Solid-State Drives (SSD)

[Crucial_Katana]

The M225 solid-state drives are compatible with new MacBook Pro models. We have a 13-inch model in our performance testing lab that runs them without problems. There were a couple of additional hoops to jump through to make that happen though.

Here are the steps that our performance testing lab took when installing OSX on the SSD:

1. Once the SSD has been installed, ensure that the ribbon cable and the SATA interface cables are attached properly to the drive and also verify it is seated into the motherboard/pcb. This is very important, we receive several calls every week where the cables were the problem.

2. Install OSX Disc 1 and wait until it asks you which disk you want to install the OS to. The SSD will not show up here!  The drive comes without a partition, and needs to be reformatted/partitioned for the OSX before the installation disc can recognize it.

3. Select Utilities and then select Disk Utilities.

4. The Crucial SSD will show up in the Disk Utility (if it doesn't, power down and check both ends of the SATA cable again). Highlight the SSD and click the Partition tab.

5. Click on Options and verify that it's set to "GUID Partition Scheme".

6. Now select Partition 1 if you want to use the entire SSD as a single partition, and give it a suitable name.

7. Verify that it has default selected "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)".

8. Select Partition. The drive will now be partitioned and formatted.

9. When the Disk Utility is done, close it.

10. You should now be back on the screen where you can select a destination to load the OS, and this time the SSD will show up there. Select it, and continue with the install.

If you've gone through these steps and it's still not working properly, please reply to this thread with your Boot ROM Version and the SMC Version (system). That information will help us track the issues reported here and work towards a solution. You can find the numbers in the Hardware Overview of your System Profiler.

Thank you,

[shareef777]

 Boot ROM Version: MBP51.0074.B01

SMC Version (system): 1.33f8

Has this been verified with firmware 1711? Thanks.

I have a late 2008 15" MacBook Pro. I've upgraded to Snow Leopard and am on firmware 1711, and my machine will not go to sleep without locking up.

[jonHemmingsen]

Hi

Have had 3 of theese drives each not showing up in disk util. Works perfect in my older white macbook but not in my unibody 13" macbook pro.

  Model Identifier:    MacBookPro5,5
  Processor Name:    Intel Core 2 Duo
  Processor Speed:    2,53 GHz
  Number Of Processors:    1
  Total Number Of Cores:    2
  L2 Cache:    3 MB
  Memory:    4 GB
  Bus Speed:    1,07 GHz
  Boot ROM Version:    MBP55.00AC.B03
  SMC Version (system):    1.47f2

2 of the drives actually died after being subjected to the Macbook's internal bus. 1 survived and worked fine in an external enclosure but I have returned this as I have given up on the combination of Macbook Pro 2009 and SSD's

I wish you people good luck in finding the error. I have recieved top notch support from the Crucial team. Sadly Apple has totally ignored me and the problem. I am pretty sure the problem is in the infamous apple firmware 1.7. Theres about a 1000 posts of theese problems in apples own forum.

[Crucial_Katana]

Thank you both for posting the information! I have forwarded the version numbers to our testing lab. I'm going to monitor this thread for replies from other users, and will continue to forward version data to the lab as we gather it.

shareef777,

Both firmware versions were tested and worked properly. That's one of the reasons we are asking for SMC and Boot ROM versions here, we're looking for a pattern.

[tysonedwards]

I am working perfectly fine here.

Mac Version Info: 

  Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,2

  Boot ROM Version: MBP52.008E.B05

  SMC Version (system): 1.42f4

SSD Info:

  Model: CRUCIAL-CT256M225

  Revision: 1571

[shareef777]

The drive is recognized, but sleep mode does not work. Can you close the lid of the machine and have it wake from sleep successfully?

[BobRudge]

The big issue is not drives not being recognised (your simple steps show how to obviate that issue) but rather the instability, crashing and freezing that iccurs with your (and other) drives installed.

I have followed all of your troubleshooting steps and I still get my system 'beach-balling' at least three times a day forcing me into a hard restart. I have three of these M225s and all of them have suffered the same.

I am not blaming Crucial for the issue but given the lack of action from Apple it would be great to see a fix come from this end if possible.

Boot ROM Version:    MBP53.00AC.B00
  SMC Version (system):    1.49f2

[shareef777]

I have not had any issues other then the sleep mode. Other then that, the system runs very fast and reliable (at version 1711).

Bob, which OS version are you using? Have you tested the drives out with a clean install?

[BobRudge]

I've tried a clean install, I've had the problem with Snow Leopard and Leopard.

The issue is a known problem with Mid 2009 MBPs that updated to EFI 1.7 firmware - many of them are having huge problems with SATA II drives. There is a 67 page thread on the issue at Apple's support forums.

As I say, the issue lies mainly with Apple - they should issue a firmware fix - but it Crucial ould solve it at their end they would get many more people jumping in to but their SSDs because, at present, some are put off by this well known issue.

[rjc]

Hi,

I have a late 2008 15" MacBook Pro (spec below), just installed a M225 256Gb - so far everything seems to be working as expected.  No problems with sleeping etc.  I have Bootcamp installed too, that is also working just fine - although most of the time I run this via VMWare Fusion.  

One question though, assuming at some point the drive will slow down until the TRIM and background cleaning comes info effect, is there a tool (for any OS) which would enable the drive to be "reset" to restore performance?

PS: Performance boost is stunning.

Mac OS X 10.6 (10A432)

Hardware Overview:

  Model Name: MacBook Pro

  Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,1

  Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo

  Processor Speed: 2.53 GHz

  Number Of Processors: 1

  Total Number Of Cores: 2

  L2 Cache: 6 MB

  Memory: 4 GB

  Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz

  Boot ROM Version: MBP51.0074.B01

  SMC Version (system): 1.33f8

  Serial Number (system):

  Hardware UUID:

  Sudden Motion Sensor:

  State: Disabled

NVidia MCP79 AHCI:

  Vendor: NVidia

  Product: MCP79 AHCI

  Speed: 3 Gigabit

  Description: AHCI Version 1.20 Supported

CRUCIAL_CT256M225:

  Capacity: 256.06 GB (256,060,514,304 bytes)

  Model: CRUCIAL_CT256M225                       

  Revision: 1571    

  Serial Number: P565045-HDIX-7019069

  Native Command Queuing: Yes

  Queue Depth: 32

  Removable Media: No

  Detachable Drive: No

  BSD Name: disk0

  Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)

  S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified

  Volumes:

Macintosh HD:

  Capacity: 218.91 GB (218,909,114,368 bytes)

  Available: 104.44 GB (104,443,092,992 bytes)

  Writable: Yes

  File System: Journaled HFS+

  BSD Name: disk0s2

  Mount Point: /

BOOTCAMP:

  Capacity: 36.81 GB (36,806,066,176 bytes)

  Available: 11.41 GB (11,405,938,688 bytes)

  Writable: No

  File System: NTFS

  BSD Name: disk0s3

  Mount Point: /Volumes/BOOTCAMP