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Hard Drives | Controllers/Adapters | RAID | Blu-Ray/DVD/CDRWs | Misc. | |
| (Mar 2013) Notes on swapping my SATA2 Toshiba 512GB SSD in a Late 2012 Mini for a SATA3 480GB Intel 520 series. Unlike the first SSD swap in this late 2012 mac mini, this time I had a few minor issues to work around but it turned out fine with a significant performance increase. (2.3GHz core i7 mini w/16GB ram & SSD is fast.) | |
| (Nov 2012-Apr 2013) Reader reports on Do-It-Yourself OS X Fusion drives in a MacBook Pros, Mac Pros, iMacs etc. Includes tips on partitions, warnings on Fusion Drive repairs as well as links to DIY OS X Fusion drive Guides. (Updated several times since original post in Nov. 2012) | |
| 2010 iMac owner's notes with Apple P/Ns on cables for adding a SSD to a 27in Mac with Hard Drive. (FYI: Post Updated to include DIY Kits for adding internal SSD in 2010 and 2011 iMacs) | |
| (May 2011) Jumper setting tips for WD 6Gb/SATA III drives in G5 Macs (and any other SATA I/1.5Gb interfaces). Without forced mode reduction, drives were not usable/recognized. | |
| (Apr 2011) After getting another mail from an eSATA card owner that didn't notice data corruption until months later I posted a request for reports from readers with _reliable_ eSATA card/Port Multiplier cases in the Apri 4th, 2011 news page. | |
| (Mar 2011) Notes/Tricks on enabling TRIM support in OS X (snow leopard) for 3rd party SSDs (not just Apple shipped models). Updated to include link to download of an enabler/patcher vs manually editing a file. | |
| (Jun 2010) The June 17th, 2010 news page had some comments on special drive cables/thermal sensors in the new 2010 Mac Minis (and reminders on HD brand specific/temp sensor cables for late 09 iMacs). The takeaparts of the new 2010 Minis didn't include any info on that (but I suspect may be revised later). However a reader with a 2010 Mini server sent notes/pix on the cables/termal sensors during his dual SSD upgrade/drive swap. | |
| (Apr 2010) This page has 2010 MacBook Pro owner reports on SSD drives, both Apple OEM model as well as user upgraded/SSD swaps including OWC Sandforce-based SSD and Intel X25M Gen 2 SSD. (Updated again in May 2010.) | |
| (Apr 2010) A 2008 Mac Pro owner with four 2TB WD Green HDs sent a guide on Using WDidle3 to disable Head Parking w/WD Green Hard Drives. (Personally I would not have bought Green drives for my Mac Pro internal bays...) | |
| Reminders on past tips here for SSD/Notebook users on disabling hibernate mode and deleting the sleepimage file which saves GB's of (expensive) SSD space. (i.e. 4GB ram machines saves 4GB space, etc.) Also includes a recap on disabling SMS (sudden motion sensor - not needed for SSDs) and disabling LidWake, | |
| (Mar 2010) First reader report/benchmarks (AJ Kona drive sweep, I/Os, XB) of the new (advanced format) 12.5mm high/5200 rpm Western Digital 1TB Scorpio Blue hard drive in his Unibody MacBook Pro. (Page will be updated with later reports over time.) | |
| (Jan 2010) Just a FYI that my tests of the low cost (under $60 MSRP) NewerTech 6Gbps eSATA PCIe controller card includes Drive Genius 2.2.1 BenchTest bechmark results with WD Caviar Black 1TB drives (single drive and dual-drive RAID 0). Benchmarks were run with both the NewerTech 6G card and a Sil3132 based eSATA card. | |
| (Last Updated Oct. 2012) Info/Feedback/Tips on M225 SSDs in Macs - including notes/tips on SSD firmware updates, problem reports and more. | |
| (Jan. 2010) A reader from the UK sent notes and pix of his (pre-2009) Hard Drive in a Mac Pro's Optical Drive Bay using a heatsinked and rubber isolated drive bracket vs the X-Swing that Oliver used in his previous articles on HDs in Mac Pro Optical drive bay here. (BTW - This article and others on the subject here (since 2007) used brackets with rubber isolation for reduced noise. And the bracket this reader used also had a heatsink feature but I doubt that really matters much (but they were relatively cheap). Of course if you don't care about any of that you can do this very cheaply with the all metal 5.25in bay adapter brackets, which used to come free in retail box 3.5in HDs in the past.) | |
750GB Western Digital Scorpio Hard Drive in MacBooks/MacBook Pros |
(Dec. 2009) A Unibody MacBook owner's notes/benchmarks on the 750GB WD Scorpio. Includes a recap on topics like clicking, load cycle counts, apm tweaks, SMS, etc as well as his Xbench results with the 750GB (5200rpm) vs his previous 500GB (5400rpm) Scorpio in the same Macbook. (The bottom of the page includes a copy of previous reports on this drive from other MacBook/Pro owners.) |
| (Dec. 2009) A late 2007 MacBook Pro owner that finally decided on a larger HD upgrade (was considering several brands/models) sent notes and benchmarks on his Seagate Momentus 7200.4 500GB (7200rpm/16MB cache) upgrade that replaced his original 160GB Momentus 7200.2. (Also includes notes on noise, temperatures, etc - overall he was very happy with this drive upgrade.) | |
Feedback on Western Digital Scorpio (2.5in) 750GB and 640GB HDs |
(Dec. 2009) Reader reports on these notebook HDs from MacBook/MacBook Pro (on 750GB and 640GB) and Mini owners (640GB only due to 9.5mm height limit). I posted the request for feedback after some questions from readers about these notebook HDs. |
| (Nov. 2009) Another FYI/Warning to any one looking to swap out a 1TB 2.5in drive from one of these 'portable' USB cased models. Drive is SATA but is 15mm high (too tall). Said to also be true of the FreeAgent Go 880GB and 750GB models as well. (WD Scorpio 1TB and 750GB models are 12.5mm high - but the 1TB model is literally impossible to find as of Nov. 2009.) | |
FYI on WD Passport 1TB (and others) NOT having SATA HD inside |
(Oct. 2009) Just a warning/FYI to any other reader thinking they could open up the 1TB WD Passport USB drive and use the HD inside a notebook (MacBook/MacBook Pro, etc.) - the drive inside is USB only. (Replies noted other capacity USB Passport drives were the same way - buyer beware.) I swapped it for a Toshiba USB 640GB Portable drive, which had a 9.5mm high SATA HD inside but I wonder if other mfrs will change that practice now. |
Mac User reports on OCZ Vertex SSD firmware update 1.41 w/GC |
(Oct. 2009) Mac owner reports on OCZ's vertex v1.41 firmware update with GC (garbage collection)... some mac users were not able to update however (deja-vu...) |
2009 Mac Pro RocketRAID 4320 vs Onboard SATA 4-Drive RAID0/1/10, Intel SSD Benchmarks |
(Oct. 2009) Early 2009 Mac Pro benchmarks of a 4-drive Seagate 1.5TB RAID array using a RocketRAID 4320 PCIe card vs Apple onboard SATA RAID. Includes RAID0, RAID1 and RAID10 Benchmarks. (Also includes some Intel X25M SSD benchmarks.) |
| (Oct. 2009) A reader's notes and photos of his OCZ Agility SSD Upgrade in a 2006 iMac. (See below for earlier article on OCZ SSD in a 2009 iMac.) | |
| (Oct. 2009) A short article w/photos from a PowerMac G5 Dual 2.5 GHz owner on his 64GB SSD drive (internal) upgrade. (Includes xbench benchmarks but note this he didn't use the fastest SSD and the G5 has an SATA I interface.) | |
RAID0 Stripe performance w/2 WD RE4-GP 2TB (64MB cache) HDs in Mac Pro |
(Oct 2009) Post from a 2008 Mac Pro owner on RAID0 (stripe) performance with two WD RE4-GP (aka 5400rpm) drives. (These are not the 7200rpm RE4 models.) |
| (June 2009) Install notes/pix/xbench scores from a 2009 iMac owner on his internal OCZ Vertex 120GB SSD. | |
2009 Mac Pro w/OCZ Vertex SATA II 120GB SSD Drive Benchmarks |
(Apr. 2009) Notes/benchmarks from a Quad-Core 2009 Mac Pro owner on his OCZ 120GB SATA II SSD Drive. He also sent later follow-up report after more usage, a SSD drive firmware update and TRIM. (And said OCZ said they're working on a TRIM tool for OS X.) |
| (Apr. 2009) 2009 Mac Pro owner notes/benchmarks on Intel XM25-M 80GB SSD boot drive and RAM upgrades. | |
| (Feb 2009) Page on using SMART Utility for OS X (shareware) to check notebook drive "Load Cycle Counts" as well as notes on other drive SMART attributes/failing warnings, etc. (Page posted after the topic came up again recently on some drives frequently parking heads/cycling at a rate that would exceed the mfr's max cycle rating within a few months. Includes feedback from OS X users on their drive model readings with various models of Fujitsu, Hitachi, Samsung, Seagate and Toshiba 2.5in hard drives.) | |
| (Jan 2009) Includes the Seagate Kbase Doc w/SN check on affected drives, firmware updates and a Guide to applying firmware updates with a Mac Pro. Also has reader reports on updates, drive failures, etc. in reply to a high number of infant failures (within a few months) reported for some models made during the last several months of 2008 in Seagate's forums. (Some dealer inventory may still include affected drives as of Jan 2009.) | |
| (June 2008) Comparison of the 32GB MemoRight GT vs 10,000RPM Western Digital Velociraptor and Raptor SATA drives. | |
| (May 2008) Guide with Photos on installing a SSD drive in a Mac Pro system. (Also includes link to benchmark tests vs three 1TB SATA Hard Drives.) | |
1TB Drives Tested: Samsung F1 vs Hitachi 7K1000 vs WD Caviar |
(Feb 2008) Oliver compares the new Samsung F1 (3 platter/very dense) 1TB drive to the Hitachi 7K1000 and Western Digital "green" Caviar GP using a (2006) Mac Pro system. |
| If you installed this drive in a MacBook or MacBook Pro it either was unusable or had very poor performance, here's a guide to updating the drive firmware to fix that. | |
| Mac Pro user's Kona 2 and Quickbench test results with internal 4-drive RAID 0 array using Four 320GB Seagate 7200.10's (previous drive db reports noted very poor RAID performance with multi-drive 7200.10 drives, originally reported from 750GB drive owners. Seagate working on a firmware update for drives to fix this.) | |
| PCI-X G5 tower Benchmarks with 4 drive (Maxline Pro 500GB) external SATA RAID setup and bootable PCI-X SATA controller card. | |
| A reader with a PCI-express G5 tower sent notes and performance tests on his fast 4 drive external SATA RAID setup and bootable PCI-express SATA controller card. | |
| An Xeon Xserve user tests performance of a new Seagate 15,000rpm drive vs a 7200rpm drive in the same system. Considering the 15Krpm drive was half full, the results are even more impressive. | |
to B&W G3 or G4 |
Photo illustrated Guide to adding a 2nd IDE drive to Blue and White (rev 2) G3 or G4 Mac systems. |
Hard Drive Upgrade |
Photo Illustrated Installation Guide for PowerBook G4 hard drives. Includes a page on drive setup formatting also. |
Hard Drive Upgrade (PB G3 2000 model) |
Review and Installation of an IBM 32GB Travelstar drive in a PowerBook G3 (2000) Firewire model. (Lomboard Owners say the guide also worked for them.) Includes photos of the installation and comparisons of performance with the original 12GB drive, and IBM 20GB and 32GB drive. |
Hard Drive Upgrade |
Review and Installation of an IBM 20GB Travelstar drive in a PowerBook G3 Wallstreet. Includes photos of the installation and comparisons of performance with the original 4GB drive and the new 20GB drive. |
ATA/66 Controller Review (in Beige G3) |
Reader review of an IBM 75GXP ATA/100 drive and Sonnet Tempo (ATA/66) Controller in a Beige/Platinum G3. Includes benchmarks and real-world performance tests. |
| Illustrated article on how I installed a slave drive in a rev. 1 B&W G3 (with warnings about drive data corruption issues with rev 1 systems.) | |
Data Corruption report |
Reader comments on data corruption with an IBM Deskstar 22GB IDE drive even as a master/single drive. |
| Need more storage and speed in your Beige G3? (Written in 1998 for the Minitower model, includes tip for easy transfer of data from the old drive to the new drive.) | |
| Complete Illustrated guide to building your own PowerBook expansion bay hard drive from a kit. Includes pages on installing the drive in the expansion bay kit (w/photos), formatting the drive and performance comparisons of expansion bay vs internal drives. | |
for B&W G3 |
Illustrated guide to Proline's low-cost solution for the tall drive mounting issue in the new Blue and White G3. |
| (May 2010) A Mac Pro owner sent notes and benchmark test results of his low cost (four $10 4GB Flash drives) USB Flash Drive RAID. | |
2009 Mac Pro RocketRAID 4320 vs Onboard SATA 4-Drive RAID0/1/10, Intel SSD Benchmarks |
(Oct. 2009) Early 2009 Mac Pro benchmarks of a 4-drive Seagate 1.5TB RAID array using a RocketRAID 4320 PCIe card vs Apple onboard SATA RAID. Includes RAID0, RAID1 and RAID10 Benchmarks. (Also includes some Intel X25M SSD benchmarks.) |
RAID0 Stripe performance w/2 WD RE4-GP 2TB (64MB cache) HDs in Mac Pro |
(Oct 2009) Post from a 2008 Mac Pro owner on RAID0 (stripe) performance with two WD RE4-GP (aka 5400rpm) drives. (These are not the 7200rpm RE4 models.) |
| Mac Pro user's Kona 2 and Quickbench test results with internal 4-drive RAID 0 array using Four 320GB Seagate 7200.10's (previous drive db reports noted very poor RAID performance with multi-drive 7200.10 drives, originally reported from 750GB drive owners. Seagate working on a firmware update for drives to fix this.) | |
| PCI-X G5 tower Benchmarks with 4 drive (Maxline Pro 500GB) external SATA RAID setup and bootable PCI-X SATA controller card. | |
| A reader with a PCI-express G5 tower sent notes and performance tests on his fast 4 drive external SATA RAID setup and bootable PCI-express SATA controller card. | |
| Reader tests of OS X's RAID (stripe and mirror) vs Switched RAID mode on an ATA/133 Acard IDE RAID PCI card. (All tests used the same drives/card - but testing switch set RAID mode on the card vs Apple's OS X 10.2.x RAID.) | |
in Quicksilver G4s (200GB-400GB RAID Setups) |
Reader reports on IDE Hardware RAID cards (Sonnet Tempo RAID, Acard AHARD RAID cards) used in Quicksilver G4s. Includes a report from an dual G4/800 owner with a 400GB RAID Array. |
Card with OS X 10.7.5 (& 10.8 w/driver update) |
(Oct 2012) Reader feedback on Caldigit's Combo eSATA III (6Gb/sec) + USB 3.0 PCI express card compatible with OS X 10.7 (10.7.5 used) and info on USB 3.0 driver update for OS X 10.8/Mountain Lion. He noted Native eSATA support but a driver install required for USB 3.0 use. (We also had several reports in early Oct 2012 with Feedback on USB 3.0 Cards with OS X 10.7.5 and OS X 10.8.2) |
| (Mar 2012) Most still seem ok with using Silicon Image's 3132 drivers from mid-2010 (10.6.x release) with OS Lion (10.7.3) based on feedback in March 2012. Includes links to earlier posts from summer 2011 on GM 10.7, repeat of tips on reinstalling drivers after initial OS Install/upgrade and more. (Also notes the driverless/natively supported (in OS X 10.5 and later) NewerTech 6G SATA card still supported per early Lion reports.) | |
| (Apr 2011) After getting another mail from an eSATA card owner that didn't notice data corruption until months later I posted a request for reports from readers with _reliable_ eSATA card/Port Multiplier cases in the Apri 4th, 2011 news page. | |
(using Mini-PCIe Card) |
(Sept 2010) iMac (intel-based) notes and pictures on swapping out the Airport card with the same 2-port SATA card for eSATA used earlier by Mini owners. (See article link below.) Another iMac owner sent his Photo Gallery/Guide to iMac eSATA Card Install/Mod |
eSATA Card Mod (using Mini-PCIe Card) |
(Aug/Sept 2010) 3 Reader reports on swapping out the Mini-PCIe Airport card with a 2-port SATA card used for eSATA. Includes card info and some initial real-world benchmarks. Reports are from OS X 10.6.4 and 10.5.8 mini users. (NOTE: 2009 and Later Minis DO NOT have a Mini-PCIe Airport card and can't do this mod. PPC Macs also do not have Mini-PCIe Airport cards.) |
eSATA 6G PCIe Controller (No Drivers Reqd/Low-Cost) |
(Jan 2010) My tests of the under $60 MSRP NewerTech 6Gbps eSATA PCIe controller card with native support, no drivers required in OS X 10.5 and later (including 64-bit support). This review includes info on the card, benchmarks with 1TB WD Caviar Black hard drives in single-drive and Dual-drive RAID 0 configuration. Benchmarks compare my previous eSATA PCIe card - an under $20 Sil3132 model which requires a driver install. (NewerTech 6G card also supported in Windows/Bootcamp.) If like me, you don't need PM support, the NewerTech 6G eSATA card is well worth a look. [Update/FYI: Per OWC, this card still has native support (no drivers reqd) in OS X 10.8.] |
| My notes on testing low-cost ($20-$25) eSATA Expresscard and PCIe cards in OS X Snow Leopard with an Early 2009 17in MacBook Pro and Early 2009 Mac Pro. (Sil3132 based Expresscard/PCIe cards and a natively supported JMB360 based expresscard.) Also links to updated Sil3132 drivers for Snow Leopard - and data corruption test results w/10.6.2. (JMB360 card often fails a file integrity test with many eSATA HDs I have.) | |
| A collection of MacBook Pro owner reports on Express/34 cards, including eSATA controllers although many other types also reported on there. | |
| A Mac Pro owner's article on using the spare 2 SATA ports on the Mac Pro motherboard with Newer Tech's SATA cable kit and an external dual SATA drive case. (FYI - Includes reports on compatible (and incompatible) external cases - some ext. case bridge boards (w/multiple interfaces) are not compatible.) | |
| PCI-X G5 tower ower reports (Pros/Cons, etc.) on using a PCI or PCI-X eSATA controller card with various external SATA drive and Arrays. | |
| PCI-X G5 tower Benchmarks with 4 drive (Maxline Pro 500GB) external SATA RAID setup and bootable PCI-X SATA controller card. | |
| A reader with a PCI-express G5 tower sent notes and performance tests on his fast 4 drive external SATA RAID setup and bootable PCI-express SATA controller card. | |
| Reader report and benchmark tests on this Combination ATA/133 + SerialATA PCI card for Macs. | |
| Reader tests of OS X's RAID (stripe and mirror) vs Switched RAID mode on an ATA/133 Acard IDE RAID PCI card. (All tests used the same drives/card - but testing switch set RAID mode on the card vs Apple's OS X 10.2.x RAID.) | |
| Reader reports/comments/performance tests using the Acard AV Optimizer utility to fix the issue of stuttering audio with IDE cards in older Macs. Also includes performance test results with the different modes. This utility works with Acard's IDE cards as well as the Sonnet Tempo ATA/66 cards. (Which were Acard hardware based - Sonnet's ATA/100 card is Promise hardware based and has its own A/V utilility as noted in the article below.) | |
| Reader reports/comments on the Sonnet ATA/100 IDE controller for Macs which includes a software utility to adjust the modes of the card to fix the issue of stuttering audio with IDE cards in older Macs. Also includes performance test results with the different modes. | |
| (May 2011) Mac Pro owner reports on Blu-Ray drives (Pioneer BDR-206, LG BH10LS30, ) and Multiformat DVD burners (LG GH22NP21, Samsung SHS222LBEBSL). The Mac Pro/Pioneer BDR-206 report includes notes/screenshots on problems seen related to drive going to sleep. (Deja-Vu.) Also has info from owners of 2006-2008 Mac Pros that used one of the 2 extra onboard SATA Ports for an optical drive. (There's a previous artlcle here on Using the 2006-2008 Mac Pro's 2 extra onboard SATA Ports.) | |
| (Nov. 2009) After getting a report from a 2009 Mac Pro owner that his Pioneer BDR-205 drive was "disappearing" after appx 30min of time in OS X (but not windows), I suspected a drive sleep issue. The Nov. 25th, 2009 news page has replies from several other Mac Pro owners and an update from the original reader to report the problem (disabling allow drive sleep in Energy Saver seems to have helped, but see posts.) | |
| Mac Pro owner report on Problems (Errors/bus reset) when burning to his Sony BWU-100A added as a 2nd drive to his Mac Pro. I suggested he try using it alone on the optical drive bus, which solved the problem he said. Includes notes on other Blu-Ray drive models that may be a better choice. | |
| G5 tower owner report/mini-review of MCE's internal Blu-Ray DVD burner upgrade for Macs. (Drive is matshita mechanism. Also burns CDs.) Includes notes on performance and more. | |
Flashing OEM G5 Sony DWU21A to Liteon SOHW-1653S (w/DL support) |
G5 owner notes on flashing his OEM Sony DWU21A drive to a Liteon SOHW-1653S with Dual Layer DVD burn support. (Also includes link to a listing guide of OEM Sony drives to Liteon models.) |
| Article showing the cable/pin mods to force master mode for Powerbook G4 optical drives (i.e. fix for Pioneer K04L's which default to slave mode) | |
| Reader's guide to flashing the OEM (from G5 system) Pioneer DVR-117D to DVR-108 model firmware (enables 16x DVD SL burning, 4x Dual Layer burning and faster CDR burn speeds). | |
| News item on how to use the official 1.18 firmware
update (PC download) with the OS X Flasher for Pioneer DVR-107D drives.
For notes on the tweaked firmware v1.16, see this previous posting. (Page with OS X flasher for the DVR-107D also has downloads for the DVR-104, 105 and 106 drives also.) | |
PB G4 and G4 Cube OEM Superdrives |
Links and Reports on using the unofficial Firmware update for Matshita UJ-815 (slotted superdrive) that enables 2x DVD-R write support. (Use at your own risk, although initial reports are positive.) |
| My review of the MacResq PowerBook G4 (slotted) Superdrive upgrade. (Incl. performance test comparisons to the original Combo Drive.) | |
for early iMacs |
Reader mini-guide for installing an external IDE CDRW drive with an early iMac. |
| It requires a PC to flash the drive, but there's finally a flasher that will work with the OEM Apple rom drives. Article includes CDROM read and audio extraction performance tests of v1.55 vs 1.44. (CDROM read performance was a real sore point of these drives. (Original article included info on flashing to v1.55, updated to include v1.68 firmware info.) | |
Firmware Update Tips |
Tips on flashing Plextor IDE and SCSI CDRWs with Macs. |
| A reader sent photos and info on how a notebook Combo DVD/CDRW drive he bought at Ebay was made to work in a PowerBook G3 Expansion bay (PB Firewire model, but Lombard/Bronze keyboard has similar case). Includes photos and how he enabled iTunes/DiscBurner support for the drive. (Update: This article also links to a photo-illustrated build guide for swapping out the original Pismo/Lombard CD/DVD rom drive from the caddy - without the need to file the side cover of the OEM drive noted in the original article.) | |
IDE CDRW Drive Tips and Feedback |
Reader reports of the Yamaha 2100 CDROM recorder - includes tip on how to update the firmware of an IDE 2100 drive on a Mac. (Also search the drive compt. database for the latest reports.) |
CD/DVD Burner Installation Guide |
Step-by-step illustrated guide to installing a CDROM drive in a Beige G3, 8600/9600 and Blue and White G3 or G4 system. |
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