Late 2009 iMac SSD upgrade, slow boot

Question

Late 2009 iMac SSD upgrade, slow boot

I installed SSD in place of Superdrive, formatted Ext,Journ, restored MtnLion from TimeMachine, renamed old boot partition on 1TB internal because it confused time machine, went to SysPref->Startup Disk - Selected SSD drive and clicked restart. In fact did this a couple times.

18s white screen to apple, another 20 seconds to login screen.

btw, SysPref->Startup Disk displays 1TB SnowLep, 1TB Mtn Lion, and SSD Mtn Lion (highlighted)

1TB internal has SL partition, ML partition, a Data Partition, and a Mtn Lion recovery partition
SSD has ML partition and I think a Mtn Lion recovery partition (not sure how it got there since I didn't do a clean install to the drive)

When I boot using the alt/option key there are two Recovery.8.2 disks shown. I am guessing one on the 1TB internal, and one on the SSD. When I boot from DVD I see two entries in the log name: disk2 partition:0. When I use DVD disk utility there is only one "disk2" shown with 1.15GB Boot OS X disk image marked as "Startup Disk". Is having two recovery partitions named the same a problem?

Any ideas why it is so slow booting?

__________________
2010 27" iMac 2.66GHz Core i5 8GB Ram, 240GB OWC 3G SSD (in superdrive spot)+Blu-Ray Recorder; iPhone 4s

iMac (27-inch Late 2009), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), +240GB SSD, Ext Blu-ray writer

Posted on Oct 31, 2012 8:51 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

RRFS

Level 5

4,522 points

Oct 31, 2012 9:05 PM in response to Alan McDonley

I've noticed that the more drives that are associated with the system the longer it will take to boot. Do a check in About this Mac and see what the negotited speed is for your SSD. I've read some posters who say by installing into the DVD slot they only get 1.5Gbs negotiated speed instead of the preferred 3Gbs.

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Answer 2

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Oct 31, 2012 9:05 PM in response to Alan McDonley

What is the speed of the optical drive port? You may have a slow SATA port for your SSD and that's why it's slow. You have a 3G SSD on a 1.5G port or possibly worse, a PATA port. Were I you I would have done this:

Drive Preparation and Installation for Lion/Mountain Lion

1. Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.

2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.

3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.

4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.

5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.

6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

7. After formatting is done quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Continue button.

Once this is done you can consider restoring data from your backup. Although you may wish to check your startup times. But your SSD is not going to achieve its best speed running off the optical drive port as opposed to running off the main SATA port used by your HDD. You might want to think about switching their positions.

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Answer 3

Nov 1, 2012 4:54 AM in response to Kappy

Kappy wrote:

What is the speed of the optical drive port? You may have a slow SATA port for your SSD and that's why it's slow. You have a 3G SSD on a 1.5G port or possibly worse,

Sys Report says Link Speed and Negotiated Link Speed are both 3 Gigabit.

Kappy wrote:

Were I you I would have done this:

Drive Preparation and Installation for Lion/Mountain Lion

1. ... restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.

I used my external InstallESD Mountain Lion DVD - perhaps better but should not be a factor.

Kappy wrote:

2. After DU loads select your hard drive .. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. [should] say "Verified" ...click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.

3... set the number of partitions to one. Options .. GUID ..format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) ..Partition ...

4. Select the volume .. Erase

format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) ... Security ... Zero Data ...OK ..Erase

7. ... quit DU ... Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion .. Continue ..

...restor[ed] data from [TimeMachine] backup.

That's me.

Kappy wrote:

...your SSD is not going to achieve its best speed running off the optical drive port as opposed to running off the main SATA port used by your HDD. You might want to think about switching their positions.

I did not check, but I was told the late 2009 motherboard does not have an empty SATA port like the newer 6G/Thunder models.

Sys Rpt says the optical drive cable is allowing a 3G link.

Intel 5 Series Chipset:

Vendor: Intel

Product: 5 Series Chipset

Link Speed: 3 Gigabit

Negotiated Link Speed: 3 Gigabit

Description: AHCI Version 1.30 Supported

OWC Mercury Electra 3G SSD:

Capacity: 240.06 GB (240,057,409,536 bytes)

Model: OWC Mercury Electra 3G SSD

Revision: 504ABBF0

Serial Number: EX3G240...

Native Command Queuing: Yes

Queue Depth: 32

Removable Media: No

Detachable Drive: No

BSD Name: disk0

Medium Type: Solid State

TRIM Support: No

Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)

S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified

Volumes:

disk0s1:

Capacity: 209.7 MB (209,715,200 bytes)

BSD Name: disk0s1

Content: EFI

Mtn Lion HD:

Capacity: 239.2 GB (239,197,650,944 bytes)

Available: 158.67 GB (158,665,498,624 bytes)

Writable: Yes

File System: Journaled HFS+

BSD Name: disk0s2

Mount Point: /

Content: Apple_HFS

Volume UUID: 9152256E-7667-3F59-8008-83B3B4BD246F

Recovery HD:

Capacity: 650 MB (650,002,432 bytes)

BSD Name: disk0s3

Content: Apple_Boot

Volume UUID: A42443B1-0678-392D-9C90-3F47D949CD77

---------

This is the 1TB HD:

Intel 5 Series Chipset:

Vendor: Intel

Product: 5 Series Chipset

Link Speed: 3 Gigabit

Negotiated Link Speed: 3 Gigabit

Description: AHCI Version 1.30 Supported

ST31000528AS:

Capacity: 1 TB (1,000,204,886,016 bytes)

Model: ST31000528AS

Revision: AP2E

Serial Number: 5VP....

Native Command Queuing: Yes

Queue Depth: 32

Removable Media: No

Detachable Drive: No

BSD Name: disk1

Rotational Rate: 7200

Medium Type: Rotational

Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)

S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified

Volumes:

disk1s1:

Capacity: 209.7 MB (209,715,200 bytes)

BSD Name: disk1s1

Content: EFI

1TB SnowLeopard HD:

Capacity: 128.95 GB (128,946,274,304 bytes)

Available: 118.16 GB (118,162,411,520 bytes)

Writable: Yes

File System: Journaled HFS+

BSD Name: disk1s2

Mount Point: /Volumes/1TB SnowLeopard HD

Content: Apple_HFS

Volume UUID: 27C6B776-B8D9-3CBD-8839-CEB5FA098639

1TB Part 2:

Capacity: 280.12 GB (280,116,953,088 bytes)

Available: 152.05 GB (152,052,838,400 bytes)

Writable: Yes

File System: Journaled HFS+

BSD Name: disk1s3

Mount Point: /Volumes/1TB Part 2

Content: Apple_HFS

Volume UUID: A8583939-E827-31F4-A6DF-31F7BAE0084A

1TB MtnLionHD:

Capacity: 590.01 GB (590,013,464,576 bytes)

Available: 381.13 GB (381,125,189,632 bytes)

Writable: Yes

File System: Journaled HFS+

BSD Name: disk1s4

Mount Point: /Volumes/1TB MtnLionHD

Content: Apple_HFS

Volume UUID: 0B2A4E29-5783-30BF-9DB9-9B755FCF39FB

Recovery HD:

Capacity: 650 MB (650,002,432 bytes)

BSD Name: disk1s5

Content: Apple_Boot

Volume UUID: 4EDE4456-475A-35DA-8CA8-08A2F394433B

------------

Please keep ideas coming

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Answer 4

Nov 1, 2012 5:25 AM in response to Alan McDonley

ok - interesting data point - unplugged USB connected 3TB containing my time machine backups and total boot dropped to 20s: 5s to white, 12s to apple, 3s to login screen.

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