OCZ Vertex 2 in Mac Pro 2009

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Level 1

10 points

OCZ Vertex 2 in Mac Pro 2009

Although this has already been discussed a few times I'd like to add my experience with the OCZ Vertex SSD over 8 months. Since I got mostly shoulder shrugs everywhere else, I hope a competent tech head will stumble upon this and point me in the right direction.

The initial install was a doddle and this drive is insanely fast as a main system drive. I heard about the issues with SSDs wearing out over time without TRIM etc but never fully understood it. I'm not a tech head. A couple of days ago my Mac started to behave strangely with complete freezes to the point that I had to do hard reboots (power button). One out of two times OSX would boot back normally but then freeze completely after about 10-15 min. of use. The other times it wouldn't even find the startup drive (blank screen and folder with ?). So logically the SSD must be the culprit. I was lucky to have made a time machine backup and restore OSX to a HD. The backup runs fine, so there is no issue with OSX itself.

The OCZ is on firmware 1.2. There are other users having the same problem and apparently it has something to do with the fact that OCZ drives don't handle power functions too well on a Mac, like sleep, hibernation etc. For most of those users, a firmware upgrade did not solve the problem. I followed all the other hints, disable sleep, downloaded TRIM for non-Apple SSDs etc but to no avail.

Before I start the RMA process (which OCZ might refuse?), does it make sense to upgrade the firmware on a device that was running fine for several months? I mean, it can't be the firmware if it was always working before, can it? I actually suspect the SSD to have become bad over time. However I think I'm still far off having had enough read/write cycles to wear out the drive according to the specs floating about.

I'm inclined to demand a replacement drive, a brand new one, but on the other hand I've lost all confidence in SSDs. Especially as the main system drive. It's very irritating when the whole system freezes in the middle of a project. How long are those drives supposed to last, REALLY honestly?? I simply can't believe the "up to" 20 years myth.

Cheers for any hint.

Mac Pro 8 core 2009-OTHER, Other OS, Mac OSX 10.6.8

Posted on Aug 11, 2011 3:16 AM

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Answer 1

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Aug 11, 2011 3:38 AM in response to R2B

TRIM Enabler support thread:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php&t=1125400

http://www.groths.org/?p=308

I don't know that model but I would update the firmware.

I'd also let the SF controller do its think and not use TE unless you feel it is safe and the current version. That may not have always been true. SF Background GC should be enough. And wipe/reinstall if not.

As for sleep etc, hibernation is a laptop feature. And even PC BIOS have had to be updated (two PCs, Intel and Gigabyte) and until then it was an issue at times.

OWC uses SF and does not recommend TRIM for OS X.

So, what I would say is this:

When your computer has a hard freeze, it needs you to act/react accordingly:

Safe Boot at minimum to clean up and attempt to repair its directory.

Not sure why or what but that can happen to anyone almost and may not even be SSD related.

I'd keep the drive, check back OCZ and firmware, talk to others on the MacRumors and Groths.

note: I reformat drives regularly, couple times a year, replace system drive also, and it is the amount of writes and I/O your SSD has to handle, not years. Even DVDs don't last two decades.

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Answer 2

R2B Author

Level 1

10 points

Aug 11, 2011 3:54 AM in response to The hatter

Cheers for the reply.

I did follow all the steps for TRIM. I reformatted the drive but even as an empty data drive it randomly mounts and unmounts out of the blue. I do think it has become bad after only 8 months of use. I still use a 4 year old HD with plenty of I/O with absolutely no signs of degradation.

I mean, how can I monitor the health or state of an SSD, ie. how many writes I still have left until it packs up? Those drives are not cheap enough for me to be replaced every few months. In fact, the industry should be a bit more transparent and honest when touting their reliability.

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Answer 3

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Aug 11, 2011 4:11 AM in response to R2B

I don't use TRIM, and bought 5 Corsairs in Jan/Feb after it seemed their 2.0 (final) firmware for SF-1200 series.

What you added about data though doesn't sound right at all.

Never said an SSD should be replaced in a year even. Only that I reimage my system drive 3-4x a year was all.

And 7.2k hard drives have improved a lot, enough so that I move them to backup duty after two years. And WD Black 1.5TB $109 now or $80 for 750GB. Or 10K WD VelociRaptors (8) and they aren't as fast but rock solid, $200/600GB.

You use your SSD for what type of data? Scratch for photoshop? audio tracks/voices?

An SSD should have enough free space so that a single cell is not being reused, and BGC can do its work.

You may not want Windows but then you could update firmware if needed, check its health and performance better, and see if it continues to "mis-behave." Otherwise, I'd check OCZ and next time go with another brand, OWC gets high review marks, or one of the ohters.

SSD is still changing rapidly but the SF-1200 series should be fine.

People have bricked their SSD using unproven methods and drivers even.

My five SSDs get a lot of workouts daily for about 7 months use.

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Answer 4

R2B Author

Level 1

10 points

Aug 11, 2011 4:52 AM in response to The hatter

I used the SSD as a system drive only until it started tripping a few days ago. I don't intend to use it all anymore. I just wanted to point out that even after recommended maintenance, reformatting and latest firmware which I just flashed a few minutes ago it is still dodgy. After boot it randomly mounts or not at all and after about 15 minutes it unmounts itself. It's a brick.

Even IF OCZ have the decency to replace it, I'm not sure if I can trust it even as a data drive, let alone a system drive.

As you suggested, I'll stick to the fastest spin drives I can find. The SSD experience was a foul one for me.

I'm a music producer by the way. I use only 7200 HDs for audio which are fast enough. The SSD was just much faster in firing up VST plugins in Cubase.

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