Best SSD buddy: MCE Optibay HDD or something else?

[legreve]

Well... I certainly am taking my time trying to put this beast together.
I've decided to go along with the Apple SSD since prices for SSD's around here are about the same anyways, and I can't save anything buying abroad (customs...).

So now my question is:

Should I just get the 750gb 7200 hdd from MCE?

Or is there anything else that is just as good and reliable but cheaper? I guess I would be buying the optibay from MCE anyways... so that leaves me with $100 to spend on a HDD.

The SSD will go in the main bay and the HDD in the optibay. I trust myself enough to know that I will do everything in my power not to drop the machine

The machine will be used for HD video editing from 5dmkii in Premiere, AE, Boujou etc along with daily Photoshop work.

 

[adrian1480]

put the SSD in the Optibay.

the Optibay has no support for G-Force/Shock resistance, making it a suboptimal choice for HDD. It could lead to the HDD dying young. the SSD, however, has no moving parts, so the lack of Shock resistance has no effect.

HDD --> Main Bay
SSD --> Optibay

that's how I've been running mine for about a year without any issue whatsoever.

 

[legreve]

put the SSD in the Optibay.

the Optibay has no support for G-Force/Shock resistance, making it a suboptimal choice for HDD. It could lead to the HDD dying young. the SSD, however, has no moving parts, so the lack of Shock resistance has no effect.

HDD --> Main Bay
SSD --> Optibay

that's how I've been running mine for about a year without any issue whatsoever.

No hibernate issues either? Just read a lot of post talking about how their mbp would freeze or similar if the SSD was in the optibay?

 

[V4705]

Just remember the optical drive port is SATA2 and the main HDD port is SATA3 (in MBP 2011).

 

[mulo]

No hibernate issues either? Just read a lot of post talking about how their mbp would freeze or similar if the SSD was in the optibay?

i believe this is an issue if the boot drive is in the optibay, as the power to the optibay gets cut immediately the OS won't have time to dump the ram for safe sleep. - also i herd there is an issue with the sandforce controllers?

 

[legreve]

i believe this is an issue if the boot drive is in the optibay, as the power to the optibay gets cut immediately the OS won't have time to dump the ram for safe sleep. - also i herd there is an issue with the sandforce controllers?

Yeah, that's why I would put the SSD in the main bay as to boot up the system on the fast drive along with the apps? Or am I getting this wrong?

 

[mulo]

Yeah, that's why I would put the SSD in the main bay as to boot up the system on the fast drive along with the apps? Or am I getting this wrong?

that is exactly what I plan to do. I'm putting a 500GB drive in the optibay for personal files, and a windows partition (windows will only be used for games so sleep wont be required)

 

[adrian1480]

i believe this is an issue if the boot drive is in the optibay, as the power to the optibay gets cut immediately the OS won't have time to dump the ram for safe sleep. - also i herd there is an issue with the sandforce controllers?

Unless you think you're going to find yourself with your battery life so low that your machine needs to force hibernation on a regular basis, you're better off disabling hibernation altogether (sleep only), recouping that 8GB of HDD space previously dedicated to the hibernation file, and putting the SSD in the optibay.

In a year, I've never ran out of battery (either in use or while sleeping).

My boot system is in the optibay. I never need my machine to hibernate, so I get the security of shock protection for my HDD in the standard position and the speed of the SSD in the Optibay.

 

[kappaknight]

Interesting... I wonder how this will play out in the 2011 MBP's for those that want to utilize the SATA III capabilities of the main connector vs. the SATA II controller for the optical bay. Will OWC or whoever add a shock protection chip to the data doubler? Is that even doable?

 

[RainCityMacFan]

Interesting... I wonder how this will play out in the 2011 MBP's for those that want to utilize the SATA III capabilities of the main connector vs. the SATA II controller for the optical bay. Will OWC or whoever add a shock protection chip to the data doubler? Is that even doable?

I think that would be very hard to implement since the OS would be involved as well.

Most drives these days have a built in shock protector and there aren't many drives period with a free fall sensor. Both the western digital blue an black series have ShockGuard protection as . . . Shock.

So I wouldn't worry about the lack of SMS function. You can always buy another drive as well that does have a built in SMS.