Macbook Pro HDD in Optibay

[modstorm]

Hi! I currently have a Macbook Pro 13 with an SSD installed. I have also purchased an Optibay and an extra HDD and was thinking about installing it instead of the Superdrive. Is there a way that I can set the HDD to activate only while on Windows and remain shutdown while on OS X ? (I dont want any risks with the HDD on OS X as I will only use it on Bootcamp)

Thanks

 

[mikeo007]

You should be able to hide the partition from OSX, but there's no way to actually cut power to the drive. That would require a physical toggle of some sort I believe.

 

[modstorm]

You should be able to hide the partition from OSX, but there's no way to actually cut power to the drive. That would require a physical toggle of some sort I believe.

So practically I'll still need to be careful to avoid any sudden movements to the Macbook right ?

 

[maflynn]

Why not put the SSD in the optibay and the HD in the hard drive bay, that way the sudden motion sensor will work as expected

 

[bozz2006]

Most hard drives these days have sudden motion sensors built in. Do some google-investigating and see if your hard drive has it. Then you have no worries.

 

[ahdickter]

You could give this a shot:


http://blog.macsales.com/13349-quick-tip-save-battery-by-spinning-down-hard-drive-sooner

 

[dusk007]

So practically I'll still need to be careful to avoid any sudden movements to the Macbook right ?

No you don't.
a) notebook HDDs can sustain quite a lot of sudden movements. You really need to crash the thing on a hard surface to do damage. Just carrying it in your hand and moving it around even quickly you can will not produce enough G force to do damage. I your muscles don't go to 0 immediatly and don't accelerate fast enough.
b) if it is spun down. It is like off. Just spin it down. Automatic open terminal
sudo pmset -a disksleep 2
it will spin down after 2 minutes idle. Yet unfortunately spin up everytime you open a save dialog. Very annoying if you never use it.

Use a script to unmount the drive on startup. When unmounted it will also spindown and stay down until you open diskutility and click it. A spun down drive is pretty much off there is only very little power consumption left about 100-150mW.
Just google OSX OR Mac unmount script

 

[modstorm]

Thanks for the replies The HDD is the Apple 320GB that came with the MBP so I guess it should have a sudden motion sensor. I didnt put the SSD in the Optibay to have SATA 3 (as far as I know an Optibay can only support up to SATA 2).

Thanks