MP 1,1-5,1 cMP 2.1 slower using SSD than HDD

[RhodesRoads]

Hi guys,

got a cMP 1.1 for peanuts. It was working decently (and by decently I mean astonishingly fast for a 15 yo computer), booted in 10 seconds, overall workflow was great & snappy. I wouldn't be myself, if I wouldn't try to make things better, so I took an SSD laying around (it was working in other PC flawlessly), cloned everything from the HDD, set it as boot drive & gave it a go. I cannot express my disappointment when it turned out things got way worse: boot time >3 minutes, responsiveness is trash, generally it's a disaster.

Troubleshooting sum up:

1. The SMART values, drive check-up, reads & writes are OK (of course lower than on the PC due to SATA II limitations, obviously), TRIM was off, but I've enabled it to test - no difference whatsoever

2. Checked on all drive bays to exclude broken cables/connectors/whatever

3. Booted from the original HDD, it worked just as good as in the beginning

4. Tried both with SSD & HDD connected, as well as only SSD

5. SMC & PRAM reset done

6. In meantime, got both Xeons upgraded to the max. compatible versions & flashed the 2.1 firmware. Things gotten better, but it still lacks the snappiness it had.

RAM is 32 gigs, so that's not the issue for sure. The only software I have installed on it was (and will remain) Pro Tools.

I'm working as IT specialist for over 15 years now, so I know my way around PCs, but this is my first Mac ever. Using terminal isn't anything new for me, as the commands are quite similar to those in other Unixes. OS is Lion, for what it's worth.

I don't have any other SSD to check & I would really appreciate, if I wouldn't have to do a clean install, but I can manage both things if I'll have to.

Any advice before I spend money on another disk? I'll be thankful for any hints.

 

[haralds]

I have not booted my old cMP 2,1 for a while, but there is a huge improvement on my system with SSD vs spinners.

 

[mikas]

I've got a 1,1->2,1 myself too. It's still in working condition. Boot time is ok, fast enough.

Only thing that comes to my mind is TRIM, as you mentioned in your post. Maybe you need to "force" TRIM through the drive first, and then test again. TRIm is a thing between OS and the drive. If you brought it in from an other source, it might be off, or garbled now for the OS.

Another thing is to you set your boot drive at System Prefences. If not set, the boot time takes longer, it goes through various cycles, including network boot (at least in older systems it did that, which you do have there).

 

[RhodesRoads]

I have not booted my old cMP 2,1 for a while, but there is a huge improvement on my system with SSD vs spinners.

It should be obvious, as it's the result of the technology itself, that makes the access times of an SSD extremely lower than those of an HDD. Nevertheless, that's apparently not happening in my case, so slowly I'm just thinking of getting another new SSD for the good ol' MP

 

[RhodesRoads]

I've got a 1,1->2,1 myself too. It's still in working condition. Boot time is ok, fast enough.

Only thing that comes to my mind is TRIM, as you mentioned in your post. Maybe you need to "force" TRIM through the drive first, and then test again. TRIm is a thing between OS and the drive. If you brought it in from an other source, it might be off, or garbled now for the OS.

Another thing is to you set your boot drive at System Prefences. If not set, the boot time takes longer, it goes through various cycles, including network boot (at least in older systems it did that, which you do have there).

As said, I've successfuly enabled TRIM (it had to be forced, as AFAIK this wasn't enabled by default until OS X El Crap) & the boot drive is set correctly to my SSD

 

[mikas]

Fair enough. Maybe I don't follow all of what you have done allready.

Still, maybe you should try to "force" the TRIM through all of the the disk somehow. A wipe and then trimforce (which is done allready) would do it I think. I think trimforce is not gonna help if the drive is allready run for a while without the trim enabled.

If TRIM is not enabled for the first the time you start to use the drive after a wipe with OS drive tool or what ever the tool is called, then its not gonna be "clean" for the TRIM to be in effect as to it's fullest. Not entirely I mean. Part of the drive is not clean. There would be cells that would not be "trimmed". So they would be slow to write to at.

Then again, this is just a theory of it. You might have some other problem of the kind I do not know anything about.

 

[KeesMacPro]

As said, I've successfuly enabled TRIM (it had to be forced, as AFAIK this wasn't enabled by default until OS X El Crap) & the boot drive is set correctly to my SSD

For non-OEM Apple SSDs TRIM always has to be set manually (and since this is a MP1,1 there is no OEM SSD ).
Some 3rd party SSD brands and/or types work better than others under Mac OS or are not even compatible...
What format did you choose for the SSD?

 

[RhodesRoads]

For non-OEM Apple SSDs TRIM always has to be set manually (and since this is a MP1,1 there is no OEM SSD ).
Some 3rd party SSD brands and/or types work better than others under Mac OS or are not even compatible...
What format did you choose for the SSD?

I went with the default HFS, as far as I can recall. I wiped the drive entirely by low-level formatting it before I've put it in the Mac, so the formatting & further actions were done using OS X's disk tool. I'm kinda mad, because the whole thing is going on for about 2 months now and SSD prices went up again in meantime, so I missed the chance to buy another one cheap & check if it's the disk or software... Guess I'll have to anyways. Any recommendations regarding brands / models? I only need it for system & Pro Tools, so 120G would be enough, but knowing the SSDs like to lower their performance after reaching over 50% of capacity, I could sport a 240G just to avoid that.

 

[KeesMacPro]

You didnt name the brand/type of SSD you installed, before buying another SSD I would double-check the following to avoid unnecessary costs:
-install the HDD again and boot from it
-connect/install the SSD and erase it in DiskUtility choose a GUID partition and HFS+ as format
- dont know what software you used but CarbonCopyCloner (free trial) works 100% guaranteed to clone the HDD to the SSD

What brand and model is the SSD you installed?

 

[h9826790]

I don't think TRIM is avail in Lion for 3rd party SSD. How you enable it?

Also, as mentioned mikas, did you actually TRIM the SSD? (Only turn TRIM on after the SSD is already "dirty" won't magically clean up the mess. You need to force TRIM it)

Low level formatting a SSD in Lion's disk utility? You zeroed out the whole SSD?

According to your technical background, and the info from your posts. It sounds like either the SSD itself is not compatible (higher chance), or the SSD is full (TRIM isn't working as expected yet).

Anyway, I am very surprised that the boot time is just 10s. On the 5,1, 10s not even enough to finish 32GB memory check.

 

[KeesMacPro]

I don't think TRIM is avail in Lion for 3rd party SSD. How you enable it?

Chameleon SSD Optimizer

Improve Solid State Drive performance. SSD optimization tool on Mac OSX and TRIM enabler, you can change hibernate mode and sleep image, set NOATIME, sudden motion sensor and disable Time machine.

chameleon.alessandroboschini.com

 

[KeesMacPro]

Anyway, I am very surprised that the boot time is just 10s. On the 5,1, 10s not even enough to finish 32GB memory check.

Fastest boot time i've seen was back in the day with a MBP 2009 ,8GB RAM ,crucial SSD:
-9seconds booting Snow Leopard
-12seconds booting Mountain Lion
Brings back memories....

 

[RhodesRoads]

Ok, so a small update: I've found some time to do a complete wipe of the SSD & fresh Lion installation. It's a whole new world now!
Thank you all for your replies, I'm going back to play with my "new" OS