if you have a usb caddy, stick it in there and format it first if you are not 100% sure.
Other than that it should recognise fine, just format it in disk utility.
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MCE Optibay Alternative CHEAP
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if you have a usb caddy, stick it in there and format it first if you are not 100% sure.
Other than that it should recognise fine, just format it in disk utility.
Sorry to bump a thread, but would this work for my macbook pro?
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180524269893
Just wondering if that piece of black plastic on the bottom right of the picture might need to be removed to fit.
I got this yesterday and installed it today. The black plastic came off very easily but noticed something. When installing it in my macbook pro on the left there are no anchors for the 2 screws that the optical drive had. I installed it without those but still had it anchored on the right to the motherboard. Is this ok or a fix?
There are the two holes on the connection side for the anchor. But no place for the two other screws on the opposite side.
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I ended up getting another one which didn't have that black plastic and had 2 anchors on the LHS as well as two screw holes for the original mount on the superdrive.
I don't think you'd have too much of an issue, but I got the other one to be safe. It was the same price anyway with express shipping.
try these
I guess I will understand more once the caddy ships. Does anyone have a good tutorial on how to do this?
Get a caddy of the correct size, and you won't have a problem. I got the newmodeus model, no taking off bits, no sawing, no nothing, it just installs. Follow the iFixit guide to remove the DVD drive.
There are many other models on this thread that don't require any modification too.
Note the newmodeus has no screws on the right side but it fits in so tightly that this isn't an issue. I tried to make it tighter still by gluing a very small piece of foam on the top - but had to take it off as that made it too big. It's extra tight as-is.
Any idea which one will fit the 2007 MBP 15"? I know I need the PATA. I don't mind spending a little extra ($100 is a little steep)... I just don't want to wait a month for the slow boat from China and then have to hacksaw stuff etc etc.... any pointers?
http://cgi.ebay.com/2nd-HDD-caddy-A...C_Drives_Storage_Internal&hash=item4152ad839a
Fits perfect, no cutting, screws in and if you message them they will give free shipping and I just ordered mine and it came in under a week.
I have the same one for an early 2008 15" MBP, fits well, took about 10 days to Germany .
Good stuff.
Weird sleep issue :
I have an SSD as boot drive in the regular HDD slot, and a WD Scorpio Black in my PATA Optibay clone (early 2008 non-unibody MBP 15").
The SSDs I tried are an OCZ Vertex 2, and an OWC , both 60GB.
I installed smart sleep, tried different settings, but the issue remains - the MBP sleeps fine, wakes up fine, I can access the drives, work, surf, etc. , but it freezes when I turn it off - only when it's been sleeping before !
So sleep leads to shut down freezes, 99% of the time, and in different ways, too.
I get grey screen with frozen wheel, blue screen with frozen beachball, frozen mouse pointer, you name it.
OS is 10.6.5 , haven't tried it with another version.
I have an SSD as boot drive in the regular HDD slot, and a WD Scorpio Black in my PATA Optibay clone (early 2008 non-unibody MBP 15").
The SSDs I tried are an OCZ Vertex 2, and an OWC , both 60GB.
I installed smart sleep, tried different settings, but the issue remains - the MBP sleeps fine, wakes up fine, I can access the drives, work, surf, etc. , but it freezes when I turn it off - only when it's been sleeping before !
So sleep leads to shut down freezes, 99% of the time, and in different ways, too.
I get grey screen with frozen wheel, blue screen with frozen beachball, frozen mouse pointer, you name it.
OS is 10.6.5 , haven't tried it with another version.
I just order the same caddy that you have. Are you saying that you only have problems when you shutdown your system? So, if you only sleep your system then no problems?
I will be interested in hearing what happens should you try the RAID 0 set-up you mention in another thread.
Agreed. The seller smk312 seems to be the best quality/price caddy on the market right now.
This is the SATA version: 2nd HDD caddy Apple OptiBay SuperDrive Replacement SATA
Specific for the MB's, with customized screw holes for perfect fitting!
Yes, there are no freezes when I wake up the MBP from sleep, and it shuts down normally if it hasn't been sleeping .
But sleep , then shutdown always results in a crash .
I even replaced the OCZ Vertex 2 with an OWC SSD, same thing happening.
Sorry to quote myself; for the record, the problem seems to be solved after a fresh OSX install, though I migrated all of the old data from a clone .
This is the first I've heard of the maxupgrades kit. I've been thinking about doing this to my Late 2009 27" iMac, but keep trying to do my research to see if the MBP kits will work for my iMac. I think I've found that the MCE Optibays work for my iMac but since everyone here is raving about maxupgrades kit and because I like the look of their enclosure, I'd like to get that one.
Does anyone know if the MBP kit (http://www.maxupgrades.com/istore/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=186) will work in my iMac?
Thanks in advance!
~Paik
Does anyone know if the MBP kit (http://www.maxupgrades.com/istore/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=186) will work in my iMac?
Thanks in advance!
~Paik
Maxupgrades adapter
So what are peoples' experiences with the maxupgrades adapter? I currently have the smk312 adapter in my 2010 uMBP 13" and like it, but it can only take 9.5mm as specified. I've seen some people manage to put 12.5mm drives in similar situations, so I'll drop my 12.5mm drive in and gauge the fit next time I have my computer open. How is the build quality, material? Is the adapter made of metal or plastic? How does the hard drive mount? Is it possible to remove the hard drive without removing the adapter from the DVD bay (so keep the adapter screwed in place, but swap drives)?
Also, from photos it looks identical to the OWC data doubler. Can anyone confirm if they are in fact the same part? If you get the data doubler with one of the OWC SSD's the price for the adapter comes down to a more reasonable $40. I can't fathom what makes those parts cost more than $70!
On another note, since we're all ripping our optical drives out, an elegant solution for an external drive is a must, so I thought I'd share my solution. I wanted something that would run off 1 usb port, was built solidly, had a slot loading bezel, and was as small as possible. The macbook air superdrive looked perfect! BUT BUT BUT! It only works with the macbook air and the mac mini server edition. There is however a workaround. It was previously thought that the external drive wouldn't work with other computers, PC's or Macs, because it needed extra current, and that the MBA had a special USB port to deliver more than the 500ma that is common, up to 1A to power the air superdrive. This was proved false though, and the lock was discovered to be in the IDE to USB adapter between the drive and the USB cable. Apple essentially added in software in the IDE adapter to nuke the usability of the drive. There are a few people claiming to have found a work around for using the drive with other MAC computers by doing some terminal work, but there are no good how-to guides and no one has a confirmed success with this solution. Even if it did work, you would be restricted to Mac OSX computers, and ones that you had previously done the workaround on, and if the drive is also bootable is also unconfirmed, so still pretty locked down. The other solution is replacing the IDE to USB adapter. This is really simple to do, just 4 wires to solder, and a $6 part off ebay. I went this route, bought a broken air superdrive and was hoping to take the superdrive out of my computer and drop it into the enclosure with the adapter (course the superdrive out of my computer has a SATA connector, so I used one of those adapters instead, the original air superdrive has a 12.7mm PATA drive). This did not work however due to the little tabs on the front of the MBP superdrive. They forced the drive to sit further back by a few millimeters which took up the space where the adapter board was going. Also, the metal brackets to hold the drive in place would need to have their screw holes filed out to position the screws just right (the 9.5mm MBP superdrive has tighter spacing between its mounting holes and some of its surfaces, making it so that the holes don't quite match up). Easy solution would be to whip out the dremel tool, but my computer has a warranty, and the apple 'genius' told me the warranty on the entire computer is void if I replace the DVD drive, so to have the upgrade be 100% reversible for warranty purposes is a must. Therefore no destructive modifications of the MBP superdrive. This was really frustrating, the stupid drive didn't fit! I ended up just buying a functional air superdrive (to add insult to injury, I got a good deal the second time around and scored the functional drive for only $1.59 more than I had bought the broken drive for!!! GRRRRR!) But I soldered in the unlocked IDE to USB adapter, kept the functional air superdrive internal drive in place, and fixed the cracked USB cable (drives on ebay go a lot cheaper if their usb cable is cracked, a common issue, but the fix is very easy if you're unsoldering all the cables anyway. I just shortened the cable about 1cm and pulled the broken insulation inside the drive and trimmed it. Looks like new, just 1cm shorter, no one would know the difference). So the functional drive cost me $31.59 shipped, the broken one was $30 and the adapter board was $6 or so shipped from China.
The drive works great! It's bootable, quick, and works on every computer I have tried it with, mac or PC, win7, xp, or osx. DVD movies play just fine, the only thing is that the eject button on the keyboard doesn't cause the disk to eject, you have to eject the disc through finder. Totally acceptable, though probably possible to work around it with a little coding, it doesn't bother me though.
Here's the link to the blog post that I followed to do the mod:
http://tnkgrl.wordpress.com/2008/06/24/macbook-air-superdrive-for-all/
The way I think of it, I use my external drive more than 10 times as often as I use optical media, so it's much more practical to have the external drive be internal and to have an external optical drive that is only slightly larger than my external drive is, and which I can take with me when I need it, and leave behind when I don't. Besides, once I install my SSD, (probably going for a 120gb OWC, but maybe 60gb... we'll see how much I want to spend!) I'll have that much more space on my previously boot drive (1TB toshiba 12.5mm) which I can fill with disk images of program installers. I usually torrent programs and OS installers so they are already hard drive storage friendly, but I have begun ripping movies off my small DVD collection and making disk images of all my program install disks. Really nice to have the program installers on the computer all the time too! If I run into a problem with Word 2008 for example (which I recently did), I can reinstall the program from wherever I happen to be, even if the disk is back home. I bought the 1TB drive for $100 shipped from newegg, at 10 cents/gb I think it is totally worth the $7 I spent to keep 70gb of installers and OS installers on my drive, one of the best $7 I've spent on my computer in fact.
If anyone wants more info on the mod, I can post photos and stuff. If you've ever done some soldering you'll be just fine. And even if you haven't, with a little practice before you can totally do the 4 wires. It's a little pricier than other external CD drive options, but especially for someone out of warranty, it's also nice to be carrying the less expensive ($30) drive in your messenger bag that's getting tossed around, instead of the (previously) internal drive of your laptop that costs a lot more to replace. It also matches the finish of the MBP perfectly, and the keyboard top is level with the top of the drive on a flat surface. The enclosure is also rock solid aluminum and is pretty resistant to dings, overall I really like the design. It's solid, and for me I liked it better and thought it was worth it to pay a little more and get this external drive over the other enclosures linked in this post. No issues with slot loading bezels, more solid construction, one USB port, matches macbook look, and the leave the expensive drive at home benefit to boot.
Thanks to all the people who contributed to this discussion page too! I had previously seen the MCE upgrade a few years back and was interested in doing it for my powerbook G4 15", but was totally turned off by the price. Total price for the smk312 ebay adapter (3 mounting screws, everything fits like factory), functional air superdrive, and the IDE adapter: about $60. Money well spent on my laptop baby
So what are peoples' experiences with the maxupgrades adapter? I currently have the smk312 adapter in my 2010 uMBP 13" and like it, but it can only take 9.5mm as specified. I've seen some people manage to put 12.5mm drives in similar situations, so I'll drop my 12.5mm drive in and gauge the fit next time I have my computer open. How is the build quality, material? Is the adapter made of metal or plastic? How does the hard drive mount? Is it possible to remove the hard drive without removing the adapter from the DVD bay (so keep the adapter screwed in place, but swap drives)?
Also, from photos it looks identical to the OWC data doubler. Can anyone confirm if they are in fact the same part? If you get the data doubler with one of the OWC SSD's the price for the adapter comes down to a more reasonable $40. I can't fathom what makes those parts cost more than $70!
On another note, since we're all ripping our optical drives out, an elegant solution for an external drive is a must, so I thought I'd share my solution. I wanted something that would run off 1 usb port, was built solidly, had a slot loading bezel, and was as small as possible. The macbook air superdrive looked perfect! BUT BUT BUT! It only works with the macbook air and the mac mini server edition. There is however a workaround. It was previously thought that the external drive wouldn't work with other computers, PC's or Macs, because it needed extra current, and that the MBA had a special USB port to deliver more than the 500ma that is common, up to 1A to power the air superdrive. This was proved false though, and the lock was discovered to be in the IDE to USB adapter between the drive and the USB cable. Apple essentially added in software in the IDE adapter to nuke the usability of the drive. There are a few people claiming to have found a work around for using the drive with other MAC computers by doing some terminal work, but there are no good how-to guides and no one has a confirmed success with this solution. Even if it did work, you would be restricted to Mac OSX computers, and ones that you had previously done the workaround on, and if the drive is also bootable is also unconfirmed, so still pretty locked down. The other solution is replacing the IDE to USB adapter. This is really simple to do, just 4 wires to solder, and a $6 part off ebay. I went this route, bought a broken air superdrive and was hoping to take the superdrive out of my computer and drop it into the enclosure with the adapter (course the superdrive out of my computer has a SATA connector, so I used one of those adapters instead, the original air superdrive has a 12.7mm PATA drive). This did not work however due to the little tabs on the front of the MBP superdrive. They forced the drive to sit further back by a few millimeters which took up the space where the adapter board was going. Also, the metal brackets to hold the drive in place would need to have their screw holes filed out to position the screws just right (the 9.5mm MBP superdrive has tighter spacing between its mounting holes and some of its surfaces, making it so that the holes don't quite match up). Easy solution would be to whip out the dremel tool, but my computer has a warranty, and the apple 'genius' told me the warranty on the entire computer is void if I replace the DVD drive, so to have the upgrade be 100% reversible for warranty purposes is a must. Therefore no destructive modifications of the MBP superdrive. This was really frustrating, the stupid drive didn't fit! I ended up just buying a functional air superdrive (to add insult to injury, I got a good deal the second time around and scored the functional drive for only $1.59 more than I had bought the broken drive for!!! GRRRRR!) But I soldered in the unlocked IDE to USB adapter, kept the functional air superdrive internal drive in place, and fixed the cracked USB cable (drives on ebay go a lot cheaper if their usb cable is cracked, a common issue, but the fix is very easy if you're unsoldering all the cables anyway. I just shortened the cable about 1cm and pulled the broken insulation inside the drive and trimmed it. Looks like new, just 1cm shorter, no one would know the difference). So the functional drive cost me $31.59 shipped, the broken one was $30 and the adapter board was $6 or so shipped from China.
The drive works great! It's bootable, quick, and works on every computer I have tried it with, mac or PC, win7, xp, or osx. DVD movies play just fine, the only thing is that the eject button on the keyboard doesn't cause the disk to eject, you have to eject the disc through finder. Totally acceptable, though probably possible to work around it with a little coding, it doesn't bother me though.
Here's the link to the blog post that I followed to do the mod:
http://tnkgrl.wordpress.com/2008/06/24/macbook-air-superdrive-for-all/
The way I think of it, I use my external drive more than 10 times as often as I use optical media, so it's much more practical to have the external drive be internal and to have an external optical drive that is only slightly larger than my external drive is, and which I can take with me when I need it, and leave behind when I don't. Besides, once I install my SSD, (probably going for a 120gb OWC, but maybe 60gb... we'll see how much I want to spend!) I'll have that much more space on my previously boot drive (1TB toshiba 12.5mm) which I can fill with disk images of program installers. I usually torrent programs and OS installers so they are already hard drive storage friendly, but I have begun ripping movies off my small DVD collection and making disk images of all my program install disks. Really nice to have the program installers on the computer all the time too! If I run into a problem with Word 2008 for example (which I recently did), I can reinstall the program from wherever I happen to be, even if the disk is back home. I bought the 1TB drive for $100 shipped from newegg, at 10 cents/gb I think it is totally worth the $7 I spent to keep 70gb of installers and OS installers on my drive, one of the best $7 I've spent on my computer in fact.
If anyone wants more info on the mod, I can post photos and stuff. If you've ever done some soldering you'll be just fine. And even if you haven't, with a little practice before you can totally do the 4 wires. It's a little pricier than other external CD drive options, but especially for someone out of warranty, it's also nice to be carrying the less expensive ($30) drive in your messenger bag that's getting tossed around, instead of the (previously) internal drive of your laptop that costs a lot more to replace. It also matches the finish of the MBP perfectly, and the keyboard top is level with the top of the drive on a flat surface. The enclosure is also rock solid aluminum and is pretty resistant to dings, overall I really like the design. It's solid, and for me I liked it better and thought it was worth it to pay a little more and get this external drive over the other enclosures linked in this post. No issues with slot loading bezels, more solid construction, one USB port, matches macbook look, and the leave the expensive drive at home benefit to boot.
Thanks to all the people who contributed to this discussion page too! I had previously seen the MCE upgrade a few years back and was interested in doing it for my powerbook G4 15", but was totally turned off by the price. Total price for the smk312 ebay adapter (3 mounting screws, everything fits like factory), functional air superdrive, and the IDE adapter: about $60. Money well spent on my laptop baby
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