How can I tell which Macs have support for SATA 6.0Gb/s as opposed to only SATA 3.0Gb/s?? Also does the optical bay in the MBP support SATA 6.0Gb/s? What about if I put a second HDD in a 2011 or 2012 Mac Mini?
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Macs which support SATA 6.0Gb/s??
- Thread starter bigpoppamac31
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Check out an app called MacTracker, it's free and has lots of information about almost all Apple's HW and (OS) software.
You can find out in Applications / Utilities / System Profiler ( Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and earlier ) or System Report ( Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and later) > Hardware > Serial ATA.
Don't sure if you mean this, I think what you mean is open about this mac, then click on more info, another window appears and if you click on System Report an application called System profiler/information will open, lots of information there about the mac.
You don't need to open About this Mac for this, System Profiler/information is located in Applications/Utilities or type a few letters in Spotlight.
Yeah "System Report" is what I meant. Anyway I checked mactracker and it says my Early 2011 MBP 15" supports both SATA 3Gb/s and 6Gb/s. Does that depend on which 15" one would have??
Are you talking about a Mac mini or a MBP? In the 2011 MBP series, the SATA 3Gb/s and 6Gb/s issue is more complicated than it seems at first glance. You should check out this info:
Partial quote from OWC's HP:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DDAMBS0GB/
"Special compatibility notes related to use of this product (optical bay Data Doubler) with 6Gb/s SSDs in the following machines:
2011 MacBook Pro 15" (Model ID MacBookPro8,2)
2011 MacBook Pro 17" (Model ID MacBookPro8,3)
OPTICAL BAY: The optical bay interface in these machines may either be SATA Revision 2.0 3Gb/s OR SATA Revision 3.0 6Gb/s. There is no way to specify/order this data interface with Apple, but you can confirm what interface/link speed version your optical bay offers via the Apple System Profiler. Testing has demonstrated that Apple factory hardware does not reliably support a 6G (6Gb/s) Solid State Drive or Hard Disk Drive in the optical bay of 2011 MacBook Pros (ModeI ID8,1; 8,2; 8,3). If your OWC Data Doubler bundle comes with a 6G drive, you should ONLY install that drive in the main drive bay and utilize the Data Doubler to re-task your existing drive or install a new 3G SSD or HDD in the optical bay. PRE-2011 models can utilize a 6G drive in the optical bay, but will do so at a reduced 3G (3Gb/s) speed.
Yeah I remember reading about that on their site which is why I asked. I'm actually going to be selling my 2011 MBP due to financial reasons. But when I regain a new (or refurb) Mac I'll likely grab a 2012 model. Either a "traditional" MBP or Mac Mini. Either of those I can have two HDD (or SSD) and 6Gb/s may make things that much faster.
EDIT: I was just watching the install video for the OWC Data Doubler and it said that the 2012 MBP does NOT reliably support SATA 6Gb/s in the optical bay. They suggest only using a 3Gb/s drive in the optical bay.
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