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MCE Optibay Alternative CHEAP

tjb1 said:
No, the ebay one works at 3 Gigabit.
Click to expand...

I'll probably go ahead and pick one up. I know what you mean about the screw holes. It's too tight... I just haven't been tightening down the two on the outside edge.

Edit: I ordered one from nimitz** on ebay. I asked about speeds and he said this:
"I have not SATA III hard drive to test. so I only guarantee the speed is SATA I (1.5GB)."

So he will only guarantee SATAI. I suppose there's a chance it'll do SATAII but he won't guarantee it.
 
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New question about Nimitz: if you are one of the lucky ones who get a 6gbps optical bay, can you put a SATA III drive in there and get full speed? The data doubler site says that you can with them, but I am interested in if the $40 cheaper option is just as good now with that(I really dont see why they dont just thread the original cord through the casing, would keep from chancing a bottleneck)
 
Crystal Shadow said:
New question about Nimitz: if you are one of the lucky ones who get a 6gbps optical bay, can you put a SATA III drive in there and get full speed? The data doubler site says that you can with them, but I am interested in if the $40 cheaper option is just as good now with that(I really dont see why they dont just thread the original cord through the casing, would keep from chancing a bottleneck)
Click to expand...

I should be getting my nimitz optibay any day now
 
Crystal Shadow said:
New question about Nimitz: if you are one of the lucky ones who get a 6gbps optical bay, can you put a SATA III drive in there and get full speed? The data doubler site says that you can with them, but I am interested in if the $40 cheaper option is just as good now with that(I really dont see why they dont just thread the original cord through the casing, would keep from chancing a bottleneck)
Click to expand...

No MBP shipped to date has a SATA III (6Gb/s) optical bay. The 2011 uMBP's have a SATA III link in the hard drive bay and SATA II in the optical bay. Yeah it's a real bummer that the optical bay is limited to SATA II, but for the designers there is no point to upgrading the link since all its designed for is a slow optical drive.

The original OEM cord is an optical SATA shape, not the same as what is in the back of your hard drive.

The current state of the ebay adapters: great option, SATA II compatible (as fast as your computer's optical bay will go, so not a limiting component), cheap, fits well without any modification. Caveats are that the seller does not guarantee SATA II capability (though in several tests the adapter is clearly SATA II capable), and one user has reported trouble getting the adapter to work at SATA II speeds.
 
blink487 said:
No MBP shipped to date has a SATA III (6Gb/s) optical bay. The 2011 uMBP's have a SATA III link in the hard drive bay and SATA II in the optical bay. Yeah it's a real bummer that the optical bay is limited to SATA II, but for the designers there is no point to upgrading the link since all its designed for is a slow optical drive.
Click to expand...

Not true. Some are shipping with SATA III in both hard drive and optical bays.
 
blink487 said:
No MBP shipped to date has a SATA III (6Gb/s) optical bay. The 2011 uMBP's have a SATA III link in the hard drive bay and SATA II in the optical bay. Yeah it's a real bummer that the optical bay is limited to SATA II, but for the designers there is no point to upgrading the link since all its designed for is a slow optical drive.

The original OEM cord is an optical SATA shape, not the same as what is in the back of your hard drive.

The current state of the ebay adapters: great option, SATA II compatible (as fast as your computer's optical bay will go, so not a limiting component), cheap, fits well without any modification. Caveats are that the seller does not guarantee SATA II capability (though in several tests the adapter is clearly SATA II capable), and one user has reported trouble getting the adapter to work at SATA II speeds.
Click to expand...

You couldn't be more wrong bro. I have SATA3 in both bays in my 2011 MBP bought end of MAY custom from Apple. 15 Inch Anti-Glare
 
Thanks to blink487 and others for keeping this thread going. I've read through it in its entirety.

I noticed that nimitz** has two different $28.99 "2nd HDD caddy Apple OptiBay SuperDrive Replacement SATA" listings:

My question is, which one should I buy for my 2011 15" MBP?

P.S. I bought my MBP from Amazon on June 3 and can confirm it does have SATA 3 6Gbps in both drive bays.
 
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I will try to make this clear for everyone, for once and for all.

An ssd caddy is just a piece of metal with a sata connector.
Essentially what you are buying is a bridge between your ssd and the actual ssd port on the motherboard.

Sata cables (in this day and age) do not differ in link speeds, thus your caddy won't either.

The point of this thread was to show people that companies such as MCE and what have you, provide you with the same caddy a chinese ebay seller will.

There are some differences in caddies, but those are mostly stripdowns or alternative 'holders' (e.g. the DataDoubler).

Have you ever noticed that all the ebay models, all the MCE models, all the other 'branded' models look exactly the same?
Well, they put on a different sticker perhaps, but in the end you get my point.

Then why does it cost 10$ on ebay whereas it will cost you 6-7x as much on MCE?
The answer is simple, good marketing strategy.
MCE knows that more and more people are starting to swap out their optical drive. Combine this with the uniform hardware that every macbook pro user has and it's quite obvious what you end up with.
MCE has created the idea that you deserve a better quality caddy for your superior macbook pro.

All those rumors you have heard about crappy ssd's and all that may be true, but most of the time it's the user's fault for buying the wrong caddy, as there are still differences in PATA and SATA connectors.

If you have any questions, please do ask them

- Chris
 
So I'm looking to buy one of these as well as an external enclosure for the SuperDrive for my MacBook Pro 13" 2010. Is it safe to say that the optibay replacements from Ebay are legit and not problematic? I refuse to pay as much as OWC wants for their Data Doubler version that does the exact same thing if the ones on Ebay are close enough in quality.

Something like this for the optibay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/2nd-SATA-HDD-Op...ge_Internal&hash=item3a66be15a2#ht_3653wt_910


And for the SuperDrive enclosure, what are you guys using that isn't too expensive, but good quality? Thanks.
 
TO all

How long does Nimitz shipping take? MY delivery says between June 16-June 29. WTF? Thats like 3 weeks from now
 
Ok so it looks like Nimitz from Ebay is the best option, but why are there different prices for the optibays since they all seem to be the same? I see there is a special design one for $28.99, one that isn't a special design one for the same price, and another similar to the second one that's $13.99. What gives?

Also, are there options that can support up to a 12.5 mm drive? Not that I plan to need the space, but I'd rather have the option open for later if I changed my mind.
 
Nopstnz8 said:
Ok so it looks like Nimitz from Ebay is the best option, but why are there different prices for the optibays since they all seem to be the same? I see there is a special design one for $28.99, one that isn't a special design one for the same price, and another similar to the second one that's $13.99. What gives?

Also, are there options that can support up to a 12.5 mm drive? Not that I plan to need the space, but I'd rather have the option open for later if I changed my mind.
Click to expand...

Ebay has listings for optibays that fit many computers of different brands and models. For example, many IBM laptops can accept optibay sleds in their removable optical drive- you must select the right optibay to fit your computer.

The one you previously linked will fit in your uMBP (judging from your signature I'll assume the optibay is for your uMBP) but will require cutting off a plastic bezel and it will only be secured by one screw. The special design one is for the uMBP's with the special 3 screw mounting position (see the little tabs on the side of the drive where the disk would go in on a DVD drive).

For the uMBP's it seems there is no way to put a 12.5mm drive in the optibay slot since the keyboard is recessed and makes the optical bay slimmer. The caddy you previously linked is meant for non-unibody MBP's and they are capable (in some sizes AFAIK) of holding 12.5mm drives.

The item you want for a uMBP: http://cgi.ebay.com/2nd-HDD-caddy-A...e_Internal&hash=item3367c4a54d#ht_3405wt_1207

or the equivalent:

http://cgi.ebay.com/2nd-HDD-caddy-A...e_Internal&hash=item3365de6c4a#ht_3386wt_1141
 
clickclickw00t said:
TO all

How long does Nimitz shipping take? MY delivery says between June 16-June 29. WTF? Thats like 3 weeks from now
Click to expand...

Mine took a little less than that. I'd say a little less than 2 weeks, but its been a while so that's not an exact time.

Dude, that's what you get with free shipping from China, it takes forever!
 
blink487 said:
Ebay has listings for optibays that fit many computers of different brands and models. For example, many IBM laptops can accept optibay sleds in their removable optical drive- you must select the right optibay to fit your computer.

The one you previously linked will fit in your uMBP (judging from your signature I'll assume the optibay is for your uMBP) but will require cutting off a plastic bezel and it will only be secured by one screw. The special design one is for the uMBP's with the special 3 screw mounting position (see the little tabs on the side of the drive where the disk would go in on a DVD drive).

For the uMBP's it seems there is no way to put a 12.5mm drive in the optibay slot since the keyboard is recessed and makes the optical bay slimmer. The caddy you previously linked is meant for non-unibody MBP's and they are capable (in some sizes AFAIK) of holding 12.5mm drives.

Oh and what are you using for a USB enclosure for the SuperDrive?

The item you want for a uMBP: http://cgi.ebay.com/2nd-HDD-caddy-A...e_Internal&hash=item3367c4a54d#ht_3405wt_1207

or the equivalent:

http://cgi.ebay.com/2nd-HDD-caddy-A...e_Internal&hash=item3365de6c4a#ht_3386wt_1141
Click to expand...

Thank you very much! I really appreciate it. I thought the special design one was mainly for the 2011 models. My bad. That's why I figured "Why spend double the price for the exact same thing?"

I'm fine with paying the $30 now that I know it's a perfect fit and all. That's not even that expensive, granted anything is better than OWC's $80-90 option.

So yeah we have the same exact computer, and may I ask how you like your setup? I saw that Momentus XT drive in Best Buy the other day and was really interested in it. Too bad they don't make a 750gb version or I would have bought it for my HDD bay for storage then put a 120gb SSD in the optibay for booting. Which 1TB drive do you have? I want a 1TB drive as well in the HDD bay, but I don't want one that's a slug if you know what I mean. It seems there are sadly only two options that fit in the Hard drive bay being the Western Digital 1TB 5200 RPM drive, and the Samsung 1TB 5400RPM drive. I might just go with a 750gb 7200rpm drive because I want the speed. Too bad Hitachi doesn't make 750gb drives in 7200rpm because I love my 500gb 7200rpm drive. I was looking at the enterprise drives that seagate makes, and they make one that's 1TB 7200rpm, but I think it said they were sadly 15mm, so that won't fit. Have you found any near those specs that are good? Basically, I need the storage, but don't want to lose the speed.
 
Nopstnz8 said:
Thank you very much! I really appreciate it. I thought the special design one was mainly for the 2011 models. My bad. That's why I figured "Why spend double the price for the exact same thing?"

I'm fine with paying the $30 now that I know it's a perfect fit and all. That's not even that expensive, granted anything is better than OWC's $80-90 option.

So yeah we have the same exact computer, and may I ask how you like your setup? I saw that Momentus XT drive in Best Buy the other day and was really interested in it. Too bad they don't make a 750gb version or I would have bought it for my HDD bay for storage then put a 120gb SSD in the optibay for booting. Which 1TB drive do you have? I want a 1TB drive as well in the HDD bay, but I don't want one that's a slug if you know what I mean. It seems there are sadly only two options that fit in the Hard drive bay being the Western Digital 1TB 5200 RPM drive, and the Samsung 1TB 5400RPM drive. I might just go with a 750gb 7200rpm drive because I want the speed. Too bad Hitachi doesn't make 750gb drives in 7200rpm because I love my 500gb 7200rpm drive. I was looking at the enterprise drives that seagate makes, and they make one that's 1TB 7200rpm, but I think it said they were sadly 15mm, so that won't fit. Have you found any near those specs that are good? Basically, I need the storage, but don't want to lose the speed.
Click to expand...

I'm quite happy with the momentus XT. I've noticed boot times and program launches have slowed down a bit in the last few weeks which is annoying, so I'll try to find a remedy for this. Also, the firmware of the drive prevents it from going to sleep when possible. So if you're using your computer and are not accessing the hard drive it will spin down to save power. But there seems to be a conflict of firmwares for the momentus XT: I can hear it spinning down, but it immediately spins back up again.

I have both a 1TB Toshiba 5400rpm drive and 1TB Samsung 5400rpm drive. The sammy is my external, the toshiba in my hard drive bay. I've been happy with both. I only use them for media storage so the 5400rpm speed has been sufficient for me. In fact, for my uses I would choose it over a 7200rpm drive for the quieter and lower power operation.

If you're not installing your OS or applications onto the 1TB drive I don't think you'll notice the difference in speed between 5400rpm and 7200. As I understand it, the spin speed just makes seeking faster, but file transfer/access speed is not drastically increased, but check this before you take my word on it- I'm unsure if that's true. In any case, most laptops come with 5400rpm drives and they aren't terrible, so I think they are fast enough for storage/general use and 7200rpm drives give an incremental speed boost that I think you mainly notice when using it as your OS and applications drive.
 
eC1990ho said:
I will try to make this clear for everyone, for once and for all.

An ssd caddy is just a piece of metal with a sata connector.
Essentially what you are buying is a bridge between your ssd and the actual ssd port on the motherboard.

Sata cables (in this day and age) do not differ in link speeds, thus your caddy won't either.

The point of this thread was to show people that companies such as MCE and what have you, provide you with the same caddy a chinese ebay seller will.

There are some differences in caddies, but those are mostly stripdowns or alternative 'holders' (e.g. the DataDoubler).

Have you ever noticed that all the ebay models, all the MCE models, all the other 'branded' models look exactly the same?
Well, they put on a different sticker perhaps, but in the end you get my point.

Then why does it cost 10$ on ebay whereas it will cost you 6-7x as much on MCE?
The answer is simple, good marketing strategy.
MCE knows that more and more people are starting to swap out their optical drive. Combine this with the uniform hardware that every macbook pro user has and it's quite obvious what you end up with.
MCE has created the idea that you deserve a better quality caddy for your superior macbook pro.

All those rumors you have heard about crappy ssd's and all that may be true, but most of the time it's the user's fault for buying the wrong caddy, as there are still differences in PATA and SATA connectors.

If you have any questions, please do ask them

- Chris
Click to expand...

So a SATA II connector is the exact same as the SATA III, no extra prongs or anything? I understand your point about optibay vs others in concept, but I was asking about the physical properties of SATA III. I didnt know if Nimitz needed to upgrade his product or something to go to SATA III
 
Crystal Shadow said:
So a SATA II connector is the exact same as the SATA III, no extra prongs or anything? I understand your point about optibay vs others in concept, but I was asking about the physical properties of SATA III. I didnt know if Nimitz needed to upgrade his product or something to go to SATA III
Click to expand...

The SATA connector that could make a difference is inside the MBP, not inside the caddy.
Any ebay seller telling you that his caddy cant handle sata3 is just telling you something cuz he doesnt know the answer
 
Nopstnz8 said:
So I'm looking to buy one of these as well as an external enclosure for the SuperDrive for my MacBook Pro 13" 2010. Is it safe to say that the optibay replacements from Ebay are legit and not problematic? I refuse to pay as much as OWC wants for their Data Doubler version that does the exact same thing if the ones on Ebay are close enough in quality.

Something like this for the optibay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/2nd-SATA-HDD-Op...ge_Internal&hash=item3a66be15a2#ht_3653wt_910


And for the SuperDrive enclosure, what are you guys using that isn't too expensive, but good quality?
Thanks.
Click to expand...


I just got my data doubler from fedex...and having had two different optibay solutions already - the DATA DOUBLER BLOWS THEM OUT OF THE WATER. Fine construction, and rock solid. Does not move an inch compared to my other optibays which were plagued with vibration and shiftiness. Well worth it. Trashed the other two (one was a newmodeus).


Paid $20 for the data doubler (had $30 from previous paypal credit - $50 is well worth the price for me). Quality was worth the price.
 
peapody said:
I just got my data doubler from fedex...and having had two different optibay solutions already - the DATA DOUBLER BLOWS THEM OUT OF THE WATER. Fine construction, and rock solid. Does not move an inch compared to my other optibays which were plagued with vibration and shiftiness. Well worth it. Trashed the other two (one was a newmodeus).


Paid $20 for the data doubler (had $30 from previous paypal credit - $50 is well worth the price for me). Quality was worth the price.
Click to expand...

Is anyone else having vibration issue with the Ebay ones?
 
Damn just buy the one off ebay... I dont know why everyone insists on paying $50-$100 for a $0.50 chunk of aluminum. Names dont mean ****, look at Toyota...oh were a big company but we have all these problems with our cars. Save yourself money, stop reading, go to ebay and buy the one from nimitz/smk312 and be done with it.

Every question asked has already been answered about 20 times in this thread. Read.

/Thread.
 
tjb1 said:
Damn just buy the one off ebay... I dont know why everyone insists on paying $50-$100 for a $0.50 chunk of aluminum.
Click to expand...

Well just reporting the differences I noticed. The cheap ones off of ebay are just what they are - cheap. I know because I have one of them. Even the newmodeus one feels cheap. The data doubler feels like solid metal with no moving flappy aluminum. Very happy with my purchase, and maybe people might be interested in this information.
 
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