Just buy the ones from smk312, they are what $20? You dont need to break anything off and they screw into the body of the computer just like the superdrive.
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MCE Optibay Alternative CHEAP
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do you or does anyone know if you the ones from smk312 can handle a 12.5mm drive? I was gonna put a 1tb in there and wonder if the extra size will be a problem?
merc- I've tried a 12.5mm in the smk312 on my 13" 2010 MBP and it doesn't fit. You might be able to get some longer screws and close the bottom plate that way and just have a bulge, but that is not appealing to me and I think the drive would be prone to damage.
Around page 42-44 someone posted an ad for the maxupgrades aka datadoubler adapter with something about how it doesn't require the drive to be flipped and so allows larger, 12.5mm drives in the optibay, even in the unibody macs. While maxupgrades no longer has this on their product page, the poster said that maxupgrades claimed that a 12.5mm drive would fit in the optibay on any macbook pro, unibody or not. I haven't been able to get a clear answer on whether or not the max or DD can hold 12.5mm drives in the optibay, so I have one coming in the mail and will post photos of my install to settle the question.
Around page 42-44 someone posted an ad for the maxupgrades aka datadoubler adapter with something about how it doesn't require the drive to be flipped and so allows larger, 12.5mm drives in the optibay, even in the unibody macs. While maxupgrades no longer has this on their product page, the poster said that maxupgrades claimed that a 12.5mm drive would fit in the optibay on any macbook pro, unibody or not. I haven't been able to get a clear answer on whether or not the max or DD can hold 12.5mm drives in the optibay, so I have one coming in the mail and will post photos of my install to settle the question.
The way the maxupgrades one is made it bent my computer by pulling on the posts and bending the top near the right speaker...I would stay away from it.
it's cool. I'd rather wait and find out than ordering the wrong part. Thanks for all the help!
Most posts seem pretty positive with regard to the optibay-solution offered by this smk312 person on eBay. Two question before I place an order myself;
1) Will the smk312 optibays fully function in a 2011 MBP? i.e. is it possible to use screws to tightly attach the optibay to the MBP's body? Almost all people reporting here on the smk312 optibay are users of 2010 (or older) MBPs..
2) Does the smk312 allow one to fully use the SATAII connector in the 2011 MBP's superdrive/optibay-area? There seems to be some uncertainty here as smk312 him/herself apparently says it won't, yet some users report it does??
1) Will the smk312 optibays fully function in a 2011 MBP? i.e. is it possible to use screws to tightly attach the optibay to the MBP's body? Almost all people reporting here on the smk312 optibay are users of 2010 (or older) MBPs..
2) Does the smk312 allow one to fully use the SATAII connector in the 2011 MBP's superdrive/optibay-area? There seems to be some uncertainty here as smk312 him/herself apparently says it won't, yet some users report it does??
I am 95% certain that the superdrive design (size, mounting locations) has not changed between the 2010 and 2011 models. I took a look at the teardown of the 15" 2011 model on ifixit.com and the mounting spot at the rear of the drive is the same, and it looks to be the same locations for the 2 tabs in the front.
Considering that the OWC and Maxupgrades adapters have not been updated yet are sold to fit the 2011 models, I think we can safely say that the superdrive has not changed in the updated 2011 models. Maybe someone with a 2011 model can confirm?
With the smk312 adapters and SATA: I recently spoke with smk312 and he or she said that the adapters were only good for SATA I (1.5Gb/s), however, several people have tested the adapters with drives capable of saturating the SATA I connection, and have shown that they were able to exceed SATA I specs. This evidence in addition to system profiler showing a SATA II (3Gb/s) link seems to suggest that the adapters are fully SATA II capable.
Why smk312 does not claim SATA II (3Gb/s) throughput I do not know.
Considering that the OWC and Maxupgrades adapters have not been updated yet are sold to fit the 2011 models, I think we can safely say that the superdrive has not changed in the updated 2011 models. Maybe someone with a 2011 model can confirm?
With the smk312 adapters and SATA: I recently spoke with smk312 and he or she said that the adapters were only good for SATA I (1.5Gb/s), however, several people have tested the adapters with drives capable of saturating the SATA I connection, and have shown that they were able to exceed SATA I specs. This evidence in addition to system profiler showing a SATA II (3Gb/s) link seems to suggest that the adapters are fully SATA II capable.
Why smk312 does not claim SATA II (3Gb/s) throughput I do not know.
From my understanding and I ordered the newmodeus caddy for $42. There is only 1 screw that directly holds these in place. There are no tabs that connect it to the side of the MBP. The speaker mount which has 2 screws goes on top of the caddy but doesn't screw directly into it. I emailed newmodeus and they told me they're going to have a new one specific for the unibody in 60 days or less. I'm probably going to send mine back because I ordered the Maxupgrades unit.
The smk312 one has the two screw points towards the outside and you take the bracket off the back of the macbook pro to hold it in the back. So it is secured with 3 screws...
This is false, the smk312 adapter has 3 mounting points, 2 at the front of the drive (where the disk goes in) and one in the rear (with a little metal bracket). It is the newmodeus drives that lack the mounting points for the unibody macs, the smk312 as well as the maxupgrades and OWC data doubler all have the same mounting locations as the original superdrive in uMBP's.
I think smk also sells a version for non-uni MBP's, so if you order from him make sure its the unibody version.
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darn bits and bytes
I just realized that SATA II is rated at 3 Gigabits/second not Gigabytes/sec. I couldn't understand why everyone was excited about tjb1's ~250 MB/s read/write benchmarks. I hope this clarifies things for others as well. Sorry if this was obvious, but if I didn't know this, I bet others are confused too.
(I realize now that 3 gigabytes/sec would be super fast.)
My smk312 optibay is in the mail
I just realized that SATA II is rated at 3 Gigabits/second not Gigabytes/sec. I couldn't understand why everyone was excited about tjb1's ~250 MB/s read/write benchmarks. I hope this clarifies things for others as well. Sorry if this was obvious, but if I didn't know this, I bet others are confused too.
(I realize now that 3 gigabytes/sec would be super fast.)
My smk312 optibay is in the mail
And you also have to factor in 8b/10b encoding. At the very most, you'd be able to achieve an effective data rate of 1.2Gbit/s = 150MB/s with SATA I
johnnyturbouk
macrumors 68000
Hi all,
I have a 2011 MBP 15'', and I recently installed the NewmodeUS caddy. I installed an Intel SSD in the Optibay, and the original HDD in it's bay. All this went (fairly) smooth.
I am however not very pleased with how OS X is behaving after the installation.
One problem amongst others, is when I close the lid on the computer, I can hear how the HDD is spinning up, preventing the computer to sleep. (This can take like 20-50 seconds.) This is very annoying.
The same problem is apparent when the computer is in sleep, and I connect it to my ACD 24''. Sometimes this takes very long time when the HDD spins up. (and starts up the computer)
The other problem is that I can't unmount the HDD properly. Even if I do, it spins up every now and then. (Yes, I have set the spindown time to 1 minute.)
Is there any way to permanently unmount the drive until I want to use it, and mount it again?
I am tempted to remove the OptiBay in favour for the SuperDrive, to avoid this trouble. And oh, by the way;
How do you guys install BootCamp without the SuperDrive? I tried to make a Win7 usb-stick, but it only left me with a blinking cursor. (even with rEfit.)
Exactly the same problem using an external PC-DVD.
I hope I do not take too much attention from the original subject.
Please have patience with my spelling.
Thanks.
andogrando
I have a 2011 MBP 15'', and I recently installed the NewmodeUS caddy. I installed an Intel SSD in the Optibay, and the original HDD in it's bay. All this went (fairly) smooth.
I am however not very pleased with how OS X is behaving after the installation.
One problem amongst others, is when I close the lid on the computer, I can hear how the HDD is spinning up, preventing the computer to sleep. (This can take like 20-50 seconds.) This is very annoying.
The same problem is apparent when the computer is in sleep, and I connect it to my ACD 24''. Sometimes this takes very long time when the HDD spins up. (and starts up the computer)
The other problem is that I can't unmount the HDD properly. Even if I do, it spins up every now and then. (Yes, I have set the spindown time to 1 minute.)
Is there any way to permanently unmount the drive until I want to use it, and mount it again?
I am tempted to remove the OptiBay in favour for the SuperDrive, to avoid this trouble. And oh, by the way;
How do you guys install BootCamp without the SuperDrive? I tried to make a Win7 usb-stick, but it only left me with a blinking cursor. (even with rEfit.)
Exactly the same problem using an external PC-DVD.
I hope I do not take too much attention from the original subject.
Please have patience with my spelling.
Thanks.
andogrando
£5 adapter works in superdrive bay
I just installed a Crucial C300 in my unibody MacBook Pro. After trying various combinations, I've ended up using a simple adapter in the superdrive slot.
Method 1
Cheap disk caddy off ebay. This cheap 'n cheerful caddy fitted perfectly in the superdrive bay, but unfotunately the nVidia SATA controller only reported a 1.5Gbps negotiated link speed. The neatest option, but not the fastest. Must be the cheapo caddy causing the link speed to drop, I thought. Time to try an alternative.
Method 2
Motherboard connector > 13 pin to 22 pin SATA adapter > cable > SSD.
Alas this also only reported 1.5Gbps negotiated link speed. Hmmmph. How about removing the ribbon cable in between the adapter and the SSD?
Method 3
Motherboard connector > 13 pin to 22 pin SATA adapter > SSD.
The only issue with this is the kink in the motherboard connector. A bit of tape was required to stop the mobo connector pulling away from the adapter.
So for anyone thinking of doing this, you can do it with a £5 adapter
I put a 1TB mechanical drive in the regular hdd bay. It's thicker than the original drive, but it fits fine.
I just installed a Crucial C300 in my unibody MacBook Pro. After trying various combinations, I've ended up using a simple adapter in the superdrive slot.
Method 1
Cheap disk caddy off ebay. This cheap 'n cheerful caddy fitted perfectly in the superdrive bay, but unfotunately the nVidia SATA controller only reported a 1.5Gbps negotiated link speed. The neatest option, but not the fastest. Must be the cheapo caddy causing the link speed to drop, I thought. Time to try an alternative.
Method 2
Motherboard connector > 13 pin to 22 pin SATA adapter > cable > SSD.
Alas this also only reported 1.5Gbps negotiated link speed. Hmmmph. How about removing the ribbon cable in between the adapter and the SSD?
Method 3
Motherboard connector > 13 pin to 22 pin SATA adapter > SSD.
The only issue with this is the kink in the motherboard connector. A bit of tape was required to stop the mobo connector pulling away from the adapter.
So for anyone thinking of doing this, you can do it with a £5 adapter
I put a 1TB mechanical drive in the regular hdd bay. It's thicker than the original drive, but it fits fine.
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I just installed a Crucial C300 in my unibody MacBook Pro. After trying various combinations, I've ended up using a simple adapter in the superdrive slot.
Method 1
Cheap disk caddy off ebay. This cheap 'n cheerful caddy fitted perfectly in the superdrive bay, but unfotunately the nVidia SATA controller only reported a 1.5Gbps negotiated link speed. The neatest option, but not the fastest. Must be the cheapo caddy causing the link speed to drop, I thought. Time to try an alternative.
Method 2
Motherboard connector > 13 pin to 22 pin SATA adapter > cable > SSD.
View attachment 281572View attachment 281560
Alas this also only reported 1.5Gbps negotiated link speed. Hmmmph. How about removing the ribbon cable in between the adapter and the SSD?
Method 3
Motherboard connector > 13 pin to 22 pin SATA adapter > SSD.
View attachment 281573View attachment 281574
The only issue with this is the kink in the motherboard connector. A bit of tape was required to stop the mobo connector pulling away from the adapter.
So for anyone thinking of doing this, you can do it with a £5 adapter
I put a 1TB mechanical drive in the regular hdd bay. It's thicker than the original drive, but it fits fine.
View attachment 281571
Holy god. Two thoughts... First, don't you worry that the SATA connection to the logic board is going to come undone? Secondly, I guess whatever works.I can't decide if it's brilliant or madness. I'm leaning towards madness though....
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I can't decide if it's brilliant or madness. I'm leaning towards madness though....
That did cross my mind
However it's been fine so far (2 weeks or so). Apple kit is built take abuse Can you elaborate on the mods to make a Macbook Air external Superdrive work with your MBP? What $6 USB-SATA adapter? What all soldering was required?
This should have all the info you need: http://tnkgrl.wordpress.com/2008/06/24/macbook-air-superdrive-for-all/
The adapter you need is an optical IDE (PATA) to USB, for slim drives, available from China on ebay for a few bucks
The adapter you need is an optical IDE (PATA) to USB, for slim drives, available from China on ebay for a few bucks
Is anybody having problems with the second hard drive never going to sleep/spinning down? (As described here: https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=12400408#post12400408)
I'm having mayor problems with that, and I was hoping someone knows of a fix.
Does hard drive sleep work for you guys?
I'm having mayor problems with that, and I was hoping someone knows of a fix.
Does hard drive sleep work for you guys?
Yeah, my momentus xt (500gb) that's in the optibay slot tries to spin down and then immediately spins up again. I heard the momentus xt's had problems with spindowns. Seems that the original firmware was too aggressive with drive sleep and it caused spin-up lag quite often, but that the updated firmware is too conservative in drive sleep.
Anyway, I think it seems like the momentus is trying to spin down (usually after a while of reading an article or watching a youtube clip, so the platter wouldn't be used), but that there is some issue with the optibay and sleep that causes it to spin back up immediately. I have the "sleep drives when possible" box checked in energy savings.
Anyone have a fix?
Anyway, I think it seems like the momentus is trying to spin down (usually after a while of reading an article or watching a youtube clip, so the platter wouldn't be used), but that there is some issue with the optibay and sleep that causes it to spin back up immediately. I have the "sleep drives when possible" box checked in energy savings.
Anyone have a fix?