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

Action

macrumors member
Original poster
May 1, 2008
76
0
The 128gb Toshiba SSD in my 2012 MBA failed this morning. I dropped it off at the Apple Store to get it replaced. I was wondering if it's possible to tell what brand the replacement SSD is based on the work order (otherwise, we'll see when I actually get it back):

661-7297 - Card, Solid State Drive, 128 GB-SM

Does that SM at the end mean Samsung? Or is it unrelated?
 
^^^^The SM was on the repair order. He doesn't have his machine back yet. Too soon to tell what drive her will be getting until he gets the machine back and checks.

See this post from another member:

I voiced my concern to the Genius about replacing the failed SSD with another unit that could potentially belly up in a year or so. I asked him if it was possible to upgrade now with a higher capacity Samsung SSD, for which I would be willing to pay the difference, and he said the firmware wouldn't support it. I referenced this thread and he said he would note it in the repair order but without a replacement program from corporate, he could only authorize a straight swap under warranty. i.e. 128GB Toshiba/Sandforce SSD. Fair enough. He estimated 3 - 5 days for the repair.

Apparently Apple is only authorizing replacement drives of the same make and capacity. The firmware argument is just plain silly.

Lou
 
^^^^Great!!!!!! You're one of the lucky ones, most of the replacements I have been reading about in these threads are replaced with the same crappy Toshiba/Sandforce unit.

Lou
 
Might be picking up a pair of airs for the wife and myself. If they are to shiva (ipad correction for Toshiba, haha), should I try to bring them back within the 14 days? Keep rolling the dice in new ones?
 
Might be picking up a pair of airs for the wife and myself. If they are to shiva (ipad correction for Toshiba, haha), should I try to bring them back within the 14 days? Keep rolling the dice in new ones?

If you are buying a new 2013 Air, they are not using the Toshiba drive being discussed here, so you should be in good shape.
 
If you are buying a new 2013 Air, they are not using the Toshiba drive being discussed here, so you should be in good shape.

Apple is indeed using Toshiba on the newer Air models (mid 2013), but it is less common. Samsung and SanDisk are very common.
 
^^^^No Kidding:mad: I thought they had abandoned them. I have seen no posts here with anyone reporting that they have one.

Lou
 
Apple is indeed using Toshiba on the newer Air models (mid 2013), but it is less common. Samsung and SanDisk are very common.

I have never seen a post here or anywhere else from someone on a 2013 MBA with a Toshiba/Sandforce drive. Do you have a link to such a post?
 
I have never seen a post here or anywhere else from someone on a 2013 MBA with a Toshiba/Sandforce drive. Do you have a link to such a post?

I'll make a new post just to convince you it's true :D

I bought a new 2013 11-inch MacBook Air 2 days ago and it has a 256GB Toshiba SSD. The drive's name says, "APPLE SSD TS0256F." I don't see any reference to this drive other than on the Japanese 2ch, so I'm willing to bet it was introduced very recently (i.e. September). I'm not about to tear this thing open and look at the all-important controller being used, so I can't say for sure if it's using a Sandforce controller, though it's quite likely that it is. It looks like it can do about 700MB/s read and 500MB/s write, which is probably slower than the Samsung SSD's floating around, but not by much.
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot 2013-10-05 14.24.55.png
    Screenshot 2013-10-05 14.24.55.png
    86.9 KB · Views: 254
I'll make a new post just to convince you it's true :D

I bought a new 2013 11-inch MacBook Air 2 days ago and it has a 256GB Toshiba SSD. The drive's name says, "APPLE SSD TS0256F." I don't see any reference to this drive other than on the Japanese 2ch, so I'm willing to bet it was introduced very recently (i.e. September). I'm not about to tear this thing open and look at the all-important controller being used, so I can't say for sure if it's using a Sandforce controller, though it's quite likely that it is. It looks like it can do about 700MB/s read and 500MB/s write, which is probably slower than the Samsung SSD's floating around, but not by much.

I hope somebody looks this one up soon as I would return that machine if I were you if Toshiba has continued to use Sandforce controllers.
 
^^^^I googled it, and could only find Asian pages which I had translated. I THINK they said the dries had Samsung controllers with Toshiba SSDs.

Lou
 
^^^^I googled it, and could only find Asian pages which I had translated. I THINK they said the dries had Samsung controllers with Toshiba SSDs.

Lou

Well that's good. That would make sense if the complaints people have been having actually made it to someone within Toshiba. I'll just assume it's true and buy AppleCare next year if I'm still not entirely convinced this computer will be with me for the long haul.
 
I'll make a new post just to convince you it's true :D

I bought a new 2013 11-inch MacBook Air 2 days ago and it has a 256GB Toshiba SSD. The drive's name says, "APPLE SSD TS0256F." I don't see any reference to this drive other than on the Japanese 2ch, so I'm willing to bet it was introduced very recently (i.e. September). I'm not about to tear this thing open and look at the all-important controller being used, so I can't say for sure if it's using a Sandforce controller, though it's quite likely that it is. It looks like it can do about 700MB/s read and 500MB/s write, which is probably slower than the Samsung SSD's floating around, but not by much.

Thanks for the post. The failing Toshibas in the 2012s were all 128GB models, so hopefully these new 256GB 2013 models use a different controller.
 
Most likely the 2013 Toshiba SSD's are using their in-house hybrid Toshiba/Marvell(thankfully not Sandforce!) controller as perusing through their latest SSD offerings are being powered by this controller.
 
I have never seen a post here or anywhere else from someone on a 2013 MBA with a Toshiba/Sandforce drive. Do you have a link to such a post?

I work for an Apple authorized repair center. Toshiba SSDs are using a different controller than prev model.
 
I work for an Apple authorized repair center. Toshiba SSDs are using a different controller than prev model.

Are you 100% sure about this? Can you tell which controller it has? I'm really worried.. I had the Sandisk on my first Air but it had display issues.. Now on the new one I have the 128GB Toshiba :/.
 
I'll make a new post just to convince you it's true :D

I bought a new 2013 11-inch MacBook Air 2 days ago and it has a 256GB Toshiba SSD. The drive's name says, "APPLE SSD TS0256F." I don't see any reference to this drive other than on the Japanese 2ch, so I'm willing to bet it was introduced very recently (i.e. September). I'm not about to tear this thing open and look at the all-important controller being used, so I can't say for sure if it's using a Sandforce controller, though it's quite likely that it is. It looks like it can do about 700MB/s read and 500MB/s write, which is probably slower than the Samsung SSD's floating around, but not by much.

When did you buy it? You have to open it up and tell us what chipset it's using. This is the first time I'm hearing or seeing a Toshiba SSD in a 2013 Macbook Air. The good news is that Toshiba is using a Marvell Controller for is PCIe SSD drives that I've seen. Good Luck, and OPEN HER UP!
 
When my 2012 MBA inevitably fails due to having that piece of **** Toshiba SSD, I'm going to tell them to make sure I don't get the same one on the replacement or I'll expect a brand new MBA the next time it fails.
 
Well you will need to understand the fact that it is an issue with hardware compatibility between Toshiba & Apple. It is very much obvious that the same sandforce controllers with other OEMs are not faulty!
 
Well you will need to understand the fact that it is an issue with hardware compatibility between Toshiba & Apple. It is very much obvious that the same sandforce controllers with other OEMs are not faulty!

Welcome back. We have missed all your posts telling us how there is never anything wrong with Sandforce products.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.