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MaxPower72

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Hi everybody I'm new to the forum although I've been reading around with great interest for a while.

I recently bought a Macbook Pro 2012 13.3", I've upgraded it myself with
OWC SSD Mercury Extreme Pro 6G 240 GB and OWC 16 GB RAM kit.
 

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MaxPower72

macrumors 6502
Original poster
I'm still deciding whether or not I should upgrade to Mountain Lion, I guess I'll wait a couple of months and see.
here is the SSD drive. I've installed some of the Adobe and Apple programs I use most for graphics and video editing. Boot time after I removed the HDD and switched to OWC SSD went down to 9.2 seconds.
 

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yusukeaoki

macrumors 68030
Mar 22, 2011
2,550
6
Tokyo, Japan
tbh, I like ML better than Lion.
Lion had so many bugs during launch and even at 10.7.4, it was heavy.
In ML, boot time got cut down by couple seconds, consumes less memory, and I believe they are faster.
 

MaxPower72

macrumors 6502
Original poster
I'm considering removing the Superdrive and install another OWC Mercury Extreme 6G 480 GB SSD for a RAID configuration but I'm kind of hesitant because of the SATAIII issue regarding the Optical bay. Is it SATA III or not?
before spending another $600 for the second SSD I'd like to make sure I can get the best performance possible from the hardware configuration I own.

I know this issue is being discussed and is bugging many users, can anyone shed some light? What I've found out so far reading on the internet isn't really giving a straight answer and leaving me with more unanswered questions

thank you for your help
Massimo
 

yusukeaoki

macrumors 68030
Mar 22, 2011
2,550
6
Tokyo, Japan
I'm considering removing the Superdrive and install another OWC Mercury Extreme 6G 480 GB SSD for a RAID configuration but I'm kind of hesitant because of the SATAIII issue regarding the Optical bay. Is it SATA III or not?
before spending another $600 for the second SSD I'd like to make sure I can get the best performance possible from the hardware configuration I own.

I know this issue is being discussed and is bugging many users, can anyone shed some light? What I've found out so far reading on the internet isn't really giving a straight answer and leaving me with more unanswered questions

thank you for your help
Massimo

Nope 2012 MBP's Optical drive bay is only upto SATA II.
This has been discussed in the previous forum and is identified as SATA II.
 

alphaod

macrumors Core
Feb 9, 2008
22,183
1,245
NYC
Congrats on the machine… but please post everything next time in one post, instead of four ;)
 

nitromac

macrumors 6502
Jul 29, 2012
282
13
US
Nope 2012 MBP's Optical drive bay is only upto SATA II.
This has been discussed in the previous forum and is identified as SATA II.

Interesting... because I'm looking at System Info right now and both my HDD and SuperDrive's Link Speed are at 6 Gigabit (SATA III)
 

nitromac

macrumors 6502
Jul 29, 2012
282
13
US
They are. But optibay cannot support it.

What do you mean? An optibay just forwards the SATA connection into a compatible "slot" for the HDD so it can fit. I don't think it has anything to do with transfer speed. Considering the controller for both SATA III ports are the same, the macbook shouldn't care whether or not there is a superdrive. As long as it's concerned, there are two slots for two SATA III devices.
 
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yusukeaoki

macrumors 68030
Mar 22, 2011
2,550
6
Tokyo, Japan
What do you mean? An optibay just forwards the SATA connection into a compatible "slot" for the HDD so it can fit. I don't think it has anything to do with transfer speed.

SATA III in optibay would require batter cable, and better shielding because SATA III uses higher frequencies.
 

nitromac

macrumors 6502
Jul 29, 2012
282
13
US
SATA III in optibay would require batter cable, and better shielding because SATA III uses higher frequencies.

I don't know where you are pulling this information from because it doesn't make any sense. A cable is a cable; a bunch of metal rods/strips tied together that carry electrical current. Obviously if Apple added SATA III support to both ports in the notebook, surely it makes sense that SATA III devices would then work with these ports. And like I said earlier, an optibay doesn't affect the transfer speeds. It simply provides a mold for a 2.5" drive and directly forwards the data between the macbook and the drive. Ever wonder why caddies are so cheap on eBay? It's because they're very inexpensive to manufacture. A few plates of metal and plastic, and a SATA/power connector and you're good to go. There is no need for "special" SATA cables as they all do the same thing.
 

yusukeaoki

macrumors 68030
Mar 22, 2011
2,550
6
Tokyo, Japan
I don't know where you are pulling this information from because it doesn't make any sense. A cable is a cable; a bunch of metal rods/strips tied together that carry electrical current. Obviously if Apple added SATA III support to both ports in the notebook, surely it makes sense that SATA III devices would then work with these ports. And like I said earlier, an optibay doesn't affect the transfer speeds. It simply provides a mold for a 2.5" drive and directly forwards the data between the macbook and the drive. Ever wonder why caddies are so cheap on eBay? It's because they're very inexpensive to manufacture. A few plates of metal and plastic, and a SATA/power connector and you're good to go. There is no need for "special" cables.

Heres the whole discussion
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1388284/
 

MaxPower72

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Have the same machine you do--the bare bones one, though. ML runs great on this machine; it feels... smoother? than Lion. I'd get it. Don't you qualify for the free upgrade?

I do qualify for the free upgrade but they keep saying that the scans of the receipt aren't showing that the macbook has been paid and received...
I've done it 3 times, high res scans but always the same reply email :mad:
 

MaxPower72

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Probably you have all already seen this but I came across it last night and it was a quite interesting read on how to modify the SATA speed in the OB. Not on a 13" though but nonetheless achievable with enough technical knowledge
.
https://sites.google.com/site/themacbookproproject/

Too bad that Apple keeps missing on this kind of things like the Blu-ray drive etc..
They just keep telling customers "what we Really need" instead of leaving a wider range of options for the price they ask; since we all are different and have different requirements from our machines I would expect more in this regard not just a few overpriced "upgrades" like the HDD from 5400 to 7200 rpm ... or the ridiculous price they ask for RAM etc..
 
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