Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

HDD in Optical drive Bay

W

wakemeup707

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 15, 2013
9
0
I currently have a 1 TB Samsung 5400 rpm drive in my MacBook Pro's optical drive spot - but it shuts down after a bit of use (more like crashes entirely). I believe this is because it is a normal hard drive and since there is no way to get the heat out, it shuts down. I'm considering getting a SSD for the bay instead, but want to make sure my overheating theory is correct.

Late 2011 15'' MacBook Pro, 240 gb SSD and 1 TB 5400 rpm drive. 8 gb of RAM.
 
wakemeup707 said:
I currently have a 1 TB Samsung 5400 rpm drive in my MacBook Pro's optical drive spot - but it shuts down after a bit of use (more like crashes entirely). I believe this is because it is a normal hard drive and since there is no way to get the heat out, it shuts down. I'm considering getting a SSD for the bay instead, but want to make sure my overheating theory is correct.

Late 2011 15'' MacBook Pro, 240 gb SSD and 1 TB 5400 rpm drive. 8 gb of RAM.
Click to expand...

Idk... I have a 1TB spinning drive in my optical bay(specs in my sig), and I've never had an issue. Although I guess it is possible yours has to deal with more heat.
 
wakemeup707 said:
I currently have a 1 TB Samsung 5400 rpm drive in my MacBook Pro's optical drive spot - but it shuts down after a bit of use (more like crashes entirely). I believe this is because it is a normal hard drive and since there is no way to get the heat out, it shuts down. I'm considering getting a SSD for the bay instead, but want to make sure my overheating theory is correct.

Late 2011 15'' MacBook Pro, 240 gb SSD and 1 TB 5400 rpm drive. 8 gb of RAM.
Click to expand...

The optical bay doesnt have a sudden motion senspr so if you are using it while moving the laptop then the head may be hitting the platter causing it to malfunction. Culd also just be a bad drive. Not likely from heat
 
Thanks - never thought about it being a bad drive. When it shuts off it is when the laptop is sitting still on a desk, which is why it bewilders me. I might try a different spinning drive in there and see how that works out.

Here is the hard drive info - SAMSUNG HN-M101MBB

Also, both of my chipsets are intel 6 Series, so that means a 6 gb/s should work in there, correct? I had an issue with a different drive working in that slot that was a 6 gb/s drive but works fine anywhere else
 
Last edited:
Have you tried switching the SSD and HDD to see if that makes a difference? (So put the HDD in the built in slot of the MBP and put the SSD in the optical bay).

But apart from that suggestion, it seems to me like your drive might be going bad.
 
I have the 1TB HDD that came with my MBP mounted in an optibay, never had any issues with it. Doubt your problem is related to heat, could be the HDD itself, the caddy, etc. Only way to really find out is to swap the HDD out with another one and see if the problem still exists.
 
wakemeup707 said:
I currently have a 1 TB Samsung 5400 rpm drive in my MacBook Pro's optical drive spot - but it shuts down after a bit of use (more like crashes entirely). I believe this is because it is a normal hard drive and since there is no way to get the heat out, it shuts down. I'm considering getting a SSD for the bay instead, but want to make sure my overheating theory is correct.

Late 2011 15'' MacBook Pro, 240 gb SSD and 1 TB 5400 rpm drive. 8 gb of RAM.
Click to expand...

What optibay do you have?
Im using the one from MCE and have no problems.
Running around 32C every time.
 
Your problem could be that 2011 MBPs won't support SATA3 reliably in the optibay. It's a well known issue documented at OWC. If you do opt to put an SSD in there make sure it's a SATA2 drive (which are getting hard to find).

>
 
My SSD is the SATA3, so I'm not sure that it'll support it well so i haven't switched it.

I originally had the MCE optibay, but I thought that was the problem so I ordered one for $18 bucks on new egg (on sale) to see if that helped (same problem - same drive). The drive is a SATA2 and running at 31 C now, so heat probably isn't the issue. But the issue really only presents itself when the computer is on for awhile or I'm doing a large file transfer - I just want to figure it out before I go ahead and buy a new drive
 
Just replaced it with a different hard drive - one I know works and is sata 2. If this doesn't work, any ideas on what it would be?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back