Intel 330 freezes on MacBook/Mac OS X Lion

I have also experienced this issue with a 120GB 330-series Intel SSD on a late-2008 aluminum MacBook. I see the beachball appear randomly for about 30-60 seconds. It occurs in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and 10.8 Mountain Lion. Both OS's are fresh installations on the Intel SSD. I never experienced this behavior with fresh OS installations on my old Western Digital 500 GB HDD. Any suggestions? Thank you!

I get exactly the same symptoms with a 120GB 330-series Intel SSD on a mid-2009 Macbook Pro, periodic freezing (beachballing usually.) The stock Seagate drive that was in before did not exhibit any of these issues and I have these issues in both 10.7 and 10.8.

This seems to be a fairly widely reported issue on various other community sites.

I'm having the same problem. Can't find a way to solve it :-(

Same thing happens here on MacBook4,1. It mainly happens when installing software, but also rarely when just doing normal work. Is there any news from Intel? From what I've read on other forums the problem happens on some PC laptops also, so it's definitely Intel's fault and I hope they come up with a solution, as this is a relatively new product and they must support it.

There are many conversations littered around the Internet about incompatibilities between the Sandforce controller chip and Apple's SATA controller on older MacBook and MacBook Pro models. It seems to be hardware related, because a number of folks use Intel 330 SSDs in hackintosh builds, which use the same OS but different underlying hardware. I have since moved my Intel 330 SSD to my PC and I have reverted my MacBook to its 500GB Western Digital HDD.

I have the same issue. MBP13", Mid 2010, MACOSX 10.8.2, Intel SSD 330 180GB. I've noticed that it consistently happens when running on batteries, but it goes away when connected to AC power.

Maybe there is some energy saving setting that can be tweaked to fix this?

EDIT: actually it seems that it can be fixed by running Trim Enabler. So far I have noticed that I need to at least start the program after sleep to avoid the freezes. I'll dig more to see if whatever the program triggers can be set without having to open it each time.

Anyone manage to find a solution?  Made the mistake of ordering this drive, and wondering if it's even worth taking out of the box.

Have an Early 2008 Macbook Pro 4,1 if anyone can confirm.

Not really. I still get some freezes even after running Trim Enabler. I can't believe Intel is not releasing a firmware update or OSX driver to fix this.

This is the same problem others are experiencing on Windows systems. I have a 330 in my Lenovo T61 and it hangs randomly for 30 seconds as well. The guys on that other forum have figured out a couple of work arounds YMMV but it does nothing for Mac OS.

I have a Macbook Pro as well so was planning on moving my 330 into it, but found this thread before hand. Since it seems like Intel is ignoring the issue by refusing to update the firmware, I think I will have to RMA the 330.

Me too.

My MacBook Pro was 470 (2008 late,MacBook Pro 5,1 Boot ROM:MBP51.007E.B06).I bought an intel 330 SSD 120G for my 470. My OS was 10.8.2. And I found my 470 got some freezes often whenever I turned Trim On or OFF. I thought the SSD's fireware had a bug for OS 10.8.x.

Me too.

Macbook pro 4,1. Intel 330.

After trying everything I could find on Google (hdapm, trim, cheking the ioregistry and the kexts, even booting knoppix and fiddling with hdparm on linux) the only thing that  finally worked for me is the aluminium foil wrapping the SATA cable.

The method that started to throw some light was shutting down and doing a cold start. I could see in the System Information app that the SATA port of the SSD normally had a negotiated link speed of 1.5Gb and I was experiencing the beachballs. But sometimes the negotiated speed was 3Gb, and those times the SSD was working well. Then after sleep or restarting again, the beachballs came back.

So I wrapped the SATA cable on the macbook in aluminium foil as somebody said on a forum. All the cable, from the motherboard to the sata connector. Now I always get 3Gb negotiated link speed and the freezes are gone.