OCZ Vertex SATA II SSD Drive Upgrade in (2009) iMac
Posted: 6/19/2009
Last Updated: 7/9/2009 (notes that no stuttering or freezes seen)
FYI/Update: (7/9/2009) I had someone write that the vertex (SATA II w/64MB cache) SSDs had a stuttering (I/O) issue with Macs/OS X (not seen in Windows). He didn't mention specific macs, so I assumed it was not just related to problems new (mid-2009) MacBook Pro owners have had with some non-OEM HDs (not just SSDs) after the EFI firmware update v1.7. I don't recall any Vertex SSD owner report here mentioning stuttering or freezing but have written several owners to ask if they've had any problems like that. (OCZ offers a "Mac" version of the Vertex SSD also, but from their own forum post 'sticky' it's the exact same drive/same firmware/same performance - just has a "mac" sticker on it.)
(FYI - Reader reports on Vertex SSD drives here were in the last couple months - there were issues (including stuttering) with some early models/firmware that have since been addressed in general - see early reference article links at the bottom of this page.)-Mike
(report from a reader mail - english not his native language.)
Received an iMac 2.93GHz with ATI 4850 and following a tutorial/youtube video for changing the internal HD (WD 640GB) with an OCZ SSD Vertex 120GB OCZSSD2-1VTX120G and Scythe Twin Mounter 2.5 (mounting bracket). Attached are some pics and Xbench 1.3 results in Mac OS X 10.5.7.
Installation tips:
- TFT screen - avoid fingerprints, and use the Apple's chamois for taking out the dust.
- Install the SSD in the Twin Mounter in the bottom position, the SATA data and power cables are very short but they installed with a little bit of force. (Don't over do it.)
The installation was clean and without problems, in spite of the quantity of screws removed.
(Per ASP info above - his Vertex has firmware version 1.30 (typically reported as the drive "revision")-Mike)
The practical results are very good, one (dock) bounce per application (simul. launching Safari, Photoshop, mail.app, Yojimbo for example).
Would be better with a couple of SSDs in RAID 0, but no connectors. Perhaps somebody can come up with a DVD replacement or something.
Question on Stuttering / Media Playback: (7/9/2009) (After someone wrote that vertex (SATA II/64MB cache) SSDs had stuttering issues (3-5 sec pauses) with Macs (OS X) I wrote Rafa to ask if he'd seen any problems with that. (BTW - after digging into the problem reports at OCZ's forums - most with problems (much worse than typical stuttering I/O) seem to have new MacBook Pros. At first I thought it was another case of the mid-2009 MBP EFI Firmare update 1.7 problems (freezing, BBOD, etc. reported previously with some non-OEM drives and not just SSDs) but one post there mentioned he'd seen freezes with (mid-2009 MacBook Pro) EFI 1.6 and 1.7 logic boards. I wish the reader that sent the email/warning had been a bit more specific as I don't think this is a general Mac/OS X issue - but regardless, good to get an update on longer term use from readers that have used one of these for awhile.-Mike)
Hello Mike:
1. The version of my OCZ-VERTEX is 1.30 as shown in the (Apple System Profiler) screenshot. (Included in the first post here in mid-June 2009) I can't tell if previous version 1.20 when I bought had glitches playing video, but I dont think so. (As of early July 2009 v1.30 is still the latest firmware update linked at the OCZ Vertex series page)
2. The (firmware) upgrade program from OCZ, with the .ISO version, has no problem to boot directly in the (intel-based) IMAC, so no problem with the upgrade in a Mac. (Ditto for Seagate's SATA HD firmware updates as mentioned on the page/guide here. However I saw some posts in OCZ's forums from owners of some series of MacBook/Pros that said they could not boot from the ISO CD. One said selecting it as a startup disk (in OS X) worked when nothing else (alt key at boot, etc) did.)
3. Suttering playback issues, you mean playing high definition movies? I just tried with the movie (The.Good.The.Bad.The.Weird.2008.720p.BluRay.x264-CiNEFiLE.mkv) and it was smooth. And other examples (Oceans from BBC Planet Earth 720p), all play smooth and correct from SSD.
4. The only thing I can tell you is that Disk Utility when it repairs permissions seems that same chains repeat all the time (same files from some libs). (This is normal, after the updates in the last 6 months (of 2009), I've see the same thing on multiple systems with std SATA HDs - you repair permissions, but a reboot and check again shows the same repairs needed - typically on symbolic links IIRC. Apple hasn't updated their doc on permission repair warnings you can ignore (old doc posted last year) for these yet. I'm not rabid on permissions repairs for every update unless I see something clearly broken. And in the past, often the permission differences are not really a functional issue and once I saw some 'should be' permissions that were way off base - an image file that a RP check said "should be" set as executable.-Mike)
Regards, Rafa M.
FYI on SSD Early Models/Updates/Concerns: I had some replies to this post that mentioned early SSD/Vertex articles from earlier this year. I'd linked to those articles in the past (on the news page) but here's a sample of them again. (There are later updates to drives/firmware since these articles were posted)
Previous Mac/SSD Drive Reports Here: (for later info/updates see the Storage topics page)
|
