Optibay problems

[khizrs]

I have a 15" late 2011 MBP with 2.2 i7 processor.
I have installed an optibay drive in my computer with an SSD in it and a seperate mechanical 1TB drive for storage.

The computer randomly froze one day while I was using it, turned out that the hard drive is faulty. (OCZ Vertex 2)

So I replaced the SSD with a corsair one I had lying around, I tried to install OSX using an SD/USB/Internet recovery and none would install, it would take many hours to try to install and crash halfway through.

I put the SSD in the OEM slot and removed the 1TB hdd, it worked and installed OSX in under 30 mins.

I can't understand how to diagnose that the optibay is at fault here, as it's not exactly a complicated piece of hardware, and it seems a bit of a coincidence that both the HDD and the optibay simultaneously developed a fault.

Does anyone have any experiences with a similar setup?

 

[negativzero]

I have a 15" late 2011 MBP with 2.2 i7 processor.
I have installed an optibay drive in my computer with an SSD in it and a seperate mechanical 1TB drive for storage.

The computer randomly froze one day while I was using it, turned out that the hard drive is faulty. (OCZ Vertex 2)

So I replaced the SSD with a corsair one I had lying around, I tried to install OSX using an SD/USB/Internet recovery and none would install, it would take many hours to try to install and crash halfway through.

I put the SSD in the OEM slot and removed the 1TB hdd, it worked and installed OSX in under 30 mins.

I can't understand how to diagnose that the optibay is at fault here, as it's not exactly a complicated piece of hardware, and it seems a bit of a coincidence that both the HDD and the optibay simultaneously developed a fault.

Does anyone have any experiences with a similar setup?

Not all optibays are made equal. I had installed a SSD in an optibay I bought off ebay and I had frequent beachballing on OSX, but when I swapped it out with a OWC data doubler, the problems all went away.

I suspect its a fault of the optibay that is causing problems with your SSD. Naturally you could put your SSD in the main bay and the HDD in the optibay, but that would mean your HDD would not be getting the shock protection and noise isolation.

 

[niteflyr]

I suspect its a fault of the optibay that is causing problems with your SSD. Naturally you could put your SSD in the main bay and the HDD in the optibay, but that would mean your HDD would not be getting the shock protection and noise isolation.

2011 MBP's have known optibay issues with SSD's. Definitely move the SSD to the main bay and move the HDD to the optibay. I have a Crucial M4 installed in the main bay and the original HDD in the optical bay of my 2011 MBP, and everything works very well this way.

Per OWC:
Testing has demonstrated that Apple factory hardware does not reliably support a 6G (6Gb/s) Solid State Drive or Hard Disk Drive in the optical bay of 2011 MacBook Pros (ModeI ID8,1; 8,2; 8,3). If your OWC Data Doubler bundle comes with a 6G drive, you should ONLY install that drive in the main drive bay and utilize the Data Doubler to re-task your existing drive or install a new 3G SSD or HDD in the optical bay. PRE-2011 models can utilize a 6G drive in the optical bay, but will do so at a reduced 3G (3Gb/s) speed.

 

[gngan]

2011 MBP's have known optibay issues with SSD's. Definitely move the SSD to the main bay and move the HDD to the optibay. I have a Crucial M4 installed the main bay and the original HDD in the optical bay of my 2011 MBP, and everything works very well this way.

+1

Exact same set up! M4 in main bay and HDD in optical bay.

 

[khizrs]

well that's annoying as my drive is 12.5mm thick