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ASK: Late 2011 13" MBP optibay supports 6Gb/s or not

E

elite002

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 27, 2011
21
0
Hi,

I'm planning to put in an SSD into my late 2011 13" MBP (Apple MacBook Pro MD313LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop) into my optibay (by taking out my optical drive/DVD-RW rom and put in the SSD with the caddy that I bought from here)

As I been doing some reading, and found some thread saying that I could not get a 6GB/s in my optibay for some specific reason (that I'm not quite understand myself because of my limited knowledge in computer hardware) and only can get 3gb/s support instead. But there are also some that says the late 2011 is actually comes with 6gb/s port.

Please correct me if I'm wrong for these statements below;
6Gb/s means supports Sata III (e.q. Samsung 830 SSD)
3Gb/s means supports Sata II (e.q. OCZ Vertex 2 SSD)

My dilemma now is that whether I should get Samsung 830 or not, as I thought it would be useless if at the end my optibay can only support 3Gb/s, and my Samsung 830 SSD will still be working but forced down to 3Gb/s instead of working in its max speed to 6Gb/s while my optibay is not supported to such speed.

Perhaps getting OCZ Vertex 2 SSD would be enough as Sata II price is about less $40 bucks.

Thanks in advance...
 
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To my knowledge - Late 2011 13/15/17" MBP all support 6gb/s SATA-III.

I have a samsung 830 256GB SSD exactly for that purpose - upgrading a 13" MBP.

The Samsung SSDs are the only flash drives I will touch, seeing the myriad of spotty issues on all the others.
 
Hi grasshoppa10,

Thanks for your response, may I know where do you get your Samsung 830 at? And how much?

If this is the case (just exactly as what you've explained above), then my next step now is looking for the best deal for Samsung 830 then...

May I also know where did u get your caddy?

Thanks again...
 
Hi grasshoppa,

The more reading I did, the more unsure I've become in putting ssd III into my optibay with caddy. May I know that did you really successfully put your SSD III in your optibay of MBP late 2011 13"?

Please let me know...
 
elite002 said:
Hi grasshoppa,

The more reading I did, the more unsure I've become in putting ssd III into my optibay with caddy. May I know that did you really successfully put your SSD III in your optibay of MBP late 2011 13"?

Please let me know...
Click to expand...

We get this question a lot, and this is the official line, quoted verbatim from our account rep Arnie at MCE, who make the Optibay product:

In about June of 2011 Apple quietly increased the speed of the SATA port which connects to the optical drive to 6Gb/s in all 3 sizes (13", 15" and 17") of MacBook Pro. This generally would have been a very welcome change as it would allow our customers to use 6Gb/s SSDs in the OptiBay at full speed however it soon came to light that there was (and still is) an issue with Apple's 6Gb/s implementation on the optical drive SATA port and 6Gb/s SSDs connected there are either not recognized by the system or cause system freezes and hangups. This affects the 15" and 17" models only. The 13" MacBook Pro handles a 6Gb/s device installed in the OptiBay and connected to its optical drive SATA port beautifully.

Based on this we always advise people to put the original factory drive in the Optibay, and install your new SSD in the factory drive bay, unless they have a 13" model.
 
rodb said:
We get this question a lot, and this is the official line, quoted verbatim from our account rep Arnie at MCE, who make the Optibay product:

In about June of 2011 Apple quietly increased the speed of the SATA port which connects to the optical drive to 6Gb/s in all 3 sizes (13", 15" and 17") of MacBook Pro. This generally would have been a very welcome change as it would allow our customers to use 6Gb/s SSDs in the OptiBay at full speed however it soon came to light that there was (and still is) an issue with Apple's 6Gb/s implementation on the optical drive SATA port and 6Gb/s SSDs connected there are either not recognized by the system or cause system freezes and hangups. This affects the 15" and 17" models only. The 13" MacBook Pro handles a 6Gb/s device installed in the OptiBay and connected to its optical drive SATA port beautifully.

Based on this we always advise people to put the original factory drive in the Optibay, and install your new SSD in the factory drive bay, unless they have a 13" model.
Click to expand...

My early 2011 17" works : 6gbps Optibay.

So this guy is wrong
 
rodb said:
I assume you are saying the MCE rep is wrong, or you mean it doesn't apply to you. Can I ask how long have you had the drive installed in the optibay, has it had no hiccups, and can you provide a screenshot showing the link speed of your SSD?
Click to expand...

No screen shot. To lazy. Sorry :)
 
Last edited:
Hi,

Look here: Here!

someone posted this:

JasonH42 said:
The optibay actually comes with a 6 Gigabit port on later 2011 models but is useless for SATA III drives. Seems to be a shielding issue so yes, let's hope it gets resolved this year.

Wouldn't hold your breath though. We bought an iMac last year and the DVD drive doesn't work; search on Apple communities and you'll see that thousands are affected...:mad:
Click to expand...
 
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elite002 said:
Hi,

Look here: Here!

someone posted this:
Click to expand...

If your optibay link speed is 3Gbps you can run a SATA 3 drive there but obviously you'll only get 3Gbps, not 6Gbps. If you have a 15"/17" MBP with an optibay reporting 6Gbps capability then don't bother trying to put a SATA 3 drive there because it won't work at all - I've tested this to my cost. 13" models are fine, as MCE and OWC state.
 
JasonH42 said:
If your optibay link speed is 3Gbps you can run a SATA 3 drive there but obviously you'll only get 3Gbps, not 6Gbps. If you have a 15"/17" MBP with an optibay reporting 6Gbps capability then don't bother trying to put a SATA 3 drive there because it won't work at all - I've tested this to my cost. 13" models are fine, as MCE and OWC state.
Click to expand...

So please let me rephrase my understanding to your explanation above:
As I stated in the thread starter that I have the late 2011 13" MBP, that means according to your explanation it will work then? (Meaning putting SSD III Samsung 830 into optibay case, and get 6gb/s speed successfully).

And for anyone who has late 2011 but other than 13", meaning: late 2011 15" and 17", it will definitely just won't work??

please correct me if I'm wrong...

btw: from your explanation above, How would we know whether our optibay link is running 3GB/s or 6GB/s speed? Could you possibly brief me a bit on how to actually find that out?

thanks alot
 
Last edited:
GrassHoppa10 said:
Hi.

Th Samsung 830 SD (256GB) I bought from Amazon. $249.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0077CR66A/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00


The tray that fits into the optibay is here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0058AH2US/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i02

I am planning to - this weekend - install SSD where original location of HD is from factory, and move the HD using the above tray to the Opitbay.
Click to expand...

waow that sounds great.. may I know how would you know whether your SSD running at 6gb/s or 3gb/s, is there any apps that can identify whether your installed ssd is actually running 6gb/s or 3gb/s ?

and when you said you are moving your original HD to optibay using the caddy, would the caddy could work perfectly fit with the original HD tho? I just thought the caddy was supposedly design for fitting SSD into it?? no??
is the SSD size/dimension is the exact same as the original 2.5" Sata HD ?

let me know..
 
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Ok - one more reply :)

I did the the SSD install. The MBP 13 works like a rocket. Very very fast. The HD went into the tray like butter. Meaning perfect fit. Both disk re exact same slim size.

I booted in Lion Recovery mode, ran Disk Utility, formatted SSD, began Install of Lion. And 20 minutes later Lion is fully updated and working extremely fast. And the original HD is there for me partition and use as Data Disk.

The SSD for OS and Apps.

Great deal. I plan to order another Samsung SSD + tray to upgrade a slightly older Macbook also.
 
GrassHoppa10 said:
Ok - one more reply :)

I did the the SSD install. The MBP 13 works like a rocket. Very very fast. The HD went into the tray like butter. Meaning perfect fit. Both disk re exact same slim size.

I booted in Lion Recovery mode, ran Disk Utility, formatted SSD, began Install of Lion. And 20 minutes later Lion is fully updated and working extremely fast. And the original HD is there for me partition and use as Data Disk.

The SSD for OS and Apps.

Great deal. I plan to order another Samsung SSD + tray to upgrade a slightly older Macbook also.
Click to expand...

Just to reconfirm, you are installing your ssd in your original HD bay correct? not in the optibay, correct?

and you are moving your original 2.5 HD into optibay using caddy? am I correct?

thanks
 
GrassHoppa10 said:
Yes, and Yes, and Yes, and Yes.
Click to expand...

Hi Grasshoppa10,

thanks again for the prompt response, may I know how do you install the Lion into your SSD? what I mean is, did you do somekind of copying/transfer your original Lion from you original HD into your new SSD? such later on after you swap the old HD with your new SSD, the MBP will just boot from your SSD from that moment on?

if I have bunch of softwares like microsoft office, adobe, etc. installed in my lion on my original HD, will that be also be able to be copied into the new SSD also? or I have to need to install fresh from the beginning again?

Could you possibly share your walk-through step by step in doing this as well as what softwares are used for doing any step that you did, as I am new on doing this kind of installation, and would very much appreciate for your expert help.

thanks alot
 
So - as I stated:

I booted in Lion Recovery mode, ran Disk Utility, formatted SSD, began Install of Lion. And 20 minutes later Lion is fully updated and working extremely fast. And the original HD is there for me partition and use as Data Disk.

It was simpler then expected.

I chose to install Lion fresh - on the SSD. I am able to reinstall all my apps in a couple of hours - and prefer to.

The HD in the superdrive bay - I backed up all my date on external drive, formatted/partitioned the HD, and put my data back. Easier then expected.

I don't want any risk of Lion files left behind that may be corrupted or do not get copied over - although I know I could have done that by using carbon copy cloner software free app.
 
GrassHoppa10 said:
So - as I stated:

I booted in Lion Recovery mode, ran Disk Utility, formatted SSD, began Install of Lion. And 20 minutes later Lion is fully updated and working extremely fast. And the original HD is there for me partition and use as Data Disk.

It was simpler then expected.

I chose to install Lion fresh - on the SSD. I am able to reinstall all my apps in a couple of hours - and prefer to.

The HD in the superdrive bay - I backed up all my date on external drive, formatted/partitioned the HD, and put my data back. Easier then expected.

I don't want any risk of Lion files left behind that may be corrupted or do not get copied over - although I know I could have done that by using carbon copy cloner software free app.
Click to expand...

Dear Grasshoppa10,

darn.. you are so much helpful, thank you, thank you, and thank you for your help...:)

When you booted to Lion Recovery mode, may I know the special button to hold in order to get into?
and would that means when you are booting to Lion Recovery mode for the first time for the purpose for formatting your ssd in the first place, means that you are still booting your computer from your original HD?
I'm sorry I'm not quite sure how MBP works yet as it's new for me, will the Lion recovery partition including the Lion OS is all located in the original HD in somekind of special partition for recovery purposes (made by apple)?
would that means if we formatted the original HD later on (after we installed new Lion in SSD), that means our original Lion OS will be wiped out also such we cannot install a fresh new Lion OS in some other new HD/SSD in the future?
or the backup/recovery software is located in the special chip apart from the original HD? so no matter we format all HD/SSD, we still be able to get into the recovery mode and do some formatting in any HD/SSD we want and install lion into it also? and having it boot from any HD/SSD we ever wanted?

Sorry for the long perhaps confusing questions that I asked.. just want to understand more how apple/MBP is actually works... :D

again, thanks so much and really appreciate your help so far...
 
elite002 said:
btw: from your explanation above, How would we know whether our optibay link is running 3GB/s or 6GB/s speed? Could you possibly brief me a bit on how to actually find that out?

thanks alot
Click to expand...

You'll be fine with late 2011 13", but not 15" or 17".

Click the Apple logo top left, then click "About This Mac", then "More Info", and under Hardware/Serial-ATA you'll see the link speed for each SATA port upon selecting them.
 
JasonH42 said:
You'll be fine with late 2011 13", but not 15" or 17".

Click the Apple logo top left, then click "About This Mac", then "More Info", and under Hardware/Serial-ATA you'll see the link speed for each SATA port upon selecting them.
Click to expand...

Hi JasonH42,

thank you so much for your input, may I ask did you yourself have successfully put in the SSD III Samsung 830 into the optibay of MBP late 2011 13" yourself using the caddy?

thanks
 
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