Okay, so I've got some PMs from users asking if I do have 1TB of storage space in my system.
The simple answer is YES.
The long answer is, I removed my Optical Superdrive and replaced it with a mount provided by MCE Technology called OptiBay (http://www.mcetech.com/optibay/).
My configuration is: Dual (That means 2x) 500GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue 5400RPM w/ 8MB Cache hard drives. I have them set up as Software RAID 0 with OSX (so 2x500GB together gives 1TB of hard drive space, give or take).
The dual hard drive configuration can be used on any size of the Unibody and even previous generation systems. The mount I have can fit on both my 13" MacBook and 17" MacBook Pro. It is just more prudent for me to store it on the 17" because its my personal system. The 13" is my work system therefore I don't need the hard drive space or even valid to alter the system to my own benefit.
From what I've used so far, my OSX Install has been cut in half. My boot time is not that much faster but it is faster. A few seconds counts right? Overall the entire system feels more snappy, faster than my 320GB Seagate 7200.3 hard drive running at 7200RPM w/ 16MB Cache. I have not had the chance to run any benchmarks but this is what I felt. Therefore, it is not concluded as fact just personal opinion.
I ordered the bay along with the drive from MCE instead of just ordering the bay and ordering the drive elsewhere. I was a bit concerned on what brand MCE would give me but I was surprised that they gave me Western Digital Scorpio Blue because that is what I originally wanted.
Now the downsides:
You lose the Superdrive, thats a bit obvious.
If one of the two drives fails, all my data is lost. I have a constant 1TB external Western Digital (If you haven't noticed yet, Western Digital is my favorite line of brand for Hard Drives) MyBook Essential backing up via Time Machine and I have iDisk storing some of the more important PDF (I work with a lot of PDF files) files incase the probability Time Machine fails me also.
The MCE bay is not entirely secured by the 3 screws that hold a Superdrive down. It is, however, held down by a single screw on one side. Therefore, there is some minor movement but once the lower panel is secured the movement is gone. I applied two layers of Electrical Tape to secure the bay to whatever part of the chassis possible. I might apply a thin layer of padding to "squish" the bay more securely but I haven't done that yet.
So far, the drive seems to be very secure. I have put my system repeatedly in my Jansport backpack and transported it via on my CBR600RR on bumpy roads. The mount/housing for the 2nd drive has not moved or shifted positions whatsoever.
I will post up pictures next week when my 8GB (2x 4GB DDR3-1066) comes in the mail. Until then, I'm too lazy to open up the bottom casing or even turn off the system lol.
Please post any questions or concerns in reply. I don't regularly check my Private Messages and majority of the times, unless I'm trying to sell something I would ignore my PMs.
The simple answer is YES.
The long answer is, I removed my Optical Superdrive and replaced it with a mount provided by MCE Technology called OptiBay (http://www.mcetech.com/optibay/).
My configuration is: Dual (That means 2x) 500GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue 5400RPM w/ 8MB Cache hard drives. I have them set up as Software RAID 0 with OSX (so 2x500GB together gives 1TB of hard drive space, give or take).
The dual hard drive configuration can be used on any size of the Unibody and even previous generation systems. The mount I have can fit on both my 13" MacBook and 17" MacBook Pro. It is just more prudent for me to store it on the 17" because its my personal system. The 13" is my work system therefore I don't need the hard drive space or even valid to alter the system to my own benefit.
From what I've used so far, my OSX Install has been cut in half. My boot time is not that much faster but it is faster. A few seconds counts right? Overall the entire system feels more snappy, faster than my 320GB Seagate 7200.3 hard drive running at 7200RPM w/ 16MB Cache. I have not had the chance to run any benchmarks but this is what I felt. Therefore, it is not concluded as fact just personal opinion.
I ordered the bay along with the drive from MCE instead of just ordering the bay and ordering the drive elsewhere. I was a bit concerned on what brand MCE would give me but I was surprised that they gave me Western Digital Scorpio Blue because that is what I originally wanted.
Now the downsides:
You lose the Superdrive, thats a bit obvious.
If one of the two drives fails, all my data is lost. I have a constant 1TB external Western Digital (If you haven't noticed yet, Western Digital is my favorite line of brand for Hard Drives) MyBook Essential backing up via Time Machine and I have iDisk storing some of the more important PDF (I work with a lot of PDF files) files incase the probability Time Machine fails me also.
The MCE bay is not entirely secured by the 3 screws that hold a Superdrive down. It is, however, held down by a single screw on one side. Therefore, there is some minor movement but once the lower panel is secured the movement is gone. I applied two layers of Electrical Tape to secure the bay to whatever part of the chassis possible. I might apply a thin layer of padding to "squish" the bay more securely but I haven't done that yet.
So far, the drive seems to be very secure. I have put my system repeatedly in my Jansport backpack and transported it via on my CBR600RR on bumpy roads. The mount/housing for the 2nd drive has not moved or shifted positions whatsoever.
I will post up pictures next week when my 8GB (2x 4GB DDR3-1066) comes in the mail. Until then, I'm too lazy to open up the bottom casing or even turn off the system lol.
Please post any questions or concerns in reply. I don't regularly check my Private Messages and majority of the times, unless I'm trying to sell something I would ignore my PMs.
