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I highly recommend the Runcore 128 GB SSD for the MBA 3X speed and performance!
- Thread starter Scottsdale
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The warranty is NOT voided for you to take out the original drive and insert a better drive. The only time you void a warranty is when while you're taking apart the MBA you break something through your errors and cause damage. Alternatively, Apple voids warranty work when you have accidentally or purposely damaged the MBA by dropping it or otherwise inflicting damage. Apple cannot void your warranty if you swap the drive and don't break anything in the process. The only thing Apple can void the warranty for is something you break. For instance, if you plug the battery back in wrong (somehow) and it fries your computer, it's your fault. If you take the drive out and put a new one in it, and it doesn't cause damage to another part, they cannot void the warranty.
People often hear these rumors from third-party or even Apple employees who are trained to sell services. Apple is not legally able to void a warranty for such a thing. Get it out of your head, as it's nothing more than a rumor.
Now, if it were me, I wouldn't tell Apple that I took apart my MBA and did anything to it. I would also probably swap back in the original part if I still had it to just avoid answering anything. But that's only for the simple method of not dealing with answering anything.
Go buy yourself a Runcore, and swap it in yourself. Don't worry about Apple or your warranty.
I bought what I believe is Rev B model for my wife - the MACBOOK AIR 13/1.6/2GB/120GB MB543LL/A.
Her computer gets annoyingly slow though even on normal tasks after a little while. She can't watch any videos online it seems, something like hulu. I just wiped everything off and put in snow leopard thinking it might help but still slow. Been wondering what I could do. Since upgrading the RAM is out, seems the only option is to upgrade the SSD.
Cool, need to figure out how to go about this, what parts I need and what tools. And how much everything would cost.
Runcore Vs Rev A SSD
Has anyone with a Rev A SSD upgraded to Runcore? I'm on the edge of going for it for the extra space but has anyone noticed any performance gains going from the Apple SSD to the Runcore SSD?
Cheers
Has anyone with a Rev A SSD upgraded to Runcore? I'm on the edge of going for it for the extra space but has anyone noticed any performance gains going from the Apple SSD to the Runcore SSD?
Cheers
Replacing the Apple SSD with Runcore 128 made my Rev A seem like a new machine; not a faster-graphics Rev B/C, but a faster, snappier Rev A. I've no regrets about the upgrade.
anyone have recent issues with your Runcore, i just went through a pretty major disk warrior rebuild. Things used to freez up like crazy....all good now, however, i don't know if this is a beginning of a new pattern of issues....
Absolutely agree! Went to the Runcore 128GB SSD in January and there's no looking back. Much faster in many respects for everday work. Overall snappines seems better than my new Mac Mini. Definitely worth the upgrade!
just noticed that there is an update, but the instructions look way too confusing.
I had an easier time installing the drive....
So I bought the runcore drive, but I am having a problem. I tried plugging in the harddrive with the included enclosure and I get the following error message:
"Because a USB device was drawing too much power from your computer, one or more of your USB devices has been disabled"
I'm guessing it's a problem with the enclosure and not my mba?
"Because a USB device was drawing too much power from your computer, one or more of your USB devices has been disabled"
I'm guessing it's a problem with the enclosure and not my mba?
So forget my last question, I decided to just install the harddrive and restore from Time Machine backup (which worked wonderfully btw).
So the problem I have with this drive is its performance. Although it does feel a tiny bit snappier and restarts and starts faster, the benchmarks are nothing to be wowed by. I also tried doing a clean install of OSX and although the results are a bit better (around the 80s overall, it is nothing compared to the 207 scores Scottsdale has been getting, any comments or suggestions?
For the clean install, I used disk utility to erase the harddrive and partitioned it. I have a 64GB RunCore 64G-C SSD and MBA Rev C.
Thanks!
So the problem I have with this drive is its performance. Although it does feel a tiny bit snappier and restarts and starts faster, the benchmarks are nothing to be wowed by. I also tried doing a clean install of OSX and although the results are a bit better (around the 80s overall, it is nothing compared to the 207 scores Scottsdale has been getting, any comments or suggestions?
For the clean install, I used disk utility to erase the harddrive and partitioned it. I have a 64GB RunCore 64G-C SSD and MBA Rev C.
Thanks!
You had the cable flipped. There is a 1 by the PCB card where cable fits and either a 1 or a line on the cable itself.
Upgrading the firmware fixed the harddrive. For upgrading on a mac, follow these instructions:
http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/downloads/MAC update.rar
http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/downloads/MAC update.rar
macbook air revA and bad ssd for rev A?????
Hi !!!
in first i'm sorry for my english... i'm french
i have buy a runcore ssd 128 go pata zif for my macbook air rev A
and i have a big problem....
i don't have zif connector in the package of my ssd..
i take a picture"at left my hdd 80go and right the new :
on the first picture "take to internet" i don't have the left connector ....
have a macbook air rev A and a ssd for revA and i can't install it !!!!
help me please
Hi !!!
in first i'm sorry for my english... i'm french
i have buy a runcore ssd 128 go pata zif for my macbook air rev A
and i have a big problem....
i don't have zif connector in the package of my ssd..
i take a picture"at left my hdd 80go and right the new :
on the first picture "take to internet" i don't have the left connector ....
have a macbook air rev A and a ssd for revA and i can't install it !!!!
help me please
Attachments
Has anyone actually successfully upgraded your Runcore firmware via the Mac Air itself yet?
There seems to be no way I can boot from a USB pendrive with the Option key during boot up (Mac OS doesn't seems to recognise that), and when using FreeDos or even DOS 6.22 bootable CD, the CDROM wasn't recognised. And thus there is no way I can run the FW1916 update file. If you manage to do it, please do kindly share how you did it? Will be even better if you have the ISO for the Bootable CD which can recognise the CD drive.
Thanks in advance.
Sceptical
I'm somewhat sceptical of the claims made in this thread for one simple reason. I saw similar improvements on my Air by simply re-installing Snow Leopard from scratch.
I'd originally installed Leopard (without the unneccessary cruft: printer drivers, extra languages etc) and subsequently installed SL as an upgrade.
After a short while things started to slow down and break (eg my MBA simply could not, would not remember any passwords) and no amount disk repair or checking of permissions etc made any difference.
So I re-installed SL from scratch (rather than as an upgrade to Leopard) and the difference is huge: all the problems I had have vanished and the speed improvement is amazing. Previously I would have to wait a couple of bounces for any app to load: now they all load apparently instantly.
So I wonder how much of the improvement claimed for the Runcore SSD is actually down to simply re-installing SL?
I'm somewhat sceptical of the claims made in this thread for one simple reason. I saw similar improvements on my Air by simply re-installing Snow Leopard from scratch.
I'd originally installed Leopard (without the unneccessary cruft: printer drivers, extra languages etc) and subsequently installed SL as an upgrade.
After a short while things started to slow down and break (eg my MBA simply could not, would not remember any passwords) and no amount disk repair or checking of permissions etc made any difference.
So I re-installed SL from scratch (rather than as an upgrade to Leopard) and the difference is huge: all the problems I had have vanished and the speed improvement is amazing. Previously I would have to wait a couple of bounces for any app to load: now they all load apparently instantly.
So I wonder how much of the improvement claimed for the Runcore SSD is actually down to simply re-installing SL?
No, the proof is in the results. However, since I made this post Apple has updated the drivers for the MBA's SSD in OS X. It is faster now than it used to be, but it's still much slower than the Runcore SSD. I know because I have tested them with fresh installs.
Since I made this thread, I have tested another third-party SSD. I did a complete fresh install of OS X on all three SSDs. The Runcore SSD vs the stock SSD with newest OS X 10.6.3 beat the stock SSD by over 150% in xBench marks. Nothing subjective about a test with exact same OS X 10.6.3 version ran with exact same xBench 1.3 determining the benchmarks.
But this poster is never going to believe it until he sees it himself. This is just someone that doesn't believe anything until he sees it with his own eyes. Sometimes claims made are too good to be true, or the results are fabricated and not scientific. However, here anyone can buy a Runcore SSD and test fresh installs of OS X 10.6.3 on both stock and Runcore SSD run xBench and see the results for themselves... it's completely scientific and it's a test anyone can do for themselves and can be repeated again and again.
Anyone that doesn't believe me needs to just do the upgrade themselves and report back here in awe.
Folder with Question Mark
I did the Runcore upgrade on my Rev A Macbook Air. The install of Snow Leopard over the network worked great and it's very fast. But now I'm getting an error of a blinking folder with a question mark every time I reboot:
http://www.christianjlewis.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/mac_folder_question_mark.jpg
I've tried doing a PRAM reset, booting off the Snow Leopard disk, holding down the Alt/Option key but nothing brings the drive back in the disk utility or boot selector.
Has anyone run into this problem?
I did the Runcore upgrade on my Rev A Macbook Air. The install of Snow Leopard over the network worked great and it's very fast. But now I'm getting an error of a blinking folder with a question mark every time I reboot:
http://www.christianjlewis.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/mac_folder_question_mark.jpg
I've tried doing a PRAM reset, booting off the Snow Leopard disk, holding down the Alt/Option key but nothing brings the drive back in the disk utility or boot selector.
Has anyone run into this problem?
Thanks I did that and made sure to put on some new electrical tape. I still seem to be having the problem. It's weird because when I reboot it gives me the folder with the question mark. And if I power it down and then power it back up it does the folder and question mark too.
But if I let it sit for a little while and then turn it back on everything works great.
It's an odd one.
For some reason, I still think it's a cable issue. I don't know, as I have history of needing to correct the cable issue... once I did, it worked perfect thereafter.
I don't know. Have you tried updating the firmware? I know some are doing that if they have problems when it shows question mark and folder after sleep wakeup???
Maybe you can send user runcore a PM here and ask what this could be.
It's definitely weird it seems to like being "cold" and works better after you wait.
Good luck.