MCE Optibay Alternative CHEAP

[fishbert]

I've read through all the pages of this thread, saw some pretty pictures, and am aware of 4 different ways to cram a 2nd hard drive in the optical bay:

1 - MCE Optibay: $99
2 - NewModeUS caddy: $42
3 - IBM caddy: $30
4 - "tape-n-wires": cheap

I'm only interested in #1 and #2, but I can't decide between them. The price difference is significant, but I can be anal about imperfections, and given that the MCE caddy can mount to all three original optical drive mounting points (right?), I suspect it will be less prone to small rattles, vibration noise, etc. (is this true?) Plus, you also get a small set of tools with the MCE option -- yeah, they're cheap, but it makes the price a little easier to swallow.

So, I guess my question is:

For all those out there with the NewModeUS caddy, how secure is the front of the caddy where it doesn't get screwed down?
From what I've read, it seems an acceptable fit, but how good is it really?
"excellent" … "snug as a bug" … "good enough" … "not too annoying" … "well, it doesn't fall out"?​

This is for a 15" unibody (2009 — without the battery/HDD access door), btw.

 

[bblboy54]

I've read through all the pages of this thread, saw some pretty pictures, and am aware of 4 different ways to cram a 2nd hard drive in the optical bay:

1 - MCE Optibay: $99
2 - NewModeUS caddy: $42
3 - IBM caddy: $30
4 - "tape-n-wires": cheap

I'm only interested in #1 and #2, but I can't decide between them. The price difference is significant, but I can be anal about imperfections, and given that the MCE caddy can mount to all three original optical drive mounting points (right?), I suspect it will be less prone to small rattles, vibration noise, etc. (is this true?) Plus, you also get a small set of tools with the MCE option -- yeah, they're cheap, but it makes the price a little easier to swallow.

So, I guess my question is:

For all those out there with the NewModeUS caddy, how secure is the front of the caddy where it doesn't get screwed down?
From what I've read, it seems an acceptable fit, but how good is it really?
"excellent" … "snug as a bug" … "good enough" … "not too annoying" … "well, it doesn't fall out"?​

This is for a 15" unibody (2009 — without the battery/HDD access door), btw.

The MCE OptiBay doesn't get screwed down in front either.... actually, it only uses 2 of the 3 screws. My first impression of the MCE bay was literally "I paid $100 for this piece of metal?" ... I havent seen the NewModeUS version but I HIGHLY doubt that there is any real difference to them at all. Also, I *FINALLY* did get my external enclosure and I was even more disappointed in that.... it doesn't even have a front faceplate at all.... it literally looks like a $15 enclosure you could buy at Microcenter for any optical drive...... In all honesty, having seen what I got from MCE before purchasing I don't think I would have paid more than $40 for it.

 

[fishbert]

The MCE OptiBay doesn't get screwed down in front either.... actually, it only uses 2 of the 3 screws. ... I havent seen the NewModeUS version but I HIGHLY doubt that there is any real difference to them at all.

Hmm… I guess I don't know if the MCE screws down, but judging by a couple youtube videos of people installing both it and the NewModeUS version, the MCE appears to have two little screw-hole tabs at the front (similar to the optical drive), while the NewModeUS one does not.

Videos:
NewModeUS caddy (it's the PATA version, but same form factor, I think)
MCE Optibay (the guy talks about how MCE says there are no front mounting screw holes, but you can clearly see them in the video around 4m37s)

In any case, I ordered the NewModeUS part earlier today, so I'll see how that goes. It was the poor customer service stories with MCE that swayed me.

Now if anyone knows how to split your user directory off to another drive, and mount it seamlessly back to where OS X expects it to be… =)

 

[Macshroomer]

I used all three screw positions on the MCE caddy, although the distance between the two fronts was incorrect, had to file the holes a bit. The Superdrive case is OK, I did some mods to it to make it work better and yes, the lack of a face plate is odd. Overall, I have certainly been less happy than this with a sub-$100 purchase, so all in all, I am happy with the MCE kit.

 

[EspressoLove]

It seems like there would be a hack to get the sms working on any mounted HDD. Unfortunately I am not skilled enough to know what that might be. Is is part of the OS or firmware?

I'd imagine that it should be firmware (though it sounds like SMS is not working when you shutting-down or sleeping your MBP). So it well might be somewhere in OS.

Things is function that governs hard cut-off for OptiBay is most definitely in firmware. So it potentially could be even more disastrous to HDD when SMS and hard cut-off collide some in unfortunate for HDD combination.
(So the advice to not to move your MBP when it's shutting down is even more important with HDD in OptiBay)

 

[bware189]

Small detail, you can no longer install your OS via DVD, it is now full of hard drive, remember?

I booted off of an external then shut down before switching things around. After I was done tinkering, I booted off the external again and then cloned off of my original drive now in the optical bay onto the SSD.

All this said, I agree with the boot drive remaining in the stock drive slot, it is just asking for trouble doing it any other way and it works great, hit a 280 today in XBench disk test, rocking fast. Since my music collection on my portables is only 15GB, I left it on the SSD so I can avoid mounting the 2nd drive while on flights and such. I put in the Intel 160 G2, I have right at 100GB free space remaining.

The only thing that is on the storage drive is photos, full motion / timelapse work and various documents. I am typing this right now only using the SSD.

I have noticed some odd things though, a few things will make the optical bay drive spin up even when not mounted:

1. Dashboard, iStat Pro wants to read it, spins.
2. Disk Utility, if I select it, the disk spins.
3. Waking from sleep when not mounted it spins.
4. Disk Utility will unmount it, but it will still spin.

The only way I can unmount the hard drive in the optical position and get it to stop spinning is to select then eject it.

I am doing essentially everything that you are doing to a T, and noticing similar things.
iStat Pro does not cause the disk to spin so long as it isn't mounted.

I have my bootcamp partition on the old hitachi, so whenever I do a restart from win7, it hard boots (sorta sounds like its skidding, not the usual sound). This happens also when I shutdown from OSX, and is probably related to the SMS problem of the optical bay. It would be nice if someone could develop a method for getting OSX to recognize the optibay similarly to the bootdisk bay. The hard booting during a restart or shutdown happens whether or not the drive is mounted.

I think we should clarify few things on DD locations and SMS.
(they are bit offtopic related to cheap MCE replacements, but we seem to have a lot of traction here)

1. OptiBay is a hack. It never was intended to host HDD. It apparently shuts down on sleep/etc, without a chance for anything to get saved back to HDD.
Just like you would load OSX from SD card reader, and then yank it without proper shutdown.

1a. hence RAID 0 is asking for a MPITA (put on my flame-retardant suit )

2. SMS is not part of a drive. Apparently it's external "device".
(Remember problems users (uMBP only?) had recently when used 3rd party HDDs with integral SMS'like features)

2a. Though you have SMS on board, it won't work with your HDD in OptiBay - it only targets drive in "HDDBay"
(in this case (SSD+HDD in OptiBay) it makes sense to disable SMS, and buy HDD with intergated OS'agnostic "SMS")

This all is IMHO & AFAIK.
Please help expand it with your knowledge and experience.

I really have to agree with the above. Is there a thread as legendary as this one that could accommodate a solution to this problem?
Edit: does anyone know of a method to keep the optibay HDD from automatically mounting upon boot? It would be nice to have a method for the HDD to not even boot unless directed to. It would probably have to be EFI related though.

 

[orthorim]

So, I guess my question is:

For all those out there with the NewModeUS caddy, how secure is the front of the caddy where it doesn't get screwed down?
From what I've read, it seems an acceptable fit, but how good is it really?
"excellent" … "snug as a bug" … "good enough" … "not too annoying" … "well, it doesn't fall out"?​

In my 2009 unibody 17" the NewModeus is rock solid in there. It's almost too big, the fit is incredibly snug. That thing doesn't move a millimeter, let alone rattle.

I was very concerned about the caddy flopping around. So I decided to glue a tiny, slim piece of foam on top of the NewModeus caddy. The idea was that the computer backside would then hold the whole thing down. I went to close the computer, and, to my horror, I had a slight bulge where the piece of foam was. That's how little margin there is - you can't even place a thin piece of foam on top of it. I took the back off again, removed the foam, put it back on, and all was good. I am sure there's contact between the back plate and the caddy.

 

[bigp655]

They never sent me my free superdrive case.... It was on the order confirmation in my email.... but then it wasn't on the packing list. No one will respond to my emails.... they also sent me the wrong documentation CD and I ended up having to figure it all out myself. I think I would have been BETTER off doing a DIY solution than dealing with MCE's OptiBay

Yeah I emailed them about the lack of a faceplate for the ext drive and they never emailed me back either. Their communication skills are severly lacking it seems.

 

[deathtotoasters]

My xbench test for the drive alone came back at 250.90.

 

[Greg K]

So about a week or more ago, my Newmodeus OBHC arrived. Only tonight did I get around to fitting the HDD into it.

I bought a 2.5" 320GB SATA HDD. I removed the top of the OBHC (I order a PATA one because I have a 2007 SR MBP 3,1 and because of this comment).

I went to fit my HDD but I can't because the internal interface is PATA. I understand that I need a PATA caddy because the external interface is PATA but in my naivety I thought I could still install a SATA HDD.

I guess I have a SATA drive to eBay and have to buy a PATA HDD to go in my OBHC?

 

[rgarjr]

I was running real low on storage space on my intel 80GB SSD so I brought home a WD 640GB drive and went inside my caddy.

 

[rgarjr]

So I swapped drive locations. Will see if it has trouble sleeping, like some of you are saying.

 

[orthorim]

Anyone upgraded their SSD firmware yet? I am not sure how to do it without CD/DVD, yeah I haven't gotten around to getting the external one yet. Also I like a challenge.

I put the ISO from the Intel website on a USB stick under Windows as it wouldn't work in Disk Utility - I guess it doesn't recognize the ISO. Now I have a bootable USB. However, I can't select it as startup disk - maybe I need to install Bootcamp to do that? It has some sort of Linux bootloader.

 

[bware189]

So I swapped drive locations. Will see if it has trouble sleeping, like some of you are saying.

Any verdict on the sleeping problems? Also, how is the HDD holding up? Noticing any hard shutdowns or sleeping problems also?

 

[rgarjr]

I decided I didn't need all that much storage space so I returned the 640GB drive and just installed my OEM 250GB one on the HDD bay.

When I close the lid, it takes like 20 seconds for the sleep light to start blinking and go to sleep. It wakes up from sleep just fine however.

So that's the only thing I noticed that it takes a little longer for it to go to sleep.

 

[orthorim]

I decided I didn't need all that much storage space so I returned the 640GB drive and just installed my OEM 250GB one on the HDD bay.

When I close the lid, it takes like 20 seconds for the sleep light to start blinking and go to sleep. It wakes up from sleep just fine however.

So that's the only thing I noticed that it takes a little longer for it to go to sleep.

The only thing that doesn't work is hibernation mode, and you'd only notice that if the system ran out of battery while sleeping.

It works like this: When the system goes to sleep, it writes the entire contents of RAM into the hibernation file. Then, it sleeps. It uses a tiny amount of battery while sleeping. But as long as there is still battery left, it will wake from sleep normally, without ever using the hibernation file. Only when the battery runs out completely, the system will shut off (you'll notice the blinking sleep light is off). Then, when you restart, it will use the hibernation file to get back to where you left off.

It's only the last part, loading the hibernation file when the system shut off, that doesn't work with the SSD in the optibay.

 

[rgarjr]

So are you saying that the only time it will make a difference is when you completely drain the battery (leaving a few days sleeping)?

I never leave my computer sleeping enough time for it to drain the battery out so I dont see that being a problem.

 

[fotuwe]

@rgarjr: Why did you acutally swap the position? Youre booting with the SSD I guess - so why put it in the Optibay?

 

[steffi]

Macs thru their EFI have limitation in that they can only boot OSX from USB.

Anyone upgraded their SSD firmware yet? I am not sure how to do it without CD/DVD, yeah I haven't gotten around to getting the external one yet. Also I like a challenge.

I put the ISO from the Intel website on a USB stick under Windows as it wouldn't work in Disk Utility - I guess it doesn't recognize the ISO. Now I have a bootable USB. However, I can't select it as startup disk - maybe I need to install Bootcamp to do that? It has some sort of Linux bootloader.

 

[orthorim]

So are you saying that the only time it will make a difference is when you completely drain the battery (leaving a few days sleeping)?

Yes, that's exactly what I am saying.

I have had it happen only when I ignored the low battery warning and worked right through 0% battery when the computer shuts off automatically.

You can also install SmartSleep (freeware) which allows you to turn off hibernation completely. Saves 4GB on the SSD...

 

[rgarjr]

Okay the machine was having intermittent trouble going to sleep whenever I would close my lid. Sometimes it would go to sleep fine after about 1/2 a minute, other times it would not sleep.

So I just reverted back to having my SSD (boot disk) on the HDD bay and the storage drive on the opticaddy.

 

[orthorim]

Macs thru their EFI have limitation in that they can only boot OSX from USB.

I banged my head against the proverbial wall yesterday all day - it would appear that you are correct. I had a bona fide bootable USB stick, it booted OK on my Windows laptop. Not working on Mac. I was hoping that installing Boot Camp would enable it in the EFI firmware - to no avail. I figured that if I can boot Windows... well surely I can then also boot Windows from an external USB?

There's a program called refit (freeware on sourceforge) that I think will make booting from USB - anything work. Maybe that's what I'll have to do.

But before I install this... do you think an external USB DVD drive would work? Or an external FireWire drive? Does anyone know the technical reason for this limitation?

It seems weird to me that I can apparently - according to the Intel instructions - simply burn their ISO onto a CD-ROM, then boot from CD on a Mac by holding down 'C', and have it all work. E.g. it will boot into DOS, and install the SSD firmware update.

 

[MikeSantor]

There's a program called refit (freeware on sourceforge) that I think will make booting from USB - anything work. Maybe that's what I'll have to do.

Sorry I don't have any technical info on this but I can tell you a little from experience. about 6 months ago when I was still REALLY fresh into my OS X journey I was trying to Run BackTrack3 (a linux distro if you are not familiar ) and I could not get it to boot from USB. I tried downloading several copies of the bootable backtrack that are available and nothing worked. I was on OS X 10.5.2 running refit with Windows XP. Only way I could boot was burning to a DVD and booting from that.

So I don't know if refit will solve your usb booting problem.


.02

Keeop us posted on what you find out.

 

[milton.sheaf]

hey, here is some pictures on a optibay alternative,

PART # : SLSATAM20 From Startech.com $9.99 CAD

pictures pretty much describe the process.

Man that's ugly hack. wires and electrical tape everywhere. I'd rather buy the optibay.

 

[milton.sheaf]

Macs thru their EFI have limitation in that they can only boot OSX from USB.

USB sucks anyhow, and doesn't always work for booting. Booting through Firewire is faster and more reliable.