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MCE Optibay Alternative CHEAP

thesmoth said:
Does this void the warranty?

I have 2.5 years of applecare let so no way i'm risking that.
Click to expand...

I'm in the same boat as you but the HDD is user swappable item so I wouldnt think it would void any warranty. Removing the Optical Drive might but if you are careful, there is no way Apple would know.
 
Actually, replacing any part of your system (excluding harddrive and ram) is voiding your warranty.
They won't know, but zey have vays of making you talk!
 
Software update just reported a Firmware update for my MacBook Pro 17" unibody. EFI Firmware version 1.8. It's supposed to fix the loud noise the CD drive makes when waking from sleep. I hated that noise.

But... I am a bit scared to install this. There's no CD drive anymore, after all. Can't afford to screw my production machine, and there is no going back from firmware updates. So I am going to pass on this for now.

Anyone with the HD modification wanna go first? 😉
 
Are there any alternatives to the hacked Air Superdrive? I ordered mine when I ordered my X25-M 160 and caddy today, before I read this thread. What a stupid thing for Apple to do, make it useless for any other machine.

If there is a nearly as slim option that will work without a mod, then I will refuse shipment on the regular superdrive that is to show up Thursday. I did find this and it seems to be working for Mac users, thickness is .74 versus the MBA drive's .67, it is also a 1/2 in longer, looks good to me:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151177
 
Macshroomer said:
Are there any alternatives to the hacked Air Superdrive? I ordered mine when I ordered my X25-M 160 and caddy today, before I read this thread. What a stupid thing for Apple to do, make it useless for any other machine.

If there is a nearly as slim option that will work without a mod, then I will refuse shipment on the regular superdrive that is to show up Thursday. I did find this and it seems to be working for Mac users, thickness is .74 versus the MBA drive's .67, it is also a 1/2 in longer, looks good to me:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151177
Click to expand...

I've seen very slim Mac-like external super drives from Samsung and LG in the mall here in Asia. Cost about $60. The Samsung one was black. I think I'll pick it up later.

In hindsight, I wish I'd gotten the 160 as well... sigh. I can do with the 80 but it's nearly full
 
orthorim said:
Software update just reported a Firmware update for my MacBook Pro 17" unibody. EFI Firmware version 1.8. It's supposed to fix the loud noise the CD drive makes when waking from sleep. I hated that noise.

But... I am a bit scared to install this. There's no CD drive anymore, after all. Can't afford to screw my production machine, and there is no going back from firmware updates. So I am going to pass on this for now.

Anyone with the HD modification wanna go first? 😉
Click to expand...


Eh, I'm still in warranty, so what the hell. I'm posting from my 5,1 Pro after updating to 1.8. I have the 7.99 ebay generic optibay knockoff, with a 128 GB Kingston SSD in it. Scorpio Blue 500GB in regular HDD bay. No problems updating, Pro started right up. System profiler shows the chipset is still operating a 3 gigabits, so nothing funny happened like knocking the optical drive down to 1.5.
I haven't applied the actual superdrive update since my superdrive is 30 miles away at the moment. Probably won't ever do it since it probably won't ever get back into my Pro.
Ran a few apps that hit the Scorpio for storage, no issues. Fusion starts my Win7 VM, iTunes still sees my music, iPhoto sees my pics. I'll know better after a full day's workload, but for now I'm calling it a success.
 
just got the new mode us caddy today.

install was a breeze in my 15" MBP.

I have a 128gb OCZ SSD in the HD spot and the 500gb stock drive in the optical bay.
 
I ended up canceling the MBA drive in time and got the Samsung from New Egg.

I get all my install goodies tomorrow:

MCE Optibay, ( I know, there are cheaper options )
160GB X25-M G2, OWC
8 GB ram from OWC

So this will be a 2.53 with the 160 in the HDD slot, 320 Scorpio Black in the Optibay. I have a feeling this is going just bury my MacPro in terms of OS and Apps startup, shutdown. Now if only one could get a ripping fast SD card to use a PS scratch disk, that would be perfecto!

I have to say, I am super stoked to hear the reports on battery life when just running the SSD, this is a computer that is going to be on the road for just over 300 days next year.
 
This is just an FYI post...

If anyone is on the fence about doing this, its a super easy mod. You wont regret it. I certainly enjoyed it while I had it.

If anyone is interested in the Caddy from NewModUS and the MBA SuperDrive that's been modded to work on any computer, you can either PM me or check out my FS thread.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/833232/

Thanks all for your great information.:apple:😀
 
Macshroomer said:
I ended up canceling the MBA drive in time and got the Samsung from New Egg.

I get all my install goodies tomorrow:

MCE Optibay, ( I know, there are cheaper options )
160GB X25-M G2, OWC
8 GB ram from OWC

So this will be a 2.53 with the 160 in the HDD slot, 320 Scorpio Black in the Optibay. I have a feeling this is going just bury my MacPro in terms of OS and Apps startup, shutdown. Now if only one could get a ripping fast SD card to use a PS scratch disk, that would be perfecto!

I have to say, I am super stoked to hear the reports on battery life when just running the SSD, this is a computer that is going to be on the road for just over 300 days next year.
Click to expand...

A bit of shopping could have saved you quite a bit. You could have saved $60 by getting the SSD from TigerDirect, $70 by getting the RAM from Neweeg and a bit more by getting a cheaper caddy. ~$150 gone like the wind...
 
Sneakz said:
A bit of shopping could have saved you quite a bit. You could have saved $60 by getting the SSD from TigerDirect, $70 by getting the RAM from Neweeg and a bit more by getting a cheaper caddy. ~$150 gone like the wind...
Click to expand...

LOL, you sure assume a lot..🙂.

I did not see any 8 GB DDR3 ( 2 x 4 ) kits in stock at New Egg.

I have an account at OWC that is linked to my business, not only do I get a discount, it is all a total tax write off. And I am fairly picky about ram too, my time is more valuable than saving a few bucks. I look for bargains on toilet paper, but not my equipment.

And to be honest, I have actually been trying to buy as many things as I can in stores, especially mom and pop types. I am tired of hearing of friends and great niche companies going out of business because of the lousy internet.
 
MrMyth said:
Eh, I'm still in warranty, so what the hell. I'm posting from my 5,1 Pro after updating to 1.8. I have the 7.99 ebay generic optibay knockoff, with a 128 GB Kingston SSD in it. Scorpio Blue 500GB in regular HDD bay. No problems updating, Pro started right up. System profiler shows the chipset is still operating a 3 gigabits, so nothing funny happened like knocking the optical drive down to 1.5.
I haven't applied the actual superdrive update since my superdrive is 30 miles away at the moment. Probably won't ever do it since it probably won't ever get back into my Pro.
Ran a few apps that hit the Scorpio for storage, no issues. Fusion starts my Win7 VM, iTunes still sees my music, iPhoto sees my pics. I'll know better after a full day's workload, but for now I'm calling it a success.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, that's great news!!

I wonder if the EFI update fixes anything else besides the SuperDrive firmware... like, say, a fix for the sleepimage problem when the startup disk is in the SuperDrive slot. So far I have not had a successful hibernation cycle with the mod installed. I know I could just move the SSD / startup disk to the HD spot, but I'm lazy and I'd have to take everything apart again...
 
Macshroomer said:
LOL, you sure assume a lot..🙂.

I did not see any 8 GB DDR3 ( 2 x 4 ) kits in stock at New Egg.

I have an account at OWC that is linked to my business, not only do I get a discount, it is all a total tax write off. And I am fairly picky about ram too, my time is more valuable than saving a few bucks. I look for bargains on toilet paper, but not my equipment.
Click to expand...

Thread title might explain why there's many bargain hunters here 😉

I like to save money too, but I like to save time/hassle even more.
 
orthorim said:
Thanks for the info, that's great news!!

I wonder if the EFI update fixes anything else besides the SuperDrive firmware... like, say, a fix for the sleepimage problem when the startup disk is in the SuperDrive slot. So far I have not had a successful hibernation cycle with the mod installed. I know I could just move the SSD / startup disk to the HD spot, but I'm lazy and I'd have to take everything apart again...
Click to expand...

Sorry, no joy there. I run in whatever sleep mode that doesn't write an image upon sleep, and waking from sleep is still 1 in 3 for me with SSD in optical. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I finally got tired of it and switched the SSD to regular this morning.
 
Anyone know of which 320 and 500 GB drives have SMS natively installed? My 320 WD does not have it as it is in the regular bay but it might prove wise to get an SMS drive and put it in the optical bay.

Also, Orthorim, what did you have to do to remove the superdrive in terms of tape removal, etc? I notice there is a piece of tape on the battery that extends over to the DVD.

Mine is a unibody 13 with the built in battery...
 
Wow what a thread. Like a roller coaster 😛

Well I ordered the 160 Intel SSD and already have a 500 GB in my 17" Unibody now.

So here is my game plan, can someone confirm if it is a sound plan.

1) move every non-essential (music, videos, pdf's, pics, etc) off the HD to a backup drive.

2) get the original HD under 160 GB. Basically as small as I can.

3) Use Super Duper to clone the (less then 160 gb) Original drive. to an external.

4) install the SSD in the newmode bay, and keep the original 500 GB in the HD area.

5) boot from firewire drive that has the (less then 160 gb) main drive image

6) use disk utility to format and setup partition on the ssd

7) restore firewire image to the SSD.

8) change startup disk to the SSD.

9) copy video's, pics, music, etc to the 500 gb drive.

10) restart everything

My question is this. Is there a benefit to doing a fresh install on the ssd or is a restore from a superduper image just fine?

Any holes in my plan??

Thanks for the help.
 
Pretty much the same questions I have, I am thinking of changing the start up disk to the boot clone before I do the swap to ensure less hassle from the OS looking for the boot drive.

But I am going with the SSD in the HDD slot due to the sleep issues folks have had here. I am one who believes that symptoms could be an indicator of other things lurking, so why chance it. I figure I will be rigorous at backing up the HDD in the optical slot at first to ensure it is doing OK w/o SMS. It if becomes an issue, I will just buy another drive with SMS onboard and swap it out.

I am asking the same questions here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/833419/

Nothing like being a public Alpha / Beta tester for :apple: on products they don't even make yet..😀
 
It getting faster now, things are setting in. I am opening 300 MB photoshop files instantly. The MCE Optibay enclosure had holes that were a little off, I had to dremel them. Other than that, the whole hardware swap was less than an hour. The OS install took me 4 though, I decided to do a clean install and then careful moving of files.

Sleep is good, mount / unmount is fine, so far, so good. I decided to get some laps in while waiting on the migration, note sticker....😀😀
 

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Macshroomer said:
It getting faster now, things are setting in. I am opening 300 MB photoshop files instantly. The MCE Optibay enclosure had holes that were a little off, I had to dremel them. Other than that, the whole hardware swap was less than an hour. The OS install took me 4 though, I decided to do a clean install and then careful moving of files.

Sleep is good, mount / unmount is fine, so far, so good. I decided to get some laps in while waiting on the migration, note sticker....😀😀
Click to expand...

Did you put the SSD in the optibay or the original hd area?
 
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