Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

SSD only stable when external?

J

Jezthomp

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 6, 2010
77
0
Strange one this.

I have a Macbook Pro Late 08 4GB Ram 2.53 GHz

Bought a new OWC Mercury Extreme SSD.

First had these issues after installed internally, lots of spinning ball would not start up at all sometimes not the quickness you would expect from an SSD.

Anyway sent it back, they did all the updates checked everything and sent it back to me.

In the mean time i got an external enclosure with double usb power etc.

When i got the SSD i installed Mac OS on it externally got it upto where i needed all ok no problems at all.

Now once its back inside the Macbook Pro in the HD bay all the problems again.

Out to the external fine again.

So obviously not the SSD.

My normal HDD works fine inside the computer.

Any ideas?
 
Hellhammer said:
Sounds like it's the SSD. Call them again and ask for replacement.
Click to expand...

They said this...

If the drive is formatted and the OS is installed then there should be no issue. if the internal bus is having issues it very well could be that computer. I have not seen any issues with any other mac like this.
Click to expand...
 
If it works with the original HD, then it should be the SSD. Like they said, they nor I have seen this issue before, so quite hard to say
 
When you say there are no problems when it is in the external enclosure, do you mean you physically booted from the SSD while it was inside the enclosure?

Did the spinning wheel only come up after sleep/hibernation modes and right after you type your password in and hit ok/enter?

Which SATA revision do you have?
 
NickZac said:
When you say there are no problems when it is in the external enclosure, do you mean you physically booted from the SSD while it was inside the enclosure?

Did the spinning wheel only come up after sleep/hibernation modes and right after you type your password in and hit ok/enter?

Which SATA revision do you have?
Click to expand...

Yes, booted externally.

I told the start up disk to use the SSD in the external enclosure, no issues whats so ever.

The spinning wheel would come up after a few moments of just using Safari for example after turning the computer on. If it even started up at all, sometimes would take an age (doesn't when in the external enclosure)

How do i check the SATA revision?

The plot thickens though.

I thought i would throw it into my mrs's old white macbook from late 06 i think, only 2gb ram and a less processer power obviously than my MBP. Started up and trying this reply with it inside the machine, no problem whats so ever.

So its defiantly not the SSD otherwise i would be having issues in another computer.

What the hell could it be... :(
 
If it does that, then SATA revision is probably irrelevant and it isn't revision related; but what it is, I have no idea. The fact that it runs the HDD but not the SSD is perhaps the most baffling thing I have ever read :confused::confused::confused::confused::confused:
 
Macs have some issues with Sandforce based SSDs, which you have.

There is an entire thread discussing this. In it I have a post of some things I did that may help.
 
If it was SandForce related it would have issues in the older MacBook as well wouldn't it?
 
Still going strong in the older white Macbook.

How nice for me to put it back in my MBP and it work the same :(

Very very odd.

Had issues with the Vertex 2 first, so done all the sandforce fw research.

I dont think i'll bother with any other type as the drive will be fine its just my computer that doesn't like them.

If it still fails i'll eBay it i reckon :(
 
Oh Sandy Bridge is the next Intel processor platform. I thought it was some chick initially.:)
 
I hate to ask but are you sure it is a late 2008 and not a 2009? If it is a 2009 then you need to roll back the firmware as the firmware update messed up many machines using 3rd party drives. The 1.7 firmware update was suppose to turn on Sata 300, but it seemed to not work very well. The only way around it was to roll the firmware back to 1.6 and which enables the SATA at only 150. It sounds like this could be your problem, as my 2009 2.53 behaved in a similar way when I changed the hard drive. I am not sure if the 2008s had the same problem.
 
Last edited:
MBHockey said:
Why does every SSD except intel's seem to have problems with Macs?
Click to expand...

OWC has far fewer issues than Intel minus the sleep issue. It is the highest rated SSD that will work in a Mac by far. Intel however does make a great, but outdated, SSD.

If it was the firmware, I would imagine it would have the same issue when being used via USB. The 2009 will run Sata2 (300MB/s).
 
have you tried using it in a different machine?
or maximising its speeds?
try putting it in an esata encolsiure or firewire.
 
sydenham said:
I hate to ask but are you sure it is a late 2008 and not a 2009? If it is a 2009 then you need to roll back the firmware as the firmware update messed up many machines using 3rd party drives. The 1.7 firmware update was suppose to turn on Sata 300, but it seemed to not work very well. The only way around it was to roll the firmware back to 1.6 and which enables the SATA at only 150. It sounds like this could be your problem, as my 2009 2.53 behaved in a similar way when I changed the hard drive. I am not sure if the 2008s had the same problem.
Click to expand...

It is defiantly late 08 MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2008)

Serial no: W8846AE01GN checked here

How do i check what firmware i currently have?

Still working fine in a White MacBook (13-inch Late 2006)

Mulo still in this White Macbook and fine, still works fine in the MBP in an external enclose, not tried again inside...
 
NickZac said:
OWC has far fewer issues than Intel minus the sleep issue. It is the highest rated SSD that will work in a Mac by far. Intel however does make a great, but outdated, SSD.

If it was the firmware, I would imagine it would have the same issue when being used via USB. The 2009 will run Sata2 (300MB/s).
Click to expand...

OWC has far fewer issues than intel? What reliability issues do Intel SSDs have with Macs? Please elaborate.

I have owned a G2 intel for a year and am not aware of any. The two other SSDs i've tried (OCZ Vertex and OWC) both had the sleep problem. Sure, their sequential write times were faster on benchmarks, but hardly noticeable in real life.
 
People have had issues with the X-25 here and their. The amount of people here who have the OWC in Mac's is far greater than Intel and so if we factor in the problems compared to the amount of users, then OWC has the least thus far. I am working on a spreadsheet on this actually. Thus far, OCZ has had the most.

Now, if we factor in the sleep issue, then Intel has far fewer problems than any as does the current Kingston as it is also an Intel X-25.
 
Might be that the ssd is sata 2 and ur mac only has sata 1... I bet its that.. Cause if ut works in an enclosure through usb... Its that. Iam almost sure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
freddy-b said:
Might be that the ssd is sata 2 and ur mac only has sata 1... I bet its that.. Cause if ut works in an enclosure through usb... Its that. Iam almost sure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
SATA 2 drives should be backward compatible with SATA 1. If you recall the 2009 MBPs came out of the box with only SATA 1 enabled, and Apple put out a FW update to reenable SATA2. But they shipped with DATA 2 drives.
 
NickZac said:
f it was the firmware, I would imagine it would have the same issue when being used via USB. The 2009 will run Sata2 (300MB/s).
Click to expand...

No. The firmware is for the computer and therefore affects the internal SATA. The USB enclosure isn't running off the computer's SATA firmware. Even if it were, USB can't even do 50MB/sec, so why would it bother to support 300MB/sec SATA instead of just sticking with 150MB/sec SATA?
 
Jezthomp said:
How do i check the SATA revision?:(
Click to expand...
Check out this long thread https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/729883/ about the 2009 issue and the firmware version.
My 2009 MBP has the #1.7 firmware: you can find your's in the Apple menu/More info, see: Boot ROM Version: MBP53.00AC.B03
The B03 indicates version 1.7, and if I remember correctly B02 was 1.6. Not sure about that, but the info is in the thread above somewhere as is information on rolling back to the prior version (Apple can do this for you if you ask). Of course that may not even be the cause of your issues.
I saw another thread that suggested turning off the SMS for the HD (soory forgot the terminal command for that).
It also suggested using the SmartSLeep preference pane to disable hibernation and use Sleep only, to solve issues with SSD drives.
 
Thanks for the suggestion guys.

My.... Boot ROM Version: MBP51.007E.B05

Can i upgrade the SATA to 2 if it is indeed still 1..

Tried turning the sms motion sensor and the hibernation off even though never had issues with the sleep aspect and still no good.

The rest of my MBP's info... obviously with my normal HDD in it, the SSD is still working fine in the mrs's Macbook, shes not keeping it though!

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.53 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP51.007E.B05
SMC Version (system): 1.33f8
Serial Number (system): W8846AE01GN
Hardware UUID: 9620C89D-948E-54D5-A36F-54987346C700
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back