Clarification on SSD in optibay MBP late 2011 please

[hammo123]

I'm just trying to get some sort of clarification as to whether ANY SSD will work in an Optibay in a Late 2011 17" MBP with both Link speeds @ 6GBps?
From all my reading it seems that if you have a 3GBps Link speed on the Optical chipset then a Sata 2 or 3 SSD will work but the Sata 3 will downgrade to the slower transfer rate whereas if you have 2 x 6GBps (as i do) then it's a NO GO?
It's quiet confusing as it seems that no-one really knows 100% for sure & that it appears to vary for each individual machine?
Mine's actually a Late Late 2011 built in the 3rd part or 2012

[/IMG]

 

[yusukeaoki]

The Late 2011 and later models have SATAIII 6GBps in the both optical and main bay.
The Early 2011 model has SATAII 3GBps in the opticalbay.

If you install SATAIII SSDs to both main and opticalbay, they will optimize the full speed.

 

[hammo123]

Yeah thanks yusukeaoki..
I understand the theory of this...but from what i hear & read it's hit & miss & not guaranteed that it will recognize Any Solid State Drive on the optical bay Sata connection if it's the 6GBs linkspeed..(IE: you can only use a HDD) ..Is this really the case?

 

[niteflyr]

Here is OWC's take on the matter:


"OPTICAL BAY: The optical bay interface may either be SATA Revision 2.0 3Gb/s (300MB/s max) OR SATA Revision 3.0 6Gb/s. There is no way to specify/order this data interface with Apple, but you can confirm what interface version your optical bay offers by using 'About this Mac, More Info, Serial-ATA' info display.

Testing has demonstrated that Apple factory hardware does not reliably support a 6G (6Gb/s) Solid State Drive or Hard Disk Drive in the optical bay of 2011 MacBook Pros (ModeI ID8,1; 8,2; 8,3). If your OWC Data Doubler bundle comes with a 6G drive, you should ONLY install that drive in the main drive bay and utilize the Data Doubler to re-task your existing drive or install a new 3G SSD or HDD in the optical bay. PRE-2011 models can utilize a 6G drive in the optical bay, but will do so at a reduced 3G (3Gb/s) speed."


They claim a 3G SSD will work but not 6G regardless of interface.

 

[hammo123]

Thank you niteflyr
That puts me in the picture