I would assume that the 'put hard disk(s) to sleep when possible' setting in system preferences would work with an internal...
If it is sleeping I doubt it would have any effect on battery life, although accessing it could be a different story.
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anybody replace optical drive with a hard drive?
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I would assume that the 'put hard disk(s) to sleep when possible' setting in system preferences would work with an internal...
If it is sleeping I doubt it would have any effect on battery life, although accessing it could be a different story.
Eric cheng has put two ssd's in his older macbook pro using the optibay ((wich is very expensive in my point of view)He is reporting a 10 to 15% more power consumption when both hard disks are used often.
I don't know about putting it to sleep, but that would definitly be helpfull.
thinking about the combinations you could make, I think the most logic thing to do are the things people already metioned, that is a 1 TB notebook or ssdd/hard disk.
Anyhow right now i'm scrathing money from every where to order myself a new macbook pro, so when it finnaly is here the first thing i will do is take it apart to take some pictures.
I don't know about putting it to sleep, but that would definitly be helpfull.
thinking about the combinations you could make, I think the most logic thing to do are the things people already metioned, that is a 1 TB notebook or ssdd/hard disk.
Anyhow right now i'm scrathing money from every where to order myself a new macbook pro, so when it finnaly is here the first thing i will do is take it apart to take some pictures.
I was just thinking. Is it possible to gut the optical drive, slide the SSD into the cavity, and affix it with screws?
I know it's a sacrifice, but it's cheaper than that Optibay option?! Can any keen modders out there advise?
That seems a bit drastic... maybe
I think I'm going to try to find a flexible connecting cable on Ebay. That way It would not need to be that rigidly placed and I could use velcro, foam, and tape (trusty standbys)
I'll post a link if i'm successful (after an installation)
Yeah, I guess it's a little drastic. Hehe! But if it works it'll be locked in place solidly. I don't like the sound of foam, tape or velcro. Surely foam will insulate any heat produced, and tape will leave sticky residue? I'm interested to see if it works though.
I found a "cheap" solution. You just have to find a slimline/mini sata cable to normal connectors. Something similar to this:
Together with a connector like this:
It will cost you something like $10,-
Just search on ebay for slimline sata. Be sure that you have a male connector instead of the female version.
Edit: the molex to sata power could be to high considering the drive height is only 12,7 mm. You probably can cut some of with a sharp knife as long the connector part is intact it should work.
Together with a connector like this:
It will cost you something like $10,-
Just search on ebay for slimline sata. Be sure that you have a male connector instead of the female version.
Edit: the molex to sata power could be to high considering the drive height is only 12,7 mm. You probably can cut some of with a sharp knife as long the connector part is intact it should work.
I don't think so. Ofcourse i'm not sure but because it would be internal i doubt so very much. A nother problem would be that if you want to get to your data if you are on the road you would have to reboot.
Jobs and his team have seen this post, and have decided that 95% of the consumers dont want an optical drive in the next macbooks & pros.
we should get petition going NOW, on parts that must remain in the macbooks before someone decides they are gone foreveR!
Where to find the damn male 7+6 pin sata slimline
I've been looking EVERYWHERE for this cable! I can't find it! I found 1 or 2 sites, but they don't sell direct to consumers. What a PISSOFF. Can anyone find me one of these cables?
I've been looking EVERYWHERE for this cable! I can't find it! I found 1 or 2 sites, but they don't sell direct to consumers. What a PISSOFF. Can anyone find me one of these cables?
Jobs and his team have seen this post, and have decided that 95% of the consumers dont want an optical drive in the next macbooks & pros.
we should get petition going NOW, on parts that must remain in the macbooks before someone decides they are gone foreveR!
hahah I like it. But in all honesty it seems to be the way they are going. Then again everything is going digital. I can see apple selling software via iTunes and dropping the superdrive.
I must admit, its pretty diffucult to find a male version of it. I ordered it from this site dutch site: http://www.picco.nl/index.php?cPath=5_213
They also have the other adapter that i listed. They shipp worldwide, so shouldn,t be to much of a problem. Just be carefull to pick the right one, because you have female connectors and male connecors. For the macbook(pro's) you will need the male version.
Gah!
The dutch site won't let me ship to Canada!! This is driving me mad, I've been looking for 2 days! Can anyone help me figure this out?
The dutch site won't let me ship to Canada!! This is driving me mad, I've been looking for 2 days! Can anyone help me figure this out?
If I look at this page with the countrys listed canada is in the list. http://www.picco.nl/create_account.php
It seems to be a cable from DeLock. You're right about how hard it is to find. I checked 20 pages of google search results with different keywords. Usualy something turns op but not this time. I checked ebay and various other sites.
Mostly german sites, two french, two dutch and a chinese site with on one end a wron connection. Of all these websites only the one I linked to earlier should ship to canada or the US.
If it's not working out all I would be willing to order it for you and then send it to your adres?
(luckily I live in the netherlands so it should take to long to get to me anyway)
I also made decision into what hard disks I want my macbook pro. There are going to be two slc ssd's in raid 0!
I will be using two 16 GB mtron ssd's of the 7500 series.
They have a 130 MB/s read speed with a 120 MB/s write spead. Combined in raid 0 it should be (much) faster than a single intel ssd.
The intel ssd's do what they promised at write speads. About 70 MB/s but at read speads it doesn't quite make it all the way up to 250 MB/s in the real world.
More like 170 MB/s. Meanwhile the Mtron's are only off about a few MB's per second.
Theoretically speaking with perfect speeds an perfect scaling there should be 260 MB/s read speed with 240 MB/s write.
Considdering some loss do to real life performance and the scaling I should get about 240 MB/s read and 215 MB/s write. That's much better than any intel ssd that in the real world provides 170 MB/s read and 65 MB/s write.
In total this will cost me about the same as the intel ssd, because I can get it with a descent discount. 270 euro each including shipping. Combined with a 32 Gb expresscard it will bring the total to 614 euro.
The intel ssd costs me 618 euro.
In costs there is not much of a difference, but in speed there is a huge difference.
A typical notebook hard disk at 5400 rpm usualy has a 70 MB/s write 50 MB/s read
Put that against two ssd's and you know what I mean!
It seems to be a cable from DeLock. You're right about how hard it is to find. I checked 20 pages of google search results with different keywords. Usualy something turns op but not this time. I checked ebay and various other sites.
Mostly german sites, two french, two dutch and a chinese site with on one end a wron connection. Of all these websites only the one I linked to earlier should ship to canada or the US.
If it's not working out all I would be willing to order it for you and then send it to your adres?
(luckily I live in the netherlands so it should take to long to get to me anyway)
I also made decision into what hard disks I want my macbook pro. There are going to be two slc ssd's in raid 0!
I will be using two 16 GB mtron ssd's of the 7500 series.
They have a 130 MB/s read speed with a 120 MB/s write spead. Combined in raid 0 it should be (much) faster than a single intel ssd.
The intel ssd's do what they promised at write speads. About 70 MB/s but at read speads it doesn't quite make it all the way up to 250 MB/s in the real world.
More like 170 MB/s. Meanwhile the Mtron's are only off about a few MB's per second.
Theoretically speaking with perfect speeds an perfect scaling there should be 260 MB/s read speed with 240 MB/s write.
Considdering some loss do to real life performance and the scaling I should get about 240 MB/s read and 215 MB/s write. That's much better than any intel ssd that in the real world provides 170 MB/s read and 65 MB/s write.
In total this will cost me about the same as the intel ssd, because I can get it with a descent discount. 270 euro each including shipping. Combined with a 32 Gb expresscard it will bring the total to 614 euro.
The intel ssd costs me 618 euro.
In costs there is not much of a difference, but in speed there is a huge difference.
A typical notebook hard disk at 5400 rpm usualy has a 70 MB/s write 50 MB/s read
Put that against two ssd's and you know what I mean!
Impressive configuration!
Wow sergev, that's a pretty amazing configuration you're setting up. Is there a specific reason you're going for straight up speed over storage? Do you use external drives for content?
I'm looking for more of a high capacity configuration. I'm considering raid 0 with 2* 320gb 7200 rpm drives, but I've always been a little wary of software raid...
I bought a 2.8 mbp with the 320gb 7200rpm. I wanted to get a 500gb 5400 rpm secondary drive, but I believe they are taller and may not fit into the space used by the optical drive.
My last generation mbp had a 250gb sata and a 120gb pata drive in it. I used the MCE optibay kit. This time around I'm pretty sure I can make something to hold the second drive in place.
Sergev, I would really appreciate the help if you're still interested.
Wow sergev, that's a pretty amazing configuration you're setting up. Is there a specific reason you're going for straight up speed over storage? Do you use external drives for content?
I'm looking for more of a high capacity configuration. I'm considering raid 0 with 2* 320gb 7200 rpm drives, but I've always been a little wary of software raid...
I bought a 2.8 mbp with the 320gb 7200rpm. I wanted to get a 500gb 5400 rpm secondary drive, but I believe they are taller and may not fit into the space used by the optical drive.
My last generation mbp had a 250gb sata and a 120gb pata drive in it. I used the MCE optibay kit. This time around I'm pretty sure I can make something to hold the second drive in place.
Sergev, I would really appreciate the help if you're still interested.
Regular hard drives in raid 0... Could be done, but I personaly wouldn't do so unless you have a time capsule or some other back-up facility.
You could put in any 500 GB notebook drive on the place of the optical drive. You have the samsung 500 GB disk that's 9,5 mm and uses three platters, you have a new WD 500 GB drive that is 9,5 mm and uses 2 platters (very good choice right now) and I believe one from hitachi (?) that is 12,5 mm high. You would not fit that in your regular HD bay but the optical bay is 12,7 mm high, so should work.
The reason i'm going for two ssd's is that I don't need that much space. I do need/want that extra space. leopard takes about 8 GB, Adobe CS3 creative suite 3 GB, my essential data 6 GB, some music 3 GB and some other programs and data about 3 GB.
That brings a total of 23 GB. The formatted capacity of two 16 GB ssd's would be about 28 to 30 GB. That leaves still 5 GB of room for new stuff. In fact I don't even need that extra ssd epresscard for extra data. But I still will be buying it, seems handy for time machine!
Could be done, but I personaly wouldn't do so unless you have a time capsule or some other back-up facility.You could put in any 500 GB notebook drive on the place of the optical drive. You have the samsung 500 GB disk that's 9,5 mm and uses three platters, you have a new WD 500 GB drive that is 9,5 mm and uses 2 platters (very good choice right now) and I believe one from hitachi (?) that is 12,5 mm high. You would not fit that in your regular HD bay but the optical bay is 12,7 mm high, so should work.
The reason i'm going for two ssd's is that I don't need that much space. I do need/want that extra space. leopard takes about 8 GB, Adobe CS3 creative suite 3 GB, my essential data 6 GB, some music 3 GB and some other programs and data about 3 GB.
That brings a total of 23 GB. The formatted capacity of two 16 GB ssd's would be about 28 to 30 GB. That leaves still 5 GB of room for new stuff. In fact I don't even need that extra ssd epresscard for extra data. But I still will be buying it, seems handy for time machine!
Hi guys!
Um ...
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13577
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.9283
$3-5, free worldwide delivery
Then get one of them: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.9809
Replace the IDE power connector with the standard SATA one - simple soldering jobbie and takes less space than an adapter.
Only problem is fitting 30cm of wires in the enclosure. Shortening+resoldering a SATA data cable is probably a suicide mission.
Btw, new member here. Waiting on my 2.0 Alu MacBook - my first
ever . I never use the DVD drive on my windows laptop, would rather have an extra 500gig. Will look into this mod after I get my macbook and play around with it for a while.
Secure mounting might be an issue - not sure if a folded sheet metal bracket with some rubber spacers or simply some foam padding will be more appropriate.
Would anyone be willing to provide some measurements (size of internal DVD drive, spacing of mounting screws if possible), so I can mill over this? It might be another week or two before I get my hands on my MacBook (damn UK shipping) and I'm quite pumped about this hack.
I wonder how well OSX would deal with such a secondary drive... Will the accelerometer protect the extra drive as well, or would it be better to get a drive with inbuilt shock-protection? Will it spin down when not needed?
Um ...
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13577
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.9283
$3-5, free worldwide delivery
Then get one of them: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.9809
Replace the IDE power connector with the standard SATA one - simple soldering jobbie and takes less space than an adapter.
Only problem is fitting 30cm of wires in the enclosure. Shortening+resoldering a SATA data cable is probably a suicide mission.
Btw, new member here. Waiting on my 2.0 Alu MacBook - my first
ever . I never use the DVD drive on my windows laptop, would rather have an extra 500gig. Will look into this mod after I get my macbook and play around with it for a while. Secure mounting might be an issue - not sure if a folded sheet metal bracket with some rubber spacers or simply some foam padding will be more appropriate.
Would anyone be willing to provide some measurements (size of internal DVD drive, spacing of mounting screws if possible), so I can mill over this? It might be another week or two before I get my hands on my MacBook (damn UK shipping) and I'm quite pumped about this hack.
I wonder how well OSX would deal with such a secondary drive... Will the accelerometer protect the extra drive as well, or would it be better to get a drive with inbuilt shock-protection? Will it spin down when not needed?
That is very nice of you to post those cables. If it where indeed the right ones!!!
The connector that comes from the logic board has the connector shown at your cables. You need a male version of it, because that is what the optical drive has. You think it is that easy? Those cables are regulary available from ebay, dozens of other tech sites and so on. The problem is finding a male connector!!
Just look at the connector found on the optical drive:
You can see clearly that the cables you posted are ment to use such a dvd unit in a desktop. We don't want that! We want to use the connector of the notebook and put a extra hard drive on it!
The connector that comes from the logic board has the connector shown at your cables. You need a male version of it, because that is what the optical drive has. You think it is that easy? Those cables are regulary available from ebay, dozens of other tech sites and so on. The problem is finding a male connector!!
Just look at the connector found on the optical drive:
You can see clearly that the cables you posted are ment to use such a dvd unit in a desktop. We don't want that! We want to use the connector of the notebook and put a extra hard drive on it!
Sergev is right
I spent DAYS searching all over the web. It is next to impossible to find the right cable. Thankfully there are one or two sites that actually have the damn things.
I can't wait to get my new Mac and get a second hard drive in there! *throws optical drive in trash*
I spent DAYS searching all over the web. It is next to impossible to find the right cable. Thankfully there are one or two sites that actually have the damn things.
I can't wait to get my new Mac and get a second hard drive in there! *throws optical drive in trash*
since this job appears to be a bit confusing with many places to go wrong it would be GREAT if one of you folks could post a genreal 'How-to' including where to buy the cables when you get done; assuming you ever get it working
(fortunately I don't have mine yet so i'm spared some of the stress )
but anyway, great work!
(fortunately I don't have mine yet so i'm spared some of the stress
)but anyway, great work!
In case Steve is listening...
Again you see there are many people who aren't using the optical drive. How about making a notebook with the power of a MBP (i.e. more than the MBA), but without the optical drive? I would gladly pay the same sum if only the drive was gone. I literally never use it, so it's just a complicated way of making my laptop 300 grams heavier.
And now that I'm at it: a higher resolution screen for the MBP please!!
Maybe it would make sense for somebody to open a business that does these things to MBP's, and takes over the warranty for some extra pay. I'd be willing to pay quite a bit for having the optical drive replaced by an SSD drive and a higher screen in there. Just an idea...
Again you see there are many people who aren't using the optical drive. How about making a notebook with the power of a MBP (i.e. more than the MBA), but without the optical drive? I would gladly pay the same sum if only the drive was gone. I literally never use it, so it's just a complicated way of making my laptop 300 grams heavier.
And now that I'm at it: a higher resolution screen for the MBP please!!
Maybe it would make sense for somebody to open a business that does these things to MBP's, and takes over the warranty for some extra pay. I'd be willing to pay quite a bit for having the optical drive replaced by an SSD drive and a higher screen in there. Just an idea...
HowTo
I'll post some photos of my install if you guys want. What i'll most likely do, is hold off on buying a second drive for 6 months or so until SSD's get a little cheaper. Sergev has convinced me that it's worth the wait and worth going the SSD route.
I have a 120gb sata drive kicking around that I might just put into my MBP in the meantime.
I get my MBP in a couple days, and once I get everything else I'll put a second drive in.
I only got a brief look inside a new MBP, but I'm wondering if you could fit 2 drives in there... I'm too lazy to look up the width of the optical drive...
EDIT: Higher resolution screenS would be REALLY GOOD TOO!
I'll post some photos of my install if you guys want. What i'll most likely do, is hold off on buying a second drive for 6 months or so until SSD's get a little cheaper. Sergev has convinced me that it's worth the wait and worth going the SSD route.
I have a 120gb sata drive kicking around that I might just put into my MBP in the meantime.
I get my MBP in a couple days, and once I get everything else I'll put a second drive in.
I only got a brief look inside a new MBP, but I'm wondering if you could fit 2 drives in there... I'm too lazy to look up the width of the optical drive...
EDIT: Higher resolution screenS would be REALLY GOOD TOO!
When I installed the 4GB RAM modules, I also took out the SuperDrive out of my Alu MB. I found out that the SuperDrive connector is different from SATA HDD connector. The data transfer part is the same but the power connector is shorter than HDD. Anyone noticed the same thing or my eyes playing tricks on me?
To philletourneau: where can you buy the cable if you dont mind sharing please?
To philletourneau: where can you buy the cable if you dont mind sharing please?
The power connector is the one vrom the slimline sata. The cable i showed you is the male slimline sata you need.
He is getting the cable from me, because I had to order one anyway.