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Sometimes, “Recommendations” Are Actually “Requirements”

Friday, October 14th, 2011 | Author: OWC Grant

About a month ago, we talked about how MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.2 “secretly” resolved problems that 2011 MacBook Pros were having with 6.0Gb/s SATA performance.

Since we posted about the fix, we’ve been hearing from customers that some firmware updates are not fully completing… even though it appears that it is. These failed updates offered no indication that the update didn’t complete.

So a bit of sleuthing on our behalf turned up the culprit. When installing the update using Software Update, the installer informs you that it is recommended that you plug in your MacBook Pro to working power source while installing. This makes sense – the one time you don’t want your battery to go out is when running a firmware update.

However, if you download the update via its Apple KnowledgeBase page, though, the description there states that you must have your MacBook Pro connected to the power connector for installation.

From all the reports we’ve seen, it would appear that the KnowledgeBase instructions are the more accurate or at least more specific. Connecting the power supply while updating your firmware isn’t a recommendation; it’s a requirement.

Taking that requirement mindset even further is that when installing any firmware update on any Mac notebook, make sure you have it connected to its wall outlet power adapter before you start the update. Then, after running the updater, check the Hardware Overview screen in System Profiler and see if the the correct new Boot ROM or SMC version number for the update you’re running is present. If you still have the old version, then you will need to run the update again.

Naturally, this connect to power requirement is already solved for desktop machine users. But if you can think of a way to update a desktop machine like an iMac, Mac Pro, or mini without being connected to power, we’d like to hear about it!

Category: Tech Tips

Upgrade Your 06-08 Mac Pro’s Internal Bays to SATA 3.0

Friday, October 14th, 2011 | Author: OWC Chris S.

Most of the time, your average Mac has a longer useful life than its PC counterpart. Unfortunately, the fast evolution of technology means that, after a while, that older Mac may seem a little slow and may not be able to take full advantage of current tech.

Such is the case for earlier Mac Pros. As they currently sit, they only move data at SATA 2.0  speeds, roughly three gigabits per second. If you wish to put the drives in to a RAID array, you are limited to either a mirrored RAID 1, losing half your capacity, or a RAID 0, which is faster, but increases the risk of data loss. On top of that, those RAID levels are all software-based, which can reduce overall performance.

Fortunately, if you happen to have a 2006-2008 Mac Pro, you can improve the performance in those bays, with only one small thing to lookout for. Article Continues…

Drive Adapters Galore—Which Is The Right One?

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011 | Author: OWC Chris S.

I think that by now, we’ve established just how amazing our line of Solid State Drives are - from in-house benchmarking to glowing reviews and even the amazing response to our firmware updater tool all indicate just how popular and reliable our SSDs are.

In fact, the only reason they’re not even more popular is their form factor. Since the OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 3GMercury Electra 6G and Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G all have the same 2.5″ form factor commonly found in laptops, many people assume that they won’t work in machines that use the larger 3.5″ drives.

Fortunately, that’s not quite true. While these drives don’t “naturally” fit in a 3.5″ drive bay, they work wonderfully when installed with the use of an adapter. That, of course, is where things may get a little confusing.

You know that phrase about there being “more than one way to skin a cat”? It applies to adapting a 2.5″ drive to fit a larger bay, too.

In fact, between OWC and NewerTech, we’ve got five different ways to adapt our SSDs for a larger drive bay. Which one is the “right” one? It all Article Continues…

OWC Upgrade Service For All Mid-2011 Apple iMacs Now Offers $249 Solid State Drive Option With Over 2x Faster Performance Than Factory SSD Options

Wednesday, September 7th, 2011 | Author: OWC NewsFeed

Other World Computing announced today a lower starting cost for installation of a 6Gb/s SSD via the OWC Turnkey Upgrade Installation Program for the Mid-2011 Apple iMac. Starting from less than half the cost of factory SSD options, the OWC program gives mid-2011 iMac owners/buyers the option of having OWC install up to three award winning, SandForce Driven OWC Mercury 6G Solid State Drives up to 480GB each and with data rates over 2x faster than factory SSD options. Program options also include a larger capacity hard drive up to 3.0TB and certified Memory Upgrades up to 32GB. 27″ iMac owners also have the option of OWC installing the industry’s only eSATA interface and experience data transfer rates up to 600MB/s. OWC’s installation service program offers multiple configuration options starting at $169 with a 48 business hours or less installation turnaround. Article Continues…

Category: Press Releases

OWC Announces Upgrade Service For All Mid-2011 Apple iMacs Featuring Up To Three High Performance 6Gb/s Solid State Drives, 3.0TB Hard Drive, 32GB RAM And/Or Industry’s Only eSATA Interface For 27″ Models

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011 | Author: OWC NewsFeed

Other World Computing announced today its OWC Turnkey Upgrade Installation Program for the Mid-2011 Apple iMac that enables any 2011 21.5″ or 27″ iMac model owner to have OWC professionally install up to three award winning OWC Mercury 6G Solid State Drives up to 480GB each, a larger capacity hard drive up to 3.0TB, and OWC Memory Upgrades up to 32GB. 27″ iMac owners also have the option of OWC installing the industry’s only eSATA interface and experience data transfer rates up to 600MB/s. OWC’s installation service program offers multiple configuration options starting at $169 with a 48 business hours or less installation turnaround. Article Continues…

New Instructional Videos!

Friday, August 12th, 2011 | Author: OWC Chris S.

It’s been a while since we really drew attention to new additions to our Instructional Series of videos, but considering the requests we’ve been getting lately, we figured you may be interested.

We’ve added a total of six new videos to our DIY section, showing you how to upgrade the memory and storage on the 2011 mini and mini Server, as well as showing you how to install the Mercury Aura Pro Express in the 2011 MacBook Airs.

You can check out these new videos (and all out other ones, too) in our Tech Center, on our YouTube Channel, or in iTunes.

 

Hard Drive Upgrades with Lion: Not Just a simple Clone Anymore

Thursday, August 11th, 2011 | Author: OWC Chris S.

Hard drive upgrades are a popular upgrade for many Mac users and there’s a few different reasons for that.

The first biggie is space. With all the files, pictures, movies, music, software updates, and other bits of info vying for space, that once-vast 500GB hard drive is now nearly full. bigger hard drive means more room to put it all.

The second one is speed. Even on its flagship 17″ MacBook Pro, Apple is still stuffing a 5400rpm drive inside, which can limit how fast you can access your data. Simply by upgrading the internal hard drive to a faster 7200rpm drive or (better still) a solid-state drive like our OWC Mercury EXTREME series, you can nearly triple the performance of the 2011 MacBook Pros, and earlier models show similar gains – we did a whole series of videos about it not too long ago. But I’m getting off-track here.

Replacing a hard drive in most modern Macs is pretty simple, and our highly-acclaimed Instructional Series of videos breaks the process down so pretty much anybody can do it. The trick is making sure your data gets brought over as simply as possible, so you can continue on seamlessly. Article Continues…

Category: Tech Tips

Lion Launches as Shuttle Gets Ready To Land.

Wednesday, July 20th, 2011 | Author: OWC Chris S.

While the last flight of the Space Shuttle rapidly approaches its finale, Apple’s latest iteration of OS X is ready to take flight. While we’re certainly sad to see the end of an era of space exploration, we can’t help but temper our sadness with the excitement over the release of a new OS.

After over a month of anticipation, preparation and a little bit of exasperation, OS X 10.7 Lion was released to the general public earlier today! While you can rest assured that your OWC and NewerTech storage solutions are ready to work with the new OS, you’ll want to make sure the rest of your system is prepared, too.

Here’s what you’ll need in order to install and run Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. Article Continues…