is just avoiding the real problem.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
I think its worth it. I got a OWC drive 2 months ago and I have had zero problems with it. As long as a company stands behind their product I don't see a reason to worry about it. Any hardware or drive you buy can fail. If at some point they had repeated failures and didn't stand behind their warranty, then I'd be wary. I placed my order and got it next day. Service was good and I'd buy again.
 
The Mac Firmware update utility will propel OWC into the forefront of Mac SSD purchases.

One question; When?

Soon(tm) just doesn't cut it.
 
Started limited testing with customers in the field about two weeks ago. Planning to release before end of month for user download.

Locodice said:
The Mac Firmware update utility will propel OWC into the forefront of Mac SSD purchases.

One question; When?

Soon(tm) just doesn't cut it.
Click to expand...
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

OWC Larry said:
Started limited testing with customers in the field about two weeks ago. Planning to release before end of month for user download.

Locodice said:
The Mac Firmware update utility will propel OWC into the forefront of Mac SSD purchases.

One question; When?

Soon(tm) just doesn't cut it.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Good to get a set timeline. This may be the deal breaker for me when purchasing a SSD.
 
OWC Larry said:
Started limited testing with customers in the field about two weeks ago. Planning to release before end of month for user download.
Click to expand...

i swear owc said this when i copped my 1st owc back in nov/dec?
Tech support said to me that a mac specific f/w updater was in final testing and should be out soon (approx 1 month)................still waiting 🙄

i have the owc= mercury extreme sata 2 3gb/s and the drive has been rock solid, zero issues. Not bothered to update f/w as everything is working as it should be. Lucky for me as i have a win 7 on bootcamp and also a windowze pc
 
Didnt read the whole thread but I just ordered my third OWC mercury extreme pro 6g today for a new mbp 15" in 2.2 and I could not be happier with the performance, reliability, and customer service, not to mention the 5 year warranty.

Great company and products
 
Philflow said:
Sandforce SSDs only reach those quoted speeds with 0 fill data, which is unrealistic.

With real world data their performance is lower.

Here's a 120GB Vertex 3:
Image
source: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=6161&review=ocz+vertex+3+120gb

Here's a 128GB Crucial M4
Image
source: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=6152
Click to expand...
My OWC 6G SSD on AJA (Also running my install of Lion):
Code: 
  I/O Transactions
  Frame     MB/sec
           Read      Write      
00.0      251.5      486.9      
01.0      366.2      489.5      
02.0      474.3      498.1      
03.0      478.3      511.8      
04.0      486.2      508.6      
05.0      474.9      503.5      
06.0      478.8      481.5      
07.0      479.0      487.3      
08.0      488.7      497.3      
09.0      481.1      494.5      
10.0      482.2      503.1      
11.0      484.1      514.1      
12.0      483.9      514.6      
13.0      480.3      496.7      
14.0      485.7      498.3      
15.0      483.4      494.1      
16.0      482.2      496.0      
17.0      485.1      511.4      
18.0      490.7      522.2      
19.0      481.2      504.6      
20.0      480.3      320.2      
21.0      482.6      492.6      
22.0      478.5      510.1      
23.0      478.8      498.5      
24.0      481.6      497.3      
25.0      489.3      516.1      
26.0      483.6      503.7      
27.0      483.3      498.0      
28.0      482.1      497.0      
29.0      477.7      496.5      
30.0      482.3      495.5      
31.0      488.3      513.8      
32.0      474.8      505.5      
33.0      483.7      496.9      
34.0      475.7      309.5      
35.0      487.8      418.7      
36.0      480.8      492.5      
37.0      484.3      491.7      
38.0      481.9      493.0      
39.0      477.4      497.9      
40.0      476.9      495.5      
41.0      478.2      494.8      
42.0      478.6      494.0      
43.0      476.4      499.5      
44.0      490.5      498.0      
45.0      481.9      500.0      
46.0      484.0      506.7      
47.0      478.8      511.8      
48.0      473.2      316.1      
49.0      480.2      498.6      
50.0      480.3      493.6      
51.0      470.8      499.7      
52.0      488.8      490.3      
53.0      482.2      419.6      
54.0      479.1      496.6      
55.0      479.4      497.3      
56.0      475.8      496.7      
57.0      486.9      517.9      
58.0      488.8      510.9      
59.0      485.5      498.9      
60.0      485.9      493.3      
61.0      480.4      304.3      
62.0      484.4      483.5      
63.0      479.8      495.5      
64.0      479.7      491.0      
65.0      488.7      515.3      
66.0      479.7      503.3      
67.0      473.3      495.8      
68.0      478.4      493.3      
69.0      477.4      494.3      
70.0      489.3      490.3      
71.0      476.1      511.1      
72.0      481.9      505.5      
73.0      481.2      497.1      
74.0      483.7      497.5      
75.0      487.2      310.1      
76.0      488.3      496.2      
77.0      490.3      498.0      
78.0      481.0      489.7      
79.0      483.6      501.3      
80.0      482.2      511.4      
81.0      475.1      495.5      
82.0      483.8      495.5      
83.0      490.6      494.9      
84.0      484.5      513.7      
85.0      479.1      514.5      
86.0      477.6      511.7      
87.0      483.1      513.0      
88.0      466.9      503.8      
89.0      475.0      314.7      
90.0      483.9      497.6      
91.0      481.9      496.6      
92.0      474.0      508.7      
93.0      488.4      514.5      
94.0      480.7      496.5      
95.0      478.6      491.8      
96.0      479.3      495.4      
97.0      486.1      507.9      
98.0      490.6      510.5      
99.0      482.1      505.5      
100.0      477.9      509.1      
101.0      484.7      515.4      
102.0      476.8      315.7      
103.0      483.9      491.0      
104.0      486.6      495.6      
105.0      478.9      495.6      
106.0      478.8      508.8      
107.0      480.9      500.3      
108.0      475.8      496.4      
109.0      477.7      497.9      
110.0      481.8      496.7      
111.0      484.8      502.6      
112.0      481.3      510.9      
113.0      483.0      504.5      
114.0      479.3      495.3      
115.0      488.8      494.3      
116.0      483.5      176.7      
117.0      482.8      495.4      
118.0      480.2      495.7      
119.0      481.5      490.9      
120.0      483.1      495.6      
121.0      484.4      465.6      
122.0      483.3      496.5      
123.0      475.9      504.8      
124.0      479.0      510.2      
125.0      484.6      507.0      
126.0      481.7      505.3      
127.0      480.1      509.7      
128.0      484.2      497.3      
129.0      483.2      491.5      
130.0      484.8      315.1      
131.0      485.3      496.9      
132.0      488.2      498.8      
133.0      478.5      491.5      
134.0      481.8      496.1      
135.0      485.0      495.4      
136.0      481.8      495.9      
137.0      483.6      517.4      
138.0      493.5      526.2      
139.0      486.9      505.4      
140.0      487.6      513.4      
141.0      482.8      504.0      
142.0      486.2      491.6      
143.0      477.2      311.3      
144.0      482.8      494.5      
145.0      482.1      491.6      
146.0      499.1      507.9      
147.0      482.6      509.5      
148.0      478.8      498.3      
149.0      487.8      498.2      
150.0      489.5      492.7      
151.0      490.9      494.5      
152.0      471.4      497.2      
153.0      490.3      509.7      
154.0      479.8      514.9      
155.0      488.8      494.2      
156.0      466.1      494.6      
157.0      503.2      309.2      
158.0      478.8      501.6      
159.0      484.9      513.5      
160.0      486.8      497.5      
161.0      509.3      500.6      
162.0      486.3      501.5      
163.0      475.8      493.6      
164.0      495.4      513.7      
165.0      493.3      528.5      
166.0      478.3      500.0      
167.0      479.7      507.5      
168.0      507.5      508.1      
169.0      494.3      497.4      
170.0      477.6      491.3      
171.0      488.2      307.2      
172.0      512.9      491.1      
173.0      493.3      495.8      
174.0      483.5      492.5      
175.0      497.5      491.3      
176.0      508.7      495.9      
177.0      481.2      499.7      
178.0      482.2      512.4      
179.0      511.1      506.9      
180.0      510.1      505.6      
181.0      483.1      516.2      
182.0      484.5      499.7      
183.0      510.1      497.1      
184.0      490.6      308.8      
185.0      479.4      495.6      
186.0      505.7      491.8      
187.0      515.8      492.0      
188.0      496.6      492.7      
189.0      474.4      494.9      
190.0      507.9      492.8      
191.0      516.3      513.4      
192.0      484.6      523.5      
193.0      494.7      503.9      
194.0      513.7      492.0      
195.0      506.9      500.1      
196.0      479.5      493.3      
197.0      500.0      493.2      
198.0      512.6      311.8      
199.0      494.5      505.4      
200.0      490.7      515.4      
201.0      512.4      495.1      
202.0      515.1      500.2      
203.0      497.7      492.9      
204.0      484.7      496.5      
205.0      513.3      491.7      
206.0      515.2      492.5      
207.0      489.1      501.3      
208.0      506.3      515.9      
209.0      513.8      500.8      
210.0      509.8      492.2      
211.0      485.5      494.7      
212.0      509.2      312.5      
213.0      509.7      514.3      
214.0      505.7      506.0      
215.0      497.3      499.0      
216.0      514.6      494.1      
217.0      513.9      494.3      
218.0      498.6      506.9      
219.0      503.1      514.7      
220.0      513.5      504.5      
221.0      512.7      496.9      
222.0      495.2      494.9      
223.0      511.0      497.5      
224.0      512.3      493.4      
225.0      513.1      313.1      
226.0      502.3      502.0      
227.0      516.7      492.2      
228.0      514.4      495.6      
229.0      512.4      497.1      
230.0      511.9      491.6      
231.0      511.3      495.1      
232.0      511.9      513.8      
233.0      511.3      521.2      
234.0      511.1      502.2      
235.0      512.9      509.1      
236.0      514.0      501.2      
237.0      513.8      493.0      
238.0      511.2      493.5      
239.0      512.6      307.6      
240.0      510.1      497.2      
241.0      513.0      508.9
 
...

I had two of these drives, the first failed in less than a week and the second failed in slightly over a month. By failed I mean that it crashed the system and could not be located on reboot both times. They replaced the first one, the second one I demanded my money back. I would rather have a slower intel drive than one of these personally. I have a time capsule so I didn't lose all of my data but it still was a huge pain restoring it all back. It was faster than the stock hdd but for what an average person does on the computer it isn't THAT noticeable. Everything is more responsive but in general macs are very responsive as it is
 
Macsavvytech said:
My OWC 6G SSD on AJA (Also running my install of Lion):
Code: 
  I/O Transactions
  Frame     MB/sec
           Read      Write      
00.0      251.5      486.9      
01.0      366.2      489.5      
02.0      474.3      498.1      
03.0      478.3      511.8      
04.0      486.2      508.6      
05.0      474.9      503.5      
06.0      478.8      481.5      
07.0      479.0      487.3      
08.0      488.7      497.3      
09.0      481.1      494.5      
10.0      482.2      503.1...
Click to expand...

What's your point? I have an OWC V3 that screams, but these numbers mean nothing. To me, the only reason to buy a SATA iii drive is when it is comparably priced to a SATAii and doesn't ************ up my mac. Otherwise, there is very little practical difference between a drive that gets these numbers and one that gets half these numbers. The difference is barely noticeable, if at all.
 
Macsavvytech said:
My OWC 6G SSD on AJA (Also running my install of Lion):
[/CODE]
Click to expand...
I think AJA is another test that uses easily compressible data.

I'm not saying Sandforce drives aren't fast but the differences with other SATA III driver are smaller then these synthetic benchmarks show.
 
Last edited:
I would skip OWC...

I have an 240GB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro I bought in December of 2010 to go along with my mid-2010 MBP.

It has issues that are just annoying. If the computer goes to sleep by itself it will not come out of hibernation. It will come on and get halfway through the resume sequence with the little bars on the bottom and then it just stops. Has been doing this since day one...and have been promised the firmware update software since then too. This issue does not appear when using the factory installed drive.

Also when using the OWC I see more kernal panics then I have ever seen with any of my previous mac's.

Honestly the OWC's might be fast but they don't seem to have any answers to fix problems.

Next time I will just get the SSD from Apple, at least they wont keep promising me a firmware update for seven months.
 
Wait...OWC causing a big scene over something, then failing to back it up? Never seen this happen before :roll eyes:

If they show up with their Mac updater, great. But I take everything they say with a grain of salt since the pissing match they started with OCZ and everyone else about the 34nm/Tier One/Whatever fiasco several months ago.
 
I'm actually quite happy with my Vertex 3 MI. No issues at all so far. Updating the firmware on this thing is a PIA though. Would probably have bought an OWC 6G if they were available were I live.
The Vertex 3 MI is one of the few 6G drives which uses 3Xnm NAND. Words out that 3Xnm NAND can take significantly more write cycles than 2Xnm NAND.
 
johnnyturbouk said:
i swear owc said this when i copped my 1st owc back in nov/dec?
Tech support said to me that a mac specific f/w updater was in final testing and should be out soon (approx 1 month)................still waiting 🙄

i have the owc= mercury extreme sata 2 3gb/s and the drive has been rock solid, zero issues. Not bothered to update f/w as everything is working as it should be. Lucky for me as i have a win 7 on bootcamp and also a windowze pc
Click to expand...

August 2, and still no Mac firmware updater. I was hopping they stand behind its words. 🙁
 
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