I replaced my MacBook Pro optical drive with an Agility 3 SSD from OCZ, currently operating at SATA I speed only (it should run at SATA II speed, but that's another story). After a clean install of Mac OS X Mountain Lion, I noticed a few problems that made the whole user experience nearly unbearable: constant beach ball cursors and unexpected freezes and pauses (up to one minute) when editting basic system preferences, copying files, using Safari, etc. Agility 3 SSDs have their own Trim manager, so I applied no hacks whatsoever. Here's what I've done so far:
- Made several clean installs of Mac OS X Lion on the SSD: all problems persisted;
- Enabled Mac OS X native Trim support, using Trim Enabler: didn't notice any changes;
- Didn't install any software and didn't use the HD: all problems persisted;
Ran a "Verify disk" scan using Disk Utility: no issues returned.
I assume the problem is related to the SSD, because these beach balls and pauses started happening right after I installed the SSD. I do notice my Mac Book Pro is much faster though, whenever these issues don't freeze it. These are my relevant specs:
MacBook Pro 5.1 (late 2008):
- 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo;
- 8 GB 1067 MHz DDR3;
- SMC version: 1.33f8;
- Sudden Motion Sensor: Enabled.
Agility 3 SSD:
- Model: OCZ-AGILITY3;
- Revision: 2.220000;
- Serial Number: OCZ-F2YXP9LB8741651B;
- Native Command Queuing: Yes;
- Queue Depth: 32;
- Medium Type: Solid State;
- TRIM Support: No;
- Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table);
- S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified.
Here are some similar issues I found when browsing through Apple discussion forums, all with the very same Agility 3 SSDs:
I guess I should be more specific and run some sort of diagnostics, but I honestly don't know how to do it. Is there anything I should do to provide more information on this issue? Any suggestions would be much appreciated, as I totally depend on this MacBook Pro to work and procrastinate.
Quick update: I just checked my System Report and my SSD is running (only) at SATA I speed, while it should only have backwards compatibility with SATA II. Maybe that's the problem. I just don't understand why it's not running at SATA II speed, as is the other HD I have on my Mac Book Pro (which, by the way, only supports up to SATA II).
Best Answer
This may also be an issue with the ICH8-M AHCI SATA interface chip. I have a late 2008 MBP that came with a 250 GB HD. I upgraded to a 640 GB and had endless beach balls. Turns out the models with a ICH8-M AHCI and a PATA superdrive interface cannot be upgraded higher than a 320 GB 7200rpm HD. Anything faster or larger will stall out as the FW for the ICH8-M AHCI cannot be upgraded beyond SATA I speed without killing the PATA interface. Some models with a ICH8-M AHCI and a SATA superdrive interface can be upgraded with a FW update released by Apple. Check for updates.