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HDD in optical drive

K

Kyllle

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 25, 2011
290
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I'm sure this has been asked before but I searched and couldn't really find what I was looking for.

Since the Optical drive doesn't support sata 3 speeds, I was hoping to put a small SSD (probably 64gb) in the HDD slot and using that for booting up and whatever else I can fit. I don't have much stuff on my computer, it's like 30GB of files that I care about (school stuff, music, and pictures), and idk what the rest is haha. I guess programs and stuff. In total I'm only using 125GB.

Anyways, so could I put the SSD in the regular spot, then switch the HDD to the optical bay with optibay/something similar?

I'm guessing that the stock HDD are 6gb/s, so it would slow down a bit if I did this, correct?
 
Kyllle said:
Anyways, so could I put the SSD in the regular spot, then switch the HDD to the optical bay with optibay/something similar?
Click to expand...
Yes.

I'm guessing that the stock HDD are 6gb/s, so it would slow down a bit if I did this, correct?
Click to expand...

A platter based HDD will not even reach speeds of S-ATA 1.5 Gbps, thus the HDD will not be slower.
Look into System Profiler > Hardware > Serial-ATA to check if the ODD slot has an S-ATA 6.0 Gbps interface, as using the HDD in the Optibay will get rid of the Sudden Motion Sensor.
 
The internal hard drive slot of all 2011 MBPs are 6 GB/s, or SATA3.

The optical drive slot on the newer built 2011s are SATA 3 as well, if you got one earlier (feb or march) it's probably only SATA 2.

Buying the cheapest sata 3 SSD you can get is probably your best bet, because the speed gain going from sata 2 to 3 is a big difference.

So yes, definitely go with a SATA 3 ssd in the hard drive bay.

The hard drive on the other hand, is a SATA 2 drive, and still won't reach very high speeds (under 1.5 GB/s).

This means regardless of if your optical drive is SATA 3 or 2, you don't have to worry about the hard drive being slower.
 
Thanks for everyone's help! :)

Are there any other drawbacks to having the HDD in the optical bay? Other than the motion sensor thing. I don't think I've ever dropped my computer so hopefully I'll be ok without that
 
i think sdd in the main spot and hdd in optibay is deal. it may not matter though, i have never done it.

however it just seems to fit more to have you main boot up drive in the main location, and then your storage in the optibay. to me, anyway.
 
without trying to hijack this topic,

i found out that my optical drive has a SATA III connection (2011 13" i5). it says connection speed 6gigabit, but under it, it says 'somethingsomething' connection speed 1,5 gigabit -'negotiated', maybe? it's 2AM, can't think clearly to translate correctly.
does that mean that i can hook up a SATA III SDD via the opti-bay and use it as a boot drive without the loss of any speed?
 
It's telling you the optical drives connection is sata 3, but of course a cd drive doesn't run at that speed, so the negotiated speed (aka the speed its actually running at) is 1.5gb/s or SATA I.

So yes, assuming there aren't any problems you can put a ssd in there and run at sata 3 speeds. Though there were some articles saying there were problems with that, that was back in april and they may have been sorted out by now.
 
I have some more questions for people with optibay installed.

What was the effect on battery life?

If you have both an SSD and a platter drive did you do as most recommend and deselect 'put drives to sleep when possible'? I realize that's to accommodate the SSD but how does that impact the hard drive spinning down?

Anyone venture a guess how long it'll be before we see 1gb 2.5" drives in a 9.5 mm form factor?

I want to consolidate everything from my desktop into my MBP but there's still some refinement needed in terms of trim support and hardware/software interaction.
 
jamisonbaines said:
I have some more questions for people with optibay installed.

What was the effect on battery life?

If you have both an SSD and a platter drive did you do as most recommend and deselect 'put drives to sleep when possible'? I realize that's to accommodate the SSD but how does that impact the hard drive spinning down?

Anyone venture a guess how long it'll be before we see 1gb 2.5" drives in a 9.5 mm form factor?

I want to consolidate everything from my desktop into my MBP but there's still some refinement needed in terms of trim support and hardware/software interaction.
Click to expand...

12mm works fine..do yo need 9.5?
 
GermanyChris said:
12mm works fine..do yo need 9.5?
Click to expand...


I had read that the thicker drives only fit in select models (17") and would not fit in the optical drive space.

I would be fine with a SATA II SSD in the optibay and a thicker 1 GB in the HD spot but I'm semi interested in going with a SATA III SSD for my 2011 MBP which necessitates putting it in the HD slot thus needing a 9.5 mm drive for the optibay. The latter is the preferred solution as again I have read reports of hibernation not working properly using a boot drive in the optibay slot.
 
You need 9.5mm HDDs for the optical bay. 12.5mm drives fit just fine in the HDD bay. I'm using a 12.5mm Toshiba 1TB in my 15" MBP.

Samsung just released a 9.5mm 1TB drive not too long ago. They are $120 at macsales.com.
 
OrangeSVTguy said:
You need 9.5mm HDDs for the optical bay. 12.5mm drives fit just fine in the HDD bay. I'm using a 12.5mm Toshiba 1TB in my 15" MBP.

Samsung just released a 9.5mm 1TB drive not too long ago. They are $120 at macsales.com.
Click to expand...

It's only $89 from Newegg, although it's not released yet so the place of purchase is still moot.
 
awer25 said:
It's only $89 from Newegg, although it's not released yet so the place of purchase is still moot.
Click to expand...
pretty sure that's just a place holder, i would wait until they are actually shipping and in stock before determining the price
 
jamisonbaines said:
I had read that the thicker drives only fit in select models (17") and would not fit in the optical drive space.

I would be fine with a SATA II SSD in the optibay and a thicker 1 GB in the HD spot but I'm semi interested in going with a SATA III SSD for my 2011 MBP which necessitates putting it in the HD slot thus needing a 9.5 mm drive for the optibay. The latter is the preferred solution as again I have read reports of hibernation not working properly using a boot drive in the optibay slot.
Click to expand...

Everything works fine in mine. HDD in it's normal spot with the SSd in the optibay. I had it flipped originally but I use my computer as my MP3 player in my car and the music would skip because there is nothing to dampen vibration and the jolts that come with driving.
 
blackbinary said:
Buying the cheapest sata 3 SSD you can get is probably your best bet, because the speed gain going from sata 2 to 3 is a big difference.
Click to expand...

Are you really sure about this? Do you think my '11 MBP boots up (a) second(s) faster when moving my SSD (Intel 320) to the SATA3 port, which is currently connected with an optibay on the SATA2 port?
 
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