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Just Ordered Force Series 3, Optibay

clickclickw00t said:
I'm assuming its SATA3. I don't think it really matters, I think the important part is the speed on the chipset...
Click to expand...

If a 5,400rpm or 7,200rpm HDD goes in there like a WD Scorpio Black 750gb, even SATA I would be more or less enough, as the speeds of 2.5" drives will never saturate SATA II and especially SATA II.

Look at these benchmarks:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...pio-black-750gb-2-5-hard-drive-review-10.html

According to the benchmark, 126mb/s is the real world speed for that drive, SATA I @ 1.5Gbs maxes out at 187.5mb/s (1.5 gigabits = 187.5 megabytes).
 
wikus said:
If a 5,400rpm or 7,200rpm HDD goes in there like a WD Scorpio Black 750gb, even SATA I would be more or less enough, as the speeds of 2.5" drives will never saturate SATA II and especially SATA II.

Look at these benchmarks:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...pio-black-750gb-2-5-hard-drive-review-10.html

According to the benchmark, 126mb/s is the real world speed for that drive, SATA I @ 1.5Gbs maxes out at 187.5mb/s (1.5 gigabits = 187.5 megabytes).
Click to expand...

burst speed is affected though
 
JR1993 said:
Im in the market for a macbook pro 15". I will order it with the standard HDD, and buy either Force 3 or Vertex 3 for it, 120GB. How hard are they to install? I would be confident putting it in (built hi-spec PC 2 years ago), its the installing im worried about. Is there any really technical stuff? Or just put in OS CD and off we go?
Click to expand...

Its actually pitifully easy, almost easier than installing it in a desktop tower.

Remove screws from back of MBP. About 10 screws
Remove back cover.
4 Screws around the HD.
Remove the HD. Remove the torx screws on its sides.
Put the torx screws on new HD.
Close MBP

Boot with OSX disc that came with the laptop
 
clickclickw00t said:
Its actually pitifully easy, almost easier than installing it in a desktop tower.

Remove screws from back of MBP. About 10 screws
Remove back cover.
4 Screws around the HD.
Remove the HD. Remove the torx screws on its sides.
Put the torx screws on new HD.
Close MBP

Boot with OSX disc that came with the laptop
Click to expand...

Sounds easy then, haha. I could do that. When I get the MBP I think I will stick with the HDD a little while, see how it goes.

The only problem is storage. I would only ever afford a 120GB SSD, never 240GB. However, I have used my current PC for 2 years, never reinstalled OS so all the crap I have ever used is still here somewhere, and I have only used 70GB of the 320GB available (this is a HDD). So my idea was to use HDD for a few weeks, where I will have installed most of what I would want to, then see how much is used.

Just a side question, how easy is it to transfer everything from HDD to SSD without using pc, when ive just got a mbp. Reason I ask, I cant see how i would connect two drives at once.
 
bozz2006 said:
Great! What's the SATA link speed on that optibay?
Click to expand...

Just go an email from the ebay seller, it is unfortunately SATAI 1.5gbs.

I may still buy it seeing how I would only use the drive inside the caddy for storage of music, movies, photos, documents and backups, nothing too intense on read/write issues to require 187.5mb/s speeds, thats what an SSD drive would be for in the main bay.

However, if anyone has SATA II or SATA III optibay for a reasonable price, please post a link!
 
I ordered one a couple days ago. It'll be a while before it arrives. But when i asked him about speed, he said he could only guarantee SATAI speeds. This doesn't mean that it won't negotiate faster link speeds, which I ultimately believe it will. I think he just doesn't want to over-promise and under-deliver, which I respect. Like you, in the end I'm just gonna use it to store media so even SATAI should be fine for that coupled with a slow HDD.
 
bozz2006 said:
I ordered one a couple days ago. It'll be a while before it arrives. But when i asked him about speed, he said he could only guarantee SATAI speeds. This doesn't mean that it won't negotiate faster link speeds, which I ultimately believe it will. I think he just doesn't want to over-promise and under-deliver, which I respect. Like you, in the end I'm just gonna use it to store media so even SATAI should be fine for that coupled with a slow HDD.
Click to expand...

Can you let us know what the speed is when you get it? It'd be nice to know if its SATA II (peace of mind).
 
bozz,

Are you talking about Nimitz? If so thats ******, but I'm almost sure that the port is a pass-through port meaning it won't slow the speeds down at all. Remains to be seen. Mine has already shipped so I'm just waiting for it (should be here by the end of the week
 
clickclickw00t said:
bozz,

Are you talking about Nimitz? If so thats ******, but I'm almost sure that the port is a pass-through port meaning it won't slow the speeds down at all. Remains to be seen. Mine has already shipped so I'm just waiting for it (should be here by the end of the week
Click to expand...

I hope this is true! I looked around on ebay and found a listing titled '2nd HDD caddy Apple MacBook OptiBay SuperDrive SATA II'

http://cgi.ebay.com/2nd-HDD-caddy-A...C_Drives_Storage_Internal&hash=item1c1bc3f896

But take a look at one of the product shots:

2011-05-13_01-29-39_421.jpg


It clearly says 'Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s'

Why would a SATA extension cable/connector using the same pins downgrade the speed? It doesn't make much sense.
 
For all the dudes in this thread that ordered the Force Series 3 from Newegg, call Newegg up and give them promo code HARDOCPX6X1A and tell them that it is $25 off. They send you a $25 gift card or credit it back to your Credit Card.

I just did it. W00T!
There is also a $30 rebate from corsair on these drive. Look it up.
 
Finally got a chance to test my drive.
Using AJA I got:
Write: 476.3
Read 459.2

My Peaks were:
Write: 529.3 (well over the 510 advertised)
Read: 513.8 (Well under advertised)

On my OWC 240 SATA2 I got 1MB over the advertised Read and 5 under the advertised write. My Write on my Corsair also has random Write drops to the 150MB range. I'm going to send a copy of my test to Corsair and see what they say, but it might just be that it's early firmware.


EDIT: After doing a few more test I have gotten results of R: 513 W:534, and the speed still has random drops but they are only to 340's this time. Averages are up to 485/475.
 
Last edited:
wikus said:
It clearly says 'Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s'

Why would a SATA extension cable/connector using the same pins downgrade the speed? It doesn't make much sense.
Click to expand...

It doesn't affect the speed, it just says that because most people are using it for that drive. Kinda like when an HDMI cable says "HDMI 1.3" - it works for HDMI 1.4 too.
 
romeo21 said:
What is everyones battery life like on these drives?
Click to expand...

Last night I was sitting idle on a 100% battery and it said 11hrs. With some web browsing it came down to 9:44 but I have not run down a full battery yet.
 
Hey AltecXP which drive do you like more your OWC or Force 3?? Which would you recommend? im lookin at gettin a SATA III SSD really soon...thinkin OWC 120GB 6G
 
altecXP said:
Last night I was sitting idle on a 100% battery and it said 11hrs. With some web browsing it came down to 9:44 but I have not run down a full battery yet.
Click to expand...

11 hours? are you running wifi? i assume bluetooth is off. is your monitor completely dim? no keybaord backlight?

11 hours seems like too much. I get 7 hours tops.
 
Installed a corsair force 3 in my 2011 MBP and it works perfectly so far (touch wood). Coming from a 5400rpm HDD, this thing is amazingly fast.

Just wanted to add my input since there seems to be so many horror stories with the initial batch of drives.
 
kappaman210 said:
Installed a corsair force 3 in my 2011 MBP and it works perfectly so far (touch wood). Coming from a 5400rpm HDD, this thing is amazingly fast.

Just wanted to add my input since there seems to be so many horror stories with the initial batch of drives.
Click to expand...

Glad to hear someone else is having good results as well.
What speeds are you getting in AJA? DO they match mine?
 
clickclickw00t:

Does you SSD have trim enabled? I know the drive itself does, but have you got it to work in OSX yet?

Thanks
 
clickclickw00t said:
11 hours? are you running wifi? i assume bluetooth is off. is your monitor completely dim? no keybaord backlight?

11 hours seems like too much. I get 7 hours tops.
Click to expand...

I finally got a full run out of it. I do most my work at night in a dim room so my KB is typically on notch 1-2 and my LCD on 2-4 range. I have bluetooth off and wifi on.. I had Mail, Adium and Safari open.

She managed 7:04
 
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