SSD boot on Macbook Pro takes 3 minutes!

angrypanda · 03-01-2013, 05:19 AM

Hi All,

I just installed a Samsung 840 PRO SSD into my mid-2010 Macbook Pro,running Mountain Lion. To transfer the system across I installed the SSD in a caddy, and booted into recovery to use Disk Utility to move the data from the old spinning HD to the SSD (via the Restore tab, setting source and destination appropriately). I then pulled the old drive and replaced with the SSD.

At first boot times were no faster than the old spinning disk, but by following various instructions - making sure that the SSD was selected as the boot disk, clearing PRAM etc the system would boot up in about 20 seconds. I also enabled TRIM.

I guess I have shutdown and restarted about 5 times since the install - just to check ;-) All was well.

So I finally got around to making a Time Machine backup of the new system yesterday (via FW 800 external disk), and all went well. I also disabled the sudden motion sensor (sudo pmset -a sms 0), as it shouldn't be required for SSDs. At the end of the day I shut the system down and brought it home. I tried to boot the system and got the Apple and spinning wheel for 3 minutes (!) before I got the login page.

I have tried repeating all the steps above (setting SSD as boot disk, clearing PRAM, resetting SMC, turning sudden motion sensor back on). None have solved this problem.

I'm not even sure where to start with this. Apparently Apple Hardware Check doesn't run on my system (a Mountain Lion thing?). Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Cheers, Jon

FYI I haven't tried turning TRIM support off.

hayne · 03-01-2013, 08:26 PM

Try booting in single-user mode (hold down Command + S after the chime) so you can see the boot up messages as they appear. That might tell you what is taking the time.

DeltaMac · 03-01-2013, 08:42 PM

Just to add to what hayne suggested, boot into verbose mode (command-V), which will show much more text as the various system processes start up.

hayne · 03-01-2013, 08:56 PM

Yeah, verbose mode is probably better than single-user mode. I don't think it shows any more messages, but it doesn't leave you in single-user mode at the end.

agentx · 03-02-2013, 05:00 AM

Try turning Trim off.
I personally have not enabled trim on any system with 3rd party SSD on OS X.
Well tested with various drives and sometime it totally screwed things up.

angrypanda · 03-02-2013, 01:44 PM

Hi All,

Thanks for your suggestions. In the end I got impatient, and booted into recovery erased the partition, then restored from the time machine backup. System is booting fine now, but I'm concerned that this problem will come back.

Regarding the state of TRIM, forgive my ignorance, but isn't it needed to guarantee even usage across the SSD and thus extend the lifetime of the storage?

Or is it likely to be the source of the original problem I was having?

Cheers,

Jon

03-01-2013, 05:19 AM	#1
angrypanda Prospect Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 2	SSD boot on Macbook Pro takes 3 minutes! Hi All, I just installed a Samsung 840 PRO SSD into my mid-2010 Macbook Pro,running Mountain Lion. To transfer the system across I installed the SSD in a caddy, and booted into recovery to use Disk Utility to move the data from the old spinning HD to the SSD (via the Restore tab, setting source and destination appropriately). I then pulled the old drive and replaced with the SSD. At first boot times were no faster than the old spinning disk, but by following various instructions - making sure that the SSD was selected as the boot disk, clearing PRAM etc the system would boot up in about 20 seconds. I also enabled TRIM. I guess I have shutdown and restarted about 5 times since the install - just to check ;-) All was well. So I finally got around to making a Time Machine backup of the new system yesterday (via FW 800 external disk), and all went well. I also disabled the sudden motion sensor (sudo pmset -a sms 0), as it shouldn't be required for SSDs. At the end of the day I shut the system down and brought it home. I tried to boot the system and got the Apple and spinning wheel for 3 minutes (!) before I got the login page. I have tried repeating all the steps above (setting SSD as boot disk, clearing PRAM, resetting SMC, turning sudden motion sensor back on). None have solved this problem. I'm not even sure where to start with this. Apparently Apple Hardware Check doesn't run on my system (a Mountain Lion thing?). Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Cheers, Jon FYI I haven't tried turning TRIM support off.

03-01-2013, 08:26 PM	#2
hayne Site Admin Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Montreal Posts: 31,938	Try booting in single-user mode (hold down Command + S after the chime) so you can see the boot up messages as they appear. That might tell you what is taking the time. __________________ hayne.net/macosx.html

03-01-2013, 08:56 PM	#4
hayne Site Admin Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Montreal Posts: 31,938	Yeah, verbose mode is probably better than single-user mode. I don't think it shows any more messages, but it doesn't leave you in single-user mode at the end. __________________ hayne.net/macosx.html

03-02-2013, 01:44 PM	#6
angrypanda Prospect Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 2	TRIM support? Hi All, Thanks for your suggestions. In the end I got impatient, and booted into recovery erased the partition, then restored from the time machine backup. System is booting fine now, but I'm concerned that this problem will come back. Regarding the state of TRIM, forgive my ignorance, but isn't it needed to guarantee even usage across the SSD and thus extend the lifetime of the storage? Or is it likely to be the source of the original problem I was having? Cheers, Jon

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03-01-2013, 08:42 PM	#3
DeltaMac League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 7,948	Just to add to what hayne suggested, boot into verbose mode (command-V), which will show much more text as the various system processes start up.

03-02-2013, 05:00 AM	#5
agentx Hall of Famer Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Brighton, UK Posts: 3,806	Try turning Trim off. I personally have not enabled trim on any system with 3rd party SSD on OS X. Well tested with various drives and sometime it totally screwed things up.