MCE Optibay Alternative CHEAP

[Tyrion]

Out of curiosity, is there much of a reason to not put two SSD's in apart from the cost? I have the 128GB SSD from apple, and when the SATAIII ssd's come out, I'm thinking of plopping one of those in the regular spot and just putting the 128GB SSD in the optibay.

That's exactly what I'm planning to do. Put Apple's 128 GB SSD into the optical bay, then put a good SATA-3 capable SSD into the HDD bay as the main boot drive.

I'm also wondering about power consumption - will battery life take a significant hit with two SSDs installed?

 

[macchiato2009]

did someone buy a third-party optibay on ebay instead of newmodeus or ifixit ?

ebay seems really cheap, but i fear low-quality products

 

[-AG-]

did someone buy a third-party optibay on ebay instead of newmodeus or ifixit ?

ebay seems really cheap, but i fear low-quality products

Its a plastic frame and a $0.20 circuit board. how is the genuine optibay version of that NOT cheap?

Your paying for the name not the product.

 

[johnnyturbouk]

did someone buy a third-party optibay on ebay instead of newmodeus or ifixit ?

ebay seems really cheap, but i fear low-quality products

Ebay product is awful.. they dont last.. the seller smk12 i think - i got the superdrive enclosure.. its poorly made but cheap and how often do i use my superdrive atm.. 2-3 month max.. and that because my macbooks new so been changin hardrives so need to install osX
i know several ppl purchasing the ebay caddies, they either just dont work to well, or stop workin, very poor build quality.. also they only support sata 1.5 - i e-mailed the seller directly and they confirmed this, so if u place a fast sata2/3 ssd in optibay - dont cry when u perform the benchmarks


i'm going to go with new modeus if i purchase a vertex 3; or the datadoubler from owc, if i go for owc drive... maxupgrades also supply the data doubler (optibay replacement owc do) but its slightly dearer than owc (£5-10)

 

[MacModMachine]

Its a plastic frame and a $0.20 circuit board. how is the genuine optibay version of that NOT cheap?

Your paying for the name not the product.

not true, ebay = GARBAGE

newmodeus is very good quality and fits perfectly with no cutting or modification, ebay stuff is bigger and needs modification and is tough to get in.

you cannot fit a marsh mellow into a piggybank.....

 

[-AG-]

not true, ebay = GARBAGE

newmodeus is very good quality and fits perfectly with no cutting or modification, ebay stuff is bigger and needs modification and is tough to get in.

you cannot fit a marsh mellow into a piggybank.....

so what, your justifying the fact they charge $120 for a $0.20 circuit board?

and I never said the frames were brilliant.

You save a fair few $ for the inconvenience of having to mod the frame slightly.

Its similar to buying the Mac version of the WD Mybook.
One you need to plug in and format to remove the ntfs file system and proprietary software.
The other you pay slightly more for and just plug it in.

Some people like the convenience, others like to tinker and others yet again like to save as much as they can wherever they can.

Its the nature of geeks.

 

[johnnyturbouk]

so what, your justifying the fact they charge $120 for a $0.20 circuit board?

and I never said the frames were brilliant.

You save a fair few $ for the inconvenience of having to mod the frame slightly.

Its similar to buying the Mac version of the WD Mybook.
One you need to plug in and format to remove the ntfs file system and proprietary software.
The other you pay slightly more for and just plug it in.

Some people like the convenience, others like to tinker and others yet again like to save as much as they can wherever they can.

Its the nature of geeks.

solution = newmodeus only $42 perfect comprimise

i know a few ppls whoi did the whole DIY jobs and it doens't look pretty, paying equiv $2500+ for my machine, i dnt mind spending $42 for the newmodeus model,, i like a compromise between cost and quality

and i agree a lot of people out there salivate at the mac community with $$$ in their eyes, thinking of new ways to rip us off. However, i feel newmodeus really is one of the better out there.. i will be get that or the data doubler, depending which ssd i get

 

[sk3tch]

Just received my 15" MBP yesterday...OWC Data Doubler and WD Black 750GB drive are still en route. I am having some second thoughts since the temperatures on this laptop are already quite high. My research from previous generations of MBPs indicates that it is only a small difference (assuming you're using the Optibay as storage and not active/main OS)..

Do you guys think I should be concerned with my setup (OS on 128GB SSD, storage in Optibay)? Does anyone have a 2011 15" high-end with Optibay setup and were temperatures affected in any concerning way? TIA>

 

[2Turbo]

Last week I ended up ordering the optibay kit and optical drive enclosure from Maxupgrades.com, and to compare it to the popular option on this thread, I also ordered the optibay kit from newmodeUS, and the Sabrent optical drive enclosure from Amazon.com. Here's my summary of why I also ended up with the Maxupgrades.com optibay kit:

- the Maxupgrades optibay is 73 grams in weight, whereas the newmodeUS optibay is 83 grams (minor, but every bit helps)
- the newmodeUS optibay is only secured via one screw within the Mac, whereas the Maxupgrades optibay has three screws to secure it to the Mac, just like the original optical drive
- although minor, the newmodeUS optibay seems to facilitate a slightly louder noise of my hard drive when spinning, given it's hollow metal design

Furthermore, the frosting on the cake is the much nicer optical drive enclosure that comes exclusively from Maxupgrades. As the picture shows, it has a very Mac like design for a slot-loaded drive, and it is well constructed. It has ONE usb cable that supports BOTH reading and burning, unlike most USB enclosures which require two USB connections to facilitate burning. It even uses an Apple USB cable, which is obviously very compact. So NO need for a bezel given its slot loaded design just like on the Macbook Pro, no need for a second USB cable, and it's a perfect match to the Macbook Pro design. And it works with ALL Macs, unlike the MacBook Air model.

As folks have pointed out, the Maxupgrade optibay is the same one offered by OWC, but only for less $$$. But what was lacking from Maxupgrade was a nice video or written instructions for installation, so I just ended up watching the OWC video (sweet). Furthermore, they shipped my order the same day via US Priority Mail, from California to North Carolina for $6 bucks.

http://www.maxupgrades.com/istore/index.cfm?fuseaction=Product.display&product_id=186

So it sounds like MaxUpgrades is the best out there. Does their bracket allow 12.5mm 1TB HDD's to be installed in the optibay?

Also, which 1TB HDD do you guys recommend: WD, Samsung, or Toshiba?

 

[brandaopj]

I´ve ordered from maxupgrades.
So now what ssd 128gb do you recomend? Does my mid 2010 13"MBP support 6Gbps Sata?

 

[2Turbo]

I´ve ordered from maxupgrades.
So now what ssd 126gb do you recomend? Does my mid 2010 13"MBP support 6Gbps Sata?

Your mid 2010 does not support Sata III.

 

[brandaopj]

hmmm
so whats the best ssd i can get?
a sata 2 ssd right?

 

[SuprUsrStan]

So it sounds like MaxUpgrades is the best out there.

Sounds like that's the case. I just cancelled my MCE order and went for a MaxUpgrades caddy.

 

[2Turbo]

hmmm
so whats the best ssd i can get?
a sata 2 ssd right?

Well, if you can afford it, I'd go with the Intel 510 120gb. 1) they have the best rep. 2) you'd have a sata 6 capable drive for the future. 3) better resale value than already outdated drives.

 

[egress123]

That's the one....

I for one can attest to it working perfectly. HOWEVER, if you are going to use a 7200 RPM drive, put it in the standard drive bay. Having the drive directly under the keyboard offers no sound dampening.

does this have three mounting holes to attach it securely to Macbook?

 

[swissmike]

anyone written a definite guide?

The enthusiasm on this forum is great but I am still utterly confused as to which option works well yet is reasonably priced.

I just ordered a 15in MBP with the 128GB SSD. I plan on adding a 240GB OCZ Vertex 3 drive as soon as those become available (anyone have an ETA?) and putting the stock drive into the optibay location.

so a couple questions:

- Which exact model on the newmodeus website fits this need? this is the caddy only, no enclosure for the removed optical drive is provided right?

- the maxupgrade caddy/enclosure combo costs $89 while the MCE options comes out to $99.. both are rather spendy. Is there a cheaper but quality option than either of those two combo solutions?

Thanks!

 

[hagane]

Feedback on my setup

Hello, followed and read trough all this thread. Here is what I've done and my impressions. I hope they will help others as others' info has helped me a lot.

Got this optibay
http://cgi.ebay.com/2nd-HDD-caddy-A...C_Drives_Storage_Internal&hash=item33658f6f00

and this dvd external case
http://cgi.ebay.com/External-USB-ca...e_Internal&hash=item3360360153#ht_3448wt_1141

Took out dvd drive following this guide and installed the optibay following the guide in reverse order
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/...ody-Mid-2009-Optical-Drive-Replacement/1368/1

Bought this SSD drive
http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?imodule=CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1

And this HDD
http://www.hitachigst.com/internal-drives/mobile/travelstar/travelstar-7k500

Installation took no more than 15 minutes double checking every move.
I put the SSD in optibay and kept the old 250GB HDD in HDD bay.
Booted and it was all working.
Next I booted from an external HDD with the Snow Leopard installation disk installed
Formatted the SSD and installed Snow leopard.
Rebooted from SSD and completed installing all the programs and user data
Copied over any missing data from old 250GB HDD
Opened the macbook pro, removed old 250GB HDD and installed new 500GB HDD.
Copied pictures, music and movies from external 250GB HDD (connected via USB with a SATA to USB cable and power unit, very cheap) to 500GB HDD.

All is working well and both processor usage and heat is decreased.

Notes:
The optibay I bough from smk312 does not seem to support full 3 Gigabit speed, but only 1.5 Gigabit, attaching screenshot.
http://img546.imageshack.us/i/smk312optibay.jpg/

At the moment I will keep this optibay and in a few months look for another model.

Thank you all and I hope my info will help other people.

 

[sk3tch]

- the maxupgrade caddy/enclosure combo costs $89 while the MCE options comes out to $99.. bother rather spendy. Is there a cheaper but quality option than either of those two?

I bought the OWC Data Doubler - http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other+World+Computing/DDAMBS0GB/ - ~$80 shipped. I haven't installed it yet (750GB 7200RPM WD Black arrives today) but the quality is very high. Extremely rigid. It's still a ridiculous price but at least it isn't cheap-feeling by any means.

 

[laser71]

Notes:
The optibay I bough from smk312 does not seem to support full 3 Gigabit speed, but only 1.5 Gigabit, attaching screenshot.
http://img546.imageshack.us/i/smk312optibay.jpg/

Would this limit the speed of a current generation SSD, or would it primarily only impact a future generation SSD?

 

[swissmike]

I bought the OWC Data Doubler - http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other+World+Computing/DDAMBS0GB/ - ~$80 shipped. I haven't installed it yet (750GB 7200RPM WD Black arrives today) but the quality is very high. Extremely rigid. It's still a ridiculous price but at least it isn't cheap-feeling by any means.

hmm.. so it's $80 but no enclosure for the drive then.. that makes the other two options better values at $90 or $99, doesnt it?

 

[hagane]

Notes:The optibay I bough from smk312 does not seem to support full 3 Gigabit speed, but only 1.5 Gigabit, attaching screenshot.
http://img546.imageshack.us/i/smk312optibay.jpg/
Would this limit the speed of a current generation SSD, or would it primarily only impact a future generation SSD?

Would this limit the speed of a current generation SSD, or would it primarily only impact a future generation SSD?

I believe the Crucial SSD I have is not going to it's full speed
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3812/the-ssd-diaries-crucials-realssd-c300/2

Unfortunately I don't have time to test the SSDs speed with multiple copy and speed tests. I have noticed speeds slightly over 100 megabyte a second between SSD and Hitachi 7200 rpm 500GB HHD.
I do not do video or other heavy work so I don't think I will not notice much difference.

We should wait for other users to post their speeds.
Better yet, is there any comprehensive test we could all make the SSDs and optibays go trough? So we could have more objective benchmarks?

 

[brandaopj]

Is there any inconvenient tu put the SSD in the Optibay and use it as main disk?
Or it should be in the main hdd "cage"?

If i can use it in the optibay can i unmount the mechanical disk?

It is possible to boot from an external DVD drive to install snow leopard?

 

[orthorim]

Answers in blue

Is there any inconvenient tu put the SSD in the Optibay and use it as main disk?
Or it should be in the main hdd "cage"?

The only drawback is that you can't hibernate when the boot disk is in the optibay. OS X normally sleeps (which is fine) but when the battery drops to near zero, it writes the contents of RAM to the disk and turns off. Then when you start, it reads the contents of RAM directly and you can proceed where you left off. That's called hibernate - and this feature doesn't work when the boot disk is in the optibay. So when the battery goes to zero, OS X turns off, and you lose all unsaved documents etc. Doesn't happen very often though.

If i can use it in the optibay can i unmount the mechanical disk?

Yep.

It is possible to boot from an external DVD drive to install snow leopard?

Yes. You can also create a bootable OS X install USB stick - which is what I did. You need this in order to restore from your time machine backup, for example.

 

[orthorim]

I believe the Crucial SSD I have is not going to it's full speed
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3812/the-ssd-diaries-crucials-realssd-c300/2

Unfortunately I don't have time to test the SSDs speed with multiple copy and speed tests. I have noticed speeds slightly over 100 megabyte a second between SSD and Hitachi 7200 rpm 500GB HHD.
I do not do video or other heavy work so I don't think I will not notice much difference.

We should wait for other users to post their speeds.
Better yet, is there any comprehensive test we could all make the SSDs and optibays go trough? So we could have more objective benchmarks?

Well a lot of the faster SSDs get over 200MB/s on sequential reads. A 1.5Gbps SATA would therefore create a bottleneck and restrict it to something below 150MB/s (need to allow some for overhead).

So I think we can just say, yes, if it restricts your speed to 1.5Gbps it's a problem. 3Gbps is fine for almost all SSDs, only the very latest exceed that and also only on sequential.
Where SSDs beat HDs by 10x or more is small random read/write which is usually well short of 100MB/s for even the fastest SSDs currently on the market. Edit: Just read the above, looks like random write is now up to 170MB+ for some SSDs. WOW!! In that case, a 1.5Gbps SATA port will definitely slow you down.

 

[Littleodie914]

Hey guys, I just got my 2011 15" MBP yesterday, and I'm looking to ditch the optical drive as well. What (if any) are the advantages to going with the MaxUpgrades solution:

http://www.maxupgrades.com/istore/index.cfm?fuseaction=Product.display&product_id=186

As opposed to a cheaper one from Amazon, as mentioned earlier:

http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Caddy-OptiBay-SuperDrive-Replacement/dp/B004FM1I2I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1298960370&sr=1-2

Are both compatible with the 2011 Macbook Pros, and if so, would I really just be paying an extra $65 for the brand name?