The Source for Mac Performance News and Reviews
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Hard Drives | Controllers/Adapters | RAID | Blu-Ray/DVD/CDRWs | Misc. | |
| (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. | |
| 2010 iMac owner's notes with Apple P/Ns on cables for adding a SSD to a 27in Mac with Hard Drive. (If any reader knows if the same parts are used for 2011 iMacs, send a note. Thanks.) | |
| (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 $59.99 NewerTech 6Gbps eSATA PCIe controller card (native OS X 10.5/10.6 support) 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. | |
(Another) Hard Drive in a Mac Pro's Optical Drive Bay article |
(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 in 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. (Reported other lower capacity USB Passport drives are the same way - buyer beware.) I swapped it for a Toshiba USB 640GB Portable drive (which has a 9.5mm high SATA HD inside). |
| (Updated mid-Oct. 2009) Info/Feedback/Tips on M225 SSDs in Macs - including notes/tips on firmware updates and more. (I bought a M225 256GB in Aug. for $599 - as of mid-Oct. it's $799.99 list...) | |
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. |
| The FAQ has IDE Hard Drive section with tips and other information you may find useful. | |
| 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. | |
| Topic based FAQ with more than 750 answers to common questions including system specific and storage topics. Check here first for answers on any Mac subject! | |
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Legacy Mac (pre-2001) Advice, Tips and Info on Drive Upgrades |
(Note: Old page on (pre-SATA) Macs for reference) A page full of suggestions, tips, links and examples that may be of help to those with older (pre-2001) macs confused about storage options (internal vs external, IDE, firewire, portable or AC powered firewire drives, etc.) |
| If you have a pre-Beige G3 Mac and are considering adding a PCI IDE card and drive, read this FAQ note about stuttering audio playback that is a common problem with older Macs and PCI IDE card connected drives. *Updated* on 11/1/2001 to add a link to Acard's AV Optimizer than is reported to fix this issue for Acard and Sonnet Tempo ATA/66 card owners. (Note - see the article on Sonnet's ATA/100 card w/software utility below that also addresses this issue for owners of that card.) | |
| Tests with the Hitachi 60GB 7200 RPM Travelstar notebook hard drive (IDE drive tested in a portable Firewire case). (Fits ibook and powerbook models.) This is the first 7200 rpm notebook drive generally available. | |
| iMac G4 (and eMac) and Quicksilver owner reports that Jaguar (OS 10.2) allowed "big" (>128GB) IDE drives to be used to their full capacity with the onboard IDE interface without needing 3rd party drivers or an IDE PCI card. (Apple as of May 2003 still notes only MDD G4s and Xserves have native big drive/48bit addressing support in the bootrom.) | |
| Tests with the Hitachi 80GB Travelstar notebook hard drive. (Fits ibook and powerbook models.) | |
| A page summarizing some links to web site 75GXP failure reports, reader experiences with the 75GXP series and links to IBM's support pages for those that have seen problems with this drive series. | |
| First Benchmarks on the 8MB cache special edition of the 100GB WD IDE hard drive. Includes benchmark comparisons to an IBM 60GB drive. | |
in G4 Cube |
Review of the 100GB Maxtor 536DX (5400 rpm/2MB cache) IDE drive tested in a G4/450 Cube. Performance is compared to the original 20GB Cube's drive in OS 9.1 and OS X 10.0.4. (Time to boot, file copy, apps launching, file load/save, etc.) as well as pure benchmarks. |
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. |
Reader Comments |
PowerBook owner comments on the 48GB Travelstar drive - the quietest and largest notebook (2.5") drive to date. |
| Reader reports on slave drives used with rev A Beige G3s with a ROM dimm upgrade. Several reported corruption problems were solved by replacing the IDE cable. Includes links to a data corruption test utility (originally to test rev 1 B&W G3s for corruption) and links to drive vendor's jumper settings pages. [Note - cables too long, of poor quality, etc. can cause corruption even in systems without the rom dimm upgrade to add slave support.] | |
| A B&W G3 owner using a ATA/66 PCI card sent some benchmarks and comments on the new IBM 60GXP series drives compared to the previous (fast and popular) IBM 75GXP series drive. | |
Performance Tests |
Comparisons of performance of the TravelStar 32GH vs. TravelStar 20GN vs the original 12GB drive in a PowerBook G3/500 Firewire model. (For a detailed review of the PB G3/500 including apps/games tests, click here.) |
Performance Tests |
Comparisons of performance of the TravelStar 20GN vs. the original 4GB drive in a PowerBook G3/250 Wallstreet model. |
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. |
| The page includes results of two reader's tests, one with a 30GB model and the other a 45GB model. Sustained rates were over 35MB/sec with these drives in G4/AGP systems. Impressive! | |
DiamondMax Plus IDE Hard Drive |
Testing the Maxtor 40GB 7200 RPM/2MB cache ATA/66 IDE drive in a B&W G3. Included are comparisons to the stock 6GB Quantum drive and a 27GB Maxtor drive. Updates to the review include comparisons to a Ultra2 Cheetah 4.5 GB SCSI drive and a page with Beige G3/333 test results. |
DiamondMax Plus Owner Feedback |
Owner comments and measurements on the issue of drive temperatures with 7200 RPM Maxtor drives. (Based on comments from Mac owners of the drive, temperatures are not a problem.) |
Expert 18GB IDE Hard Drive |
Reader review of WD's 7200PRM, 2MB cache IDE hard drive by Andy Watters. |
| 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.) | |
| Part 2 of the IDE G3 upgrade article lists performance of the Maxtor 10GB DiamondMax Plus drive [circa 1998] vs. the stock 6GB 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. | |
UltraATA Performance |
Thad Brown of our Audio Column tests the drive performance with a TurboMax ATA/33 Card and IBM and Maxtor UltraATA drives in his Umax S900. Comparisons to his stock IBM SCSI and Barracuda (narrow) SCSI drives are also included. |
Tips & Compatibility |
Article with the accumulated reader comments, tips and compatibility info on the compactflash form factor IBM 340MB Microdrive. Includes compatible Powerbooks, PCCard and USB adapters, an Epson 850z camera tip and links to reviews of the Casio QV-3000EX camera bundle that includes the drive. |
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.) | |
Firmware Update Feedback |
Owner reports on the 2.42 firmware update to the Acard 6880M ATA/133 RAID card (also sold by SIIG and Sonnet). This update added RAID 1 (Mirroring) support. |
| A reader sent comments and performance tests on the Acard ATA/133 RAID PCI card tested with two 60GB IBM 60GXP drives in his Quicksilver G4/867 and a B&W G3 w/550MHz G3 upgrade. | |
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. |
Owner Comments (2001 Digital Audio G4s) |
Reader reports on IDE Hardware RAID cards (Sonnet Tempo RAID, Acard AHARD RAID cards) used in 2001 G4 towers and dual G4 systems. |
| Illustrated guide to installing a dual drive IDE RAID setup in your Blue and White G3 or Apple G4 system. Includes drive mounting and Softraid (Software) Setup. (NOTE: IDE Hardware RAID cards like the Acard AHARD RAID and Sonnet Tempo RAID card require no software for RAID striping, this article covers using a standard Mac PCI IDE card with Softraid software for RAID striping.) | |
Performance |
Reader results with dual IBM 75GXP 45GB drives with an ATA/66 PCI IDE controller. Read this before you consider the extra cost of IDE RAID, as a single IBM 75GXP drive provides close to the same performance for a lot less cost and saves a PCI Slot for owners of modern Macs with ATA/66 onboard IDE. One advantage of RAID however is the capability to have a single huge volume (larger than a single drive). |
Performance + Install Guide |
How does Striped RAID 0 compared to a single IDE drive of the same type? How does it compare to the onboard G4 ATA/66 controller? How does two IDE controllers vs one compare with up to a 4 drive IDE RAID Array? All these questions are answered in this article as well as tests with Softraid and FWB RAID. The results will surprise you (and could save you a lot of money). |
G4/AGP vs 9600 |
Tests of Dual Drive IDE RAID - 9600/350 system with G4/350 CPU upgrade vs G4/450 AGP system with same drives and IDE controller card. |
| (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 |
(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.) |
| (Jan 2010) My tests of the $59.99 NewerTech 6Gbps eSATA PCIe controller card with native OS X 10.5/10.6 support (including 64-bit snow leopard). This article includes info on the card, single drive and Dual-drive (all using 1TB WD Caviar Blacks) RAID 0 benchmarks comparing my previous (low-cost) Sil3132 based eSATA card. If like me, you don't need PM support, this card is well worth a look. (The NewerTech 6G card is also supported in Windows.) | |
| 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 feedback on the Acard Deep Sleep driver for OS X. (Acard IDE cards also sold under SIIG and Sonnet brands.) | |
IDE Card Problems with OS X 10.2 |
(UPDATED for Firmware Update links from Sonnet to address the issues.) Reader reports on Sonnet ATA/100, ATA/133 and Trio IDE controller card problems with OS X 10.2/Jaguar. (These are the Promise chip based cards - not the Sonnet cards based on the Acard boards.) |
Firmware Update Feedback |
Owner reports on the 2.42 firmware update to the Acard 6880M ATA/133 RAID card (also sold by SIIG and Sonnet). This update added RAID 1 (Mirroring) support. |
| The FAQ has PCI IDE Controller section with notes on firmware updates, tips and other information you may find useful. | |
| Two owners of dual 1GHz Quicksilver 2002 owners reported problems with the Sonnet ATA/100 IDE controller card in those systems. (Owners of Acard/SIIG ATA/100-ATA133 cards noted no such problems.) | |
Owner Reports |
Owner reports on OS X 1.0 and PCI IDE cards (Sonnnet/Acard/VST) regarding support for attached drives. Originally posted 3/24/2001. |
| 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. | |
| Reader comments on the Sonnet Tempo (aka Acard ATA/66) 3.12 firmware update that notes "tentative" OS X support. | |
| Reader review with photos and install guide on a way to use IDE hard drives in an external case with your SCSI Mac without a PCI IDE card. | |
| Reader review with photos and install guide on a way to use IDE hard drives (internal) with your SCSI Mac without a PCI IDE card. | |
| Reader test report from Ulf Melin compares the performance of these two cards with a Quantum ATA/66, 7200RPM Fireball EX drive in his 9500 with 400MHz G3 CPU upgrade. | |
| A Reader compares applications performance with the ATA/66 card compared to the onboard ATA/33 interface of a Yikes G4. | |
ATA/33 PCI IDE Controller |
A review of the first Mac retail PCI IDE controller, the original ATA/33 TurboMax card. Tested with a WD Expert 18GB IDE drive it delivered surprising performance. Many older Mac owners can now use low-cost/fast IDE Drives, but there are some caveats... |
UltraATA Performance |
Thad Brown of our Audio Column tests the drive performance with a TurboMax ATA/33 Card and IBM and Maxtor UltraATA drives in his Umax S900. Comparisons to his stock IBM SCSI and Barracuda (narrow) SCSI drives are also included. |
More IDE vs SCSI Tests |
Reader results of IDE vs SCSI transfer rates with a variety of fast IDE and UltraWide/Ultra2 SCSI drives. |
On TurboMax ATA/66 Install |
Reader Jarod Wilson describes installing a TurboMax ATA/66 PCI IDE card in his 6500. He also notes issues with using the IDE1 connector (channel 1) of the card, noting he had to use the IDE2 connector. (Based on reports the Turbomax ATA/66 card is actually an Acard ATA/66 card, as is the Sonnet Temp card. Firmware updates are available at the bios download page at www.acard.com). |
Performance |
A reader comments on slow upstream networking file copy performance with a Turbomax IDE card that turned out to be related to a his 10/100 Ethernet PCI card. Also includes comments on IDE RAID performance with one vs two IDE cards. |
| Before buying any CDRW, DVD/Burner, or Combo DVD/CDRW drive, see what others reported with a similar mac model/OS as far as any compatibility issues, performance and more. If you've upgraded any type of drive in your Mac, Submit a Report!. | |
| (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. | |
| Several readers have reported premature failures of Pioneer DVR-K06 (slot loading) drives. This page was created in May 2007 with recent K06 owner reports on the subject. (The drive compat. database also has other previous reports - some updated for failure notes.) In some cases readers noted repeated failures after little use. | |
| 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.) |
| The FAQ has CDROM/CDR and DVD sections with notes on firmware updates, tips, iTunes burn support plugins for unsupported drives and other information you may find useful. | |
| 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.) | |
| 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. |
| Reader reports and tips for iDVD3 installs/use with retail Pioneer DVR-105, DVR-104 and DVR-103 drives. (I.E. not a superdrive shipped from Apple) | |
| 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.) Update: For Pioneer Mac flashers and later info on Firmware updates for "Superdrives" (retail and OEM) - see the DVD Section of the FAQ. |
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Firmware Update Tips |
Tips on flashing Plextor IDE and SCSI CDRWs with Macs. |
| Superdrive owner comments on support of DVD-RW (eraseable) media in OS X 10.1 (Apple does not list DVD-RW discs as compatible, but Pioneer does, as does Toast 5.) | |
| (Update - later reports in the drive database note that many Que boxes no longer have the Sanyo drive inside.) Reader reports on the Sanyo based Que 24/10/40 IDE CDRW in 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 complete 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.) | |
Reader Report |
A dual G4/500 owner with a retail Pioneer Superdrive comments on iDVD and Toast 5 use and compatibility. |
| At long last there's a Plextor IDE CDRW Flash ROM (firmware) updater for Mac owners! | |
6X IDE DVD ROM Drive |
The Toshiba DVD ROM drive worked Plug and Play in my Beige G3 and should as well in B&W G3s. Bootable and worked great with the Apple CD/DVD extension (OS 9.04 tested). Impressive Macbench performance as well compared to the stock Apple 24x drive. |
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.) |
| Reader reports on the slow-down of CDROM drives after waking from sleep with certain versions of the Apple CD/DVD extension. | |
| An exclusive first look at the Hi-Val 'True-X' (Kenwood design) CDrom drive in a B&W G3 Mac. I saw sustained rates as high as 6.7MB/sec and no spinup delays! Includes tests in Beige G3 and 9600 with Turbomax card as well. | |
for CD/DVD/Burner Drives |
Step-by-step illustrated guide to installing a CDROM drive in a Beige G3, 8600/9600 and Blue and White G3 or G4 system. |
| Search for literally any brand or type storage (including Networked/NAS, USB, Firewire, most any interface) before buying. Comments in user reports often include compatibility issues, performance and more. If you've upgraded any type of drive in your Mac, Submit a Report!. | |
Floppy Adapter |
Mini-Review of the Sony Floppy Adapter for their Memory Sticks. Tested for performance with my PB G3/250 and a PC PII/366 notebook for file copy performance. Includes comments on use, software and value. |
Apple's Drivers |
A reader provided graphs of performance tests of FWB's Hard Disk Toolkit 4.0 drivers versus Apple's Drive Setup drivers (OS 9.04 version). The results are surprising and could save you a few $$. |
Disk Drivers Comments |
Intech, SoftRaid and Prosoft reply to an claim by FWB (now removed) that they had the only PowerPC native code storage drivers. (After this article was posted, FWB changed the wording from 'only' to 'leading' on their web page). |
| Illustrated guide to Proline's low-cost solution for the tall drive mounting issue in the Blue and White G3 systems. (This bracket could be used in any Mac since it's velcro attached) | |
| Effect of Disk Cache size on performance. | |
| BlackFire sends details on their IDE to SCSI adapter. | |
| Lists of SCSI hard drive, cdrom, RAID and other SCSI related articles and reviews. | |
| Lists of Firewire hard drive, drive kit builds, portable firewire drives and Firewire PCI controller card articles and reviews. | |
= Other Site Topic Areas =
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If you have a performance oriented hardware or software product review/article/guide, mod, upgrade, etc - Contact Me. This site is read by thousands of motivated Mac users each day! Don't take my word for it - see what readers had to say. | |