If you’ve been reading the OWC Blog for the past few months, you’re probably well aware of the problems that 2011 MacBook Pros were having with 6.0Gb/s SATA performance. If you’re not familiar with it, the short form is that in many 17″ 2011 MacBook Pros (and some 15″ and 13″ as well) had problems with SATA 3.0 Revision SSDs such as the Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G—through no fault of the SSD— resulting in spotty performance, beach ball timeout delays, and even complete failure to recognize SATA 3.0 6Gb/s SSDs at all.
Well, if you ran Software Update this morning, MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.2 appears to be the answer. Nearly seven months after these machines first became available, all indications are that we can now reliably count on taking full advantage of the 6Gb/s capability provided.
Apple has somewhat dodged giving any direct response on the issue itself, but this long awaited solution just happens to be there in this update with the official description on Apple’s support site only mentioning the update as addressing Lion Internet Recovery and Thunderbolt. We are very thankful and excited to see the ‘quiet’ fix for 6Gb/s SATA 3.0 main bay drive reliability as a further benefit of this update.
Very important points though concerning the optical bay. #1 – if your MacBook Pro 2011 model currently has SATA 2.0 3Gb/s reported for your optical bay max link speed, this EFI update does not change that to SATA 3.0 6Gb/s. It really makes no difference for the optical drive, but if you wish to add an additional 9.5mm hard drive or SSD with a product such as our Data Doubler, you can continue to do so with pretty much any 3G or 6G drive of your choosing.
#2 – For those with a MacBook Pro 15″ or 17″ model that has SATA 3.0 6Gb/s link capability reported, it is very important to note that this EFI update does not appear to have resolved reliability of using a 6Gb/s drive in the optical bay. If you have a 6Gb/s optical drive bay connnection and are using a product like our Data Doubler, we still recommend only using a SATA 2.0 3Gb/s drive in that bay. MacBook Pro 13″ owners who find 6Gb/s links in their optical bay are not experiencing issues with 6Gb/s drives and this update doesn’t affect that usage.
Our testing has included multiple models of the 2011 MacBook Pro models and using the highest performing OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G and Mercury Electra 6G SSDs. From this testing, we are confident today that Apple has now, by and large, resolved the issues with 6Gb/s drives where issues were being experienced with said drives in the Main Bay/standard drive location. We will continue to review possible solutions for the optical bay, as 15″ and 17″ owners may be rightly jealous of the near 1GB (1000MB/s) data rates currently achievable in MacBook Pro 13″ models with two OWC 6G SSDs in a RAID 0 configuration.
Here are a pair of “before & after” benchmark tests with an OWC SSD in the main drive bay, which show the elimination of the performance inconsistencies after applying the update.
Further testing is being done to confirm this resolution on other 2011 MacBook Pros and we’ll post the result of those findings in an update as well as possible further benefits relating to this under OS 10.7 vs. 10.6.8.
In the meantime, if you’ve been frustrated with how your 2011 MacBook Pro has behaved with a 6Gb/s SATA 3.0 drive to this point, it looks like your system is a “lemon no more”. Now you can enjoy unleashed performance by installing an OWC 6G SSD into the main drive bay of a 2011 MacBook Pro. The SATA 3.0 6Gb/s potential that has been tantalizingly close for so long is denied no longer!
I have a Macbook Pro 13″ (early 2011) . I bought the OWC Mercury Electra SSD 6G 120GB. I have placed it in the hard drive and it can’t be recognized. I have updated the EFI to 2.3 and still the SATA connector can not recognize it. However, when i boot it through USB enclosure, it works.
That is indication of a text book bad cable. With little doubt it is the actual SATA cable that goes from the logic board to the bay for connecting the drive that is flawed. It’s relatively rare, but wide spread enough that was easy to document. The 13″ units rarely had issues pre-EFI and when they did, pretty much always was a bad sata cable. Replacing the cable should resolve the issue.
Hello Larry.
Can you please explain how the cable can be replaced? Is it covered by Apple’s warranty?
Thanks -
Abady
The cable can be purchased from some online sources… but ideally, if your local Apple store has a good team – they should cover you under warranty. The latter is hit or miss because Apple still has no official support for SATA 3.0 drives and technically can decline on the cable replacement if its working with a 3Gb/s SATA 2.0 drive… Most customers have reported success though with their local Apple store or independent authorized dealers and only a few reported having to seek out the solution themselves. This whole saga has been frustrating for all.
This looks like it will be very challenging – as I live in Dubai, UAE.
I am wondering if keeping the old hard drive in it’s main bay and instead connecting the Mercury Exreme Pro 6G in the optical bay (using the data doubler), would this resolve the problem and my device recognize the SSD? – knowing that I own MBP 13″ (early 2011).
Thanks
Hey guys – amazing site. Great to see such detailed advice. I’ve ordered a 15″ MBP with the apple SSD. I want to add a 1TB drive in the optical bay. I plan to run my OS and apps on the SSD and data on the HDD. I’ve read your reports of issues with SATA III drives in the optical bay. I understand that this could cause issues using the 2 drives as a single volume (RAID 0). How about if I use them as separate volumes and create symbolic links where necessary to redirect folders? Should I avoid putting a SATA III drive in the optical bay in this configuration? Do you guys have an outlet in the UK?
Thanks,
EQLZR
Any 6Gb/s drive (SSD or platter-based) is not suggested for use in the optical bay of the 15″ MacBook Pro. However, 3Gb/s drives should work just fine. The SSD that Apple uses is a 3Gb/s drive, so your best bet would be to install that SSD into the optical bay as your boot and app drive, and install your 1.0TB drive in the main bay. This way, you get the added benefit of the SMS sensor to help protect the platter-based drive from bumps or sudden drops.
We don’t have any additional OWC locations, although many resellers do carry some of all of our product line and we do ship worldwide.
Here’s my problem. Brand new Macbook Pro, 17″, latest version, etc., etc. Have the 6G OWC drive installed. EFI version is 2.3.
Having sporadic problems — intensive disk activity will cause a complete lock-up that requires a hard restart.
Disappointed. Will probably go back to a 3G version. Does OWC offer refunds?
The OWC SSDs do come with a 30-Day, No Hassle, Money Back Guarantee.
How do we manually reinstall the EFI update? Thanks
Ryan
Rather than using Software Update, you can download the installer from Apple and run the EFI Updater that way.
Is it possible to place a 3G SSD into a 2008 MacBook (version MacBook 4,1) and get 3G speeds? I read online that the firmware doesnt support it even though the hardware technically could (so it’s capped at 1.5Gbps). The bottleneck comes from the optical drive, which would choke under faster speeds (I am guessing based on what I read). Can I hack it by installing a newer optical drive and get SATA 2 speeds in my 2008 macbook?
I just ordered an early 2011 MBP 13″ and an OWC data doubler set. First off, can you please confirm that I can use 6G reliably? Also, I am understanding that in the 13″ I have the option to place the SSD in either the standard disc port or the optical bay and still get 6G speeds. Right?
I am hoping I could take the optical drive out of the new MBP, place the 6G SSD into the MBP optical bay using the data doubler, put the free optical drive from the MBP into the 2008 MacBook (and put the old optical drive into the external holder you sell), replace the MacBook HD with a 3G SSD, do a “magic” firmware upgrade on the 2008 MacBook, and get SATA 2 speeds.
What do you think?
The 2008 MacBook (version MacBook 4,1) has a 1.5Gb/s hard drive bus so speeds would be limited to SATA Revision 1.0 speeds. The optical drive interface is an Ultra ATA/100 so there isn’t a way to install a SATA optical drive. The connections are different.
The 2011 MBP 13″ models have not had any issues that we’ve observed in using SATA Revision 3.0 (6Gb/s) drives reliably in either bay – assuming you have a model that supports 6Gb/s in the optical bay. Check your system preferences to make sure.
I may be your first customer with a MacBook Pro 2011 13″ where the 6G SSD won’t work in the optical bay. After fiddling for hours I finally gave up and put it in the main bay with the HD in the optical bay. Everything works great. I got this from the refurbished apple store, just received it but it’s an early 2011 MBP. Both SATA are 6Gb/s speed, intel version 6, and all the software is up to date, etc. so I am a little perplexed. All the firmware is up to date.
just to be direct because i am new to this tech stuff. i want to buy a new macbook pro 15″ next week and i want to take the optical drive out and put in a ssd. should i do this? or can i put the drive that came with the mac where the optical drive is and the ssd in where the original drive was?
what products do i need to buy from owc so that i can do this my self?
thanks
robert
Hi Robert and no problem being both new and direct. Will answer succinctly so it’s easy to understand.
Yes…you can take out the optical and replace with Data Doubler:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DDAMBS0GB/
BUT…PLS note the special information at the bottom of that page. The 15″ and 17″ MBPs do have issues with ANY SSD…
You would need to put the SSD in the main drive bay and then move the factory hard drive via the Data Doubler into the optical bay.
Hello,
I have a sata2 Corsair SSD that I would like to upgrade with your mercury extreme pro 6G. Right now ,my ssd is in the main bay and my mbp HDD is in the optical bay.
Does my system info window show 6G but 3G actual speed because my SSD is 3G only or simply because my early 2001 MBP can’t read/write with 6G speed?
thanks
Since there was no MacBook Pro in 2001, I’m going to assume you’re talking about the 2011 MBP (I mistype that one all the time and have to double-check it constantly). The 2011′s have SATA 3.0 chipsets in them.
SATA 2.0 only gives you 3Gb/s speeds, so it’s your drive that’s limiting performance in this regard. Why it’s showing a 6Gb/s connection, I’m not quite sure.
If put in the main drive bay, the Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G should give you the 6Gb/s speeds you’re looking for. Just make sure your firmare is up-to-date as per the article above.
I’ve finally got an OWC Mercury Electra Pro 6G 480GB SSD in my Early 2011 17″ MacBook Pro after trying 3 different (other vendors) SSDs with no success. I tried an OCZ 240GB SATA 2, an OCZ 120GB SATA 3, and a Corsair 240GB SATA 3 SSD. I had issues with all of these including Mac OS X appearing to install correctly, but then failing and corrupting my time machine backup; Boot times were appallingly slow – especially if you put in a DVD to boot off. I wanted to put Windows 7 the SSD – which I’ve done on my older 7200 RPM 250GB Western Digital drive (with no issues at all). One drive refused to boot off the windows install DVD after partitioning successfully with the Boot Camp Assistant. The other 2 would let me install Windows 7 Pro (x64) but would crash continuously anywhere from 2mins after bootup, to 10 mins.
So now, I have the OWC drive and the restore from backups to get it up and running all went smoothly – Mac OS X partition (150GB) and Win 7 x64 (330GB). Using Diglloyd DiskTester I’m seeing speeds up to 500MB/s Write & 552MB/s Read under Mac OS X. This is great stuff!!
Where I’m having issues is under Windows. At best I’m seeing 270MB/s Write and 295MB/s Read. I’ve run these tests using QuickBench, CrystalDiskMark, ATTO Disk Bench and AS-SSD-Bench – all with similar results. It’s as though Windows is limited to approx SATA 2 speeds…. by the drivers maybe?? What has OWC’s benchmarking in Windows under Bootcamp shown? I’m fully updated with Windows Update and I’m running Bootcamp v3.3.
Could I be missing something here?
cheers
Stu
Okay… this is a fun one.
In short, you were pretty close on when you suggested “drivers.”
I checked with our Dev team and, apparently, this is due to Boot Camp and its support of SATA 3.0 drives. It’s basically accessing your drive in “legacy” mode (as an IDE drive as I understood it), which will limit the speeds to the neighborhood that you were seeing.
Gents,
I have an early 2011 Macbook Pro 17″ and the EFI actually made the SSD useable and as whole not bad, but there are some random glitches post sleep/hibernation (not all the time). Sometimes on a cold reboot after an OS failure the drive cannot be seen to boot from…..another cold start works etc etc etc.
When will the native firmware upgrader for the 6G SSD drives be available for Macbook Pro 2011 machines. Its been a long time since the 2010 updater was released.
Jim
The current firmware update does a lot to address issues especially impacted in the MacBook Pro 2011 models that still aren’t perfect following the EFI update concerning power control related issues. The next updater release with support for the new 2011 models is expected very soon and absolutely recommend use of the latest firmware. Currently you can use the Sandforce Windows utility if you have windows OS via bootcamp available. It is unfortunate that Apple doesn’t allow access to devices at the higher level under OS X or would long prior had this support Mac native for all Macs. But very soon. We did recently release support for the 2011 iMacs and the remaining 2011 models are not too far behind.
Can someone elaborate on this OWC 6G SSD firmware update mentioned…I bought a 120G 6g in September for my 17in 2011 MBP with the understanding all was clear after the EFI 2.2 update only to find I do experience the occasional beachball full system lock ups. Larry’s reply above is the first I have heard of a possible solution. Does OWC contact costumers about firmware updates or should we check…
The firmware for the OWC 6G SSDs is current as of October 20, 2011. If you received your drive with an invoice dated prior to this date, the firmware update is highly recommended.
Understood…though isnt it true that its currently impossible for me to update the firmware with my 2011 MBP? I don’t have any windows capability directly or thru friends either. Is my data integrity at risk with the earlier firmware? What issues does the new firmware address?
Please note that the primary update to this latest firmware revision corrected a hibernation issue for MacBook and MacBook Pro owners. Should you wish for us to update the firmware, please contact our Customer Service department and they would be happy to make arrangements.
Hi Michael,
I am expecting a replacement Mercury Pro 6G SSD for my Early 2011 MBP after complete boot failure with the initial one. I want to make sure everything possible is done to keep this drive up and running – so thinking that the drive firmware might be a place to start. I note that firmware updates for the 6G drives are available for download, but I won’t have bootcamp facilities on my laptop to perform the upgrade, and the installer is not available mac native for an 8,3 model. Is it safe to assume that SSD’s shipping within the last couple of weeks will have the most recent firmware installed on them already by OWC?
Thanks Matt
Yes, the firmware on currently shipping drives is the most recent.
EFI 2.3 is out. Does it fix the Optical Sata port on the 17″? Or will it improve the main bay performance?
EFI 2.3 does not resolve issues with 6G SATA 3.0 drives in the 15″ or 17″ optical bays. If you have a SATA 3.0 6Gb/s link capability shown for the optical bay of a 15″ or 17″ model and wish to remove the optical drive to install a hard drive or SSD – the drive needs to be SATA 2.0 / 3.0Gb/s to insure reliability. The 13″ remains the only model stable for 6Gb/s in the optical bay. *Note* If your optical bay reports that it is only up to 3Gb/s link, you can use a 6Gb/s drive in that bay – will be limited to 3Gb/s, but you still get the benefits of the newer drives for operations where the higher Iop/s impact more than top end raw capability.
Larry,
Thank you for all of your responses to our concerns. When you say “The signal quality is not sufficient in the optical bay of [early 2011] 15″ and 17″ models to reliably support 6 gigabit link use in that [optical] bay.” Does your testing “reliably” show that the 6G performance is “unreliable”? Or is it as it was with the 17″ MBP’s early on “hit or miss” with some working quite well. I actually got a CRU MBP 17″ in August 2011 with the newer one working flawlessly in main bay with OWC 6G, when 1st MBP ordered at release of SB MBPs in March was completely unreliable with 6G Mercury SSD. In my newer MBP 17 (2.3 GHz 2820 QM), optical bay reports 6G link capability and I still have a second 6G extreme pro that I was hoping to use in RAID. Is it POSSIBLE that it will work in optical with efi 2.3 at 6G or have you seen inconsistency in ALL 15″ and 17″ models tested. The investment for me to try is only a data doubler at this point [and external optical driver converter, if successful], but if there is no chance, I’ll pass or more to the point, hold onto my second unused 6G extreme pro 480GB (too late to return). Dilemma is that this technology does not get better with age; just gets outdated and cheaper, so hate to just sit on it (the 6G extreme drive 480 GB). Admittedly I jumped the gun pre-ordering two extreme 6G’s back in May, but in my work I could really use that RAID 0 6G speed and near TB capacity as well. Thanks, John
The optical bay of 15″ and 17″ 2011 models is absolutely a no go – even following the EFI updates – for 6G drives. The signaling is better in the late 2011 models 15/17″ optical – but still not reliable. There is some hope for these late 2011 models that got the speed bump – but with what we’ve done so far, it’s not likely at all to have reliability for 6G in optical bay with early 2011 15/17″ models even with some creative solutions. Best solution for RAID – 13″ MacBook Pro late 2011 and vast majority of early 2011 13″ models too (assuming 6G link in the optical). The 13″ is the ONLY 2011 MacBook Pro fully reliable in testing for 6G in the optical bay. Messing with RAID on anything that is borderline is a recipe for disappointment.
The OWC drive didnt work in my Macbook..
What i dont get is, after reading all this issues with 3rd party SSD drives i bought and Apple ssd from ebay, put it in my Macbook 17 2011 and does’nt work good..
Its give 1.5 Gbs link speed dunno why? It’s slow..
So a 3rd party drive didnt work well but an official Apple SSD also not work, why?
The Apple SSD may very well have been a SATA 1.0 drive, which would explain the 1.5Gb/s link speed.
We’ve been following this since the problem first raised its ugly head, the problem is in the SATA controller or SATA bus itself; not in the drives.
Most, if not all, machines we’ve tested in-house had the problem resolved with the firmware update mentioned in the article. However, there have been several reports where this didn’t work. In these instances, using one of the 3Gb/s drives, rather than the 6Gb/s models have produced much better results.
Need some best practice advice/clarification….
Ordered the latest release MacBook Pro yesterday (october 24th, 2011) with 2.4gz i7, 15″ model, 750gb 7200rpm drive….Also ordered OWC data doubler and OWC 120gb Mercury 6G SSD.
Now from what I read, the best practice would be to put the OWC SSD in the main bay, and put the HDD in the optical bay due to the SATA speed consistency issues…..My question is, will the Apple provided 750gb 7200rpm drive fit in the optical bay. Is it 9.5mm in size? I havent received the laptop yet as it was just released and Im sure my question will be answered in time, but it would be nice to know ahead of time.
thanks for the advice!
steve
Hi Steve…yep…factory HD in new MBPs is 9.5mm…so into the optical bay via Data Doubler it will go!
great…having the SSD in the main bay will also solve the anticipated waking issue where the computer wants to wake from the main bay and not the optical.
my SSD will handle the OS and Apps, thus I need the machine to wake from it.
thanks Grant.
I am trying to decide between a 13″ MacBook Pro late 2011, and a 15″. (I’m used to 15″ and I have a MacPro desktop– I basically want something lighter than my 4 year old 15 MacBook Pro). I also want to add an SSD for my apps and OS and get the 6 Gb/sec data rate. At first I thought I would put it in the optical bay, but that apparently now restricts me to the 13″. And now I see I can put it in the main bay of either the 13 or the 15, and put the apple hard drive into the optical bay — and that will work fine? – and that I have to do it this way if I want the computer to not have wake issues. Is that correct? I need to decide between the 13 and the 15 by Sunday as that is the last day to return the 13, so a quick reply would be most appreciated!
Using the 6Gb/s SSD in the main bay and moving the hard drive to the optical bay with the Data Doubler should not pose any issues in a 15″ machine should you choose to upgrade. Many of us here are on the same setup without any issues. With the 13″ machine, you have the additional option of using the SSD in the optical bay while leaving the hard drive in the main bay (which offers added SMS protection for the hard drive)
I have purchased Macbook Pro 13″ Late 2011 and 2 pcs of OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G 480GB and Data Doubler. I planned to have ultra-speed Striped RAID set. But it is not working. :( I read though this blog and comments and it looks like it is bad SATA cable issue. Am I right or shall I try anything else?
SSD in main bay is working, although I don’t know how fast. SSD in optical bay seems to be working at first sight but when I try to copy some data on it, it ceases to respond and disconnects itself after several megabytes been copied.
Then I must turn off the machine and on again and disc is connected again. Both discs show negotiated speed of 6GBps in System profiler.
Wow! All I can say is Wow! I can contribute the following:
I recently owned a 2011 Mac mini server, which has TWO 6Gbps SATA bays and both of my Mercury Pro EXTREME 6G SSD’s ran beautifully in RAID 0! The highest speeds I saw were around 950MB/s.
A couple of weeks ago, my needs changed, so I traded into a BRAND NEW 2011 15″ MacBook Pro with the Core i7 Quad 2.2GHz and AMD Radeon 6750M 1GB GDDR5 (CPU and GPU) upgrades. Naturally, I ordered the Data Doubler and got rid of the silly optical drive and once again wanted to run my two OWC SSD’s in RAID 0. I didn’t think I was affected, as previously only the 17″ 2011 MBP’s were mentioned to have had an incorrectly functioning SATA III (6Gbps) port in the optical drive bay. However, what do ya know, while the “main” bay where the hard drive is located, it does indeed report correctly at 6Gbps, that is not the case for the optical bay! It still says Intel 6 Series Chipset where it says Product in “System Information” (the renamed System Profiler), but the Link Speed and Negotiated Link Speed say 3Gbps, which conforms to SATA II.
Running the same speed test that I ran on the Mac mini revealed top speeds of 510Mbps. In other words, nowhere NEAR the SATA III speeds that I have come to expect and that I should be getting and I, for one, do not believe that this is OWC’s problem by any stretch. No, it looks like the issue has to do with Apple’s hit-or-miss Intel SATA port implementation.
I have gone through all the software and firmware updates. I ran both SSD’s independently from one another and the result is the exact same! Grasping at straws, I even tried different RAID block sizes.
Now what? I need this resolved. I am running OS X 10.7.2 and that’s the only thing that’s not working on my MBP.
Your experience is unfortunate to hear of, Desmond, and yes…it is the issue of that “lottery” implementation of the 3G or 6G bus.
As you’ve found, RAiding two drives between two different speed buses is far from ideal and you end up with more or less double the performance of the slowest bus.
This affects top end throughput the most – as with compressed and/or smaller data transaction sizes you would see performance more comparable to what you saw with the mini.
There’s no fix for this issue with Apple’s 2011 MBPs and even if could get a 15″ that had dual 6G buses….this advisory note on our Data Doubler/6G SSD pages still applies:
*Testing has demonstrated that the 6Gb/s optical bay interface in 15″ models is not consistently reliable. If your 15″ model’s optical bay has the 6Gb/s interface, we do not recommend the use of OWC Mercury 6G SSDs or other 6G SSDs in the optical bay at this time.
So, until Apple fully supports 6G in these machines and in all drive bays (which btw…they never have publicly mentioned support for 6G capability) the only resolution is to use 6G SSDs in the main drive bay (for speed) and put a hard drive in the optical bay (for capacity) via the Data Doubler.
And really, at this time, you’re actually better off to have a 3G bus in the optical bay due to instability of 6G bus equipped optical bays when using 6g drive. Plus you can put a 6G drive in that 3G optical bay and max out the 3G bus…whereas 3G drives deliver in the 270-280MB/s speed range.
Thanks Grant! And thank you as well, Larry. I just read through the entire blog and boy, you’d think the CEO would have better things to do than mess around with faulty MacBook Pro notebooks for 5+ months. It also goes to show the level and quality of OWC’s customer service, so all things being equal, I’m happy that I own OWC drives, instead of ones from another company that starts with O and is 3 letters long. ;-) But I digress…
And yes, I do realize that Apple never publicly advertised the effectiveness of using SATA III (6Gbps) drives in the main drive bay, much less in the optical bay. Under the law, however, lack of advertisement of the aforementioned need not necessarily negate a legal basis for a claim by the end user(s). “May Be Continued…” applies here. lol
Legal bases notwithstanding, I’m not going to go through exchanging my various 6Gbps equipment for 3Gbps drives, only to have to rinse and repeat next time Apple decides to all of a sudden build batches of machines that actually work at the appropriate rate of speed. Nor do I believe that it is fair of “us” OWC customers to make OWC jump through all kinds of hoops solely because we may be able or entitled to. Let’s just take a breath here.
Just to bottom-line this: It is currently still a crap-shoot as far as “drawing” a MacBook Pro (2011 15″ and 17″ models) that may or may not have a 6Gbps bus in the optical bay. However, it may actually be disadvantageous to draw a 6Gbps bus, as the user experience with use of a 6Gbps drive may be (or is definitively?) unstable when using it in a 6Gbps bus? The better outcome of this lottery of sorts may actually be to draw a 3Gbps bus in the optical bay, because while it may not give the user the SATA III speeds, at least there is stability to be had. At the same time, it would be to the user’s advantage to get a 6Gbps SSD if a 3Gbps bus is drawn, as it will run at slightly higher speeds than a 3Gbps SSD would and then there is the further upside of having a future-proof drive to boot?
Who’s in charge of QA at Apple’s Mac division anyway? It’s not like everyone was too busy designing an iPhone 5. (sorry, I had to go there) and I kid Apple…with love! I love my MacBook Pro, I love my OWC SSD’s and I love my iPhone 4S! ;-)
Hi Desmond…actually on this:
“Apple never publicly advertised the effectiveness of using SATA III (6Gbps) drives in the main drive bay, much less in the optical bay.” I believe they didn’t even list it as a spec….and that we were one of the first to confirm the presence of the 6G bus.
Right…drawing the 6G optical in the “lottery” is disadvantageous…as you have found out first hand.
I agree with your decision to “take a breath” and that by having 6G SSDs…you are future proofed to a degree. From the sounds of it, you have no qualms about moving around drives to different machines…and I salute you for that as it does give either the drive and/or the machine a “new life”
OK, I have been trying to resolve this — unsuccessfully — for nearly 2 weeks now. I have an early 2011 17″ MBP, 2.3 GHz, 8GB RAM. I have confirmed I was lucky to receive a unit with 6 Gb/s SATA ports (main bay/optical). I have been trying to get a 240 GB 6G SSD to function for more than 5 minutes before consistently freezing into beach ball land. I have done 3 clean installs of 10.7.2, 2 of which involved zeroing out the drive 2 of those times. I have reset SMC more times than I can count. I have reset PRAM/NVRAM. I have manually re-installed the 2.2 EFI update 5 times.
In nearly 2 weeks I have not seen any improvement, at all. I spoke with someone at OWC yesterday named Travis who had no answers, didn’t even seem to know about the details of this situation. Promised me either a phone call or email by end-of-day yesterday to no avail.
OWC: All of your claims of this issue *not* being due to the SSD itself seem to be false. Any other drive, even an older 3g SSD from OWC works perfectly. Please resolve this ASAP without more of the same suggestions or I will promptly return the unit and do my business elsewhere.
Thank you.
Wally
I will personally be following up with support to understand what was and wasn’t communicated in this matter.
About the EFI update – you shouldn’t have to install it more than once. That being said, your MacBook Pro must be plugged in with AC power. If it is not, it will look like the update installs – but it doesn’t actually. Apple’s Software Update ‘recommends’ the laptop be connected to AC power, but this is actually a requirement as noted in Apple’s own tech notes. Not sure whether this is an issue or not here – but is frustrating regardless that an update can appear to complete and not actually have fully installed.
The 6G Drive issues in the 2011 models is an issue that has been covered in our blog since May. SATA 2.0 3Gb/s drives work A-OK 100% of the time in all testing and reporting and in either optical or main bay as well in 2011 models. With 13″ units – units with 6G drive issues pre-EFI and especially post EFI 2.2 update appear to be mainly due to bad SATA cables and this is supported by multiple customers who reported to us, got a replacement from Apple, reported a difference in the cable on the replacement and success. In general 99%+ of 13″ owners had success in both the main bay as well a a 6Gb/s enabled optical bay with 6G drives. Same kind of scenario with the 15″ except that 100% of the time with 6Gb/s was available in the optical bay, installation of a 6Gb/s SATA 3.0 drive was not reliable and our recommendation to this day – for those putting a 2nd drive in their 15″ or 17″ Macbook Pro 2011 model – is to select a SATA 2.0 3Gb/s mode if you the port shows 6Gb/s enabled… you can select a 6Gb/s drive for that bay and have no issues only if your 15″ or 17″ is the random draw ‘version’ that has the 3Gb/s up to enabled. With 17″ models – before EFI 2.2, the exceptions were units that DID work reliable with the main bay and a 6Gb/s drive.
The EFI 2.2 update is a firmware – effectively software solution to what is a hardware solution at it’s core – and one Apple hasn’t been under any obligation to officially address as they don’t officially support 6Gb/s drive use. The good news is – even with some of the very worst 6G ‘flawed’ 17″ units, including one here that would lock up/fail to boot/loose the drive – completely unusable for even a couple minutes – EFI 2.2 has made that unit 100% reliable with the 6G drive. I’m personally using it.
this issue has been worse for other brand drives and, in fact – you’ll see a user in this thread that switched from another brand to our model following EFI 2.2 with success. We’ve been working on this issue from our own directions as well for a good 5+ months. It as been extremely frustrating – and EFI 2.2 seems to have eliminated issues not caused by a below 6G capable cable. We’re still working on broader data points, but MacBook Pro 2011 users with remaining 6G issues appear most likely to have what is simply a bad SATA cable.
But to your point about 3G drives. #1 – if you have 6G in your optical bay, you’re not going to see reliability in a current model version of 15″ or 17″ MacBook Pro 2011 with a 6G drive in that bay. We have long advised of this and continue to make note of this and that you should only install SATA 2.0/3Gb/s drives into 15″/17″ MBP optical bays if adding drive to that location. As for the main bay – the issue is only with SATA 3.0 6Gb/s connectivity. SATA 2.0 has a different wave operation and there has never been any issue with SATA 2.0 3Gb/s connectivity in these systems. Since this issue came to light we have recommended use of a 3Gb/s drive as an alternative for systems that do not exhibit reliable 6Gb/s SATA 3.0 capability.
6Gb/s performance really makes a huge difference and it’s unbelievably that Apple had 6Gb/s enabled without proper support for it on THEIR hardware side. better really would have been to keep the ports limited to 3Gb/s which does work reliably for all with the existing hardware. When Apple introduced the iMac 2011 models in May – they actually did cap the two SATA 3.0 capable ports to SATA 2.0/3g. A week later though – they put firmware out that enabled 6Gb/s on those two capable ports and the iMac 2011s -with the same SandyBridge base chipset – work 100% reliably with 6Gb/s drives. There is no way for endusers to change the port support or a simple solution would be restricting to 3G.
I hope this helps and we will further follow up in email as well. thank you.
Thanks for the prompt and thorough reply, Larry. I appreciate it, obviously it’s been frustrating for all of us. On that note, Travis did call me this morning and covered many of these issues, and very politely, I might add. The current options on the table appear to be attempting to replace the SATA cable and/or trying to get the entire machine replaced by Apple. I agree that they shouldn’t offer this functionality without any official support for it. Sometimes they really should reconsider being so opaque about these types of details if they expect their customers to continue to have faith in their whole ‘It Just Works’ audacity.
Again, many thanks for all the support I’ve received from OWC thus far, and pardon my tone in the last mail, just like y’all, I’m tearing my hair out over this!
regards,
Wally
It’s been a very frustrating 6+ months to say the least. EFI 2.2 cut the issues to just corner cases from normal expected though in terms of 6G in the main bay. Have to be clear – EFI 2.2 doesn’t help 6G in the 15″ or 17″ optical bay (Apple, why did you change to connecting the 6G port there exactly?), but none the less – main bay of primary concern and priority.
FWIW – we just got a 15″ unit yesterday from a customer that wasn’t working after confirmed EFI 2.2 update. Wouldn’t reliably operate or even start up most of the time. The only thing we did so far was do a fresh, clean, full install of 10.7.2. Shouldn’t matter than 10.7.1 had been on there – but this MacBook Pro 15″ 2011 that was unusable now runs like a champ and has been for the last 28 hours and more than two dozen test power downs and ups, restarts, etc. Very well could have been a problem with the OS installation itself, especially if done pre-EFI 2.2.
To that point… I don’t doubt that Apple has multiple things going on in terms of seeing the issue fully resolved. All that can be via software support.. and if nothing else, a bad cable can still be the culprit. Even before EFI 2.2, 15″ models with 6G issues were in the minority. As we see these issues wound down in general, we’re happy to allow customers with our drives to send in the system where EFI 2.2 didn’t resolve so we can take a closer look. We’ve yet to receive or other see a 2011 that has a post EFI 2.2 problem we can observe. the 13″ customer was going to send in, but when Apple made it easy to get replacement and the replacement resolved – there ya go.
If the issue isn’t resolved one way or the other – please drop Travis a line again. We’ll be happy to take your MacBook Pro in as is for a closer look. Not charging anything -it’s a win win as we really want to see all issues eliminated for our customers and have best understanding of what is still the problem when EFI 2.2 hasn’t fixed the Apple 6G ‘bug’.
Thanks again, fully understand all frustrations and here to help – truly.
Thanks so much, Larry. At the very least, I’ve certainly gotten a crash-course in all things SATA/SSD related, so at least I’m more knowledgable. (And geeking out on this stuff is certainly a pleasure, nice to be able to really dig-in and talk shop with you and your staff).
Frankly, I’m not inclined to seek a resolution directly from Apple for this. Despite the fact that I’ve been a loyal customer to them for 12 years, spending an arm and a leg every year on their hardware and software, I’ve never received the kind of treatment I often hear about: replaced machines, no questions asked. For me it’s always the standard support rigamarole.
I’ll make one last attempt at resolving this issue myself by attempting to replace the SATA cable, though I’ve yet to find any resellers that offer it. ifixit.com only offers optical SATA cables and only for 2010 models to boot. Any ideas?
If that fails, I’ll gladly take you up on your offer to ship it to OWC for a full-service checkup.
Thanks again, Larry. Apple could learn a thing or two from you all about customer service ;)
best,
Wally
It’s tough to get the correct cable for 2011 MacBook Pros consistently and really it’s a problem best resolved by Apple swapping a bad cable out when it is the cable (or, like seems to be more normal based on customer feedback – they just swap the entire laptop). I’d encourage seeing if they would swap for you – otherwise, we are happy to take it in here and diagnose to go from there. In fairness – Apple is generally pretty good… this whole situation from the get go though is quite a bad exception to that general Apple experience IMHO- even providing the 6Gb/s enabled (when they had no requirement to do so… other than to support those wanting the 6Gb/s benefit) bay and then bays.
Anyway – we be here and I have no doubt that one way or the other – and have some avenues regardless of system diagnosis should it ultimately be sent to us – we’ll get you enjoying the 6Gb/s performance benefits with the MacBook Pro you depend on. Thanks for the feedback and follow up!
Hi Larry,
You were right, no way to really get my hands on a replacement SATA cable. One thing I kept finding in all the posts I’ve read about this is some people reported frying their logic boards as a result of extended troubleshooting, etc. I attempted to do the Apple Hardware Test, which seems non-existant in Lion. I swapped out a drive containing a fully up-to-date install of 10.6.8, and re-installed my optical drive. Inserted a 2010 MBP disc containing the AHT, held down the D-key and just when it appeared to be launching the AHT, the machine shut down.
Is this a cause for concern, or is this merely typical behavior of newer MacBook Pros that shipped with Lion? Hoping it’s the latter! Will be calling Apple today to finally get to the bottom of this. Thanks again.
best,
Wally
AHT is machine specific and if that is the system that boot disc came with, no – AHT shouldn’t shut down the machine like that during start up. I think you’re in touch with Ron (here at OWC) and he can help look at what’s going on. Possible your MAcBook Pro has a hardware issue independent of 6G stability… or just a fluke – but if that AHT shutdown is repeatable and with the disc for that machine, Apple will replace that Macbook entirely I’d expect.
I give up. Please send me details on how I should send in my computer for testing and in general getting it to work with the OWC 6g Extreme drive. I can’t even get it to boot anymore.
I purchased a Macbook Pro 13″ (early 2011) soon after it was released. My main drive port is 6G capable. I just purchased an OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G 120GB. I did a fresh install of Mac OSX Lion 10.7.2. It’s fast, however I do get frequent hang ups, spinning beach balls, which I rarely got on my traditional hard drive. Is there a new bug or need for a firmware update since 10.7.2 came out this last week as compared to 10.7.1 ? I’m not sure, since I just got mine and installed 10.7.2. It just seems like the performance isn’t up to par to what I expected, because the hang ups for 30 seconds in reality makes things slower than the 5400 rpm drive, and it actually freezes the whole machine. Even on boot up it freezes sometimes. On the 5400 rpm drive when an app would freeze, only that app would be frozen, not the rest of the apps. Any suggestions or help? I guess I’ll call or chat with technical support on Monday.
Your symptoms seem to mirror those that have been popping up with the 2011′s, though the majority of the instances seemed to be with the 17″ models. Try reinstalling the EFI Firmware update 2.2 manually – you can download it from Apple’s Web site. Make sure you leave your MacBook Pro plugged in while running the update – if you don’t, the installation won’t complete properly.
It’s resolved the issue with all the 2011 MacBook Pros we have in-house. If you’re still having issues, our Technical Support representatives will be happy to assist you.
After much trial and tribulation, I successfully got the 240GB 6G SSD up and running with a clean 10.7.2 install and full SATA 3.0 functionality. When it works, it flies, but I too am seeing consistent freezing, often for about 40-60 seconds (occurring system-wide) and occasionally never recovering. How exactly do you go about re-installing the firmware as mentioned above? Any attempt I’ve made is always blocked with a message: the update is not compatible with this system. I even tried the method described on Apple’s support site, restoring the installer image to a CD to no avail.
Would really love to get past this, I’ve been poring over this blog and Apple forums for nearly 2 weeks trying to resolve this.
Many thanks for your help.
Perhaps that was worded unclearly – it’s less a need to re-install it, rather just making sure it is properly installed in the first place. If, for example, you tried to install the update without the MBP plugged in, it would appear to install, but actually not complete. Check the Hardware Overview screen in System Profiler and see if the the correct Boot ROM version number for the update you’re running is present. If EFI Update 2.2 is installed, the Boot ROM version should be MBP81.0047.B1E. If it’s not and you’re still having trouble installing the firmware, then you’re going to need to contact Apple – Update 2.2. was designed for all Thunderbolt MacBook Pros and should install properly on all models.
If it turns out that you do have the latest firmware installed, then no amount of reinstalling will resolve the problem. It may be that there’s a more specific hardware issue here – whether it is something simple (like a cable) or something deeper (like a controller).
When I try to install the EFI updater I end up getting an Alert that says “This software does not support this system.” I’ve sent an email to OWC, so I’ll wait for a response or I’ll try chatting online with them tomorrow. Are there any other suggestions possibly to fix the issue?
That’s unusual. EFI Update 2.2. was specifically designed for Thunderbolt MacBook Pros and should run.
You may want to double-check your firmware revision manually, just in case. Check the Hardware Overview screen in System Profiler and see if the the correct Boot ROM version number for the update you’re running is present. If EFI Update 2.2 is installed, the Boot ROM version should be MBP81.0047.B1E.
Either way, save that info for when you talk to Tech Support, as that may be key in figuring out what’s wrong.
What is the model ID of your MacBook Pro? This update is for MacBookPro8,3 and MacBookPro8,2 model ID units – the 2011 versions with Thunderbolt port. If you have this model version, there could be another issue with your MacBook Pro as we’ve had a couple reports of EFI 2.2 failing and Apple replacing units in that circumstance. if you have a different model ID than those two given, the update is not for your system. There isn’t anything to do special and no fix per say that should be needed for a standard Apple update to install.
I currently have a Macbook Pro 13″ with the modifier ID of 8,1
My boot firmware is MBP81.0047.B1E (though it will not allow me to reinstall it manually)
What is the likelihood of Apple giving me a Sata 3 cable replacement? I can’t even see them replacing the entire unit simply because a third party SSD that I bought won’t work with their setup. How can I even prove or even they test whether the problem is genuinely the cause of a bad Sata 3 cable?
I saw comments that said the Macbook would still be covered even with modifications by user (if they didn’t cause the problems) due to the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act. What portion / quotes are you referring to? Probably would be good for me to have handy when going to an Apple Store to ask for a replacement Sata 3 cable.
My wife went to the Apple Store (without the Macbook) to ask if we could get or order a Sata 3 cable, and they said they don’t give out those parts. (Actually, they didn’t know what it was at first, took awhile to find one that did) They said we voided any warranty by opening the case. I talked to them on the phone and corrected them on that and mentioning even their Apple Manual gives users instructions on how to change the hard drive and the memory. However, they didn’t know where to point to for obtaining a sata 3 cable. Does anybody know where I can get a sata 3 cable for Macbook Pro 13″ 2011?
What it really comes down to is the rep at Apple or your local Apple store you work with. Most have been very enthusiastic in terms of helping customers with this issue… but those that really don’t have a full understanding of it run the standard company bit that 3rd party drives not supported.
Hi OWC,
I own a 2011 17″ Macbook pro, and I have been following this thread for the last couple of months. So glad Apple stepped up and got the 6G main bay sorted. Quick question: I want to purchase the 6G Mercury, but was wondering whether the 120GB in the main bay and 750GB HDD in optical would be a decent solution. I have a 40GB iTunes library, which will (in the case of the 120GB SSD) be sitting on the HDD. I usually use Lightroom, with music in the background, so I will access both the SSD and the 750GB at the same time. Will this have a negative effect on performance? Battery life?
Comments much appreciated!
Regards
Jaco
While we really can’t speak specifically to your exact situation, we can break down the individual pieces and get an idea.
Compared a single-drive setup, booting to an SSD will be faster and things like virtual memory should be faster and use less energy.
If Lightroom’s library is on the hard drive, you should see roughly the same energy draw and speed as you would on a single-drive setup.
Though iTunes may load music faster on the SSD, overall difference between a hard drive or an SSD should be negligible, as long as you’re just playing music.
For maximum performance, it’s always good to make sure you’ve maxed out your RAM, too. The 2011′s can address up to 16GB of memory.
For the most detailed information on getting the best performance out of your MacBook Pro, however, we recommend checking out the Mac Performance Guide.
Hi OWC. I’m going to buy a OWC SSD for my 2011 MBP 15″. It sounds like I can get the Electra 6g for my main bay or the Extreme 3g for the main bay or optical bay and I’ll be fine. I should avoid the 6g for my optical bay though (which does list a max speed of 6g). Is my understanding correct?
If so which configuration do you recommend for best performance? I plan to have a 115/120GB SSD for Apps, System and documents and a 7200 750GB for photos, music and video. Thanks for your help!
-Chad
You’ve got it down. An Electra or EXTREME Pro 6G drive in your main bay will give you the benefits that 6Gb/s SATA offers – put that in the main bay. Putting the hard drive into the optical bay will not compromise its performance in any way and give you the ‘bulk storage’ needed. OS and Apps will fly – work will fly where SSD used for processing – and you’ll have the capacity desired all neat and clean inside. And correct – do not think about putting a 6Gb/s drive into the optical bay – there is no stability in that bay with 6Gb/s drives, while 3Gb/s SATA 2.0 Drives do operate flawless there.
Thanks for the quick and helpful response, Larry! Looks like the EXTREME 3g 115GB and the Electra 6g 120GB are about the same price. I mostly use Word, Mail, Chrome, Preview, Keynote, Numbers, iPhoto and only occasionally Logic Pro and iMovie. Which would you recommend for me? Thanks again!
The 120GB is definitely a sweet spot for cost on the 6G line up. Absolutely the 120GB as you absolutely get an appreciable difference with that drive when you have a 6Gb/s connection to fire it up with (which you do). Honestly, it even makes a lot of sense even when going into a bay with only a SATA 2.0 3Gb/s capability. IMHO, hands down – the 120GB 6G Electra is the best choice for your system. And – more than welcome, glad to support.
Awesome. I’ll get it today. Incidentally, I feel fortunate to have stumbled upon this posting about Apple’s problems in certain optical bays. I would have probably got the Electra and put it in the optical bay had I not lucked onto this. I’m glad you made the posting, first, and, second, I hope you’re able to warn people when they buy a data doubler and a 6G about the problems in case they didn’t see this. Thanks again, Larry.
PS RIP Mr. Jobs
I have just orderd a 15″MBP 2.4GHz and a 120G Mercurt Electra 6G and data doubler. I understand it is more stable to put the SSD in the main bay and the HDD in the data doubler.
Please advise how I can find out whether the MBP that I ordered come with a SATA 3 cable in the main bay that can utilize the SSD 6G that I ordered from OWC.
The 6Gb/s speeds of SATA 3.0 depend more on the chipset than on the cable itself (though we did find a couple of instances of a faulty cables in some MBPs, that’s a separate issue). SATA 3.0 capable chips were added with the 2011 MacBook Pros. Earlier models either had SATA 2.0 or SATA 1.0 chipsets, depending on when they were released.
In short, if it’s a 2011 MacBook Pro with all the appropriate firmware updates applied as per the article above, it should be 6G-capable
You are welcome!
Steve will be missed
http://blog.macsales.com/12185-apple-co-founder-steve-jobs-1955-2011
Got my OWC 120Gb Mercury Extreme yesterday and installed it in the main bay of my 3 week old 2011 MBP. Cloned my stuff over to the SSD and everything ran fine. This morning ran a software update at work and installed the EFI 2.2. After install the computer wouldn’t boot at all, it just kept going to a blank black screen. Took it into the Apple Store so they could take a look and they said they thought it has a bad logic board, and since I swapped my original HDD with an SSD that the SSD was probably what caused the problem. They also said since I had installed it myself they shouldn’t really be repairing it under warranty, since it was “modified,” but they would repair it under warranty this time anyway. Now I’m still wondering if it was the SSD or the update that caused it to break. And to make matters worse, I have read on Apple support forums that many others have had the same issue, and that it turned out they needed new motherboards altogether. So now I am left wondering if they will actually cover it if it is a motherboard issue since they are blaming the SSD.
Unless you physically cause damage your Mac, Apple has no legal ground to deny warranty and it’s really – honestly – a rude tactic to even suggest or otherwise imply that they are doing a favor covering a warranty issue when they have every obligation to do so. It’s pretty rare that I hear this kind of thing today. Most Apple service providers and including the reps in the Apple Stores are excellent today and don’t play that kind of game. But – over the years – have head all sorts of crazy things… and always how they are still going to cover it as a courtesy anyway. Have actual letter copies with things along the lines of memory or hard drive upgrades being responsible for: Keyboard key failures, LCD Pixel failures, LCD Crack, Housing Crack, HINGE failure – you name it. Bottom line is that the SSD is not the reason your system failed and if you have any issue – we’re happy to help. Tens of thousands of Mac owners are enjoying the benefits of our solid state drives and never had any warranty issue actually occur. Even customers replacing the optical drive with our data doubler solution are still Apple warranty covered as FTC does protect consumers in their use. Only time warranty is truly to be legitimately denied is if an added product truly did cause damage or there was damage from the installation of said product.
Sorry for your experience with that Apple provider – but be fully confident that your warranty is sound and intact.
Larry,
Thanks for the information, I thought it was covered but I wasnt 100% sure. It’s heartbreaking that it broke as I just got everything set up, but even more so that they are using the SSD as an excuse. I have tried talking to anyone at Apple I could reach, do you have any advice as to who I might be able to contact to talk about the issue?
If not one thing – it’s something else. That said – bring it in to your local Apple store and I have no doubt they will take care of it. Either put the stock drive back in or provide it with no drive as otherwise may not get it back as Apple sometimes exchanges vs. repairs and even in a repair may replace more than just one component.. don’t let them lose your SSD. As for a contact at Apple – I’d wager calling in again and getting a different rep (which 99% sure to get) will result in a different response. And if there is any issue – contact us. We’ll see it through either way. Thanks and sorry for the bad logic board luck.
I’m currently in a similar position where I installed hard drive a data doubler myself into a Early 2011 Macbook pro 13″ i7 (with the EFI 2.2 update applied). The Extreme 6G SSD doesn’t work in the primary bay even though it is SATA 3 – the SSD does work in the optical bay…so i’m thinking there’s something wrong with the cable in the primary bay or it could be a problem with firmware??
I took it into the Apple store and the Apple genius told me that since I modified the mac myself I had voided the warranty. I said I would restore the optical drive and HD to the original versions and would they take a look at it then, he said he won’t take down any notes and when I bring in the mac again today they’ll have a look at it. But he did say that Apple don’t officially support SATA 3 cause it’s not listed on their website?? WTF?? I think I’m going to have problems getting them to fix whatever needs to be fixed. It’s a little upsetting… I just want my 6G SSD to work in the 6G bay ..why is that so difficult!
Like Larry said earlier in this thread, unless you caused physical damage to your MacBook Pro when installing the Data Doubler, Apple has no legal ground to deny warranty coverage. The “favor they’re doing” is actually required under the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act.
Now, that bit about “not supporting SATA 3.0″ because it’s not mentioned on the site. Well… that’s a bit trickier – I’ve heard of several instances of that exact statement being made. However, the fact that a drive which works fine in one bay but not the other (without mention of whether it’s SATA 2.0 or SATA 3.0) may be enough to have them look closer.
That said, before you bring it back, I’d try simply re-installing the EFI firmware by downloading from the Apple page above and manually running the installer again. There seem to be instances where the FW update didn’t “take”; See a couple of threads down to “Anthony’s” problem.
If that doesn’t work, I’d do as Larry advised above – take out my non-stock hardware like your SSD and Data Doubler, replace the stock pieces (save for the hard drive, if there’s personal data on it), and bring it back to the Apple Store. There’s something not right with that ‘Book that needs to be addressed.
I purchased a 2011 15″ Macbook Pro recently direct from Apple and installed the 6g 240 Extreme. Not working well. Only boots 30% of the time. Erratic behavior. My machine came with Lion pre-installed. I’ve started an RMA, but I’m wondering if my machine is just not going to take it.
That’s the same type of erratic behavior we were experiencing before Apple’s EFI update. Have you checked to be sure the update was applied? It’s entirely possible that the machine was configured before the update was released and would require you to run the update still to alleviate the issues with 6Gb/s capable drives.
Yes, I installed the update. I am still having problems. I just spoke with Apple and they play dumb on the issue. They say they haven’t heard of any issues and that the EFI update did not address any such thing. “I don’t know, engineers here don’t know of it. Maybe it’s a side benefit.”
I’m returning my machine and trying another. Holding on to the drive for now as I’ve configured everything and installed all my software. Hoping to not have to do that again and the new machine is good to go. Fingers crossed.
Update. I swapped for another Macbook Pro 15″ 2.3 ghz. I used the same drive. Initially I had the same problem, flashing question mark at boot. After several attempts of On/Off I was able to get to the Auto Recovery for Lion. I reinstalled the OS. Still problems, but lessened. Checked software update and it said I needed to install the EFI update (and Thunderbolt) (I had previously and was getting the correct boot model number). Went ahead and did it. Checked Software Update again. Said I needed to download EFI… Did that once again and it appears to have finally taken. So far so good, finally. I’m now going to grab the Data Doubler and put in a regular HD for working storage.
Glad that the Apple EFI 2.2 update ultimately installed and all good so far – really interesting that it took more than one attempt on your MacBook Pro for that to complete properly. Thank you for sharing this follow up – this is great information. We’ve so far not seen a single machine that had 6G main bay issues that the EFI 2.2 update hasn’t solved. Have had reports, mainly outside the USA, but so far in the US issues have been resolved by EFI 2.2 and found causes unrelated to the drive (and solutions) in a couple cases we thought we’d have the opportunity to test 6G unresolved. Anyway – this, again, is really interesting. Especially if it is possible for the full update not to install, yet still have the appearance. Thanks again for this follow up.
===
Update – did some additional review of this. For the EFI 2.2 update to properly install, you must have the AC adapter connected. When running off the battery it goes through what appear to be the normal motions and look like it has completed – but doesn’t actually.
Hi Larry!
Thanks a lot for your comments and advice. I’m having the same issue with a 13″ MBP (came with Lion preinstalled), I purchased it directly from Apple Germany, which does not accept my 6G 240 GB Mercury Extreme Pro SSD in the main bay. My EFI 2.2 update ran without noticeable problems but did not solve the problem.
System profiler shows “MBP81.0047.B1E” – which is identical with Apple’s specification at http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1450.
Do you think it might be advisable to re-install the EFI update after manually downloading it though?
There are still issues of actual bad cables out there. In terms of the EFI 2.2 update, as long as you did the update with your AC power adapter connected (not just running on battery) – it should be good. Otherwise – do attempt to reinstall as on battery alone the full update does not. 13″ MAcBook Pros really had few issues with 6G in general and are even typically reliable for 6G in the optical bay as well (whereas 15″ and 17″ Optical 6G is a no go). That being said, very possible you simply have a bad cable regardless of the 2.2 update.
Update again. I still have issues with my MBP finding the operating system after overnight shutdowns. I can restart from a good boot no problem and it appears that as long as the Macbook is ‘warmed up’ it finds the OS fine. It’s after it has been sitting for a bit that it takes many repeated power on/power offs to find the OS. This is getting REALLY frustrating. I can’t be without a computer for long so I am reluctant to send it in for testing..
I just downloaded the efi update once again. I get the same message as someone above “Alert. This software is not supported on your system.”
I’ve asked one of our team members to reach out to further assist – see if can’t get this whipped. Thanks!
I can report some information.
I bought a 17” MBP model at the same time as my SSDs so I can test out the optical drive feasibility. It would not recognize the drive in the optical bay. I returned the mac to apple which was manufactured in Aug this year, and replaced it with a newer one manufactured this month (Sep) to see if I could find a machine that worked. The newer machine did read the drive in the optical port just fine but could not write or format it. Bummer.
Installing the drive in the main port and everything works fine. I even got a 20MBps average speedup when doing benchmarks after installing the EFI update.
So 2 MacBookPros tested, brand new versions, no dice on optical drive. Giving up. Getting > 500MBps on main port though. I’m now getting a 3G SSD for the optical drive which cuts out the raid opportunity unfortunately. Hopefully at some point this will be fixed via another EFI update…
If you are thinking of doing this, and you don’t have a computer yet, remember there is a 14 day unconditional return and apple won’t give you any trouble trading them out. You may get lucky and get a machine with a working optical drive port, but don’t count on it. Though I’ve read some reports on these blogs that some people with 17” models are doing it, I’m highly suspicious, they may just think its working but haven’t really stress tested it. And OWC has a 30 Day return policy. So there is very little risk here.
Can anyone at OWC confirm/deny that some 17” models run a 6G SSD in the optical port without a problem?
-Happy customer with OWC.
-Satisfied with Apple return policies.
-Annoyed Apple developers for teasing us with a 6G connection that doesn’t work.
-Will be pissed off if Apple decides to release a new MBP within the next two months that fixes this hardware limitation.
Thoughts?
Amir
Thanks for all the feedback. Re- optical in 17/15″ – we have not had a single report of full reliability (before or after 2.2) or had any of the dozens of 6G optical bay enabled 15″ and 17″ models we’ve tested here show success with SATA 3.0 drive operation. It’s a mystery and aggravation as to why Apple would even enable 6G in the optical bay… when #1 it’s of no benefit to optical drives Apple uses (which still connect using 1.5Gb/s and not even 3.0Gb/s) and #2 – it simply isn’t reliable with anything that connects 6Gb/s. Not all of them have the 6Gb/s enabled in the optical bay as well.
Short answer – no joy on 6Gb/s in 15″ or 17″ in optical bay.. And all frustrations aside – I do hope the next revision MacBooks completely eliminate all of these not so enjoyable quirks.
Hi,
My Mercury Extreme 6G is running at 262 ° F (128° C). Is there something wrong? Is this normal operating temperature. by comparison my CPU die (the hottest thing next to the drive) runs at 140° F.
Thanks,
Amir
That is an incorrect default fill in your S.M.A.R.T. application is providing. The drive is not running at the temperature. :) I have asked a support team member to contact you to review the software being used.
Has this issue been resolved? I am also having this problem with using iStat Menus 3.
I am not sure the context of the question or the iStat. I am asking a team member to contact you. Thanks!
Hi, I just bought an OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G 240GB SSD and 8GB RAM to upgrade my 17″ Macbook Pro Early 2011 model. After some initial issues with SSD recognition the OS installed fine, but I am getting beach balls every few minutes and then the system hands since I upgraded the system I also did PRAM and SMC reset earlier, but this does not seem to have resolved the issue, as I still get them every few minutes. I have also installed all the software and firmware updates from apple but that has not resolved the issues as claimed above.
I am not sure whether the problem is with the OWC SSD or the OWC Memory modules.
Please contact our Technical Support Team for assistance in troubleshooting.
I am having a different sort of problem with the update, I just installed the mercury pro 240g, and the 12g ram kit from you guys, when I try to install the software update, it shuts down as normal and then on shutdown I get a long beep and when the machine starts up again it dosent boot, I have to option select the drive to get back to desktop, and the update never installs. Any ideas?
Please contact our Technical Support Team and they would be happy to assist in troubleshooting.
I have a 2011 13″ Macbook Pro with EFI 2.2 update that the 240gb OWC SSD 6G Extreme Pro did not work with. When the drive was in the laptop it reported ~ 0.1 MB/sec read/write . . outside in the USB enclosure it seemed to perform fine at USB2 speeds. At this point not sure if it is the drive or my notebook. I am RMA’ing the drive for a refund as I use this laptop for school and cannot be without it.
Hmm…sorry to hear of your experience Bobby but it is very unusual. The 13″ from the very beginning have not been reported to be as prevalent with issues as were the 15″ and 17″ models with any brand 6G SSD. In fact, while we have heard of this issue in the field with the 13″, we have not observed it with any of our 13″ machines.
Grant,
Yeah I’m pretty bummed out about it. . I would love for it to work. I really wanted better HD performance because my 5400rpm 320gb Hitachi just isn’t cutting it. I’m curious, do your 13″ test bed machines report 6Gb capability in the optical bay as well or are they the 3Gb optical bay versions I’ve been reading about? I’m wondering if there is a correlation there. (I’m not using the optical bay for the SSD, I’m just curious if there is a correlation between the versions of the MBPs that report 3Gb and 6Gb there and the ones you’ve been hearing about in the field with issues with your drive) I have verified the drive operates at full speed in my windows desktop machine. It has a Marvell 6Gb controller. So, there is definitely an issue between my 2011 13″ Macbook Pro (which was purchased in June ’11) and your drive. I’ve also run the AHT and it said nothing is wrong with my hardware.
Hi Bobby!
May I ask how new your 13″ MBP is – or in other words – when you purchased it?
Is it one of the newer units that came with Lion 10.7 preinstalled without an installation DVD?
Which processor do you have on board – Intel Core i5 or i7?
Oliver
Hi Oliver,
I got my 13″ MBP in June 2011. It came with Snow Leopard and SL installation DVDs, I was eligible for the free Lion upgrade through the App Store. It has the 2.3Ghz i5 in it.
If I can be if further assistance or if you’d like more info feel free to contact me.
Thanks,
Bobby
FYI, I’ve had to have the hard drive cable replaced twice in two years in my 2009 13″ MacBook Pro.
Somehow it falis – at first things get slow, and you get a lot of beach-balls, but eventually the MBP simply won’t ‘see’ the internal hard drive.
Even though it is an aluminum uni-body case I assume sufficient flexing occurs that eventually cracks the flat plastic cable.
I had hoped the 2011 model would have had a more robust design, but from your post maybe not…
It definitely not working on my macbook pro. I plugged Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G 250 in the main bay and nothing shows up ? Should I return it ? I’m living in France.
For technical support assistance to resolve a matter you are currently experiencing, we encourage you to contact our technical support department via:
Live Chat (linked to on top of the OWC web site)
E-mail or
By telephone at 1-800-275-4576 | 1-815-338-8685
Thanks for the great and very up-to-date info on this. I love your products and support and after the EFI update am successfully running a 240 GB Mercury Extreme 6g in my 2011 15″ MBP. However, I am still bummed that there isn’t a solution to use the second drive bay to stripe a second Mercury Extreme 6g for double the speed.
What isn’t clear to me is why the optical bay doesn’t support the same speed drive as the primary bay. It appears to use the same onboard Intel chipset. The main thing you guys have mentioned is the optical cable, though it seems clear that the OS, at least in my case, is forcing the connection speed to 3gb/s instead of 6gb/s. Have you guys experimented with swapping out the cable in the optical drive to get a reliable 6gb/s speed on those machines that report 6gb/s link in the optical bay? I’m really hoping a talented hacker figures out the limitations of the optical bay and produces a workaround. It just seems that if it’s the same chipset that drives both bays, then it should be possible to get a stable 6gb/s link out of the optical bay. I’m willing to try a non-mainstream solution to getting 6gb/s striping across both bays.
Are you aware of anyone experimenting with work-arounds?
thanks!
Masen
The Sandybridge chipset implemented in the Macbook Pro 2011 has three SATA channel ports. Two of which are enabled for up to 6 gigabit and one that is up to 3 Gigabit. Today’s optical drives operate just fine on even a 1.5 gigabit connection and none that I know of benefit from or even interface using SATA 3.0 6Gb/s link standard. So – it’s not surprising or unexpected that Apple had initially and consistently connected only the 3 Gigabit port for the optical bay drive location. Sometime in early April started to get reports of some users having 6 Gigabit in their optical bays and seemed more and more common as we got into May/june – but not sure why as also still seen new units with 3 Gigabit in that bay as well.
No – all of this said… The signal quality is not sufficient in the optical bay of 15″ and 17″ models to reliably support 6 gigabit link use in that bay. Further – assuming a solution was created – if you system reports 3 Gigabits for the max link in the optical bay, that is hardware/physical and there isn’t a practical way to change the connection to the 6 gigabit port.
Hoping future models improve this… but, in fairness to Apple- they don’t even support anything other than an optical drive in the optical bay and they have no reason to seek out 6G stability for this bay when the laptop optical drives used today only link at 1.5Gb/s.
I would like to buy a (reconditioned 17″ MBP0 and install an OWC SSD in the main drive bay and swap the main drive to the optical bay with your data doubler product.
1. I’m in Australia do you have resellers who can do the install (or is it fairly straight forward I some electronics hobbying experience)?
2. Is a Feb 2011 17″ MBP a better option for 6G SSD than mid-2010 17″ MBP?
Thanks OWC
The installation if very straight forward and straight forward to do yourself – can watch our install video here:
http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/macbookpro_17_unibody_early11_dd/
We do have several resellers in Australia including MacFixit that would also be able able to supply and install locally.
#2 – Only the 2011 Models (Feb/2011 intro – first models with Thunderbolt) thus far support SATA 3.0 6Gb/s link in the main bay. To get the full benefits of a 6Gb/s drive + other enhancements the 2011 absolutely provides vs. 2010 – the newer 2011 model, in my opinion, is a better choice. The 2010 models are very solid, but you will be limited to SATA 2.0 3Gb/s drive performance in that model + no thunderbolt for future expansion.
Seems like this update definitely helped but there appears to be some people that are still having issues. Have you been able to replicate/see any issues at all after the update with OWC drives? Specifically interested in the 17″.
What is interesting is that we have so far only two customers reporting that EFI 2.2 isn’t resolving their issue and they both also are located outside the USA – and based on all other positive reports, leaning towards a potential cable issue in those cases.
Today – we took another system – this was one of the worst of our worst 17″. Half the time wouldn’t boot, major beachballing, all but unusable with 6G… and data rates that were less than 3Gb/s peak when it was working in the main bay. That system is now 100% reliable – boot/shutdown, boot/restart over and over no issues. And – data rates of over 500Mb/s sustained too.
As long as there isn’t an additional, independent issue – all indications are that on MacBook Pro 2011 systems running 10.6.8 or later, EFI 2.2 eliminates the 6G main bay issues that have plagued these systems (majority of which were 17″ exhibiting issues at all) – at least for using OWC Mercury 6G models.
Larry, I have a 2011 17″ MBP that is continuing to have issues after the EFI update. The OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G that was unreliable (booting and beach balls) prior to the EFI Update, was initially was recognized after the EFI update and showed a marked improvement in AJA/digilloyd speed tests but continued to beach ball. I deleted the partition and reinstalled from fresh Lion 10.7.1 USB. Booted fine the first time, but on 2nd and 3rd boot showed Apple,Stop,Folder icons repeatedly. The system would finally boot again after a cycle of booting to external USB (original Apple OEM Drive)and fussing with SMC/PRAM reset (not that this actually fixed anything).
At this point the Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G fails to boot and is not even recognized by Disk Utilities. Is the drive failing? I have OEM cable with OWC shield and replacement cable from iFixIt. No dice either way.
Hardware Overview:
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro8,3
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.3 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 8 MB
Memory: 8 GB
Boot ROM Version: MBP81.0047.B1E
SMC Version (system): 1.70f3
====
And for what its worth I’m in the USA and would be glad to ship you my MBP if you like. I just need to get fully functional!
Our product dev team will be reaching out shortly. We will be more than happy to take the full system in and give it a run through and ideally get ‘er back to you in perfect running order. We haven’t seen a system yet with main bay issue after EFI 2.2 update and this is the first report we have of one with our drive involved within the USA (3rd total world wide). We appreciate the opportunity to see this first hand – win-win. Thanks!
After contacting this customer it was determined the issue was unrelated to the SSD. While there had been issues prior to EFI 2.2 of the 6G MacBook Pro issue symptom, issues that remained actually were found to be caused by something unrelated… and following conversation with our dev team, the report is that all systems are now a go.
We highly recommend running Apple Hardware Test if you continue to have issues following the EFI 2.2 update… this will help identify other possible issues, unrelated to the drive and 6Gb/s SATA interface, are at play.
Thanks for the continued feedback and hopefully this helps all across the board.
Any word on if this EFI update resolves the 6G SSD issue running on OSX 10.6.8 or is it just Lion? Thanks for this great blog/resource.
Absolutely resolves for operation under 10.6.8 as well a 10.7. We have been testing with both(booting both OS versions on the same machines) and all of our first testing was under 10.6.8 prior to moving on to 10.7 Lion. Please note – EFI 2.2 is not offered as an update via Software Update check unless your system is currently up to OS 10.6.8 installed. And – thanks!
Larry,
What tool do did you use to create the benchmark outputs?
Disktester is used to generate the data – part of this utility suite:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Diglloyd/OSXTOOLS/
the results are output and can be saved in as an .rtf.
And included with the utility is an Excel template the data can then be imported into which generates the graphs.
EFI update did not resolve the issue of the 6G OWC 240GB not beeing recognized. Somethimes it worked but more often not! 10x boot – the ssd was not regonized 7 times :o(
Steffen
Our product dev team will reach out to you for more details. We’re seeing consistent success to this point but suspect there may also be some incident of bad SATA cable with some of the remaining now after 2.2.
I’m still testing with a C400 on Lion but can report I still get beach balls after the update.
All of our testing since the EFI update was released has focused on OWC SSD models and the results with them have thus far been consistently positive. Can’t speak for non-OWC products – but also make sure not using any 3rd party TRIM hacks, etc – which urelated to the actual 6G issue – can have undesirable results.
The beachballs are improved, they happen somewhat less often (every couple of hours) and last a shorter period (20-30 seconds instead of a minute or so).
If I order an OWC drive to replace the C400 and it doesn’t solve my problem, can I return it?
We provide a 30 day money back on our full SSD line up. #1 – we’d absolutely work closely with you if any issue was experienced. Honestly – we want to get our hand on a MacBook Pro that doesn’t work even after EFI 2.2… the only two cases so far involve units on the other side of the globe. #2 – whether you’d want to work with us or not, and for any reason – you can return our SSD within 30 days of the invoice date for a full refund no questions asked.
short answer to your question is yes! :)
Ordered 6G via fedex overnight, will report back when I get it.
Fantastic! Looking forward to a thumbs up and/or standing by to assist to that ultimate operational status. Thanks!
Everything is working great with the OWC Extreme 6G on my system that previously had problems with the m4/C400 even after the update.
Fantastic!
i have to say i was very exited reading all this before i made the update, but i guess it didn’t solve anything in my case. i have an intel SSD in the SATA 3 bay of my 2011 15″ MBP. If i use it alone, everything is fine (And was already before the update). But if i plug my additional regular 500GB hard drive in an optibay in the SATA II bay, then i still have the beach ball wheel every time and then, specifically when i use both drives at the same time…
i filled a bug report about 5 months ago… The answer was clear after a week. Optibay isn’t supported by Apple.
i have no idea what to do next, since the “most common” issue seems to be solved, however the specific HDD in SATA II bay + SSD in SATA III bay isn’t solved at all.
Any idea?
Pierre.
While we can’t speak for non-OWC products (Intel SSD and optibay) – we can advise that we have never seen that kind of issue with any of our SSDs and the Data doubler. A huge use of the data doubler is to use the original hard drive in the optical bay so to have the full benefit of the Mercury 6G SSD in the main bay.
I have found mixed messages about the real world speed differences between 6Gb/s and 3Gb/s SSD’s out there, but my question is simply this:
Can you take a 6Gb/s OWC Extreme 240 in the main bay and a 3Gb/s one in the optical bay and stripe them into a RAID 0? If so, would there be a definitive improvement speed wise or would it be generally unnoticeable to the user?
Thanks!
Chris
RAID stripinging two different drives like that really not advisable – not advisable or really beneficial to RAID even two same 6G drives if one is operating 3G and the other 6G – the timing won’t line up and it may even be slower than a single drive.
This is such great news, but I do have a bone to pick with OWC then. See, I spent 20+ hours trying to get my 2011 MBP 17″ BTO to boot from my OWC 6G in the primary bay. I was very clear with support what model of MBP I had, and what year, yet they RMA’d my drive without mentioning any potential problems being on the Apple side of things.
Then after paying the shipping to send it back, they tested it, said it was “just fine”, reset it, and sent it back to me. Then I spent ANOTHER 10+ hours futzing with it to no avail.
Finally, I did a Google search and found this post. Ran the EFI update, and BOOM! Magic – it works and is fast.
Why didn’t someone say something about all these issues?
Apple just released that EFI update on September 14th, and this post was written on September 15th. I see that we tested and returned the drive to you on the 13th.
Seems to me like just a matter of timing, as prior to your RMA our 6G SSD product pages clearly listed the inconsistent incompatibility of these drives (ALL SATA Revision 3.0 – 6Gb/s SSD drives, for that matter) with 2011 MacBook Pro 17″ models. It is the primary reason we offered the 30-Day No-Risk Test Drive on our line of 6G SSD units. Perhaps it was assumed that you were well aware of this ongoing issue which has existed since the 6G SSDs were first released.
Fortunately, Apple did release that EFI firmware updater and, as the saying goes, All’s well that ends well.
In fairness, our support rep did suggest that the issues were indicate the issue system related and not likely the SSD. I am personally reviewing to see if part of the communication was lacking in terms of the issue being one that had been well known with these 2011 MacBook Pros as to what our support was advising to with respect to this information that also was in the item description. Everyone, including our team here – wants to support every opportunity with the goal of all enjoying the benefits of our 6G SSD’s capability – and certainly timing is everything.
I am truly glad to see EFI 2.2 and it’s success in bringing happy ending and ‘EXTREME’ 6G performance capability for these MacBook Pro 2011 models.
I’ve had an Apple 512 GB SSD as my main drive for ages, and migrated it into my 2011 MBP 8,3. Then I added a 480GB OWC 6Gbps drive, moving the Apple drive into the optical bay.
Oops! The pinwheel-of-death issues were so extreme that y machine was barely usable. Fast when it worked, but if I have to sit and stare at a pinwheel for ages every few minutes, it’s not functional.
Until now! So far, absolutely NO problems at all since the update, and reads (tested with Aja test util) are as high as > 530 mB/s.
Hi Michael
I know this has been asked once but let me be more specific.
I am getting an average 435mb/sec write speed and 480mb/sec read speed with the free BlackMagicDesign disk speed test app – no other apps are running while testing.
Would a shielding kit improve my transfer speeds any further?
Thanks
oh… forgot to mention i have a 240GB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G
Different utilities test in different ways with different results and overhead. That said, I would not expect a shielding kit to further improve those numbers. Most systems with issues still benched well, the problem was drop points and lack of consistency in sustaining peak rates due to instabilities from the now EFI corrected issue.
As i started up the MBP this morning the startup drive was not recognized – again. However i was able to “find” it using the alt-option and continue starting up from there… not perfect but usable.
So, again, would a shielding kit help me out in this case?
I’d recommend contacting tech support and reviewing how OS installed, etc. if operation is normal and reliable following start up, that doesn’t sound like an issue related to shielding – could be startup disk setting or OS related.
Thats’s great news but too late, I have already returned the MBP 17″ and got 15″ model. But the 15″ with OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G 480 GB is fine as well.
Hi, i am using crucial c300 in my data doubler and normal hd in main bay,
will i get performance upgrade, if i switch my drives ? its booting from data doubler
thanks
before switch, -> from c300
The C300 is only marginally faster real-world via 6G and then only on the read side as it’s well below even the 3G ceiling on the write side in the 200Mb/s range. There should be some benefit to moving it to your 6G SATA 3.0 connection – and if time is available to do so, certainly won’t hurt. If you asked the same question directed at one of our OWC Mercury 6G models, it would be a resounding yes – and big difference to expect doing so as well. :)
thank you very much for reply, i consider to buy an owc hard drive, but you are pushing every half a year new products, so i am just waiting for a newer version of “extreme super mercury 6g XXX” product.
are there any rumors ?
The current products will be current for a long time to come. And with respect to SATA 3.0, these drives also push to the capabilities of this intereface that is also likely to be standard for SATA controllers at least for another 12-24 months as well. FWIW, the 3G models (which we still offer) were the fastest available for about a year prior to the 6G models emerging. Like all things technology, over the course of time pricing is likely to continue to go down and new, higher capacity models also likely to become available in 2012 – but we’re at the top of performance – over very nearly so right now today for a single drive SATA 2.5″ SSD.
This is amazing news. I have been planning on getting two 6G Extreme 480GB SSDs for work but have been afraid to drop that kind of investment into something that was reported flakey. Now it seems all is well. Thanks for all the great blog posts and information along the way OWC! You guys rock. Seriously.
I have some followup questions.
-So you’re telling me that I won’t have any problems with the new update if I install the two SSDs above into a brand new 17” MBP (that I haven’t bought yet)? I’ll get 6Gb performance through both the optical and main sata ports?
-Is it possible to partition the two drives and then set a raid stripe 0 across each partition. I want to run bootcamp as well as Lion at 1000 MB/s on the same two hard drives. Can this be done?
-Does the 2.2 or 2.3Ghz processor make a difference in regard to the SSD performance?
-Is there any way to enable the DVD player application to work with the external superdrive enclosure? I’d rather not go with VLC as my default movie player.
-I talked with Apple representatives about the Data Doubler and they said that if they found out that I removed the optical drive, it would void AppleCare and they would refuse service. I heard the warranty situation could be different in different states. I live in WA, so I guess taking out the optical drive is not allowed here? Are they just trying to scare me away from doing something that they don’t officially support? Is there anything special (like a sealing sticker inside) that would alert them to the fact that I replaced the optical drive (as long as I switch it back before taking it in and made sure all screws and cables were seated properly)?
Thanks,
Amir
Question#1
With EFI 2.2 – main drive bay issues that with 6G SSDs appear resolved. All of our testing as well as all reports now coming in support this.
Concerning the optical bay – it’s hit or miss whether you get a 17″ (or 15″ or 13″) with 3G or 6G link enabled in that bay. BUT – if you get one with 6G in that bay, it is NOT suitable for 6G drives – even following this update. While there is high success with 13″ MacBook Pros for 6G SATA 3.0 drives in both bays, the SATA cable/connection in this bay is NOT stable for a 6G linked drive.
Question#2 – The majority of the heavy lifting is done in sustained data rates well below 500MB/s, let alone 1000MB/s. The largest benefit of our Sandforce Driven OWC Mercury 6G drives are the higher sustained data rates of smaller data chunks where hard drives slow to a crawl and even other SSDs slow to a fraction of what our drives provide. While you won’t be able to do the RAID you’d like with the 17″, you’ll still have exceptional performance.
#3 – not at all. Same drive tests to same peaks with both processors. Now.. having the faster processor still makes a difference as when doing actual tasks, processor completes faster and for the heavier duty processes is thus able to take even more advantage of the SSD. A faster processor makes the most difference when bottlenecks, like drive access, are reduced.
#4 – not that we can support legally.
#5 – We ship thousands of Data Doublers every month. The answer may vary by Apple rep you speak with, but to date – there has never been an issue with standard or AppleCare extended warranty being denied due to presence of a Data Doubler. Obviously the Apple warranty doesn’t cover that device, but the presence there of is not grounds to deny warranty for a component failure unrelated there to.
“Concerning the optical bay – it’s hit or miss whether you get a 17″ (or 15″ or 13″) with 3G or 6G link enabled in that bay. BUT – if you get one with 6G in that bay, it is NOT suitable for 6G drives – even following this update. While there is high success with 13″ MacBook Pros for 6G SATA 3.0 drives in both bays, the SATA cable/connection in this bay is NOT stable for a 6G linked drive. ”
-So if I can confirm that I understand this correctly: Even if I get a machine with a 6G link in the optical bay, if I put a 6G drive in there it might not run at 6G speed? Will it just go down to 3G speed or will I experience crashes and freezes? On the other hand there is a chance that it will work at 6G speed and be stable correct?
And if I get a bad connection in the optical drive then I definitely don’t want to raid them because that would introduce more performance problems.
No – if you get a MacBook Pro 17″ or 15″ with a 3Gb/s link in the optical bay, you’re good for any 3G or 6G drive you want in that bay. Limited to 3Gb/s performance, but fully reliable. If you get a MacBook Pro 15″ or 17″ that has 6Gb/s link in the optical bay and want to use a data doubler (or like) to put a drive in that bay – then you need to limit your choices to a 3Gb/s drive model. As we have noted for months now and unchanged by the 2.2 EFI update, use of a 6Gb/s drive on a 6Gb/s link in the optical bay is completely unreliable. Further, there is no way to force a 6Gb/s drive to link at only 3Gb/s nor to change a 6Gb/s link down to 3Gb/s to get around that issue… leaving the solution of simply using a 3Gb/s drive that can only link at 3Gb/s if you want the additional capacity via optical bay in 15″ or 17″ models.
In my opinion, much better off currently if your ‘lottery’ MacBook Pro 15″ or 17″ 2011 has a 3Gb/s link in the optical bay.
This is completely independent of the main drive bay which is 100% standard factory 6Gb/s link enabled and now – from testing and reports so far – completely reliable in all machines following EFI 2.2 with 6Gb/s drives as well.
Great news! How can you compare the speed prior and after the EFI?
Peak performance shouldn’t much change unless you had a really bad machine to begin with. Mainly this update has corrected the issue of drop outs and other recognition stability issues which had resulted in erratic performance, beach balls, and just general lack of reliability on said bad systems. Most of the problems were reported with 17″ 2011 models while the vast majority of 13″ and 15″ 2011 models were 100% rock solid out of the gate.
I have been using the Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G 480GB SSD for 32 days in my MacBook Pro 8,3 (17 inch 2011 model). My MacBook Pro is so fast it is unbelievable! In iTunes a movie is playing before my finger comes up all the way off the space bar (play button). SATA 3 speed and 480GB is a luxury to be sure — but your time is worth even more! If you are thinking 480GB is not much space, believe me.. in the iCloud world you will be just fine.
I just ran the update. What is that test you guys use for performance?
We use:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Diglloyd/OSXTOOLS/
and
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Intech%20Software/STTPRO/
Thank you for reporting this. I’ve just chucked my 256gb c300 into my 17″ 2011 mbp and installed lion in less which took less than 3 minutes. 12 seconds to boot into OS X. So happy right now!
What? I never noticed a single problem with my MBP8.2. Does this mean that it will run faster now???
How can i test it?
I am on mercury 6G
We use:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Diglloyd/OSXTOOLS/
and
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Intech%20Software/STTPRO/
for various testing.
Peak speed wasn’t the main issue with machines exhibiting issue… beach balls and performance drop outs to complete non-recognition what were the big issues. Now – if you never noticed issues, you are probably one of those who got a system without issue. This wasn’t a 100% across the board kind of problem and it also varied widely machine to machine. The latest EFI update doesn’t hurt those without issue and helps, so far as we’ve seen so far, all those with.
Wow thanks, i check them out.
Just one info: with 10.7.2 my MBP8.2 startsup in 6 secs! On the boot screen with the apple logo the loading time is a quarter of the loading circle! Blazing fast…!
I can confirm. I did a few sequential r/w tests on my 17″ MBP / Crucial M4 128GB setup right after the EFI update came out and all looked good! Usually I would get a beachball on the second or third iteration.
Unfortunately, I purchased a shielding kit mere hours before the EFI update was released. :(
This is just awesome.
Last week I bought a 6G OWC drive for my 17″ 2011 MBP. It did not work – copied data but never finished disk utilities and would not boot. I spoke with Apple and they confirmed in writing they support this so I scheduled an appointment. Today I am at the Genius bar at an Apple store and I’m telling the Genius about this problem and he says it is fixed. We apply the update and my drive boots. It didn’t work before, but now it does. I am running the digilloyd tools on the drive now to be sure it’s perfect and I see this article was just released, so I am very lucky today!
Thank you Apple! Thank you Gabe @ Apple store in Flatiron Mall in Colorado!
We are extremely excited and pleased with this surprise fix in the latest EFI to say the least. The issue is, in our opinion, truly one related to the hardware and/or cable design and Apple has solidly overcome this with a software solution. I am so glad to see this chapter closing… and since it essentially is a fix for everyone and without any hardware swaps, etc needed – a chapter that will likely be forgotten and filed away in the weeks/months ahead.
And – I must say, what a difference a week makes…. before this fix came out – the party line was that 6Gb/s drives aren’t supported, sorry. I like today’s answer far better. :)
This is very good news. Does this negate the need for the shielding kit entirely?
If you have it installed, I’d leave it. Apple’s update clearly uses a software adjustment to overcome what we still strongly believe is a hardware related cause. This is supported by some small differences in the results we see between units we have here that were the worst vs so-so before this fix. As the shielding won’t hurt – I’d leave it… but in terms of real-world, if you didn’t already have a shielding kit in place – I’d also no longer worry about getting/installing one, no reason for it anymore in terms of the real-world results that are stellar and well in the acceptable range even from a system that was total flake out before EFI. Hope that’s not too much info…
short answer, it’s no longer necessary to consider a shielding kit with EFI 2.2 in place.
This is great news. I purchased a 120GB Mercury Extreme Pro 6G almost 4 months ago and (believe it or not) have yet to install – i’ve just been too crazy busy, plus, I’ve been monitoring the situation and felt I could wait a bit and see how things panned out. Also, I’m wondering how the best way to go about cloning the original HD to the SSD. I did also purchase the data doubler and Superdrive enclosure with the idea of putting the original HD in the DVD slot.
Here’s my question – do I need to get one of those external drive enclosures to hook the original HD to in order to do the clone? Or, can I install this with the data doubler in the DVD bay, put the SSD in the main bay, and do the clone in this fashion? I admit, this is what’s been holding me up. I suppose I could just do a fresh install of OS X 10.7, but thought I’d try the clone approach.
Any advice/suggestions?
Thanks!
-Steve
You can clone internally if you like – works just the same as if you were cloning to an external.
You can place the OWC 120GB SSD into your main drive bay and move the existing hard drive then to the optical bay via the data doubler. From there – can then migrate your date to the SSD without needing to do anything externally. Note- while you can do a clone, for absolutely best and most reliable results.. and this applies to ANY DRIVE, not specific to ours, etc…..
after completing installation of the drive/data doubler/old drive in Data Doubler (where it will boot without any changes needed, just like it did in the main bay)
#1 – initialize the new drive (the OWC SSD in this case)
#2 – CLEAN install you preferred current OS.
#3 – use apple data migration to transfer your user/app/other data from your hard drive to the SSD.
#4 – boot the SSD and run Software update to have the current OS Updates, etc.
#5 – Set SSD as the startup volume and off the the races. :)
Oh cool – so, i DON’T need to use an external enclosure housing? (slaps forehead – i JUST ordered one from you guys – wonders if he can cancel order?)
Is this EFI update somehow solves incompatibility of 6g with MBP 5,1?
The 2.2 EFI is only for 2011 MacBook Pro models. Regarding the 2008 model MacBookPro5,1 – some customers have reported, and we do not support/endorse this, that if you roll back to EFI v1.6 for that model – this does allow operation. Please note again, we do not support this nor show the SATA 3.0 SSD models as currently supported for use in that specific 5,1 model and would instead recommend utilization of a SATA 2.0/3Gb/s drive in said 5,1 systems – which is fully supported.
Thanks Larry and Michael,
posted first and then found that firmware update was for 2011 models only…
Yan, the EFI firmware update is for the 2011 models only.
Well – blatherations! I received my 17″ MBP a couple of months back and immediately went for the 6G OWC drive, only to find the same problems as dozens of others. The machine was unusable. OWC, being one of the best companies I have ever worked with, made no bones about returning it and I elected to go with the 3G. I got this up and running this last week – and now I find I might have stayed with the 6G.
Sigh.
Is there any chance that OWG would consider – once again – exchanging my 3G for a 6G again?
Thanks – Lawrence
Lawrence,
I am in the EXACT SAME situation as you, except with a 15″ MBP. I was informed yesterday that I can return my machine back to OWC to swap out the 3g four a 6g, now that they are working right!!
Stewart