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Resolved Sonnet SSD Pro issues?

m4v3r1ck

m4v3r1ck

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 2, 2011
2,630
568
The Netherlands
Hi,

1. Installed the Sonnet SSD Pro with two 840 EVO SSD's (raid0) in PCI-e slot#2. I first did a clean install of OS X ML on the SSD's while in bay#1+2 and then installed them on the Sonnet.
2. Restored a bootcamp clone with Winclone v3.1.2 to another 840 EVO SSD

It seems that this card has issues with:

1. the ODD SATA-II connector with a 1TB Seagate HDD attached to it and seated in the optical bay, it creates a terrible lag in system response. After removing the SATA cable (mobo ODD) from the HDD the system became snappy and very fast again.

2. the bootcamp partition on a SSD 840 EVO in bay#1 When booted with the option key it does see the boot drive, but when selected the system freezes completely! This was not the case with this combo using the Velocity SOLO-X2.

Is my Mac Pro 3.1 the limiting factor for using the config of the Sonnet SDD Pro in slot#2 and the bootcamp partition on SSD in bay#1?

Help much appreciated!

Cheers
 
Last edited:
When you say "PCIe Slot-2", are you indicating the slot just above the video card? On a Mac Pro 3,1, you must use that slot to achieve PCI 2.0 performance, the other 2 slots are PCI 1.0.

You did the recommended method for installation of OS X to the RAID-0 by installing in the drive bays, then moving the drives over to the Sonnet Pro so that should be fine. :)

Having your BootCamp SSD in drive bay #1 will work fine. :)

What is on the hard disk in the optical bay on the motherboard SATA ports? It is strange that that would slow down your system performance unless it is full and Spotlight is indexing it for the first time.
 
pastrychef said:
Optical bays on 1,1 - 3,1 are ATA. He was probably using one of the two "unapproved" ODD SATA connectors on the main logic board.
Click to expand...

Yeah, he mentioned that in his post (...removing the SATA cable (mobo ODD)...). I have run a bootable OS X pair of SSDs in RAID-0 from the motherboard SATA ports with no problems (drives mounted in the optical bay area). Those motherboard ports will not boot Windows however.
 
hfg said:
When you say "PCIe Slot-2", are you indicating the slot just above the video card? On a Mac Pro 3,1, you must use that slot to achieve PCI 2.0 performance, the other 2 slots are PCI 1.0.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply hfg!

Yes, indeed I installed the Soneet in slot#2

#1 GTX-670
#2 Sonnet 2xSSD RAID0
#3 8800GT (bootscreen)
#4 empty

You did the recommended method for installation of OS X to the RAID-0 by installing in the drive bays, then moving the drives over to the Sonnet Pro so that should be fine. :)
Click to expand...

But, on my first routine I managed to (clean) install OS X in RAID0 just fine with both SSD's on the Sonnet installes in slot#2 directly. But just to be sure I went again for an installation in bay #1-2 as mentioned by Sonnet. Perhaps that would have explained the freese of the BC partition in bay#1. But no 'luck' so far...

Having your BootCamp SSD in drive bay #1 will work fine. :)
Click to expand...

Nope, when OS X installed on the Sonnet my Bootcamp SSD freezes at startup from bootscreen and after I set it as startup disk in disk utilities! ;-(
When booting it would NOT pass the grey-screen and my USB mouse and keyboard freezes up, no red light coming up in the mouse.

What is on the hard disk in the optical bay on the motherboard SATA ports? It is strange that that would slow down your system performance unless it is full and Spotlight is indexing it for the first time.
Click to expand...

It's just a HFS+ internal data (Seagate 1TB) disk for my Winclone backups.

So, recap:

1. Sonnet 2xSSD RAID0 - slot#2 -> Bootcamp SSD bay#1 = NO-GO!
2. Velocity SOLO X-2 1xSSD - slot#2 -> Bootcamp SSD bay#1 = GO!

Next thing is hooking the second SSD on the SOLO-X2 with a SATA cable and put it in the optical bay.

I'm afraid that the Sonnet is not (as) compatible within a MP 3.1 as in a MP 4.1/5.1!?

Thanks for reading and directions/help, much appreciated!
Cheers

----------
pastrychef said:
Optical bays on 1,1 - 3,1 are ATA. He was probably using one of the two "unapproved" ODD SATA connectors on the main logic board.
Click to expand...

Thanks pastrychef,

Indeed I used the ODD SATA connectors from the mobo and redirected both cables to the optical bay's with molex sata converters.

----------
hfg said:
Yeah, he mentioned that in his post (...removing the SATA cable (mobo ODD)...). I have run a bootable OS X pair of SSDs in RAID-0 from the motherboard SATA ports with no problems (drives mounted in the optical bay area). Those motherboard ports will not boot Windows however.
Click to expand...

Are you running a MP 5.1?
 
BDM STUDIOS NL said:
Thanks for your reply hfg!

So, recap:

1. Sonnet 2xSSD RAID0 - slot#2 -> Bootcamp SSD bay#1 = NO-GO!
2. Velocity SOLO X-2 1xSSD - slot#2 -> Bootcamp SSD bay#1 = GO!

Next thing is hooking the second SSD on the SOLO-X2 with a SATA cable and put it in the optical bay.

I'm afraid that the Sonnet is not (as) compatible within a MP 3.1 as in a MP 4.1/5.1!?

Thanks for reading and directions/help, much appreciated!
Cheers


Are you running a MP 5.1?
Click to expand...


I am currently running a MP 5,1, however I initially installed these SSD drives and boards in my 2008 MP 3,1 which my daughter now has. Running the RAID-0 SSDs from the motherboard SATA ports was on the 3,1 since the ports were used for the optical drives in the newer machines.

I have had problems as have others (see other forum threads here) with running the Solo X2, Sonnet Pro, and Caldigit USB3/ESATA cards together. In fact, just yesterday I got so fed up with booting issues that I removed my 512GB OS X boot SSD from the Solo X2 and returned it to one of the drive bays where it boots fine and is stable. My Windows BootCamp SSD is in the optical bay on the second SATA port available there. The Sonnet card has a 1TB RAID-0 SSDs which contain my photo library.

The problem, as discussed in the forums, was determined to be likely caused by conflicting controller chips on the cards which couldn't co-exist nicely with each other. I also had a simple 2-port eSATA card which prevented the Sonnet Pro from booting and blocked the power-on boot manager when I first got it. Sonnet was able to duplicate the problem and promised a firmware update, but it hasn't been delivered as yet.

As aggravating as all this is, these are still the best cards I have found for my application, so I found the configurations which worked and live with it. My Mac Pro is fast, stable, and reliable with these cards configured just so. :cool:


-howard
 
Hey guys,

Very confusing stuff! My last trial-and-error:

1. Fresh install OS X SSD-A in bay#1 moved to Velocity SOLO-X2
2. Restore winclone Win8pro to SSD-B bay#1 left in bay#1

Installed SSD-A on SOLO-X2 in PCI-e slot #2 and then able to boot OS X and Windows.

Installed the same SSD-A to Sonnet in PCI-e slot #2 then OS X boots fine but a complete freeze when booting into Windows!

Should I return the Sonnet and keep the SOLO-X2?
I ran out of options here?

Thanks for reading and your suggestions!

Cheers
 
Installed 2 SSD's on the Velocity SOLO X2 into PCIe slot#2
- clean install OS X Mavericks 10.9.2 (13C1012) migrated users/apps
- restored Winclone clone Windows 8 Pro x64
 
BDM STUDIOS NL said:
Should I return the Sonnet and keep the SOLO-X2?
I ran out of options here?

Thanks for reading and your suggestions!

Cheers
Click to expand...

Return it unless you see some other valuable use for it. It seems pretty clear that the Solo x2 meets your needs and the Sonnet doesn't. What would be the reasoning behind throwing it in the bin and losing out on the rather steep purchase cost?
 
crjackson2134 said:
Return it unless you see some other valuable use for it. It seems pretty clear that the Solo x2 meets your needs and the Sonnet doesn't. What would be the reasoning behind throwing it in the bin and losing out on the rather steep purchase cost?
Click to expand...

Returned the Sonnet in 2013 already. ;)
 
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