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3 Hard drives Macbook Pro!!!

A

All Taken

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 28, 2009
790
13
UK
I have used an optical caddy to fit a SSD into my macbook pro along with the existing 500GB hard drive. My next ambition is to fit 2 hard drives and a SSD inside the macbook pro.

My questions are:

1) Can I use a Sata port doubler (Do they exist?) to run 2 hard drives through one sata port. (The bandwidth is there)

2) Failing the above can I use a cable linking a sata drive to the airport express slot? (is it PCI express?)

Thanks in advance and I really do appreciate any time spent helping me.
 
They do make SATA multipliers, but they aren't tiny. I'm not sure you'd have enough room to fit in there, without serious modding. Even then, I'm not sure it would be seen correctly by the OS...
 
All Taken said:
I have used an optical caddy to fit a SSD into my macbook pro along with the existing 500GB hard drive. My next ambition is to fit 2 hard drives and a SSD inside the macbook pro.

My questions are:

1) Can I use a Sata port doubler (Do they exist?) to run 2 hard drives through one sata port. (The bandwidth is there)

2) Failing the above can I use a cable linking a sata drive to the airport express slot? (is it PCI express?)

Thanks in advance and I really do appreciate any time spent helping me.
Click to expand...

cant do it....

i tried many times....

there is not enough power supplied by any of the sata connectors to run a second drive, port multipliers WILL not work in the macbook pro's.

the best you can do is pop a pci-e ssd in the place of the airport card.
 
MacModMachine said:
cant do it....

i tried many times....

there is not enough power supplied by any of the sata connectors to run a second drive, port multipliers WILL not work in the macbook pro's.

the best you can do is pop a pci-e ssd in the place of the airport card.
Click to expand...


Thank you very much, it's like chopping off a leg to gain an arm.

I use my airport daily, so I can use a PCI express to sata cable (do they include power) as I don't want to get another SSD. I suppose I could use a USB wireless dongle.
 
All Taken said:
Thank you very much, it's like chopping off a leg to gain an arm.

I use my airport daily, so I can use a PCI express to sata cable (do they include power) as I don't want to get another SSD. I suppose I could use a USB wireless dongle.
Click to expand...

you cannot use sata to pci-e...they cannot handle much current.

you will be stuck buying a pci-e ssd.

stealing power from the sata connector is a no no ....the power management features in the system management unit will freak and cause erratic behavior.
 
MacModMachine said:
you cannot use sata to pci-e...they cannot handle much current.

you will be stuck buying a pci-e ssd.

stealing power from the sata connector is a no no ....the power management features in the system management unit will freak and cause erratic behavior.
Click to expand...

OK well thanks again for your time and knowledge, one final question:

Which PCI-e SSD do you recommend from experience and what throughput does the PCI-e allow?
 
How do you work your SSD and 500GB spinner? Do you boot from your SSD and use the 500GB for data?

I have your setup, but two spinners and am waiting on the SSD prices for the larger capacities to decrease in price about another 50% before I jump.

I currently have multiple partitions on both drives: main drive is boot drive on 100GB partition so I don't use the other 100GB at all; other drive is 100GB for boot duplicate just in case main boot crashes on the road, then remaining for data as it is advised to not have your data and applications on same boot drive.

All Taken said:
I have used an optical caddy to fit a SSD into my macbook pro along with the existing 500GB hard drive. My next ambition is to fit 2 hard drives and a SSD inside the macbook pro.

My questions are:

1) Can I use a Sata port doubler (Do they exist?) to run 2 hard drives through one sata port. (The bandwidth is there)

2) Failing the above can I use a cable linking a sata drive to the airport express slot? (is it PCI express?)

Thanks in advance and I really do appreciate any time spent helping me.
Click to expand...
 
I run my Boot drive as a 2 partition disk - it's a Intel G2 X-25m 80GB located in the optical bay.

The boot drive contains Snow leopard (Partition 1) and Windows 7 (Partition 2)

The 500GB Hard Drive is located in the hard drive slot to protect it with the sudden motion sensor. The drive is partitioned in 2 as Mac OS Journaled and NTFS. I have directed my HOME folder on the mac to drive and use it for all of my windows and mac apps, media etc.

See below:
 

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I am thinking that unless I have two ssds, I will not benefit much since frankly, I would rather have running applications faster than booting them up. Boot time is not as important as what is happening after booting (especially for Photoshop and other programs).

We'll see.

All Taken said:
I run my Boot drive as a 2 partition disk - it's a Intel G2 X-25m 80GB located in the optical bay.

The boot drive contains Snow leopard (Partition 1) and Windows 7 (Partition 2)

The 500GB Hard Drive is located in the hard drive slot to protect it with the sudden motion sensor. The drive is partitioned in 2 as Mac OS Journaled and NTFS. I have directed my HOME folder on the mac to drive and use it for all of my windows and mac apps, media etc.

See below:
Click to expand...
 
Cool one question

If i have an ssd and the 750 gb that came with my macbook pro 15 inch could i use my ssd for daily use and my hdd for secondary use, itunes music games etc... Can i startup with either one, and if i'm using the ssd does the hdd still spin?
 
about power

lets say i am using my mac book pro as a server and i get a pci to sata adapter and wire in a external power plug (i got tons of those) to sata power plug/
would that work?
 
hardwarehaka said:
lets say i am using my mac book pro as a server and i get a pci to sata adapter and wire in a external power plug (i got tons of those) to sata power plug/
would that work?
Click to expand...

You could also just use an external 2.5" HDD connected via Firewire or USB 2.0, no need for wiring, unless you need more than 35 MB/s (USB 2.0) or 70 MB/s (FW 800) constantly.
 
bdodds1985 said:
wish i did... i wish i did :(
Click to expand...

If you really are in need of space and want it to be as portable as you can, you can definitely invest in these crazy(and over priced) products.

2 1TB hard drives(1 for optibay 1 for hard drive bay) http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152291

128gb SD Card (for your sd slot)
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...128CRBNA133_128GB_Professional_SDXC_Card.html

and a 3,000 dollar 1tb swiss army pocket knife. http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/09/victronix-ssd-official-up-to-1tb-of-high-speed-storage-crammed/
http://www.swissarmy.com/ca/content/news_page/nc_new_electronicspressrelease_20120116
 
NZed said:
If you really are in need of space and want it to be as portable as you can, you can definitely invest in these crazy(and over priced) products.

2 1TB hard drives(1 for optibay 1 for hard drive bay) http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152291

128gb SD Card (for your sd slot)
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...128CRBNA133_128GB_Professional_SDXC_Card.html

and a 3,000 dollar 1tb swiss army pocket knife. http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/09/victronix-ssd-official-up-to-1tb-of-high-speed-storage-crammed/
http://www.swissarmy.com/ca/content/news_page/nc_new_electronicspressrelease_20120116
Click to expand...

lol. no, no and no. I don't need space at all I have two 120gb ssd's that work just fine. Any extra junk goes on an external.
a 17" would be nice but not practical for me.
I was just saying its amazing how someone brought this thread back to life because obviously the OP does not care anymore since the last reply was over 2 years ago! should be closed.
 
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