OCZ Vertex 4 512GB SSD on W520 guaranteed BSOD--BEWARE!

Just wanted to make a quick post to let prospective W520 upgraders know about Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) problems that occurrs when using a the 512GB Vertex 4.  This is an issue that affects more than just Lenovos (Alienware in particular). When resuming from sleep, the W520 will BSOD 100% of the time.  I have posted on the OCX forums along with others.  I went ahead and returned the Vertex 4 after I bought it from Amazon, since no amount of troubleshooting would fix it.  I am replacing it with the Samsung 512GB since there are many people on the forum who have had success with that. 
Bottom line: don't buy a Vertex 4 until Lenovo or OCZ come out with a fix, unless you don't mind testing manufacturer's stuff for free!
W520 CTO BIOS rev 1.37. Core i7-2760QM, 32GB PC3-10600, NVidia Quadro 1000M, Samsung 830 512GB, SanDisk pSSD-S2 32GB, x64 tri-boot: Win2k8R2, Fedora 17, Ubuntu 12.04

I would go with Intel for reliability:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-reliability-failure-rate,2923-9.html
My next machine, which will be 17" Ivy Bridge/Kepler w/120Hz 3D display, will have dual Intel SSDs in RAID0, with probably an mSATA SSD for backup. And if you keep data/docs on a separate partition from the system partition, then you seldom need to backup the system (I dump my data/docs to a NAS each day, which itself is backed up).
The problem with less reliable SSDs is that SSDs tend to fail completely and with no warning, unlike hard drives. So, if avoiding downtime is important to you, then you want one of the more reliable SSDs. Overall, the more reliable SSDs (the orange line & dotted line in the chart, which should include the Intel 520-series SSDs) now appear to be more reliable than hard drives, under heavy use, according to that article.
But, as with any computer-related product nowadays, I would make sure that users say that the current firmware/drivers are stable with your computer, before buying. 

Similar Messages

  • How can i get my hp dv-7 to stop blue screening with the new ocz vertex 3 ssd

    installed a new ocz vertex 3 ssd on my pavilion DV-7-6b75nr and it will now not stop blue screening.Even took it to a computer shop and they could solve the issue. is this laptop not meant for sata 3 SSD's or do i need a certain one or does hp have to install it? windows7,computer 3 weeks old,I7 processer...using the SSD for my os and main boot drive..Computer shop said i might need to rewrite HPs bios...??

    Hi,
    You can find the list on the following link:
        http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docnam​e=c02763358&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&cc=us&dlc=en​...
    Please install the following list:
    1. Software multimedia
    2. All components of Software solutions
    3. Utilities
    from the following link:
       http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareCategor​y?os=4063&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&sw_lang=&product=5064​...
    Regards.
    BH
    **Click the KUDOS thumb up on the left to say 'Thanks'**
    Make it easier for other people to find solutions by marking a Reply 'Accept as Solution' if it solves your problem.

  • Does Anyone Use FileVault 2 With OCZ Vertex 4 SSD

    I was thinking of enabling FileVault 2 on my MacBook Pro with an OCZ Vertex 4 SSD installed.

    Folks seem to get very confused about drive thicknesses.  SSDs are generally 7mm.  Spindle HDDs are generally 9.5mm.  For years, Lenovo has used a standard drive caddy consisting of a thin metal tray and 2 rubber rails.  Drives are place in the tray and held by 4 screws (on the sides.)  The rubber rail attach to the metal tray or caddy. These are shown above.
    I just replaced two Seagate Momentus XT HDDs (9.5mm) with Samsung 830 SSDs (7mm) and there was no issue at all using the Lenovo drive caddy for the main internal drive.

  • Very slow OCZ Vertex 3 SSD on Pavilion MSI MS-7184 problem

    Hi guys,hat
    I´ve becomed an gift from a friend in a form of an Pavilion Desktop PC.
    The first problem is that I don't really know the Pavilion type of this one.
    What's sure is that it is equipped with an  
    MSI MS-7184 motherboard
    2 GB RAM
    Radeon HD 6570 graphics and it has the
    BIOS ver. 3.48
    HP P/N: 5188-3246
    Here is my second (big) problem with it:
    I've buyed an OCZ Vertex 3 SSD hoping that I'll upgrading and boosting my WIN 7 Ultimate speed. Not my day .... it goes soooooo slooooow. I've tryed bothways,  that is, copying the System partition to the new SSD, and new installing the WIN7 Ultimate on the SSD drive.
    I've searched the net over SSD behaving slow issues and the only relevant things that I've found were that I have to enable the AHCI HDD access option in BIOS, option that I don't have in my BIOS.
    Any help aprecciated!!!
    Thanks.
    This question was solved.
    View Solution.

    Hi,
    Please post the HP product number for the PC.
    Do you know what firmware level your Vertex 3 is running?   Firmware version 2.22 is the latest.  If your firmware is 2.06 of lower then you must update incrementally.  I wouldn't update the firmware if you should decide to return the SSD. See my below information.
    I believe that the MSI motherboard only has SATA I which is very slow for a VERTEX 3 which to run at full performance.  Frankly, I am surprised that the VERTEX 3 even runs on a SATA I port as many SATA III SSDs will not run on a SATA I port.  Review this OCZ VERTEX 3 document.
    You might want to see if you can return and exchange the SSD for another that is backwards compatible to SATA I.  Perhaps the Vertex-2 or Agility-2 would run better for your needs.
    HP DV9700, t9300, Nvidia 8600, 4GB, Crucial C300 128GB SSD
    HP Photosmart Premium C309G, HP Photosmart 6520
    HP Touchpad, HP Chromebook 11
    Custom i7-4770k,Z-87, 8GB, Vertex 3 SSD, Samsung EVO SSD, Corsair HX650,GTX 760
    Custom i7-4790k,Z-97, 16GB, Vertex 3 SSD, Plextor M.2 SSD, Samsung EVO SSD, Corsair HX650, GTX 660TI
    Windows 7/8 UEFI/Legacy mode, MBR/GPT

  • T530 combined with OCZ Vertex 4 SSD

    Hi,
    I just ordered a T530 from Lenovo with the stock 320 GB 7200rpm HDD. My plan is to replace it with a OCZ Vertex 4 SSD drive, which I've heard is an excellent SSD drive. However, I'm concerned, the person on tech support reported that the T530's internal HD is 7mm, but the dimensions on the OCZ are 99.8 x 69.63 x 9.3mm. However, some people have said that the T530 drive is actually a 7mm drive with rubber rails around it. Does that mean it would be easy for me to just remove the rails and install the SSD drive, or should I just try to find a 7mm SSD drive? Unfortunately, OCZ doesn't appear to make a 7mm version of the Vertex 4. 
    Some people have reported problems with the Crucial M4, so I'm going to steer clear of that one. If I can't get the OCZ brand, are there any SSD drives you all would recommend? Stability is my foremost concern, and then speed. Some people have recommended the Samsung 830.
    Here's a link to the OCZ:
    Amazon OCZ Vertex 4
    Thanks for your help!
    -- cacotigon

    Folks seem to get very confused about drive thicknesses.  SSDs are generally 7mm.  Spindle HDDs are generally 9.5mm.  For years, Lenovo has used a standard drive caddy consisting of a thin metal tray and 2 rubber rails.  Drives are place in the tray and held by 4 screws (on the sides.)  The rubber rail attach to the metal tray or caddy. These are shown above.
    I just replaced two Seagate Momentus XT HDDs (9.5mm) with Samsung 830 SSDs (7mm) and there was no issue at all using the Lenovo drive caddy for the main internal drive.

  • Results from the OCZ Vertex 2 SSD

    Hey All,
    I just installed an OCZ Vertex 2 120GB SSD. At first I had some lag (about a minute) before the Apple logo would appear at the boot screen. I thought this might be the drive being unresponsive, but as it turns out a quick SMC reset fixed it.
    I now get a full restart in 37.2 seconds. Cold boot in just under 24 seconds. Photoshop is 5 seconds flat, and wake from sleep is instant. I'm pretty pleased with this upgrade. It definitely put some new life into my MacBook without breaking the bank.
    I have also noticed considerable battery life gain over my WD 7200 scorpion HD that I replaced.
    This is a great upgrade for anyone looking.
    Cheers!
    Message was edited by: eightamrock

    not bad!
    That`s true, the MacBook rock`s once again.
    The Vertex 2 is a graet Drive!
    just for info: with AJA System Test i get 255 MB/s Write and 202 MB/s read speeds.
    i recommend too

  • OCZ VERTEX 2 SSD with Windows 64 on T400 Bluescreen on Wakeup

    I am having blue-screen on waking from sleep on Windows 64. The same hardware works on a regular hard-drive with the same software stack. Any fixes? or anyone else seeing the same issue.

    Chkdsk didn't show any errors. Here are the results. CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)... 166656 file records processed. File verification completed. 144 large file records processed. 0 bad file records processed. 2 EA records processed. 44 reparse records processed. CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 3)... 228978 index entries processed. Index verification completed. 0 unindexed files scanned. 0 unindexed files recovered. CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 3)... 166656 file SDs/SIDs processed. Security descriptor verification completed. 31162 data files processed. CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal... 35602024 USN bytes processed. Usn Journal verification completed. Windows has checked the file system and found no problems. 234429015 KB total disk space. 58389892 KB in 134776 files. 112308 KB in 31163 indexes. 0 KB in bad sectors. 274915 KB in use by the system. 65536 KB occupied by the log file. 175651900 KB available on disk. 4096 bytes in each allocation unit. 58607253 total allocation units on disk. 43912975 allocation units available on disk.

  • Will my SSD (OCZ Vertex 2) get TRIM support?

    Helo,
    I have got a Macbook 2010 model, i have recently ordered an OCZ Vertex 2 SSD, I have seen that Lion will support TRIM, if I place this drive into my MacBook, will it support TRIM?

    No, it will not. There is software out there called TRIM Enabler that will turn it on, but I tried it, and got 30-second beach balls. I would advise not using it. Install this and read some of these tips for SSDs.
    Sudden motion sensor
    Having the Sudden motion sensor enabled for a SSD drive makes no sense, this can be disabled with the following command in your Terminal app.
    sudo pmset -a sms 0
    Hard drive sleep
    Putting SSD hard drives to sleep has no benefit, and some SSD drives has a history of freezing up when put to sleep. This can be disabled under System Preferences -> Energy Saver. Remember to disable it for both Battery and Power Adapter mode.
    Sleeping mode
    By default, when closing the lid on a MacBook, the content of the ram is saved to disk for safety. The ram is still powered on however, and is used when starting up again. The content saved on disk is only used in case of a power loss. This behavior can be changed, at the cost of some safety, so that memory content is not saved to disk. On the bright side, you also save some disk space (equal to the amount of your RAM).
    You can start by checking the current setting, fire up Terminal.app and type the following.
    sudo pmset -g | grep hibernatemode
    hibernatemode 3
    3 is the default mode, you want to change this to 0 to disable disk writes.
    sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0
    Now you can remove the old sleepimage.
    sudo rm /var/vm/sleepimage     
    17" 2.2GHz i7 Quad-Core MacBook Pro  8G RAM  750G HD + OCZ Vertex 3 SSD Boot HD 
    Got problems with your Apple iDevice-like iPhone, iPad or iPod touch? Try Troubleshooting 101

  • OCZ Vertex 4 in dv6t-7000

    Hi,
    I just bought an OCZ Vertex 4 SSD to go in my dv6t-7000 notebook.  The process of swapping out the old HDD and replacing it with the SSD went well.  But when I try to install Windows on it, the installer will not find the hard drive.  I tried checking the bios to see if it appeared there, and there isn't any place to see what hardware is installed in the SATA ports.  If anyone from HP could help me out with this I would greatly appreciate it.  Thanks
    ~Chris

    I am also having an issue with a new ocz  vertex 4 in my G6262 149wm.  Upon power up I get a message that  no boot drive is found.  Ctrl-Alt-Delete allows disk to boot and runs fine from there.  System will restart but will not start from shutdown.  I have updated the ocz firmware and flashed the most recent BIOS for my system.  I have also changed my power options to not put the disk to sleep and updated all drivers.  Any other ideas would be much appreciated!

  • Vertex 3 SSD drive painfully slow on 2009 Macbook Pro - Help!!

    Hi
    I have just installed an OCZ Vertex 3 SSd drive into my 2009 Macbook Pro 2.4ghz, revision 5,2 with 4gb ram.
    I made sure the SSD has the latest firmware and did a clean install of Snow Leopars which I then updated to be 10.6.8
    The new OS boots fine when the SSD is plugged in via USB.
    When the SSD is plugged in via the internal SATA cable it takes about 30 minutes to boot and then runs so slow it is unusable.
    I have reset the P-RAM and the SMC.
    When you boot from the original os on the original drive via USB the internal SSD mounts on the desktop but takes ages to do so and tryig to view any folders on it takes forever too.
    Does anyone have any idea what may be causing this? As far as I know SATA 3 drives are backward compatible with SATA 2 so there should not be an issue.
    The fact that the drive mounts and boots eventually leads me to think something must be throttling the SATA connection.
    Any suggestions on what to do next?
    Thanks
    D

    Looks like I made a mistake - it is a 5,2 model which puts it as a 2008 model.
    EFI firmware is up to date - version 1.7
    I am only getting a Negotiated Link Speek of 1.5 gigabits instead of a possible 3 gigabits
    Since finding it is a 2008 I have read loads of forum posts about SSD problems with this model.
    Any advice still appreciated before I decide to sell the drive and take a loss on it.

  • OCZ Vertex 250GB for my MBP?

    Im about to purchase a OCZ Vertex 250GB SSD for my 2010 MBP 13".
    I hope to increase speed and battery life while reduce temperature.
    I chose this over the Intel drives as i wanted the extra space - especially since its the only drive in my system - and it seems better value for money.
    Before I purchase, should this drive work OK with my MBP?
    Any special things to note? I'll be creating a SuperDuper image of my current drive, then restore the image once the new SSD is installed, since I only re-installed my system about a month ago, so its still pretty 'clean'.
    Any other recommended software/procedures to keep my SSD in good form?

    Interesting question. Reading:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIM
    It appears FreeBSD supports it, where Mac OS X does not. Since Mac OS X uses FreeBSD at its core, I wonder if anyone has integrated FreeBSD's commands to make it useful in Mac OS X. That might be a question for people at http://www.sourceforge.net , or the Unix board:
    http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=735
    As for Boot Camp compatibility, you may find people in
    http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1244
    Might know better.
    Message was edited by: a brody

  • K9N2 Sli Platinum + SSD OCZ Vertex 3 = Slow Speed Problem [PARTIALLY SOLVED]

    Hey folks,
    I have a problem with my new SSD. I only get sequential reads of 140MB/s and writes of 114MB/s.
    I think it is a driver related issue. I once got faster SATA2-like speeds but cannot reproduce the system settings again... Everything back to SATA1-like speeds after reboot.
    First my pc specs:
    MSI K9N2 Sli Platinum, BIOS v3.9
    - 6 SATAII ports by nForce 750a SLI
    - 2 ESATA (External-SATA) ports (back panel) by JMB363
    - Supports storage and data transfers at up to 3 Gb/s
    AMD Phenom II 965 Black
    Patriot PV224G8500ELKB Viper II Series DDR2 4GB (2 x 2GB, CL5 PC-8500/1066MHz)
    SSD SATAIII OCZ Vertex 3, 120GB, FW v2.11
    LG Internal BlueRay BH10LS30
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
    I only get very slow speeds with the SSD. I tried so many things that I am getting very frustrated now, I am even thinking about getting a new board and ram just to get the SSD up to speed...  
    1)
    I installed Win7 first with all the default settings in Windows Setup from DVD. Default "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers" driver was "Standard AHCI1.0 Serial ATA Controller".
    SSD was connected to SATA1-port,  On-Chip Sata Controller AHCI enabled in BIOS,  Extra RAID/IDE Controller disabled.
    All fine, but whichever benchmark I used (AS SSD, HD Tune Pro, Atto Disk Benchmark, CrystalDiskMark; other tools used: DriveControllerInfo, AIDA64/Everest, CrystalDiskInfo ) I got e.g. 140MB/s Read and 114MB/s Write sequentially (CrystalDiskmark, similar with random data AND only zeros ).
    Trim working (it seems) with AHCI driver. I also changed to nvstor64 driver (nforce driver setup 15.56), with is marginally faster but not what you would expect from a SATAIII drive on SATAII controller.
    2)
    I installed Win7 using "diskpart" (Shift-F10) during disk setup, setting a cluster size of 64k instead of default. No real change.
    3)
    After reinstall of Win7 x64 (again...), I changed from SATA1 port to SATA6 port, also enabled Extra Raid/IDE controller set to AHCI as well.
    Nothing changed. With all settings to default in Windows (ahci default driver), I then manually updated the ahci to nvstore64 driver in Device Management, rebooted.
    Then a minute later after reboot I got the following Sequential speeds with CrystalDiskMark:
    273MB/s read and 137MB/s write (random data)  +  274MB/s read and 220MB/s write (with zeros) !!!
    While I ran this benchmark Windows came up with a message: "You must restart your computer to apply these changes - Restart Now/Restart Later".
    After the previos reboot, when I changed manually from AHCI to NVSTORE, I had changed nothing in the current session, apart from running CrystalDiskMark.
    I did reboot and I was back to the slow SSD speeds again = 140/114 MB/s...
    4)
    I have tried every possible combination of mainboard SATA ports, drivers changing with nvidia setup/manually, deleting and disabling controllers (incl BSOD and startup repair :D ), chaning bios settings around, but I just cannot get back the faster speeds  
    There is never any change in speed, whether I use ahci or nvstore64, whichever benchmark I use, whether random or zeros...
    5)
    Could the SSD be broken, something internally preventing it from faster speeds (with this one random exception)?
    Could it be that my K9N2 SataPorts only allows for / reduced to SATA1 speeds?
    Am I missing something with the driver setup?
    Do I need additional drivers for the extra JMicron Controller when using SataPorts 5/6 ?
    I have no other mainboard to test this with...
    Please guys, I am going to jump out of the window if I can't fix it... :(
    Thanks, Mike

    Hey guys - problem 'solved':  
    I tested the OCZ SSD Vertex 3 120GB with following sata3 controller card http://www.lycom.com.tw/PE-115H.htm.
    The card itself works immediately (needs at least PCIe x4 slot, will work slower otherwise but still faster than the OCZ SSD @sata1 with nvidia chipset).
    There is some raid setup, doesn't apply to me, the boot even with the card is really only a few seconds longer and not annoying at all. Windows (7 x64) needed a driver, supplied on CD (which is cheap and making noise like h**l). The card works w/o the driver but doesn't harm to install it...
    Also, just to clarify, this sata controller card did not need any specific setup at all. Just put it in, plug in sata cable (I use akasa sata3-rated), maybe change boot device in BIOS (I didn't even have to), done - booting Windows as usual.
    Benchmark CDM with sata controller card Lycom PE-115H:
    http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/3845/cdmpe115hahci0x00.png
    http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/7549/cdmpe115hahcirand.png
    Speed is much better than before with nvidia chipset 750a SLI controller: sata1 (sata2 whenever it randomly worked):
    http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/505/cdmahci0x0.png
    http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/6258/cdmahci0x0sata6contnv64.png
    Final thoughts:
    Well, I am happy with the SSD speed now (PCIe limited to 5Gbps). However, I had to spent quite some time to get it working on my sata2-cabable mainboard. Finally, I had to buy a extra controller card to get it working reliably at speeds faster than sata1. There is hardly any useful information on why this problem occurs with (older) nvidia chipsets and OCZ (sata3) SSDs. I still think that OCZ must know about this problem, but regards this issue as low priority, while at the same time not planning on giving up on sales to people with nvidia chipsets. Maybe OCZ should just make a big sticker on the box the drives come in with something like "Does/Might not work with nvidia chipsets, please use third-party sata controller card or different SSD manufacturer".   But then none of these potential customers would buy OCZ SSDs...  
    I will keep the sata3 controller, anyway handy to have, but return the OCZ Vertex 3 120GB and replace it with a SSD from a different manufacturer (Corsair Force GT, Patriot and OWC are not that great to get around here). The benchmarks for most people will not achieve the maximum advertised OCZ speeds anyway, so why not go with a brand that allows for some plug'n'play with some customer support.
    Hope this post helps others like me with their nvidia chipset  + sata1 speed problem
    Cheers, Mike

  • Is OCZ Vertex Turbo 60GB 2.5" SSD compatible with my Mac Pro, or do I need

    Is OCZ Vertex Turbo 60GB 2.5" SSD compatible with my Mac Pro, or do I need the Vertex Mac Edition?
    I have decided to purchase a SSD to use as a boot drive in the spare optical drive bay.
    There are so many brands available, and Intel X25-M 'G2' seems generally to be the most highly rated overall. However, there is virtually no stock of 80GBs in the UK at present, except at extortionate prices, and I don't need 160GB.
    Kingston SSDs are very reasonably priced, but seem to be a bit of an unknown quantity, although I rate their DDR3 memory very highly.
    I have visited the websites of several manufacturers, and read various online reviews, and the recently introduced OCZ Vertex Turbo has had some good reviews, albeit on PC forums.
    At the moment I can buy the 60GB Turbo for £170.66 inc.VAT from ebuyer.com, whereas their price for the standard Vertex 60GB is £193.99 inc. VAT, which seems very strange!
    When I googled "OCZ Solid State Drives +UK", Amazon UK appeared on the listings, but there was a footnote which said " not suitable for use on Mac".
    OCZ list a Vertex Series Mac Edition on their website, and that is why I am asking this question.
    Unfortunately, there are no UK listings when I google the Mac Edition, and I am hoping that somebody of the ilk of "the hatter" or "samsara" will be able to answer my question.
    If anybody else is using the Vertex Turbo in a Mac, I would be very grateful for your input. Likewise if you have had bad experiences with OCZ SSDs.
    If I wait 3-4 weeks I should be able to buy an Intel X25-M G2 80GB for round about the same price as the Vertex Turbo 60GB, i.e. if prices remain the same as currently being quoted by vendors who are out of stock.
    All input will be very gratefully received. If it is positive, I will go ahead and order a Vertex Turbo from ebuyer, in case they run out of stock (which is 16 at present).
    Many thanks in anticipation, guys!

    Hi Samsara,
    Many thanks for your advices once again.
    60GB will be more than adequate as my boot drive. At the moment I am using a VelociRaptor 300GB, and I have used less than 30GB of space. That is after reinstalling all my applications and software, and includes all my files, folders, and printer drivers etc.
    I have utilised under 50GB of the original 640GB hard drive, but that includes a lot of photo images which I imported into both iPhoto and Aperture.
    When I receive my Agility EX SSD I will clone from the VelociRaptor using Super Duper, and I will then set up a 4 drive RAID 0 using 4 VelociRaptor 300GB disks. That set up should suit my needs for many years to come, even when I eventually upgrade from Photoshop Elements 8 to CS5.
    I will back up the Agility EX to the 640GB hard drive using Super Duper Smart Update, and that will be my spare boot drive.
    The 4 drive RAID 0 will be backed up to the My Book Studio Edition II 2TB, using Time Machine.
    In your experienced opinion, do you think that set up will be satisfactory?
    The Agility EX is actually the latest generation of OCZ SSDs, and it is one of only 2 models in their "Maximum Performance" range, whereas the original Agility was only a "Mainstream" model.
    The key factor is that the Agility EX uses single-level cells (SLC), instead of multi-level cells (MLC). It is second only to the Vertex EX Series in terms of performance per GB in the OCZ range of SATA 2.5" Solid State Drives.
    In very recent reviews it has outperformed both the Vertex Turbo and Vertex 120GB models from the OCZ "Performance" range in most of the test benchmarks.
    http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/24507-ocz-agility- ex-60gb-ssd-review.html
    http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=oczagilityex&num=1
    http://www.guru3d.com/article/ocz-agility-ex-ssd-60gb-review-test/3
    The above are just a few of the very favourable reviews of the Agility EX SSD.
    I preferred to buy a 60GB SLC, rather than a 120GB MLC, because SLCs reputedly have 10 times more life expectancy, and performance wise per GB there is no comparison.
    Only time will tell if I have made the right decision!

  • Mac Mini (Late 2014) not recognizing SSD OCZ Vertex 2

    Hello community,
    After days of tests and readings, I turn to you to seek for advice.
    Here is my problem:
    I am trying to upgrade a new Mac Mini (Late 2014 model) from it's original mechanical HDD to a Vertex 2 SSD I have been using for a few years with no problems to report, great product.
    First 1 cloned my HDD onto the Vertex 2 SSD using SuperDuper, all went well.
    I then switched disks and set the SSD in the SATA III slot inside the Mac Mini and reboot... the disk would boot, the recovery system and the disk utility would not see the disk (or it would see it just long enough to try to make a disk verification and then would disappear).
    Here is what I have already tried:
    - Boot from Linux LiveCD, I can see the Vertex SSD, I can see all it's file and browse them
    - Reformat the disk, in HFS+ with GUID partition table
    - Clean PRAM
    - Perform a Hardware Check - all good
    - Boot from the original HDD connected through a SATA-to-USB adapter - all good, i can boot the system, but i don't see the SSD drive (or only for a moment then as soon as i try some action on it (like a disk verification) it stalls and then disappears)
    - Try to OCZ toolbox to make a security erase and start fresh. I had here a major issue, the OCZ toolbox would not start, it froze after a lot of complaints a "Scanning for hard disk partitions and creating /etc/fstab" and wouldn't move.
    - Dissassembled the Mac Mini, removed the SSD, put it in a Macbook Pro, use OCZ Toolbox on it, this time, it loaded perfectly, identified the disk, i did a firmware update to the latest (1.37) and performed a security erase. All went perfectly. For verificiation I rebooted in recovery mode from the Macbook with the SSD and formatted properly the disk using the Apple Disk Utility (GUIP partition table+ HFS+ partition) and the system neatly identified it as a good host for system install. Then i removed the Vertex 2 SSD from the Macbook pro, put it back in the Mac Mini (reassembled it - god, that's a big pain !) and boot it again in recovery, only to see... nothing, the disk is still not recognized by the system.
    Voilà... now I'm out of idea, It could be some low level hardware incompatibility, or anything else, i read about TRIM and Yosemite sometime not behaving well, about SATA II and SATA III compatibility problems, but so far, nothing clear.
    I therefore welcome in anticipation your knowledge and hope we can figure this out. For the sake of extending the reach, I will also post this on Anandtech and Apple support forums.

    Well, thank you tbirdvet, but the problem was actually an incompatibility at the controller level.
    To quote the OCZ support :
    The issue is incompatibility between the older SandForce 1222 controller used in the Vertex 2 and the newer Intel Haswell platform used in the Late 2014 Mac Mini.  The incompatibility started with the Intel 8 and now 9 series chipsets and spans across all products that used the controller regardless of manufacturer.  It is expected behavior to be able to connect the Vertex 2 then clone to it, but if you try and cold boot to it the detection will fail.  Unfortunately, the Vertex 2 and the controller it utilized are long EOL and never received a firmware update (if that was even possible) to adjust for the release of these new chipsets.
    So I can stop looking around it simply wont boot, ever. Product being End Of Support, no new firmware will ever fix this.
    So I guess, i'll have to look another SSD.

  • MacBook Pro 11/2007 problem with SSD OCZ Vertex Series 250 GB

    Hi,
    you can read my detailed problem in the OCZ board here:
    http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=64941
    The short version:
    - I bought an OCZ Vertex SSD with 250 GB for my 2 years old MacBook Pro
    - System Details: MacBookPro3,1; Boot Rom: MBP31.0070.B07; CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz; SMC: 1.18f5
    - The first 250 GB OCZ SSD was an firmware 1.3 and I could install it with Snow Leopard very easy. After 2 days the HDD just disappeared and it also didn't work in an other PC with an internal SATA port and also not with an external disk with sata to FireWire / USB
    - I RMA'ed the disk with OCZ and received a new one with firmware 1.4. I tried to install the computer from scratch and it couldn't write the partition when the SSD was connected to the internal SATA port of the MBP. I used the external SATA to USB and formated the disk with another mac. Then I could install SL from scratch but after some hours the computer began to stall and after the reboot it tried to run fschk and I got the error: "kernel[0]: disk0: I/O error."
    (again: Further details please have a look at the link above)
    - When I boot the system through firewire with the SSD connected through SATA to Firewire it works like a charm but that doesn't make sense (Having a MBP with an external boot drive)
    - I RMA'ed the disk again and last week I received the third one but it had the exact same problem.
    So now OCZ told me to ask apple for a possible solution. Does anybody have an idea what to do?
    I've read two posts about OCZ problems and they wrote about efi 1.7 problem and with efi 1.6 it would work. Didn't try it out yet - should I?
    Thanks for you help!
    --Goetz aka Tankmann

    No ideas?

Maybe you are looking for