Mac Boot Manager Password

EZ connection to current devices, just needed to re-boot as I kept the same password.

Best upgrade for my Mac Pro systems boot drive.

Upgraded to the new Mac mini M2 since my old Mac mini would take over 5 minutes to boot up to the Finder.

Hook up cable, connect to Mac, password update, firmware check, call ISP, disconnect from Mac, connect to router, and done, 10 minutes tops.

My mid-2010 Mac Pro is aging. That, and my ext. backup drives, only have FW800 and USB2. So, I bought this PCIe card and two USB-C external drives to backup all my stuff and futureproof me. Installing this card was an absolute breeze. (There's a great YouTube how-to.) Then, I backed up to one of my new USB-C drives and it was smooth and seamless. I'm very happy! Something I learned though, that is NOT the fault of the card, is that my Mac's ROM only recognizes a USB-C PCIe card after boot up, so you can't boot, say, a clone of your internal drive with it. That may be important to know for some people. Also, I thought I might see much faster transfer speeds, but the speeds were just a little faster than FW800. Could be because my new USB-C drives are only 540rpm, I'm not sure. So maybe don't expect dazzling speed improvements. I highly recommend this card.

Simple install, nice connector fit (not too stiff). Heat sink install diagram out of date, turns out OWC updated the chip layout. Their support team was super responsive and sent a new diagram. Makes sense which chip to affix the heatsink to, and while it hangs off the side of the PCB, everything still fits perfectly under the Mac Pro 2013 outer shell, and temps appear controlled and consistent with the factory SSD. Nice to have the Envoy Pro enclosure included, restoring from that was much faster than the Time Machine backup on my NAS. Day to day operational speed is noticeably improved as well. Unexpected bonus: Boot Camp actually plays nicely with the new drive, despite the 6,1 Mac Pro not having official compatibility. The BC Assistant partitioned the drive with no complaints, and Windows 10 installed and runs fine. However, the outgoing Boot Camp partition on the factory SSD can't boot, but we expected that (error INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE, despite guides on injecting device drivers). So awesome upgrade, with bonus Boot Camp use.

I have had a LaCie TB SSD used as a second boot-drive for my iMac for several years with absolutely zero problems. So when I gave my granddaughter a MacBook Pro I chose a similar LaCie TB/USB3 Ext. SSD for her to use to backup her system using Carbon Copy Cloner. Since it's a Mac I used the Mac's Disk Utility Program to properly format the drive, rather than the included LaCie software. It was an easy set-up and the resulting clone can be used as a boot drive should it become necessary. Having been burned by HDD failures, I always backup. This 500GB drive will more than adequate for all her school files, and when cloned to a fast SSD more than enough for even a complete computer failure. Even if the computer is stolen this external drive kept in a dorm room will be worth its weight in gold!

Boot-up time on my MackBook Pro with i7 CPU went from 62 seconds to 8. Thats right, eight seconds from ding to desktop up. Battery life has also improved dramatically. Note: After you image and install this SSD for the first time, when you power up your Mac will take an unusually long time to start booting. Wait patiently. The system is discovering the new drive. Important: Mac OS will NOT automatically enable TRIM for non-Mac-certified SSD. You have to enable TRIM manually by using 3-rd party utility like Chameleon for example. These utilities are very simple and free. You must enable TRIM to keep this drive performing great.

Working the way I expected! I'm using it as a boot up SSD on my Mac Mini! It's worth it at the price! I will get another soon and use it as my Time Machine on my Mac Mini!

2018 Mac mini I7 16GB ram & 512 SSD 2014 Mac mini took 125 seconds from boot to log in.  2018 is 25 seconds. 2014 Mac mini took long time to open Excel. Photoshop or Premiere.  The 2018 takes about 2 seconds. I couldnt be more pleased