Following up: MDD promptly issued an RMA and the replacement RunCore 128GB SSD worked smoothly (just as others have described) in my MBA Rev 'A'. After the initial frustration, I'm happy (as is my 'A'). Thanks to all who went before for recommendations and details!
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I highly recommend the Runcore 128 GB SSD for the MBA 3X speed and performance!
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Following up: MDD promptly issued an RMA and the replacement RunCore 128GB SSD worked smoothly (just as others have described) in my MBA Rev 'A'. After the initial frustration, I'm happy (as is my 'A'). Thanks to all who went before for recommendations and details!
A puff of smoke an ??
I purchased a RunCore 128GB SSD for my Macbook Air Rev C. It came very promptly from MyDigitalDiscount.com within 3 days - pretty good for delivery from the USA to Australia.
As has been complained about in this forum, there were no instructions but being used to working with electronics I proceeded to attach the SATA USB Adapter to the drive and a cable to my MacBook Air. Then, puff! smoke came from the adapter and the main chip on the board seemed to glow. The MacBook Air flashed a message that the USB device was drawing too much current - very helpful after the event. Needless to say I have not been able to clone from the MBA to the RunCore SSD. I am unsure as to whether it is the adapter that will now not work or the drive itself.
Any suggestions?
I purchased a RunCore 128GB SSD for my Macbook Air Rev C. It came very promptly from MyDigitalDiscount.com within 3 days - pretty good for delivery from the USA to Australia.
As has been complained about in this forum, there were no instructions but being used to working with electronics I proceeded to attach the SATA USB Adapter to the drive and a cable to my MacBook Air. Then, puff! smoke came from the adapter and the main chip on the board seemed to glow. The MacBook Air flashed a message that the USB device was drawing too much current - very helpful after the event. Needless to say I have not been able to clone from the MBA to the RunCore SSD. I am unsure as to whether it is the adapter that will now not work or the drive itself.
Any suggestions?
You don't have the LIF cable connected properly. You have it swapped. There is a "1" on the board and a "1" on the cable that tell the user how the cable connects. Yes, the instructions, or lack thereof, have disappointed yet another person. It is too bad, because the product is really good.
Cable and instruction nonsense
There is no "1" on the board but a minute arrow. I did connect it up that way which when you do so seems counter-intuitive in as much as you have to fold the cable back on itself to get it in that small box. The other end of the cable that goes to the drive itself is also not clearly marked!
I am not sure whether the board is now stuffed or the drive or both. In the end the lack of instructions will only prompt returns of the product and posts such as this that are less than good publicity for the product and will make people less inclined to do the purchase. I have not heard from the supplier as to what they suggest I do.
To add to the confusion, if you go to utube and look at some of the videos about replacing the hard drive in a MBA, you will see that they show the removal or disconnection of the battery, yet few have mentioned you need to do this. The three lines of instructions from the manufacturer of the drive also do not mention this.
There is no "1" on the board but a minute arrow. I did connect it up that way which when you do so seems counter-intuitive in as much as you have to fold the cable back on itself to get it in that small box. The other end of the cable that goes to the drive itself is also not clearly marked!
I am not sure whether the board is now stuffed or the drive or both. In the end the lack of instructions will only prompt returns of the product and posts such as this that are less than good publicity for the product and will make people less inclined to do the purchase. I have not heard from the supplier as to what they suggest I do.
To add to the confusion, if you go to utube and look at some of the videos about replacing the hard drive in a MBA, you will see that they show the removal or disconnection of the battery, yet few have mentioned you need to do this. The three lines of instructions from the manufacturer of the drive also do not mention this.
There is no "1" on the board but a minute arrow. I did connect it up that way which when you do so seems counter-intuitive in as much as you have to fold the cable back on itself to get it in that small box. The other end of the cable that goes to the drive itself is also not clearly marked!
I am not sure whether the board is now stuffed or the drive or both. In the end the lack of instructions will only prompt returns of the product and posts such as this that are less than good publicity for the product and will make people less inclined to do the purchase. I have not heard from the supplier as to what they suggest I do.
To add to the confusion, if you go to utube and look at some of the videos about replacing the hard drive in a MBA, you will see that they show the removal or disconnection of the battery, yet few have mentioned you need to do this. The three lines of instructions from the manufacturer of the drive also do not mention this.
Yes, you need to fold the cable back on itself. You have definitely installed the cable incorrectly. It's a "1" on both my cable and my PNB board. I didn't remove my battery either. Instructions would be nice. It's too bad they're not included. Look closely and I am certain you will see that lining up the 1s and folding the cable back will solve your problem.
edit ---
BTW - I did make an instruction set and video, but I decided it wasn't proper to distribute given the circumstances. If anyone has unusually difficult problem, PM me and I will try to help out further.
Battery removal
Interesting that you did not remove the battery as both the iFixit and the ANAdTECH instruction on replacing the hard drive, indicate you should disconnect and remove the battery.
I should be able to report more fully on my change over of the drives next week.
Interesting that you did not remove the battery as both the iFixit and the ANAdTECH instruction on replacing the hard drive, indicate you should disconnect and remove the battery.
I should be able to report more fully on my change over of the drives next week.
Okay, disconnect the battery before installing.
While I am sure Apple would advise me to disconnect the battery, I did NOT. The fact is that I am NOT a computer systems "expert, and I never claimed to be such.
I planned to provide both a text and photo-based instruction set and a video for a visual review. While I knew that I wasnt a technical expert, I planned to have a colleague work with me to ensure anything we did release wouldnt cause more harm than good. I only wanted to provide technically accurate instructions.
I wrote out an instruction sheet, then I took photos, and I made videos of the entire process. The next step was to send off to my colleague, who is an M.E., for professional review. Once we had a technically correct set for use, our intention was then to provide these on the Internet via a website.
My colleague and I both consult with a cooperative group of consultants. When I brought up our intentions to publish the instructions via our consulting website, several consultants believed that providing these via our site was not within the scope of the intended use of our website nor valuable use of our time. It was then decided that our group wouldnt benefit by providing these instructions.
I clarified that I believed it was in the best interest of our consulting cooperative because the MacBook Air buyers, as a group, are extremely similar to the demographic profile of our market segment who we provide services for on a daily basis (business professionals and researchers). We further argued that the Apple products we were providing instructions for were not only exactly what we used, but that people going and looking online at these instructions could find out more about our group and lead to potential business contracts and connections. The ultimate finding and decision was that we dont provide instructional videos to the public, we dont sell Runcore SSDs, and we dont provide consulting services on buying MacBook Airs therefore it wasnt in the best interest to take on any liability with the project that wasnt paying us anything for our time. We were told to go pursue it on our own and not involve the cooperative.
At that time, my colleague (the projects expert) said that he didnt want to be a part of any project not sanctioned by the group. I didnt want to move forward by myself because I am no expert and didnt want someone to end up breaking his or her MBA due to my instructions. Furthermore, it was senseless for me to pay money for someone else to review the instructions and provide an expert opinion.
You bringing up this confirms my decision, that I did the correct thing to not pursue this on my own once I didnt have an expert partner. In addition, your bringing this up confirms that Apple should have a sliding switch on the outside that manually connects and disconnects the battery from the bottom of the MBA. I can envision just a two way sliding part that slides the battery connector together and apart. Simple and sensible!
However, I still have the idea of finalizing this instruction set, as I believe it could provide some traffic to a new project currently under development. About six weeks ago I started a company with another Mac Rumors forum member. We are starting a website and plan to offer reviews of products, instructions, and etc all related to Apple products. I will let him introduce that project to you all in the next few weeks.
I offered to provide this for Runcores SSD, as a way to gain some press to our new project. I requested that our website information be printed on every instruction sheet included with every Runcore SSD shipped. I have still not received an answer to the offer. If it can gain us some publicity, I will have the work finalized and provide all with a professional, and technically accurate, instruction set on the Internet.
Sorry to all that I still havent provided any instructions, but the reason is I couldnt provide a professional instruction set without paying for an expert to verify accuracy of the videos and text instructions. Until now, I didnt feel I needed to explain the situation I hope if we ever release the instructions they will help all Runcore SSD buyers install their Runcore in their MBA without all of the hassles and problems experienced by all without having an instruction set. Until there is a technical instruction sheet available, yes I would recommend all disconnect the battery if that is what other manufacturers recommend.
Cheers and ENJOY your Runcore SSDs. I still believe theyre an excellent product and a wonderful upgrade for ALL MBA buyers. While instructions could help many customers, most people who have any experience opening a computer or even swapping/installing RAM will find this installation process simple.
Interesting that you did not remove the battery as both the iFixit and the ANAdTECH instruction on replacing the hard drive, indicate you should disconnect and remove the battery.
I should be able to report more fully on my change over of the drives next week.
While I am sure Apple would advise me to disconnect the battery, I did NOT. The fact is that I am NOT a computer systems "expert, and I never claimed to be such.
I planned to provide both a text and photo-based instruction set and a video for a visual review. While I knew that I wasnt a technical expert, I planned to have a colleague work with me to ensure anything we did release wouldnt cause more harm than good. I only wanted to provide technically accurate instructions.
I wrote out an instruction sheet, then I took photos, and I made videos of the entire process. The next step was to send off to my colleague, who is an M.E., for professional review. Once we had a technically correct set for use, our intention was then to provide these on the Internet via a website.
My colleague and I both consult with a cooperative group of consultants. When I brought up our intentions to publish the instructions via our consulting website, several consultants believed that providing these via our site was not within the scope of the intended use of our website nor valuable use of our time. It was then decided that our group wouldnt benefit by providing these instructions.
I clarified that I believed it was in the best interest of our consulting cooperative because the MacBook Air buyers, as a group, are extremely similar to the demographic profile of our market segment who we provide services for on a daily basis (business professionals and researchers). We further argued that the Apple products we were providing instructions for were not only exactly what we used, but that people going and looking online at these instructions could find out more about our group and lead to potential business contracts and connections. The ultimate finding and decision was that we dont provide instructional videos to the public, we dont sell Runcore SSDs, and we dont provide consulting services on buying MacBook Airs therefore it wasnt in the best interest to take on any liability with the project that wasnt paying us anything for our time. We were told to go pursue it on our own and not involve the cooperative.
At that time, my colleague (the projects expert) said that he didnt want to be a part of any project not sanctioned by the group. I didnt want to move forward by myself because I am no expert and didnt want someone to end up breaking his or her MBA due to my instructions. Furthermore, it was senseless for me to pay money for someone else to review the instructions and provide an expert opinion.
You bringing up this confirms my decision, that I did the correct thing to not pursue this on my own once I didnt have an expert partner. In addition, your bringing this up confirms that Apple should have a sliding switch on the outside that manually connects and disconnects the battery from the bottom of the MBA. I can envision just a two way sliding part that slides the battery connector together and apart. Simple and sensible!
However, I still have the idea of finalizing this instruction set, as I believe it could provide some traffic to a new project currently under development. About six weeks ago I started a company with another Mac Rumors forum member. We are starting a website and plan to offer reviews of products, instructions, and etc all related to Apple products. I will let him introduce that project to you all in the next few weeks.
I offered to provide this for Runcores SSD, as a way to gain some press to our new project. I requested that our website information be printed on every instruction sheet included with every Runcore SSD shipped. I have still not received an answer to the offer. If it can gain us some publicity, I will have the work finalized and provide all with a professional, and technically accurate, instruction set on the Internet.
Sorry to all that I still havent provided any instructions, but the reason is I couldnt provide a professional instruction set without paying for an expert to verify accuracy of the videos and text instructions. Until now, I didnt feel I needed to explain the situation I hope if we ever release the instructions they will help all Runcore SSD buyers install their Runcore in their MBA without all of the hassles and problems experienced by all without having an instruction set. Until there is a technical instruction sheet available, yes I would recommend all disconnect the battery if that is what other manufacturers recommend.
Cheers and ENJOY your Runcore SSDs. I still believe theyre an excellent product and a wonderful upgrade for ALL MBA buyers. While instructions could help many customers, most people who have any experience opening a computer or even swapping/installing RAM will find this installation process simple.
Got it to work!
Well we have the new drive working and how fast it is indeed.
I cloned the MBA drive and then went and saw a Apple Certified engineer who put the drive in the MBA. He used the official Apple Handbook to install this drive and made the following observations:
the handbook says to disconnect and remove the battery; and
the runcore cable had to be used and thus he returned the old Apple SSD with its cable.
We then talked about upgrading the RAM, which is possible he asserts and he confirms another view expressed by an apple engineer that said it is possible to increase the RAM for this machine. I know this has been done for other machines where they say it is impossible to replace the RAM as it is hard wired. The book on Mac Hacks may provide some clues and so I am reading that to see what they may suggest.
I think I will ask my friendly Apple guy to see what might be possible.
On the runcore SSD, it left my other four Mac for dead and TechTools Pro vouched for the quality of the drive. It is superfast and exactly what Apple should have provided in the first place. I had a similar sense of excitement when I replaced the hard drive and processor (Sonnet) in my Twentieth Anniversary Mac. However, the 'feel' of the MBA is certainly changed for the better with the new drive. I only have 60 Gig of files on this new 128 SSD and it simply leaves the MacBook Pro and my Mac Pro for dead on the same applications.
Incidently, I zapped the PRAM to make it wok faster on start up.
Well we have the new drive working and how fast it is indeed.
I cloned the MBA drive and then went and saw a Apple Certified engineer who put the drive in the MBA. He used the official Apple Handbook to install this drive and made the following observations:
the handbook says to disconnect and remove the battery; and
the runcore cable had to be used and thus he returned the old Apple SSD with its cable.
We then talked about upgrading the RAM, which is possible he asserts and he confirms another view expressed by an apple engineer that said it is possible to increase the RAM for this machine. I know this has been done for other machines where they say it is impossible to replace the RAM as it is hard wired. The book on Mac Hacks may provide some clues and so I am reading that to see what they may suggest.
I think I will ask my friendly Apple guy to see what might be possible.
On the runcore SSD, it left my other four Mac for dead and TechTools Pro vouched for the quality of the drive. It is superfast and exactly what Apple should have provided in the first place. I had a similar sense of excitement when I replaced the hard drive and processor (Sonnet) in my Twentieth Anniversary Mac. However, the 'feel' of the MBA is certainly changed for the better with the new drive. I only have 60 Gig of files on this new 128 SSD and it simply leaves the MacBook Pro and my Mac Pro for dead on the same applications.
Incidently, I zapped the PRAM to make it wok faster on start up.
It's as simple as this people... here are the iFixIt.com Drive Replacement Instructions. While yes, the battery should be taken out before a drive is swapped, if you don't jab a screwdriver into the MBA's logic board or push the power button while removing the drive, it's probably not going to cause a problem in the world... I still will refuse to take the time to disconnect and remove the battery, because I don't believe it's a necessary step and that's my decision. It's nine screws and more work to do something that's twice the work of just dealing with the drive. If Apple really gave a crap, they would have made for a sliding manual switch on the outside of the MBA to connect/disconnect the battery manually. Sorta like turning off the breaker or just turning off the switch, but you're the only one that's home, LOL. The rest of you can decide for yourselves, but follow the iFixIt.com instructions...
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-MacBook-Air-Hard-Drive-Replacement/860/1
There is NO REASON IN THE WORLD to pay someone to do this extremely simple task. With the iFixIt.com instructions, everyone should feel perfectly comfortable. I don't know why nobody looked there first? As soon as I thought of it I saw there were photos, instructions, and even a link to Runcore.com! Ha!
Best thing is you get an incredible boost to your MBA's speed and performance!
I have to completely disagree about the RAM upgrade possibility. Never mind that Apple deems it not serviceable nor upgradeable in "The Official MacBook Air" manual, LOL. I have looked at it and Apple is soldering several small chips to the logic board to total the 2 GB of RAM. If one looks at it, it looks like two RAM DIMMs are part of the board. Just like when one looks at a RAM DIMM, sometimes there are four chips on one side, and other times there are four chips on each side of the DIMM (MBA has RAM chips on each side). The MBA is like having two RAM DIMMs which is equal to eight chips on each side of the board. I don't remember for 100% certainty, but I think it probably works out to 16 x 128 MB chips equalling 2 GB? When I look at iFixIt.com it shows 16 chips with 8 chips on each side of the logic board (1 GB being soldered on each side of the board).
So the reason I don't think it's upgradable is whenever it's upgraded it will be limited to that same number of chips, size, and will provide zero margin for error as these RAM chips are highly sensitive. So, someone would have to do some INCREDIBLE soldering and remove the chips and install larger chips. Keep in mind that this is all laser guided work in the factory soldered by robotic arms and not humans. One would have to find say 16 x 256 MB chips, then they could solder 16 of those where the current 128 MB chips are currently soldered to the board... problem is, it would almost take a super human to make it happen. I asked an M.E. about this very topic when the MBA was first released, and he responded that the only way to do it would be at the factory where the RAM chips are originally soldered to the logic board by a robotic arm. How simple is it for Apple to upgrade it to 4 GB of RAM, swap out the 128 MB chips with 256 MB chips. Want to upgrade it to 8 GB of RAM, swap out 256 MB chips with 512 MB chips. All assuming exact same size of each chip for soldering.
I am going to still believe my contact who said, around March 2008 that it would take a "super human" or robotic arm to upgrade the RAM. And that anyone trying to do it would definitely "fry" the RAM chips when soldering to the board. While I believe it might be possible for someone with a lot of amazing robotic tools to do the job, from the way I understand it no "techie geek" is going to upgrade an MBA's logic board with 4 GB of RAM at his or her garage workshop with 256 MB RAM chips a pair of tweezers and a soldering iron... ha ha.
Want 4 GB of RAM for your MBA? Buy the next MBA with 4 GB of RAM standard. The funny thing is this means executives like Jobs, can simply get his or her own custom MBA straight out of the factory with 4 GB or 8 GB of RAM!!! Would love to buy that prototype from Steve's personal collection! Why not even sell them like Sony does with its limited edition Vaios? A "Steve Jobs Edition MacBook Air" for those willing to shell out the cash...
Anyone here feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but I am still not believing there is any way in the world to upgrade the MBA's RAM except at the factory. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to be informed incorrectly and discover that someone would do it for $200 plus the cost of the RAM! We need to invade the factory and just take our MBA logic boards into Foxconn and demand they upgrade the RAM for us... ha ha.
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-MacBook-Air-Hard-Drive-Replacement/860/1
There is NO REASON IN THE WORLD to pay someone to do this extremely simple task. With the iFixIt.com instructions, everyone should feel perfectly comfortable. I don't know why nobody looked there first? As soon as I thought of it I saw there were photos, instructions, and even a link to Runcore.com! Ha!
Best thing is you get an incredible boost to your MBA's speed and performance!
Well we have the new drive working and how fast it is indeed.
I cloned the MBA drive and then went and saw a Apple Certified engineer who put the drive in the MBA. He used the official Apple Handbook to install this drive and made the following observations:
the handbook says to disconnect and remove the battery; and
the runcore cable had to be used and thus he returned the old Apple SSD with its cable.
We then talked about upgrading the RAM, which is possible he asserts and he confirms another view expressed by an apple engineer that said it is possible to increase the RAM for this machine. I know this has been done for other machines where they say it is impossible to replace the RAM as it is hard wired. The book on Mac Hacks may provide some clues and so I am reading that to see what they may suggest.
I think I will ask my friendly Apple guy to see what might be possible.
On the runcore SSD, it left my other four Mac for dead and TechTools Pro vouched for the quality of the drive. It is superfast and exactly what Apple should have provided in the first place. I had a similar sense of excitement when I replaced the hard drive and processor (Sonnet) in my Twentieth Anniversary Mac. However, the 'feel' of the MBA is certainly changed for the better with the new drive. I only have 60 Gig of files on this new 128 SSD and it simply leaves the MacBook Pro and my Mac Pro for dead on the same applications.
Incidently, I zapped the PRAM to make it wok faster on start up.
I have to completely disagree about the RAM upgrade possibility. Never mind that Apple deems it not serviceable nor upgradeable in "The Official MacBook Air" manual, LOL. I have looked at it and Apple is soldering several small chips to the logic board to total the 2 GB of RAM. If one looks at it, it looks like two RAM DIMMs are part of the board. Just like when one looks at a RAM DIMM, sometimes there are four chips on one side, and other times there are four chips on each side of the DIMM (MBA has RAM chips on each side). The MBA is like having two RAM DIMMs which is equal to eight chips on each side of the board. I don't remember for 100% certainty, but I think it probably works out to 16 x 128 MB chips equalling 2 GB? When I look at iFixIt.com it shows 16 chips with 8 chips on each side of the logic board (1 GB being soldered on each side of the board).
So the reason I don't think it's upgradable is whenever it's upgraded it will be limited to that same number of chips, size, and will provide zero margin for error as these RAM chips are highly sensitive. So, someone would have to do some INCREDIBLE soldering and remove the chips and install larger chips. Keep in mind that this is all laser guided work in the factory soldered by robotic arms and not humans. One would have to find say 16 x 256 MB chips, then they could solder 16 of those where the current 128 MB chips are currently soldered to the board... problem is, it would almost take a super human to make it happen. I asked an M.E. about this very topic when the MBA was first released, and he responded that the only way to do it would be at the factory where the RAM chips are originally soldered to the logic board by a robotic arm. How simple is it for Apple to upgrade it to 4 GB of RAM, swap out the 128 MB chips with 256 MB chips. Want to upgrade it to 8 GB of RAM, swap out 256 MB chips with 512 MB chips. All assuming exact same size of each chip for soldering.
I am going to still believe my contact who said, around March 2008 that it would take a "super human" or robotic arm to upgrade the RAM. And that anyone trying to do it would definitely "fry" the RAM chips when soldering to the board. While I believe it might be possible for someone with a lot of amazing robotic tools to do the job, from the way I understand it no "techie geek" is going to upgrade an MBA's logic board with 4 GB of RAM at his or her garage workshop with 256 MB RAM chips a pair of tweezers and a soldering iron... ha ha.
Want 4 GB of RAM for your MBA? Buy the next MBA with 4 GB of RAM standard. The funny thing is this means executives like Jobs, can simply get his or her own custom MBA straight out of the factory with 4 GB or 8 GB of RAM!!! Would love to buy that prototype from Steve's personal collection! Why not even sell them like Sony does with its limited edition Vaios? A "Steve Jobs Edition MacBook Air" for those willing to shell out the cash...
Anyone here feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but I am still not believing there is any way in the world to upgrade the MBA's RAM except at the factory. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to be informed incorrectly and discover that someone would do it for $200 plus the cost of the RAM! We need to invade the factory and just take our MBA logic boards into Foxconn and demand they upgrade the RAM for us... ha ha.
Think laterally
Quote "I have to completely disagree about the RAM upgrade possibility. Never mind that Apple deems it not serviceable nor upgradeable in "The Official MacBook Air" manual, LOL. I have looked at it and Apple is soldering several small chips to the logic board to total the 2 GB of RAM. If one looks at it, it looks like two RAM DIMMs are part of the board. Just like when one looks at a RAM DIMM, sometimes there are four chips on one side, and other times there are four chips on each side of the DIMM (MBA has RAM chips on each side). The MBA is like having two RAM DIMMs which is equal to eight chips on each side of the board. I don't remember for 100% certainty, but I think it probably works out to 16 x 128 MB chips equalling 2 GB? When I look at iFixIt.com it shows 16 chips with 8 chips on each side of the logic board (1 GB being soldered on each side of the board)."
I think you need to think more laterally. You would not, as I understand it, replace the existing but choose a pathway to add. This is exactly how the TAM was upgraded. We even have a company, Sonnet, who made a board to actually replace the processor and that was a plug in device that nobody thought could be added! How many reading this post are aware that the board provides for up to six USB connections? Yet we only have one actually provided to us!
Anyway, I will explore this and if I am successful, post photos of the outcome.
Cheers
Quote "I have to completely disagree about the RAM upgrade possibility. Never mind that Apple deems it not serviceable nor upgradeable in "The Official MacBook Air" manual, LOL. I have looked at it and Apple is soldering several small chips to the logic board to total the 2 GB of RAM. If one looks at it, it looks like two RAM DIMMs are part of the board. Just like when one looks at a RAM DIMM, sometimes there are four chips on one side, and other times there are four chips on each side of the DIMM (MBA has RAM chips on each side). The MBA is like having two RAM DIMMs which is equal to eight chips on each side of the board. I don't remember for 100% certainty, but I think it probably works out to 16 x 128 MB chips equalling 2 GB? When I look at iFixIt.com it shows 16 chips with 8 chips on each side of the logic board (1 GB being soldered on each side of the board)."
I think you need to think more laterally. You would not, as I understand it, replace the existing but choose a pathway to add. This is exactly how the TAM was upgraded. We even have a company, Sonnet, who made a board to actually replace the processor and that was a plug in device that nobody thought could be added! How many reading this post are aware that the board provides for up to six USB connections? Yet we only have one actually provided to us!
Anyway, I will explore this and if I am successful, post photos of the outcome.
Cheers
Interesting. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE adding 2 GB of RAM to my MBA. In fact, I would probably be happy with my current MBA if I had 4 GB of RAM. In that scenario, I could run Windows 7 virtually with Parallels or Fusion. One of my biggest complaints is that 2 GB of RAM is NOT sufficient in any way to run OS X 10.6 and Windows 7 at the same time. I know some people say they have three OSes running at a time fine with 2 GB of RAM, but I use my full 2 GB of RAM and it swaps frequently. I believe my system is a lot faster with the Runcore SSD allowing faster total system performance, but I believe it's completely fair, in 2010, to want 4 GB of RAM OR MORE!
We shouldn't have to rework the internals of our Macs to make them "current" in tech or "relevant" in the market. It's truly sad that Apple didn't update the MBA to a v. 2,2 in October of 2009. In all actuality, it could have upgraded just the RAM to 4 GB, added some drive space, and maybe a glass trackpad all back in October... and be ready for a real update between now and WWDC! That is the theory that made so much more sense given the new Arrandale CPUs being challenging for graphics, and the concept of Apple allowing the MBA to be completely irrelevant (actually outdated not irrelevant) in its capabilities seems rather stupid.
I will gladly look forward to anyone that can provide a solution. Apple certainly doesn't give a crap about the MBA or even the MBP right now. All eyes are on the iPad, and it cannot even surf the web, LOL. I still am hopeful that the iPhone plan plays out for the iPhone and Mac notebooks. Someone mentioned in another thread that Apple updated Macs two weeks before original iPhone was released. And someone with an inside source in the Arrandale thread swears it's going to happen March 16th. I certainly would rather just give Apple my money and get the MBA I truly want. But even then, maybe sending my MBA somewhere to upgrade the RAM would allow it a few more years of service to me as a backup computer.
Thanks for the info Juluis! Please do share if you have any success whatsoever.
Ram
Do not forget that the actualy RAM in the C version of the MBA is in fact 6MB shared. There are neat little ways of 'converting' this RAM and adding to it - certainly that was the case with the TAM model and also my 12" G4 both of which had slots for RAM that was supposed to be maxed at a certain limit.
A slightly similar scenario existed for my Mac Pro until some bright company came up with a way of doubling the amount of RAM for each memory slot - a eight GB max became a 16 GB capacity etc. Are there enough MBA owners to warrant a company looking at a solution to the RAM deficiency?
Certainly they did that for the TAM which was a limited edition of 7,500 units. The neat thing about the latter case was they found that the processor cards and extra RAM could be placed in more than one Apple model.
Do not forget that the actualy RAM in the C version of the MBA is in fact 6MB shared. There are neat little ways of 'converting' this RAM and adding to it - certainly that was the case with the TAM model and also my 12" G4 both of which had slots for RAM that was supposed to be maxed at a certain limit.
A slightly similar scenario existed for my Mac Pro until some bright company came up with a way of doubling the amount of RAM for each memory slot - a eight GB max became a 16 GB capacity etc
. Are there enough MBA owners to warrant a company looking at a solution to the RAM deficiency? Certainly they did that for the TAM which was a limited edition of 7,500 units. The neat thing about the latter case was they found that the processor cards and extra RAM could be placed in more than one Apple model.
Do not forget that the actualy RAM in the C version of the MBA is in fact 6MB shared. There are neat little ways of 'converting' this RAM and adding to it - certainly that was the case with the TAM model and also my 12" G4 both of which had slots for RAM that was supposed to be maxed at a certain limit.
A slightly similar scenario existed for my Mac Pro until some bright company came up with a way of doubling the amount of RAM for each memory slot - a eight GB max became a 16 GB capacity etc
Certainly they did that for the TAM which was a limited edition of 7,500 units. The neat thing about the latter case was they found that the processor cards and extra RAM could be placed in more than one Apple model.
Now you lost me again. The CPU has 6 MB L2 cache but has nothing to do with RAM. The RAM is 1066 MHz DDR3. The Nvidia GPU shares 256 MB of the system's RAM.
You would definitely need to explain what I am missing with the CPU's 6 MB of shared L2 Cache.
Woops!
I was reflecting on the comparison between my Mac Pro Intel Xeon which has 4 MB Cache for a 2.66GHz Processor while the MBA with a 2.13 GHz processor has a 6 MB Cache. Cheers
Interesting that you did not remove the battery as both the iFixit and the ANAdTECH instruction on replacing the hard drive, indicate you should disconnect and remove the battery.
I should be able to report more fully on my change over of the drives next week.
You do not need to remove the battery. iFixit and AnandTech show every step just to be safe, for the sake of clarity and also for those interested to know how to change the battery.
Here's how I did it. From iFixit, just do:
Steps 1-2, *6, 8-13.
*6 - Just the logic board with black tab. Do not need to pry the small audio board out.
But if you want to be safe and complete, then just include Step 3 to disconnect the power source from the board.
After Step 13, put the rubber shock absorber on your new Runcore drive. Do not take the original drive ribbon cable off; Plug it directly into the USB enclosure PCB that comes with Runcore. Then plug-in the Runcore SSD with its factory installed ribbon cable into the board. That's it.
I can complete the whole change out and putting the cover back in less than 10mins - perhaps 7mins.
Traditional spin drives is such a performance hog! Enjoy your new SSD!
I didn't pull the small audio board out either. Like I said too, unless you're not smart enough not to press the power button while you take the drive out for twenty seconds before you plug the new drive in, you don't need to remove the battery and disconnect it.
No intention to discredit Juluis either, and definitely not trying to criticize the post he made concerning the battery.
Some people find solace in following every minute detail without thinking about the alternative or why the instruction was there in the first place. What is the purpose of the instruction... to ensure people don't press the power button while they have their MBA torn apart. Like I said before, if it was really so problematic, Apple should have a removable battery or manual slider-switch on the outside to disconnect the battery before removing the .
The process of removing the screws and taking the battery out and disconnecting it LITERALLY would take longer than unplugging and replugging the new drive connector. Some people make the rules, some people follow the rules... some people break the rules because they realize the rules make no sense or protect something that doesn't need protection as one can provide protection via different means not requiring instruction. I would rather use and follow reason than rules.
Please excuse my ignorance, but instead of using the drive cloning method, is it possible to swap out the drive for the untouched SSD, reassemble, boot off the OS DVD (via a superdrive) and do a clean OS install on the new SSD? Optional - restore stuff from Time Machine
Yup, absolutely. I actually reinstalled my OS and apps for a clean setup. I don't know if it changes anything, but it sure seems like the right way... although I have been tainted with the Windows mindset. With Windows it was a gigantic performance boost to format and clean install.
Sale of 128 GB - Which models?
Having successfully installed the new Runcore SSD I now have the original Apple 128 GB SSD to sell (it is only one month old). While I do not have 'client' or person to sell it to yet, before I try and sell it on ebay or elesewhere, I wondered if anyway had a list of Mac computers that this will work in.
Of course I put it in the external enclosure from Runcore and it works great as an external drive, however,some will obviously want to put it in their apple computer. Thus while it will work with the MBA, are there others that this should be able to be placed in?
Having successfully installed the new Runcore SSD I now have the original Apple 128 GB SSD to sell (it is only one month old). While I do not have 'client' or person to sell it to yet, before I try and sell it on ebay or elesewhere, I wondered if anyway had a list of Mac computers that this will work in.
Of course I put it in the external enclosure from Runcore and it works great as an external drive, however,
some will obviously want to put it in their apple computer. Thus while it will work with the MBA, are there others that this should be able to be placed in?
Having successfully installed the new Runcore SSD I now have the original Apple 128 GB SSD to sell (it is only one month old). While I do not have 'client' or person to sell it to yet, before I try and sell it on ebay or elesewhere, I wondered if anyway had a list of Mac computers that this will work in.
Of course I put it in the external enclosure from Runcore and it works great as an external drive, however,
As far as I know, it only works in a rev B/C (v 2,1) MBA. I was offered over $450 for my original drive right here on Mac Rumors.
I am new to the forum and love it. I apologize if this has been answered but I could not find it. I have a Rev.A Macbook Air and purchased a Runcore SSD to replace my original hard drive. I followed the directions in this thread and hooked the new drive to the USB enclosure included. I ran Super Duper as described and the drive got about 1/3rd of the way done copying and had an error. It now says the drive is not recognized when I connect it to the computer. The disk utility will also not let me erase or re-format the SSD either. Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance for all your help.
John
Thanks in advance for all your help.
John
Are you positive you have the cable connected properly? I would crack it open and ensure that the drive cable is securely connected and attached properly on both ends.
Start there. When I had an issue, it was that my LIF connector didn't have the little black clip on the Runcore SSD. I used tape to keep it held down properly and it worked fine. I don't know if that black clip is on the rev A drive or not though. Perhaps someone else will chime in.
Good luck.
Is it viewable in a windows machine under device management - disk drives? If so try to format it in NTFS then hook it back up to the mac and format it in the proper mac format. Then start fresh again. I suggest using Carbon Copy Cloner. I find it is faster and give less errors like the one you had.
If that does not work then the FW my have been damaged somehow by Super Duper and you will need an RMA.
Matt Dawson
Runcore
Matt are you really from runcore ?
If so why dont you guys actually provide any support for your products ?
Here some free advertising for your wonderful products
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/9480203/
http://forums.tweaktown.com/f78/great-work-supporting-your-customers-not-38796/
if you come back with why have a chip on my shoulder, then let me preempt that that, I have received 0% (ZERO yep ZERO) support from runcore for my EURO 600 Drive. ($812 sorry purchased in the EU)
you provided a firmware update that does not work, and have not bothered to support me or all the other affected customers (see tweektown post) in the last 3 months since we reported the issues...
if you had fixed my issues , I to would be buying 2x128 SSD for both my MBA's (original was a 256GB for my mac book)