System Prefs in OS X with SSD Boot Drive

I tried an OWC SSD last fall as the boot drive in my Quad-Core Mac Pro and liked the speed but had issues with wake from sleep or booting.
I use a UPEK fingerprint scanner for the admin PW and sometimes the unit would boot to the login dialog box without either a PW window or fingerprint prompt. Never did it before and didn't after I returned the HDD to boot disk status. It also would occasionally have problems waking from sleep when booted on the SSD.
My question is this:
How should I configure the energy savings, sleep and other settings when using an SSD. Obviously it the drive had issues in the Mac Pro, however it worked perfectly on my 13" Al Unibody MacBook.

OWC has firmware update.
SSDs don't spin up/down and yet there are and have been issues with sleep.
Even laptops with their sudden motion sensor feature have had trouble with SSDs as well.

Similar Messages

Living with a small SSD Boot Drive on New Pro??? Migration?

Hi Folks, I am seriously considering moving to a new mac pro from my 2008 tower. Aside from peripheral issues, my main concern is how to use the smaller SSD boot drive vs. my now current 2T drive? I've been a mac user since 1985 and my user folder with gigs of mail, documents, pictures (iPhoto and Aperture) and videos, etc., plus my application folder, is much larger than a 512 SSD. I now use a 3T drive as a separate movie/video FinalCut drive, so I've stored that separately. It just seems that if I try to do a migration of my current mac to a new one, I'm going to be creating major headaches and problems.
Before I buy something like that, I need to have a good strategy for a move.

You should try your cyrrent system and clone the OS to a 250GB SSD and 2-3TB data drive
The difference is nothing but remarjabke znd easy to do.
The 2600xt really should have been retured already and confivurd your system with 16GB RAM or more
Might be able to get more out if your Mac and get another year or more
Using one drive only is never a good idea.
System - data - projects - media - scratch - time machine
And putting scratch and system on multiple SSDs and on PCIE controller card
And then a GTX 680 or AMD Mac 7950 graphic card
The nMP is faster but it still needs work and yiurs isn't dead

Permissions problem with new SSD boot drive

I recently installed an OWC SSD drive as a boot drive on an iMac I've had for many years. I’m having some sort of permissioning error that I can’t figure out how to resolve.
I’ve setup the SSD as the boot drive (created user named “Boot Admin”). 10.9.3. All data and files remain on my old spinning disk
When the computer first boots, as expected, I’m presented with 2 users at the login screen (“Boot Admin”; Original User Account). If I choose my old user account, I receive the following error:
"You are unable to log in to the user account “<name of original user account>" at this time. Logging in to the account failed because an error occurred.”
If I choose the Boot Admin user I’m able to login without issue as the Boot Admin user (no access to my original apps and data). At that point, I can choose Log Out from the Apple menu and then login using my old user account. When I follow that sequence, I’m able to login with no issues. Apps are there, data is accessible etc. I can enjoy the speed of the SSD.
Although, if browse within Finder to the Boot Admin user on the hard drive, none of the folders are accessible (the little red icon is on the folders). Similarly, if I boot straight into the Boot Admin user and browse to my original User on the hard drive, none of its folders are accessible!
I am at a loss on how to troubleshoot. Ideally, I would like to login in directly to my old user account (eliminate the 2 step — login to Boot Admin, log out, login to Original User) and have full file access to things within both the Boot Admin user and my original user account.
Any guidance or tips on how to troubleshoot? thanks in advance

I appreciate the continued assistance. I'm clearly overlooking something and Google is not my friend! I've tried.
At the expense of repeating myself, I'll share my current configuration:
10.9.3
2 hard drives (new SSD with name "Boot Drive" and original spinning disk "Macintosh HD")
Startup Disk in System Preferences is "Boot Drive"
"Macintosh HD" has 3 User Folders: bootadmin, jayelevy, shared
jayelevy is my home folder - all my documents are in tact
bootadmin has the normal home folder structure
"Boot Drive" has 3 User Folders: bootadmin, jayelevy, shared
jayelevy is empty; no folders
bootadmin has the normal home folder structure (Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Movies, etc), but each is empty with the exception of Movies and Pictures. I've moved my Aperture databases to these 2 folders to take advantage of the speed of the SSD
When I restart the iMac I'm presented with 2 user choices: jayelevy and bootadmin
If I initially select jayelevy, I receive the error mentioned at the start of the thread
If I initially select bootadmin, I can login without issue, but get the standard Mac desktop (not my home).
If I then log out of bootadmin (not restart, but logout) and then choose jayelevy, the signin completes successfully and my desktop/home folder is restored to it's normal and expected condition.
I am still trying to avoid this step of login/logout/login.
I imagine I'm overlooking the obvious, but I'm in uncharted grounds for me! Here I thought the hardware swap to replace my optical drive with SSD would be the hard part. That was simple! I've stumbled on the software side!

Bay 1 or bay 2 when installing a 120gig SSD Boot drive with 10.8 into a MacPro 3.2Ghz Quad core ?

Im about to install a 120gig SSD into a MacPro 3.2Ghz Quad core. It shipped with a 1TB Hitachi Ultrastar HDD Sata III, that runs 10.7 and is the boot disk running form bay #1. I plan to run 10.8 on the new SSD and use that as the boot disk.
Should I swap over the Hitachi HDD and SSD so that new SSD boot drive is in bay #1 ? If so am I correct that it would be okay to download and install Mountain Lion on the SSD using bay #2 first and then swap them over once installed ?

Thanks. FYI the planned build is this...
Bay 2 - BOOT DRIVE. 120gig SSD running OS 10.8 plus all apps (although not sure whether to wait a while regarding upgrade to 10.8 ? )
So far Im quite happy with 10.7.3 and the machine seems very stable
Bay 1 - 1TB HDD running OS 10.7.3 (so can boot from this HDD disk if required to should the SSD fail (if or when ). This is disk already running 10.7.3 as boot disk now.
Bay 3 & 4 - On horizon... x2 1TB Western Digital Black Caviar HDD set up with RAID '0' stripe. Not sure on whether to use a RAID 0 or not yet.... Might just go with one 2TB drive... TBC.
BACKUP: 3tb external HDD or Synology DS411j NAS drive
So from what I understand once I've installed the OS on to the new SSD along with any apps, use Carbon Copy Cloner to make an fresh image before I use the system... is that correct ???

Using existing 1Tb Home Folder from new SSD boot drive

So, I am completely stuck.
My plan;
Mac Pro (2008) with RAID card. 4x750Gb drives as RAID5, Home Folder is resident there at 1.25Tb.
Purchased 160Gb SSD. Performed clean install of 10.6.7 on it connected by e-SATA.
Migrated Applications. Booted into SSD; Used Advanced Users from System Preferences to point at original Home Folder on RAID.
My result ;-)
50% success but many of the sub folders in ~Library are locked with permissions. Preferences, Mail etc.
Everything is 100% OK when I boot from the original Raid (which is great as a fallback)
My hope;
That there is some way that the original Home Folder would be 100% fine when referenced from the new SSD boot drive.
£1,000,000 to the first MacWiz to help me solve this... (joking about the £1,000,000 but I would be very, very grateful indeed)
Cheers

Hi all,
I just went through a similar issue and solved it with a little persistance.
Follow these steps:
1) All you need to do is cmd + i or "get info" on the folders you want access to
2) in the bottom right of the window that pops up click the small padlock symbol
3) enter your password (the login password for you mac) to "authenticate"
4) Click the arrow by "sharing and permissions" to open that drop down
5) click the + button in the bottom left corner
6) in the new window that pops up click administrator or your specific user (both work fine)
7) when it adds that user click the "privilege" and choose Read & Write
Hey presto, when you refresh the finder window the folder will be accessilble!!!
Yay

Procedure for SSD boot drive in Mac Pro?

I just purchased a 115GB SSD that I want to use as the boot drive in my Mac Pro running OS 10.6.8. I've read several articles about how to set this up but none seem to be working for me. On the SSD boot drive I want only the essentials: OS, Home Folder, Apps. Everything else (docs, downloads, music, photos, movies, etc.) needs to go on my 1TB storage HD. The problem I'm having using Carbon Cloner and Super Duper to copy the OS, HF and apps to the SSD is they're copying too much data, filling up the SSD with non-essentials (there should only be about 90GB of data being copied but much more seems to be transferred). I can't seem to lean-down what's being moved. Would doing a new install with the Snow Leopard DVD and then copying over only the essential files/folders with Migration Assistant be better, more specific?
Has anyone perfected this procedure, and can give me step-by-step instructions? All help is greatly appreciated!

There are dozens and dozens of threads, MPG, MacRumors and elsewhere.
don't move anything from "home" except the bare essential ~/Library (1GB at most) with CCC and deelect everything else. That should get you down to size.
Before you bought I hope you asdded up the /applications and good estimate. most users can get an OS/apps into 60GB or less (the max I would want to see on SSD you have) FCP and some others or if you hae a lot of large apps - some allow for installing in alternate locations as well as into system/library.
Some - there are always some - have had trouble cloning. Some had trouble with installing, too. Can't win for losing at every turn sometimes.
Been there, but look again at MPG series.
How To Clone a Volume
How to upgrade your system/boot drive
Using Cloning as a Backup Strategy

GT683: swapping RAID0 HD config for non-RAID/AHCI SSD boot drive

A question re: MSI skus which come with 2x HDs in RAID0 config. My system (GT683DXR-603US sku) came with 2x 500GB HDs (WD5000BEKT) in RAID0 config.
First thing I did was to replace this with a Crucial M4 256GB ssd, though prior to this I took an image of the stock system (prior to even booting it up the first time) and restored said image onto the SSD.
The first time I booted off the SSD (no other HD in the unit, as I pulled both of the WD 500GB out to try the SSD alone), I went into the BIOS and changed the SATA config from RAID to AHCI. But Win boot cycle almost immediately resulted in a blue screen. I then changed SATA config from AHCI to IDE, w/the same boot result. Finally, set the BIOS config back to the original RAID, and Win7 booted fine.
Upon confirming SSD Win7 boot and testing operation successfully, I pulled the SSD, place the 2x 500GB HDs back in the system, just long enough to break the RAID 0 array.
Replaced the SSD in the primary bay, and left one of the 500GB HDs in the 2nd bay, and that's how I'm using the system now: Crucial M4 SSD boot drive, WD Scorpio 500GB data drive ... with the BIOS SATA config set to RAID mode.
So the system is working now, but question is - should I pursue trying to change the BIOS setting from RAID to AHCI mode? I'm thinking that in order to get the SATA 6Gbps performance out of the Crucial M4, the Intel SATA config needs to be set to AHCI ... yet apparently I first need to modify the Win7 config (the SATA driver, perhaps?), before I can modify the BIOS sata config?
Any suggestions would be appreciated!

bump ... any thoughts? I'm thinking to leave my sysetm in RAID mode, as from what I've read recently Intel storage mgr supports TRIM in RAID mode as well as AHCI.

NEW - 2.4 Westmere 8 Core, 240 SSD boot drive won't start

Brand new, out of the box 2.4 Westmere 8 Core with a 240 SSD boot drive and 12GB RAM will not boot up.
Safe mode won't work.
Boot from disk won't work.
I can't even get the DVD tray to open. I hear no chime on startup then, it goes as far as the gray apple screen then....nothing.
CrN.

Who sold you this?
You dont' get 3rd party from Apple. And who installed the OS?
Pulling the SSD would still let you boot from a DVD as long as it is your Mac's OEM.
Then you can install OS to a drive of your choice that you have on hand.
Yes, take it back.
For $2100 Mac Pro 2.8 4-core, upgrade to 3.3GHz $590, add OWC SSD $240 (120GB, usually more than enough for OS and apps, all the data goes to WD Black 1.5TB $109) and 3 x 8GB RAM (high capacity ram shows 15% boost in memory bandwidth and performance).
I strongly recommend against 2.4GHz - unless you plan a DIY to dual 3.3's - then yes. 2.4's on a PC are good for OC'ing to near 4GHz speeds so they are easy to sell.

Installed new SSD boot drive, Time Machine won't backup

I installed a new 240 GB SSD boot drive (cloned using Super Duper) in my Mac Pro and want to use it as my startup disk. When I boot up using the new 240 SSD drive and try to start Time Machine to back it up onto a 500GB external drive it tells me it failed because the estimated backup size is over 2 TB. I suspect that Time Machine still has the last backup from my old boot drive, which was a 3TB hard drive. I go to Options and tell it not to back up any of my other hard drives but that doesn't help. So now what? How can I get rid of the last backup, which was from my 3 TB hard drive, so that I can backup a 240 GB SSD on a 500 GB external drive? Or is it another problem? Help!! Thanks!!

Problem solved, wasn't using Options/Exclude items properly.

Cloning Hdd to SSD boot drive and what happens with Music/Logic Plugins

Hi, my computer is a mid-2012 Mac Pro 12 Core
It's a great computer but I'm considering upgrading my main boot drive (WD Caviar Black 1TB HDD) to a 1tB Samsung EVO 840 SSD drive (I'm using a sonnet tempo PCI card to mount an SSD that holds audio at the moment and will add another SSD for the boot drive I'm referring to) so I just had a question - if I clone the HDD to the new SSD, what happens with things like licenses for my audio plugins, such as Native Instruments Komplete, programs by IKMultemedia. programs that use an ILOK such as Steven Slate Plugins and also, WAVES plugins? Will this info all carry across to the new SSD drive or do you think I'll need to reauthorise some things? I have all the serials etc so this shouldn't be an issue, but just wondered.
Any help would be appreciated as it feels like quite a big step in that it's my main system drive!
Thanks in advance
Sam

CCC is excellent. If it doesn't work then sure, just always have a safety net of your system that is untouched.
Also, after a clean install, CLONE it!
And then use Setup Assistant. Migration Assistant.
Clone of the system can go on sparse disk images too so you don't have to partition (should have at least one though) and you can have clone from different stages and versions: 10.9.4, without Setup Assistant, migrated, full loaded with all your apps. Multiple versions.
CCC is designed to make a working bootable copy of a system so you can move the system to another boot device like hdd and SSDs without the worry.
But I think we were talking about a system that did not see a clean install of Mountain Lion or Mavericks so it is over due for one!

Problems with SSD boot install

Despite extensive reading on how to create an SSD as a boot drive, my confirguration is buggy. Intially boot up was lightning fast and everything seemed to be running well between my OS-based SSD and my User Directory-based HDD. But at some point something when wrong and now I get impossibly slow start-ups and hang-ups during use. Maybe someone here can help me troubleshoot the issues.
1) Upon start-up, a folder with a question mark appears briefly, then is quickly replaced with the standard Apple logo. This process takes at least a minute or more from a cold boot-up.
2) When I log-out from another User account and try to log back into my User account, I can't. I must restart the comp to log back in. I checked the account directory and everything is the same. Don't know why I must reboot to log back in.
3) Occasionally when working in an app like iPhoto the system acts like it can't find my files, indicating it's confused where I keep my photos and stuff.
4) Shut downs take 3X longer than before. Again, as if the system is searching for things and can't figure out what's what.
I'll try to describe my set up (Mac Pro running Lion):
SSD: System/System Folder/Applications/Library/Resources/Users (random non-essential files in the folders)
HDD: System (nothing in it except Library/Cache with only "com.apple.bootstamps" in it)/Users (all Directories and user folders & files)/Desktop
Have I got things configured correctly? Something missing, something askew?
Thanks for any insights!

I'll try to describe my set up (Mac Pro running Lion):
SSD: System/System Folder/Applications/Library/Resources/Users (random non-essential files in the folders)
HDD: System (nothing in it except Library/Cache with only "com.apple.bootstamps" in it)/Users (all Directories and user folders & files)/Desktop
Have I got things configured correctly? Something missing, something askew?
What a mess! I am not sure what you read because if what you showed is is really what you have it's a wonder you can run at all.
• SSD: System/System Folder/Applications/Library/Resources/Users (random non-essential files in the folders)
Users should be in /Users.
• HDD: System (nothing in it except Library/Cache with only "com.apple.bootstamps" in it)/Users (all Directories and user folders & files)/Desktop
There's probably a LOT more in there but you just cannot see them.
I thought your intent was to make the HDD contain your home dir and use the ssd as your boot dir. What you describe on the surface appears you ended up trying to do the reverse (and doing it poorly). I'm guessing you specified the ssd as your boot drive in System Preferences Startup Disk. So when you boot the machine looks there, says "what the f**k?" (probably the question mark you see), and then finds a bootable system on your hdd.
I suggest you reread how to move a home directory.
How to Move the Home Folder in OS X – and Why
Moving your home folder in OS X

Can I move an SSD Boot Drive from a Mac Pro 1,1 to a newer 5,1?

I have a MacPro 1,1 (2 x dual core Xeon, 3.0 GHZ) with 8GB RAM and updated with an ATI 5770 video card, driving a 27" Cinema display; I'm running OSX 10.7.5. There's an SSD boot/OS/App drive, and the data is on a secondary hard drive with backup to the data on an identical third drive. Because it's time to update (I've had this flawless machine for nearly 4 years but need one with 64-bit capability) I've arranged to buy a 2010 Mac Pro 5,1, also with a 5770 card. I don't need the hard drives that are in that "new" one. I would like to just swap the three drives I have in the old one, and put them in the new box. Will I encounter any problems?

There are two types of base Systems:
a) "shipped in the box" with a specific model Mac. These will boot only that model, and software Update does not change that capability.
b) "Full Retail" or "Purchased" (even for $0). These will boot any appropriate Mac, because they contain "Drivers for every appropriate Mac."
Your 10.7 computer shipped with software much older, so I presume you purchased that 10.7, and would therefore expect it to boot any appropriate model Mac.
"A Mac can generally boot software no OLDER than what it originally shipped with."
This table shows the original shipping versions (some of which are custom builds) for these models:
Mac Pro
Date introduced
Original Mac OS X included
(see Tips 1 and 3)
Later Mac OS X included
(see Tip 1)
Mac OS X Build(s)
(see Tip 2)
Mac Pro (Late 2013)
Dec 2013
10.9
10.9.2, 10.9.4
13A4023, 13C64, 13E28
Mac Pro (Mid 2012)
Jun 2012
10.7.3
10.8, 10.8.3
11D2001, 12A269, 12D78
Mac Pro (Mid 2010)
Aug 2010
10.6.4
10.7, 10.7.2, 10.7.3
10F2521, 10F2554, 11A511a, 11C74, 11D2001
Mac Pro with Mac OS X Server (Mid 2010)
Aug 2010
10.6.4
10.7, 10.7.2, 10.7.3 (Server)
10F2522, 11A511a, 11C74, 11D2001 (Server)
Mac Pro (Early 2009)
Mar 2009
10.5.6
10.6
9G3553, 10A432
Mac Pro (Early 2008)
Jan 2008
10.5.1
10.5.2, 10.5.4
9B2117, 9C2031, 9E25
Mac Pro
Aug 2006
10.4.7
10.4.8, 10.4.9, 10.4.10, 10.5
8K1079, 8N1430, 8N1250, 8K1124, 8P4037, 8R3032, 8R3041, 9A581, 9A3129
Mac OS X versions (builds) for computers
This table show that any build after 10.6.4 (custom) should work to boot a Mac Pro 5,1 2010.
CAUTION: the last version shipped on a "Full Retail" DVD was 10.6.3, which will NOT boot that Mac directly.
NB> If staying with 10.7, you should check whether you are running 64-bit kernel. If not, a terminal command and a re-Boot will fix that.

SSD Boot Drive for Mac Pro

Apologies in advance, I’m really not great with this sort ofstuff.
Basically, what I would like to do is add an SSD to my MacPro and use that as my boot drive. Ihave a 1TB HDD which is currently doing everything but I’d like to use thispurely to store music, videos etc.
As well as booting to Lion, I’d also like to use the SSD torun Windows 7 with VMware Fusion – presume this doesn’t cause any problems?
The plan would be to have the system software andapplications on the SSD and everything else on the HDD. Only thing I’m not sure of is where the homedirectory should go?
Does this all sound like a realistic goal? Also, will this be an relatively straightforward process? Migration Assistant?
Thanks.

So in effect, lets just say your SSD drive fails. As you are currently setup, can you boot from your secondary drive to your backed up OSX, or do you have to have restore that backup image to a new hard drive?
My whole rational of keeping the home dir separate (disk) from the boot dir is that I can switch among any number of boot drives any time I want to. For example, as a hypothetical case*, I use 10.6.5, and I want to update to 10.6.6, 10.6.7, or 10.6.8, I just do it to my ssd. Now I can still boot from my 10.6.5 backup, say for the sake of comparison to some weird behavior I see on the update, without a blink of the eye. I'm still using my same (common) home dir because it is not involved with the update. If I want to go "back" I can restore the ssd from my 10.6.5 backup.
Of course I would actually do it the other way and boot and update from the backup leaving the ssd alone (don't want to write to it any more than I have to). Only if I was satisfied with the new OS on the backup would I then update my ssd.
The point of all this is keeping the home dir off the boot dir allows you to "flit", "jump", switch, whatever, to different OSs (or backups of the same OS) at will. Your home dir is none the wiser unless the OS dramatically changes or screws things up (so that's why this technique may or may not work across major OS revisions -- Snow Leopard to Lion for example, but its great with a single OS sequence).
While everyone always debates the pros and cons of keeping the home dir separate from the boot dir, what always seems to get lost or not mentioned is the benefit of being able to switch among the OSs when they are separate.
So all of this was a long way of answering your question -- no you don't have to backup to the original boot drive before using it. Just boot from the backup. Your home dir couldn't care less.
* For me going to 10.6.6, .7., .8 is hypothetical since I use 10.6.5 and have no current plans of updating beyond that (can you say "app store"? -- don't want it my machine -- and I won't debate any comments on this -- its my personal decision. And besides this is off topic.).

New 17 in MBP--cannot install OS X with SSD Hard drive

Hi
I just bought the latest MBP from Apple's website last week. I previously had the previous generation (17in MBP with i7) I am using this SSD hard drive
http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CTFDDAC256MAG-1G1
My problem is OS X will not install on this drive ONLY on this new MBP. It fails about 1/2 through. I have tested the drive with disk utility and it comes back fine. I ran diagnostics on a Windows box and it came back fine. I have also placed this hard drive in the previous MBP and a 13 in MBP (core 2 duo) and it installed very fast and fine. THe drive has the latest firmware from Crucial.
When I go to install, it is very slow compared to the original 750GB 5400rpm drive. It takes about an hour before it crashes. I have a call in with an Apple senior level tech, but he is off until Monday and I really need to get this fixed. I am 200 miles away from an Apple store and while I am willing to drive it, they said over the phone they can not guarentee a fix.
I swapped out RAM, reset the PRAM, cried, prayed, and begged. What's going on? Is this a design flaw?? How can I get this to go through?
I would really appreciate someones help. Thanks guys!

Do I understand correctly that you're replacing the new machine's original hard drive with this SSD? If so, here's a different approach to installing the OS on it:
Put the SSD into an external enclosure and the original drive back into the MBP. Connect the external to the MBP, boot the MBP from the internal HD, format the SSD with Disk Utility, and clone the original hard drive onto the SSD after reformatting the SSD with Disk Utility. You can do the cloning with Disk Utility, but I prefer Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper because they're more informative about what's happening during the process. After the clone is complete, install the SSD into the MBP and test.

External ssd boot drive - tidying up!

Hi all, to speed up my late 2011 27" iMac I've upgraded the RAM to 12gb (small improvement) and then installed an external thunderbolt 256GB SSD drive as my boot drive (massive performance improvement.)
My question is now what's the best thing to do with the internal 1TB HDD? I've read that locating your home folders onto the internal drive is best practice for performance (frees up spave on the SSD for the system to use). I think it would be useful to have a backup of the boot drive on the internal HDD but how to do everything in the best way is what I need advice on....
Should I delete the copies of the home directories on the internal HDD drive before moving them from the SSD to HDD? Should I then delete them from the SSD? At the moment the HDD is still as it was when I Carbon Copied it onto the SSD but that means it's now a slightly out of date version of the boot drive.
I want to end up with a backup of my install but free up as much space as possible on both the SSD and the HDD and get the best performance I can overall.
Any help appreciated!

Look through several of them. There are those for Windows and those for Macs. For example, Using OS X with an SSD plus HDD setup - Matt Gemmell. Or follow the link at the bottom: ssd and hdd together mac.

System Prefs in OS X with SSD Boot Drive

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