Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
MCE Optibay Alternative CHEAP
- Thread starter MacModMachine
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
No, that's not an option. I have a 12.5mm 1TB drive in the HDD bay which won't fit in the optibay. I'd lose 250GB if I went with a 750GB in the optibay, and the momentus doesn't come with a 750GB flavor.
The reason I haven't gone SSD for my boot drive is space and cost. A 250 would already be pretty tight for all my personal files, applications, and OS, and then I have another 1TB of media. I don't want to sacrifice the speed boost of the momentus by switching to dual 750's, and I don't want to have to buy several 750's for the computer and the backup.
Anyone have a solution for the spindown problem? Macmodmachine, I read a while back that you had a solution for the hibernation problem? I recalibrate my battery monthly, and often run the battery down all the way in a day, so it'd be a nice feature. Do you have a write up of your solution?
The reason I haven't gone SSD for my boot drive is space and cost. A 250 would already be pretty tight for all my personal files, applications, and OS, and then I have another 1TB of media. I don't want to sacrifice the speed boost of the momentus by switching to dual 750's, and I don't want to have to buy several 750's for the computer and the backup.
Anyone have a solution for the spindown problem? Macmodmachine, I read a while back that you had a solution for the hibernation problem? I recalibrate my battery monthly, and often run the battery down all the way in a day, so it'd be a nice feature. Do you have a write up of your solution?
Time Machine Backups
Hi all,
This probably has been discussed in this forum (searched but I found backing up TO multiple TM discs) but is it possible to back up information on both my SSD and HDD onto a single time machine disk? I found something out in the interwebs over here http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1142100 but I don't quite understand the bit about symlinks.
Also, how would restoring from time machine be as easy as running it from one disc?
Or should I just forget it and back my media (photos and music; movies are not important) up and forget about the apps which can be easily replaced anyway?
Thanks in advance.
Hi all,
This probably has been discussed in this forum (searched but I found backing up TO multiple TM discs) but is it possible to back up information on both my SSD and HDD onto a single time machine disk? I found something out in the interwebs over here http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1142100 but I don't quite understand the bit about symlinks.
Also, how would restoring from time machine be as easy as running it from one disc?
Or should I just forget it and back my media (photos and music; movies are not important) up and forget about the apps which can be easily replaced anyway?
Thanks in advance.
Hey all, I try to keep up with this thread as much as possible, so forgive me if this is a duplicate from somewhere along the thing.
Last week my MBP crashed, then on reboot I got the question mark, no folder/hard drive available. So, my first reaction was "how the hell does a SSD drive go bad after only a year?"... turns out though, it wasn't my hard drive.
Upon further inspection, it turns out that the heat generated from the drive in my optibay was enough to melt the plastic coating on the stock primary sata drive cable, which runs over the top of the optibay to to the mainboard connector. Clearly, I use my Optibay drive quite a bit. A simple $30 cable replacement and all is well.
Has anyone had this happen to them? Any insulation advice? I am now reconsidering my positioning of the drives, and perhaps moving the SSD in the optibay and moving the platter drive to the hard drive bay.
Last week my MBP crashed, then on reboot I got the question mark, no folder/hard drive available. So, my first reaction was "how the hell does a SSD drive go bad after only a year?"... turns out though, it wasn't my hard drive.
Upon further inspection, it turns out that the heat generated from the drive in my optibay was enough to melt the plastic coating on the stock primary sata drive cable, which runs over the top of the optibay to to the mainboard connector. Clearly, I use my Optibay drive quite a bit. A simple $30 cable replacement and all is well.
Has anyone had this happen to them? Any insulation advice? I am now reconsidering my positioning of the drives, and perhaps moving the SSD in the optibay and moving the platter drive to the hard drive bay.
Cool! Can you boot with yours from an OSX install disk (on a non-Air, non Mini-server)?
Thank you!
I'm also assuming that if I do have to back up (lets have a worst case scenario where both my HDD and SSD dies at the same day) it'll be properly restored to the rightful disks?
why in the hell would you spend hundreds on the drive, but not cough up $20 for a proper caddy?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
the things people get cheap over.
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
I haven't actually had to restore but what I see is that TM simply backs up 2 disks. I don't think TM particularly cares about the contents of the disks - I expect it will restore both disks correctly.
One thing you need is a bootable OS X installer disk on a USB stick, or an external CD drive to load the OS X disk. It's a bit of a bummer about TM that it's not self-contained - in order to do a full restore, you need to boot with an OS X installer disk.
Now another question is if I got a new Mac, and it only had 1 disk, how would I restore. In that case I think I'd use migration assistant to get my home folder, and those bits of my home folder that are symlinked out, I'd manually copy afterwards. Music, Movies, and a few others. But Apple still hasn't made a 15" MacBook Air so it's going to be a theoretical question for the time being.
^^ My advice is to do that NOW.
If your HDD generated enough heat to melt a cable, then it must get really hot. I have lost a few hard drives from overheating - magnetized platters don't deal very well with excessive heat, it turns out.
Another reason to put the SSD in the optibay, I guess. I am not sure how well the SSD would cope with excess heat, but I would hope that it doesn't get as hot in the first place.
One question: Is your hard drive a 7200 RPM model? In my experience, despite everything the manufacturers say about power use / heat generation, the 7200 drives get WAY hotter than the 5400 RPM ones. 2 of the 3 HDDs I lost were 7200 drives.
Another piece of advice for those currently choosing their HDDs / SSDs - make sure the ones you use have low power draw. It's sometimes hard to find this info but well worth it - the less power these draw, the less heat they generate, and the longer your battery lasts.
I chose my HDD - a Fujitsu 500GB - specifically for having one of the lowest idle power draws of all mobile HDDs, 0.76W. Most others draw well over 1 W idle. Toshiba and Fujitsu 5400RPM models were the HDDs with the lowest power use when I checked, but that's almost 2 years ago, might be different now.
Wondering about that for the last 2 years. I spent over $3,000 on my MBP + SSD - but then I can't spend $50 for a proper optibay caddy?
I think some people just enjoy the hacking, that's all. Good for them!
just googled 'dvd drive switcher mac", first link seems to be what you're describing, but I haven't tested that solution myself:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/app...drive-dvd-player-issues-optibay-easy-fix.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/app...drive-dvd-player-issues-optibay-easy-fix.html
Yes I have a 7200 RPM... however, it was chosen because it had the sudden motion sensor, not because of speed. I move my laptop around a bit (into meetings etc), and blew the first drive. So, moving the platter drive to the primary drive bay seems to be the best option - in which case, I could bump up to a 700+ GB hard drive and not have to worry about sudden motion.... good stuff to consider. thanks!
Okay this is comforting.
Yes, another 6-8GB is nothing in a .5-1TB HDD.
orthorim;12418956Now another question is if I got a new Mac said:
Okay, I tested a 12.5mm drive with the OWCDD in a 13" 2010 MBP and it does NOT fit. You might be able to screw the cover shut, but it would stick out a few mm and does not fit nicely.
Nice piece of kit though, feels very good in the hand. Solidly built.
Video review shortly.
Man, the CD just looks so tiny and cute compared to 2x 1TB monsters! Haha, it's no accident that it's all dusty.
Nice piece of kit though, feels very good in the hand. Solidly built.
Video review shortly.
Man, the CD just looks so tiny and cute compared to 2x 1TB monsters! Haha, it's no accident that it's all dusty.
Attachments
I bought the caddy from smk312 off of eBay for my 17" unibody. I don't see how the hd can stay secure in this thing, am I missing where to screw the hd down securely? Also how does the caddy stay secure in the laptop? There are no corresponding holes in it like there are on the SuperDrive.
Did you buy the "Apple" one? http://cgi.ebay.com/2nd-HDD-caddy-A...C_Drives_Storage_Internal&hash=item3366abe0f3
The one I bought had two holes that went through that bolted to the bottom/top of the drive instead of the side holes like many kits. It also comes with a plastic spacer to throw in behind the drive and has two holes for the outside and you use the bracket off the stock superdrive for the inside mounting point.
The hard drive is screw down through the bottom holes. There should be 2 holes on your adapter that are a little further down the HD bay from the SATA connector. These 2 holes, with the supplied phillips screws, thread into the bottom holes of your drive to hold it in place.
The adapter should have 2 little tabs at the front where you reuse the screws from your laptop to secure it, then you unscrew the little metal bracket off the back of your superdrive, use the 2 smaller supplied screws, attach it to the back of your adapter, then use the stock screw to screw down the attached bracket.
There is a chance you could have ordered an incorrect model adapter. Can you link the item you bought? SMK sells adapters for unibody, pre-unibody, and some IBM computers too.
The unibody model will be clearly stated to be that model in its description.
I was going to post the link to the one I bought, but it has been deleted from ebay... weird. Here is what was in the confirmation email:
SATA HDD Caddy OptiBay SuperDrive Replacement For Apple.
and here is a link to pics of the drive I received. Also in the box were 4 screws I'm guessing to screw the HD in place, although there's no holes on the optibay to put the screws in.
http://imgur.com/a/iORzO
edit:
After finding smk312 on ebay and looking at the pictures of the different versions of the caddies he sells, I'm convinced that I received a different model even though I ordered the right one. Doh.
SATA HDD Caddy OptiBay SuperDrive Replacement For Apple.
and here is a link to pics of the drive I received. Also in the box were 4 screws I'm guessing to screw the HD in place, although there's no holes on the optibay to put the screws in.
http://imgur.com/a/iORzO
edit:
After finding smk312 on ebay and looking at the pictures of the different versions of the caddies he sells, I'm convinced that I received a different model even though I ordered the right one. Doh.
Last edited:
ah bummer man. I think you can probably make it work without having the 2 little tabs in the front. The adapter you got is probably identical to the newmodeus adapter, so you could probably just trim the front plastic a little and use the rear bracket with some doublesided tape for securing it to your drive bay.
There has to be a way to secure the drive in! Are you certain there aren't screws from the bottom or the sides? You might have to partially disassemble the adapter to get to the mounts. If not you could try drill holes in the bottom to match up with your hard drives bottom mounting holes.
Or try contacting the seller if you think you got a different part than what you ordered.
Good luck man!
There has to be a way to secure the drive in! Are you certain there aren't screws from the bottom or the sides? You might have to partially disassemble the adapter to get to the mounts. If not you could try drill holes in the bottom to match up with your hard drives bottom mounting holes.
Or try contacting the seller if you think you got a different part than what you ordered.
Good luck man!