Experience with OWC SSD

[Beaverman3001]

Finally took the plunge, bought a 240GB Mercury Aura Pro Express (who names this crap?). The installation was easy but, I can see why people have concerns over the quality control of the SSD itself. It was a very tight fit, and it will bend the board if you over tighten it the slightest bit.

When I first installed it and booted up I honestly didn't think it was going to see it, because I thought there was no way it was properly seated with the dimensions of it. It is slightly wider and longer than the Toshiba SSD mine originally had.

With that said, it installed fine after some negotiating with it, and everything went smooth. I restored from Time Machine with no problems at all. Using Aja system test I am getting 215MB/s writes and 265MB/s reads (4GB file, 1920x1080 10bit).

Haven't had it long enough to really comment on its reliability since I just got it, but wanted to make this post because I know some people have been concerned with their quality control. Their SSD will fit, but its just very tight.

 

[Cheffy Dave]

Bought 2 MBA 11" 4/64, and purchased 2 OWC SSD Aura 360's
Wicked fast, haven't benched marked the numbers, but I am very pleased

 

[Capt Underpants]

Bought 2 MBA 11" 4/64, and purchased 2 OWC SSD Aura 360's
Wicked fast, haven't benched marked the numbers, but I am very pleased

Damn that's awesome.

 

[brand]

I can see why people have concerns over the quality control of the SSD itself. It was a very tight fit, and it will bend the board if you over tighten it the slightest bit.

That doesn't have anything to do with quality control. The IC chips on the Apple SSD are only on one side of the PCB while on the OWC SSD they are one both sides of the PCB thus causing the PCB to flex if tightening too much.

 

[discounteggroll]

definitely do not over-torque anything in a laptop, especially something like a MBA. I got an OWC SSD for my 15" MBP and stand by their product. I wouldn't have any hesitation getting an upgraded SSD for my MBA if the price point had been dramatically lower

 

[Gruber]

The 240GB SSD has a reasonable price, I think. Yes, it does bend slightly, but there is no force involved, and I don't think anybody needs to worry.

I am still happy with it and would recommend it to anyone who cannot get by with 128GB.

 

[OWC Nick]

Aura Pro Express Now Shipping in 480GB size

The first SSD for the MBA announced today now available in the largest size....480GB.

Oh..the comment about the board flexing is accurate about flash devices being on both sides so it will flex a bit while tightening it down.

Some good reviews of the drive on the product page:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Aura_Pro_Express

OWC Grant

 

[Abyssgh0st]

Very impressive Grant- 480GB in a MBA.. Incredible.

 

[Beaverman3001]

Wished some USB enclosures would come out for them now

 

[chenry]

Just out of interest, how long does your MBA now take to boot up? For some reason mine take around 20-25 secs to get the Apple logo another 15 or so secs just to get to the spinning circle. Then 14-15 secs for the desktop to appear.

I've asked before in another thread an got no answer, I assume that was because few people had done the upgrade, but there seems to be a few of us now!

- Colin

 

[IngerMan]

Just out of interest, how long does your MBA now take to boot up? For some reason mine take around 20-25 secs to get the Apple logo another 15 or so secs just to get to the spinning circle. Then 14-15 secs for the desktop to appear.

I've asked before in another thread an got no answer, I assume that was because few people had done the upgrade, but there seems to be a few of us now!

- Colin

Are you saying you did the OWC upgrade? It may help if you post your machine and SSD type.

 

[Cheffy Dave]

Just out of interest, how long does your MBA now take to boot up? For some reason mine take around 20-25 secs to get the Apple logo another 15 or so secs just to get to the spinning circle. Then 14-15 secs for the desktop to appear.

I've asked before in another thread an got no answer, I assume that was because few people had done the upgrade, but there seems to be a few of us now!

- Colin

On mine I get the desktop in 20 seconds,my wife's takes 22, both have The OWC 360,each have the 1.6 CPU and 4 GB RAM

 

[DaveOZ]

16 seconds to boot my 13" Ultimate with OWC360. Not had any problems with it.

 

[Beaverman3001]

Just out of interest, how long does your MBA now take to boot up? For some reason mine take around 20-25 secs to get the Apple logo another 15 or so secs just to get to the spinning circle. Then 14-15 secs for the desktop to appear.

I've asked before in another thread an got no answer, I assume that was because few people had done the upgrade, but there seems to be a few of us now!

- Colin

12-14 seconds just like the Toshiba SSD I had before. I don't have any user items set to launch on startup, maybe you have many items opening on startup?

 

[chenry]

OK, I've got the 11" MBA, 4G with the 240G OWC. I found what I posted in another thread:

=======

From pressing the power button to getting the Apple logo takes around 35 seconds, then 15 secs to go from there to the desktop.

Other MBA owners (including my wifes MBA 13) are going from power on to desktop in 15 secs. Looking in the logs it seems to take 15-20 secs for SL to load.

I've also reset the PRAM but its made no difference.

I think its hardware related, something like a PC BIOS POST happening during that time. I changed my SSD for the OWC 240GB one and thought that might have something to do with it, so I raised an issue with them earlier today.

But if anyone has any other ideas it would be great to hear them.
=======

Like I said checking the logs SL seems to take only 15 secs to load after getting to the Apple logo, but from pressing the power button to the Apple logo takes 35 secs. OWC's reponse was to check the disk permissions, but everything seemed fine.

I might re-install this weekend and see if that fixes it. If it doesn't then I'll start another thread rather than hijack this one.

- Colin

 

[LAS.mac]

Maybe I'm wrong, however I recall that, when I installed an OWC SSD in my MBP, I noticed it was stalling a while, maybe 10-15 sec during boot. I figured out (reading some posts here, eh eh!) that you have to change your startup disk in the System Preferences. If not, it will start to look for the old disk for a while.

 

[FuNGi]

The first SSD for the MBA announced today now available in the largest size....480GB.

Oh..the comment about the board flexing is accurate about flash devices being on both sides so it will flex a bit while tightening it down.

Some good reviews of the drive on the product page:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Aura_Pro_Express

OWC Grant

I want this. However, what would you recommend we do with the stock SSD's Grant? I imagine keeping it on hand to swap back in prior to returning to Apple for repairs would not be a bad idea. But why not also use it? External case? Or exchange it to OWC for a price reduction?

 

[iSee]

Just out of interest, how long does your MBA now take to boot up? For some reason mine take around 20-25 secs to get the Apple logo another 15 or so secs just to get to the spinning circle. Then 14-15 secs for the desktop to appear.

I've asked before in another thread an got no answer, I assume that was because few people had done the upgrade, but there seems to be a few of us now!

- Colin

Try this:

Set your startup disk to the SSD.
(Your system might still be looking for the old drive)

edit: oh, this was already suggested. Well, I +1 it then.