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OptiBay Extreme?
- Thread starter mbpjedi
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I am just using a cheapy opti-bay from fleabay ($10).
I am simply using an SSD in the main and my ORIGINAL 750GB HDD in the opti-bay.
So, if I am reading this thread correctly I should be having problems with my SATA III HDD in my opti-bay? Because so far I have not experienced a single issue (touch wood).
The only negative on my opti-bay was that the counting screws were unable to be fully screwed down due to poor manufacturing - luckily as the SSD wedges in securely I could get away without using them. I believe the OWC version would be made much better.
I am simply using an SSD in the main and my ORIGINAL 750GB HDD in the opti-bay.
So, if I am reading this thread correctly I should be having problems with my SATA III HDD in my opti-bay? Because so far I have not experienced a single issue (touch wood).
The only negative on my opti-bay was that the counting screws were unable to be fully screwed down due to poor manufacturing - luckily as the SSD wedges in securely I could get away without using them. I believe the OWC version would be made much better.
i have a 2tb sata 3 drive in a cheapo ebay caddy. most of the time it works fine. But when I do a large copy to it (say 70gigs of files from a usb drive) it unmounts itself with an error and i have to restart the machine to get it recognised again.
Can't seem to find an optibay extreme anywhere so am looking into jumper settings to get the 2tb drive to act in sata2 mode
Mushroom, the original HDD is not SATA III. No worries. I have the same setup. Rock solid for years now.
Really, are you sure?
Because the everyman specs list the connection as being SATA III?
The main drive bay connection is SATA III (backwards compatible) as Apple offered a BTO 2011 MBP with a SSD. The original 750GB hard drive itself is not a SATA III drive.
Really, that is interesting - and lucky for me I guess.
(Seems strange that a SATA III drive wasn't used in hindsight though?)
Thanks for the info!
Hi everybody,
Just received and tried MCE optibay extreme in my late 2011 macbook pro with a HDD 7200 rpm 1 To 6 Gbps. I am using a SSD Crucial M4 256 Go in the main bay.
I’ve tried everything, did every test I could. There was just no way to make the HDD run properly into their “extreme” optibay. Wrote to MCE yesterday, still waiting for a reply..
As it didn’t work for me (that page http://www.mcetech.com/optibay/sata3to2.htmlmade me very optimistic about it since I used the exact same devices as described) I would NOT recommend it to any late 2011 macbook pro user. Still, I could boot my ssd drive from their optibay and it almost worked (could run but slow perf). This isn't enough for me to say that their sata3 worked..
I finally had downgraded my HGST HDD to 3 Gbps sata2 speed.. Buying that bay was such a waste : my former Storeva disk doubler cost 30$ when the mce optibay extreme cost like one hundred $ but they are now doing the same fckin job. I will make you know if they ever will to answer me.
Edit : For those who might be interested, here is what I've done..
1/ Set up the optibay with HGST HDD mounted.
2/ Drive gets visible in Disk Utility but shown as a MS DOS partition. At this time, I am totally unable to format the drive.
3/ Swapped drives. Now SSD is in optibay, HDD in main bay.
4/ From Disk Utility, I can finally make a HFS mac os journaled partition. I am also able to log on my boot drive. The experience of having both drives swapped wasn't great, but still, I could boot my SSD 6 Gbps from da optibay ;..;
5/ Swapped drives again, back to step 1/ configuration.
6/ Drive shown the same way as step 2/, even though the drive was properly formated..
Just received and tried MCE optibay extreme in my late 2011 macbook pro with a HDD 7200 rpm 1 To 6 Gbps. I am using a SSD Crucial M4 256 Go in the main bay.
I’ve tried everything, did every test I could. There was just no way to make the HDD run properly into their “extreme” optibay. Wrote to MCE yesterday, still waiting for a reply..
As it didn’t work for me (that page http://www.mcetech.com/optibay/sata3to2.htmlmade me very optimistic about it since I used the exact same devices as described) I would NOT recommend it to any late 2011 macbook pro user. Still, I could boot my ssd drive from their optibay and it almost worked (could run but slow perf). This isn't enough for me to say that their sata3 worked..
I finally had downgraded my HGST HDD to 3 Gbps sata2 speed.. Buying that bay was such a waste : my former Storeva disk doubler cost 30$ when the mce optibay extreme cost like one hundred $ but they are now doing the same fckin job. I will make you know if they ever will to answer me.
Edit : For those who might be interested, here is what I've done..
1/ Set up the optibay with HGST HDD mounted.
2/ Drive gets visible in Disk Utility but shown as a MS DOS partition. At this time, I am totally unable to format the drive.
3/ Swapped drives. Now SSD is in optibay, HDD in main bay.
4/ From Disk Utility, I can finally make a HFS mac os journaled partition. I am also able to log on my boot drive. The experience of having both drives swapped wasn't great, but still, I could boot my SSD 6 Gbps from da optibay ;..;
5/ Swapped drives again, back to step 1/ configuration.
6/ Drive shown the same way as step 2/, even though the drive was properly formated..
Last edited:
Update on my MCE Optibay Extreme. I've used it successfully with a Crucial M500 series SSD for many months. On large files transfers, it will occasionally 'pause' but no data is lost, and the files are not corrupted. Of course, I would like to see what I can do to better shield the cable, but I thought it noteworthy to report. The uploaded image shows data throughput in copying a 60GB file from/to the SSD in the optibay. Even with the occasional slowdown in data transfer, the SSD in the 2nd bay works well enough to run a Parallels VM of Windows 7. Note: I typically have bluetooth turned off when running the VM (just in case) so YMMV. If anyone comes up with a good way to shield the connector cable, I would love to hear it. As for the snake oil opinion of the optibay extreme, I can say that at least the one they sent me works much better than my own (goofy) attempts with foil. I have some copper tape meant for a guitar that I was going to try, but the performance hit is not such a deal breaker that I want to bust open my system again. Hope this helps someone.
Attachments
here´s my report.
Owner of a late 2011 i7 2.5 MBP 17".
The workhorse.
Tried all optical bays.ALL.From cheap to Rolls Royce (Data Doubler et al)
All failed with drives >1TB and Sata III.Unreliable.Cutting out.Data loss.
My guess is not only from a data issue but first and foremost power.
Those guys pull more than 5W bringing the SATA connector to its limits.
Plus heat is a factor in this unvented area.
The shielding does the rest.
People even report issues with the M9T in external enclosures not being reliable over USB/Thunderbolt due to power draw.
I was very skeptical when I first read about the MCE Optibay EXTREME, since most of the successful reports came from first or second time posters.
But I had this M9T drive here and it was invaluable for me with 2TB storage (Photographers backup dream)
I finally shelved out the overpriced $100 from caveat emptor MCE.
These guys have a website from a 9 year old looking like 1997.
BUT
The thing works reliable with write speeds of 129MB/s and reads with 144MB/s.
I´m shure it would work with an SSD.As soons and the 3TB+ SSDs arrive in 2016 I ail test it.
Whatever MCE is up to, they (or their asian supplier) know what they do.
If You have questions, don´t hesitate to post them here.
Owner of a late 2011 i7 2.5 MBP 17".
The workhorse.
Tried all optical bays.ALL.From cheap to Rolls Royce (Data Doubler et al)
All failed with drives >1TB and Sata III.Unreliable.Cutting out.Data loss.
My guess is not only from a data issue but first and foremost power.
Those guys pull more than 5W bringing the SATA connector to its limits.
Plus heat is a factor in this unvented area.
The shielding does the rest.
People even report issues with the M9T in external enclosures not being reliable over USB/Thunderbolt due to power draw.
I was very skeptical when I first read about the MCE Optibay EXTREME, since most of the successful reports came from first or second time posters.
But I had this M9T drive here and it was invaluable for me with 2TB storage (Photographers backup dream)
I finally shelved out the overpriced $100 from caveat emptor MCE.
These guys have a website from a 9 year old looking like 1997.
BUT
The thing works reliable with write speeds of 129MB/s and reads with 144MB/s.
I´m shure it would work with an SSD.As soons and the 3TB+ SSDs arrive in 2016 I ail test it.
Whatever MCE is up to, they (or their asian supplier) know what they do.
If You have questions, don´t hesitate to post them here.
My "Titan" branded unit has worked flawlessly at SATA3 speeds since installation over 2yrs ago, on my current 1TB Crucial it supports speeds of 425 write/480 read - I certainly wouldn't expect vastly more speed from any other adapter. According to DriveDX there are no errors of any kind. I would recommend it.
I went trough the hassle of trying the Optibay Extreme. Well don't do it, it just doesn't work, the HD is still unstable, it unmounts when you try to move big files or even when it tries to read your photo library. It works for a while but then it fails, and you need to reboot to see it again. I guess we will have to live with smaller and slower drives on that sata.
- Yeah, that seems to be the consensus. OWC Data Doubler is the tried and proven option.
Now, if only I could source a not grotesquely expensive SATA II SSD for use in it...
Unfortunely not on a Macbook pro early 2011 (like mine). Nothing works in SATA III or even adapts. But everithing should work if it's a native SATA II drive or SSD
In case you didn't know, modern HGST SATA III drives can be downgraded to SATA II with a firmware tool downloadable from HGST, and work well. I put a downgraded 1Tb HGST drive in the optibay of my 2011 17" inch MBP two years ago. (Still working fine as part of a home brew fusion drive). There is a thread here about this somewhere which I will dig out if you need it.
Don't know of any SATA II SSDs unfortunately.
Yes I know, but I was trying to fit a 2TB seagate samsung, and that's why I was looking at the Optibay extreme to fix the Sata 3 incompatibility.
- Yes, I know. I have the same machine. The Data Doubler works perfectly from what I know, but it of course doesn't fix the stability issues inherent in those machines.
- They exist. Once they were the norm. Nowadays, they cost about twice as much as a SATA III drive at the same sizes...
OWC even still makes one, but it's seriously expensive.
- You seem to have had good luck with your SATA connections. And there is some evidence to suggest the connection on the 13" is more stable than on the larger models.
I'm willing to bet it doesn't have anything to do with your Titan unit. Though, out of curiosity, do you have a link?
There is a lot variability between individual machines too. At one time I had two identical 2011 17 inch MBP. One appeared to support SATA 3 in the optional but actually Drive DX showed it was clocking up a lot of (UDMA?) errors due requests for data resend. SATA 3 in the optibay of the other was completely unstable.
- Indeed. I'm currently debating whether I should try my luck with a SATA III SSD (which is cheaper) or buy a SATA II one (which is guaranteed to work but much more expensive) for my SATA II equipped 2011 bay.
Personally I wouldn't waste any money on an SATA 3 for the optical bay. Whether the SATA 2 one is worthwhile depends on too many factors to call.
Follow up.. .
Approaching Spring 2016 and the Optibay Extreme is working great in my 2011 17" Macbook Pro.
Money Well Spent.
Configuration: 1TB - Samsung EVO 840 connected to main SATA, 2TB ST2000LM003 connected to Optical SATA
Looking at recent posts, there's a need for clarification:
I have no connection, etc to the Optibay folks. They provided a solution I was happy to pay for and has been stable and reliable.
Approaching Spring 2016 and the Optibay Extreme is working great in my 2011 17" Macbook Pro.
Money Well Spent.
Configuration: 1TB - Samsung EVO 840 connected to main SATA, 2TB ST2000LM003 connected to Optical SATA
Looking at recent posts, there's a need for clarification:
- This all refers to one model machine: Late 2011 17" Macbook pro
- The SATA chipset and its connection to the optical drive is SATA3
- SATA3 will fall back to support a SATA2 or SATA1 device
- The SuperDrive is a SATA2 device
- The shielding on the motherboard is not "good enough" to support SATA3. Not a problem because the optical drive is SATA2 - and the port will fall back to SATA2 (But now we want to put a HDD in place of the optical drive)
- A Design decision, my guess - engineers know that only SATA2 will be used in this port so, the wiring has to support only SATA2, the fact that the chip will connect at SATA3 is irrelevant, because they know the drive will only talk SATA2, making their requirement only SATA2
- Some Hard Drives are SATA2 and some are SATA3
- One HD manufacturer has a 'downgrade tool' - I have tried with several 2TB HDD's and its only for a specific model (read: older, 1TB)
- The hope: tell the SATA3 drive to only talk SATA2. Seem's reasonable. Not a feature they expose.
- If the HDD you install in the optical bay is SATA2. There is no problem, this thread is not for you
- All of the 2TB HDD's and most of the SSD's made this century are SATA3
- You can improve the connection by adding foil shielding/shielding tape along the connection.
- No one has made a _reliable connection using this foil/shielding method. Ever.
- If you need to read a file off of a disk in a dire emergency .. maybe, if you want a thing that just works to store your files - no.
- There are at least 3 posts here (myself included) of varying degrees of success. No one wants their data stored with varying degrees of success.
- The Optibay Extreme - solves the problem in an electrically correct way. They studied the issue with the circuit, and engineered a solution that works. You are not paying for a place to hold the Hard Drive, you are paying for an engineered solution to a technical problem. How to make a circuit not designed to handle SATA3 traffic, handle it reliably. Kudos.
I have no connection, etc to the Optibay folks. They provided a solution I was happy to pay for and has been stable and reliable.
FYI I bought this and weeks later it's working great:
http://www.amazon.com/Slimline-SATA...SATA+Male+to+22+Pin+SATA+Female+Cable+Adapter
http://www.amazon.com/Slimline-SATA...SATA+Male+to+22+Pin+SATA+Female+Cable+Adapter
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That's great. Just to be clear, you did nothing but replace with the linked cable and installed a Sata III ssd and all is well? No cage?
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