Macbook pro 15' Intel 2.53 hard drive issues:
I recently purchased a mackbook pro. This is my first macbook and I must say out of the box I love this thing. Being a gamer, virtual machine, blleding edge dude that I am I wanted more. So I promply ordered 8 gigs of ram and my first Corsair SSD as upgrades. Here is where my unplesant experience with Apple begins. At first I thought I was doing something wrong or making some mac n00b mistakes. (I have ran Linux for years and enjoy building my own computers) even with that I figured I was doing somehting wrong. Here are the symptoms/steps I tried.
Took the original hard drive out (a 5400 RPM sata II) drive and installed the Corsair. Booted the install disk (I ended up trying the original Leopard and the Snow Leopard with same results. I could format the drive with the Disk Utility GUID with journaling 1 big partion. Could try to install and would constantly hang. I tried to customize the install as it appeared to be hanging on a printer or Launguage part. I unselelcted the optional Launguage and I also unselected all the printers. The Install would still hang (I even let it run overnight) and still would not install. I then took the SSD out and hooked it up to a USB adapter. Booted the CD and can install from USB fine on both versions of OS X. Can boot from USB and it works fine (just slower). install the SSD back into the mac and the mac will not boot. Boot install CD and Disk Utility no longer sees the drive. RMA'd the drive back to Newegg. Tried another same drive with the exact same issues. Contacted Apple and Corsair support and no help. Finally after another call to Apple they say only the SSD drives they sell are supported to work.
I double check the website and verify the SSD is an 800.00 option I could order from Apple. I read and search more and see people having luck with Patriot SSD's. I email patriot support:
Hello,
I recently purchased a new (mid 2009 macbook pro) and would like to get a SSD that works with it. I am currently looking at a
Patriot Torqx M28 Series PTX256GS25SSDR 2.5" 256GB SATA II Internal Solid state disk (SSD) - Retail
after ordering a Corsair CMFSSD-256GBG2D 2.5" 256GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD) - Retail and having issues with it. I ended up RMA'ing it and trying again and had the same failure with it. Apparently something to do with the Nvidia sata controller and the specific controller on that Corsair drive did not work well together.
The macbook pro is a model A1286 serial # W89303L47XJ it is an Intel 2.53 15" with 8 gigs of ram. If I can provide anymore information to ensure this Patriot Torqx M28 series works well with this mac.
To get more details on the Mac you can go here and enter the serial number as well. http://www.appleserialnumberinfo.com/Desktop/index.php
I know this mac will not work with that Corsair and whatever controller they use (I believe it was Samsung but not 100% sure).
Thank you,
me
His responce:
You’ll want a regular Torqx not an M28
John Smith
Patriot Memory Technical Support Team
I send another email:
I have received the Patriot Torqx PFZ256GS25SSDRC 2.5" 256GB SATA II Internal Solid state disk (SSD) - Retail
from
Newegg and I am running into the same problems I ran into with the
Corsair SSD. I contacted Apple support and all they are saying is not
all drives are supported. I have searched online and seen many issues
but no resolutions. The drive seems fine but just will not work in the
mid 2009 Macbook Pro. Newegg is saying they will not refund my money. I
honestly would like to get this drive (or any SSD) working but if I
cannot I have no use for it. I have tried the latest firmware. Do you
have any other suggestions for me?
Thank you for your time,
I get no responce: so I email someone knew and open a new ticket:
Thank you for supporting our products. I am sorry for the issues you
are having. Yes we seen couple issues with Apple systems, they really
need to step up and start support SSD as it is becoming more popular to
replace mechanical spinning HDD. Did you try everything in the support
forums? Here is a link
http://www.patriotmemory.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1256
Thank you for choosing Patriot Memory.
Best regards,
Valentine Lan
Technical Support Engineer
I had seen that post so I replied to it after he mentioned it and I still have not heard back on that post.
He also recently responded:
Dear Bryan,
I would recommend our KOI SSD, they been tested and verified for Apple computers.
http://www.patriotmemory.com/products/groupdetailp.jsp?prodgroupid=154&prodline=8&group=KOI%20Solid%20State%20Drives&catid=21
There is no firmware updates available for Apple computers as the firmware updates are DOS based.
Thank you for choosing Patriot Memory.
Best regards,
Valentine Lan
Technical Support Engineer
However even that drive seems to be having a similar issue with some macs....see here. I sent this to him and am waiting a reply.
What a PITA!
Drives I have tried:
Corsair CMFSSD-256GBG2D 2.5" 256GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD) - Retail
Patriot Torqx PFZ256GS25SSDRC 2.5" 256GB SATA II Internal Solid state disk (SSD) - Retail (both versions of firmware 1571FW and 1819FW)
Western Digital Scorpio Black WD3200BEKT 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive -Bare Drive
My post on Patriot forums: link
The long Apple support forum link
my screen shots of what I have had working (mainly all from USB so far) link
