SSD 510 compatibility problems with Macbook Pro

[idata]

Hello,

it seems there is a compatibility problem between the Intel 510 Solid State Disks and the new (early 2011) Macbook Pro. A lot of people (including me) are experiencing problems with this SSD in their new Macbook Pros. See for example

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=12192122# post12192122 http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=12192122# post12192122

http://www.macuser.de/forum/f10/welche-ssd-fuer-425659/index107.html http://www.macuser.de/forum/f10/welche-ssd-fuer-425659/index107.html (German)

To be fair, there seem to be similar problems with Crucials C300

http://forum.hardmac.com/index.php?s=0c6a8e832764fd8a9497e34b57df7b68&showtopic=9921&pid=17870&st=0&... entry17870

The problem may be related to the SATA 3 mode utilized between the mentioned SSDs and the Intel Sandy Bridge SATA-Controller. I don't know and can't tell if Apple or Intel are responsible for these problems, but I think it is in the uttermost interest of Intel to resolve them (or make Apple resolve them). Otherwise Intel will have a hard time selling new SSDs to Apple owners...

The http://www.intel.com/support/ssdc/hpssd/sb/CS-029623.htm# 4 Intel SSD FAQ states:

All Intel Mainstream Solid-State Drives are tested and validated on the latest Intel-based notebook and desktop platforms.

I bought Intel for getting a reliable SSD for use in my Intel based notebook. Now it isn't working properly at all. I'm very disappointed.

regards,

Markus

[idata]

Crucial C300 256gb here. 17" 2011 mbp will not allow install of OS on drive and if I clone a working image onto the ssd it will not boot. Must be a sandybridge or mbp problem. Are there any other shipping laptops utilising this chipset that are working correctly with SATA III drives?

[idata]

I can confirm I have system instabilities with a Crucial C300 256GB SSD and a 2011 MacBook Pro 13" Core i7. Imaged factory HDD to SDD and found that it would boot but would 'beachball' within 5 minutes of running. Checked processes running and syslogd ran at 196% and fan running at full speed. Spotlight was trying to reindex the drive, disabling this some stability back and was able to investigate further. However when re-enabling indexing it crashed.

Attempted an Erase and Install on the SSD this morning but fails to install the OS from the restore disks. There were multiple errors in the log point to failing to write to the disk. Now attempting to erase the whole disk and try again, but think it'll be futile.

[idata]

Just got off the phone with AppleCare. They got me on the phone with a senior engineer, who basically said that he hasn't heard about this issue. I directed him to this thread, the Apple Support thread, and to the MacRumours thread. I explained that I had gone through all of the typical steps (restore from TM backup, clean install from OSX DVD, reset SMC, reset NVRAM/PRAM) and he said that he will escalate to the powers that be. He said that he will go to bat for me, but he expects that he will get told that Apple supports Apple products, not third party stuff. "Buy the Apple SSD" is what he expects to get told.

I am pissed. I buy an Intel SSD to make sure that it is compatible with my shiny new Intel Sandy Bridge MacBook, and I end up with an unreturnable paperweight. It isn't even heavy enough to be good at that.

[idata]

Ngiardina,

You are giving us vrey bad news. I'm on the same boat with a mbp 2011 17' and an intel 510.

Thread, does the sata iii / macbook pro issue have anything to do with the intel sata controller chipset design error ? :

http://newsroom.intel.com/community/intel_newsroom/blog/2011/01/31/intel-identifies-chipset-design-e... http://newsroom.intel.com/community/intel_newsroom/blog/2011/01/31/intel-identifies-chipset-design-e...

[idata]

Spoke to Apple last night. Here is what I was told, "Apple can only support the drives that they sell, and since we don't sell any SATAIII drives, we won't admit that it is a problem with SATAIII in general, just a problem with an unsupported drive." That said, I told him that my plan of action was first to install a new 2010 MacBook Pro 13" SATA cable from iFixit and try again, and if that doesn't work, I plan on getting an OCZ Vertex 3 once they are available. He told me to please keep him up-to-date on anything that I discover, but not to expect any help from Apple.