Original HDD not recognised in MCE optibay

[bassmattie]

I have an issue with my optibay;

I own a macbook pro early 2011, 15".

I recently installed a samsung SSD and put it in the hard-drive location. I placed the original Hitachi 500gb 7200rpm HDD in the optibay location. Unfortunately my machine does not recognise the device even though I can feel it spinning.

What I did;
1. I put in the SSD in the optibay location, installed mavericks from my "old" OS, which is installed on my HDD.
2. Rebooted my machine and was not able to boot from the SSD > Got a circle with a slash through it at booting. Computer defaulted to the HDD install. Resolved this by moving the SSD to the original HDD location in the computer and putting the HDD in the optibay.

I am quite sure the optibay is connected and not broken, since it does recognize my SSD when using my orignal HDD as main disk.

Does anyone know how I can have my HDD show up as drive, without placing it back into the original location?

 

[heisenberg123]

I have an issue with my optibay;

I own a macbook pro early 2011, 15".

I recently installed a samsung SSD and put it in the hard-drive location. I placed the original Hitachi 500gb 7200rpm HDD in the optibay location. Unfortunately my machine does not recognise the device even though I can feel it spinning.

What I did;
1. I put in the SSD in the optibay location, installed mavericks from my "old" OS, which is installed on my HDD.
2. Rebooted my machine and was not able to boot from the SSD > Got a circle with a slash through it at booting. Computer defaulted to the HDD install. Resolved this by moving the SSD to the original HDD location in the computer and putting the HDD in the optibay.

I am quite sure the optibay is connected and not broken, since it does recognize my SSD when using my orignal HDD as main disk.

Does anyone know how I can have my HDD show up as drive, without placing it back into the original location?

does it show up in disk utility?

 

[bassmattie]

does it show up in disk utility?

Unfortunately it does not, it also won't show up when I press alt during boot.

 

[barkmonster]

I've read plenty on here about certain Macbook models refusing to recognise 6Gb/s drives in the optical bay. It may be that you have no choice but to either use the SSD at 3Gb/s in the optibay and put the HDD back where it was or look for a replacement HDD with a SATA 3Gb/s interface.

 

[heisenberg123]

I've read plenty on here about certain Macbook models refusing to recognise 6Gb/s drives in the optical bay. It may be that you have no choice but to either use the SSD at 3Gb/s in the optibay and put the HDD back where it was or look for a replacement HDD with a SATA 3Gb/s interface.

good suggestion, but is a 500GB Hitachi 7200rpm drive a SATA III?

I thought all spin drives were SATA rated at 3.0gbps

 

[barkmonster]

good suggestion, but is a 500GB Hitachi 7200rpm drive a SATA III?

I thought all spin drives were SATA rated at 3.0gbps

You'd probably have specifically get a SATA 3Gbps drive. A lot of online stores have the drives in separate categories so they're easy to pick out. There'd be no point in not reasearching beforehand because you could end up with another drive that doesn't work.

 

[bassmattie]

I've read plenty on here about certain Macbook models refusing to recognise 6Gb/s drives in the optical bay. It may be that you have no choice but to either use the SSD at 3Gb/s in the optibay and put the HDD back where it was or look for a replacement HDD with a SATA 3Gb/s interface.

Is there a way to find out if that is the case on my machine? When I go to system information > SATA/SATA Express, There are two items called Intel 6 Series Chipset, one with my SSD and one empty.

Both have link speed 6 Gigabit and the SSD one has negotiated speed 6 Gigabit.

 

[heisenberg123]

Is there a way to find out if that is the case on my machine? When I go to system information > SATA/SATA Express, There are two items called Intel 6 Series Chipset, one with my SSD and one empty.

Both have link speed 6 Gigabit and the SSD one has negotiated speed 6 Gigabit.

the top one is main bay, the bottom one is where the optical drive is/was

if they both say 6 Gigabit that bot sata slots should support SATA III 6.0gbps so thats really strange your HDD does not work in the optibay but your SSD does

 

[bassmattie]

Just send an email to MCE Technologies' tech support. If they come up with something I will make sure to post it here as well.

I might also try to find a cheap hdd somewhere with 3gbs to see if that helps.

Thanks for your help!

 

[heisenberg123]

Just send an email to MCE Technologies' tech support. If they come up with something I will make sure to post it here as well.

I might also try to find a cheap hdd somewhere with 3gbs to see if that helps.

Thanks for your help!

whats the exact model of your hitachi?

also are you saying the SSD works in the optibay? but not the Hitachi?

 

[bassmattie]

whats the exact model of your hitachi?

also are you saying the SSD works in the optibay? but not the Hitachi?

The hitachi is a Hitachi 7k500-500

Yes, when I put in the SSD it works as second drive within OSX, I can browse the files in Finder. It however does not work as boot partition for some reason. It shows a circle with a slash through it instead of the apple logo.

 

[heisenberg123]

The hitachi is a Hitachi 7k500-500

Yes, when I put in the SSD it works as second drive within OSX, I can browse the files in Finder. It however does not work as boot partition for some reason. It shows a circle with a slash through it instead of the apple logo.

that hitachi is 3.0GBPS, very odd why its not working

 

[niteflyr]

SATA III drives are unreliable in optibay of 2011 MBP's. It could be that the OSX install on the SSD is corrupt, as it was in the optibay when OSX was installed. I would leave the SSD in main bay and Command+R boot to recovery and reinstall OSX on SSD from recovery. Then deal with the HDD. It may show up after reinstall of OSX on SSD.

 

[heisenberg123]

SATA III drives are unreliable in optibay of 2011 MBP's. I could be that the OSX install on the SSD is corrupt, as it was in the optibay when OSX was installed. I would leave the SSD in main bay and Command+R boot to recovery and reinstall OSX on SSD from recovery. Then deal with the HDD. It may show up after reinstall of OSX on SSD.

his hitachi should work in the optibay because its not SATA III

if he boots off the hitachi in the main bay he can see his SSD which is SATA III drive in the optibay

sounds like he can boot off the SSD in the main bay so the OSX on it should be fine

why cant he see the hitachi in the optibay is strange

 

[niteflyr]

his hitachi should work in the optibay because its not SATA III

if he boots off the hitachi in the main bay he can see his SSD which is SATA III drive in the optibay

sounds like he can boot off the SSD in the main bay so the OSX on it should be fine

why cant he see the hitachi in the optibay is strange

Just because it boots, doesn't necessarily mean everything is fine. It was in the optibay when OSX was installed on it.

 

[heisenberg123]

Just because it boots, doesn't necessarily mean everything is fine. It was in the optibay when OSX was installed on it.

good point


OP also make sure the SSD is setup as GUID

 

[bassmattie]

SATA III drives are unreliable in optibay of 2011 MBP's. It could be that the OSX install on the SSD is corrupt, as it was in the optibay when OSX was installed. I would leave the SSD in main bay and Command+R boot to recovery and reinstall OSX on SSD from recovery. Then deal with the HDD. It may show up after reinstall of OSX on SSD.

Thank you for this advice. I will try to recover the drive and/or reinstall OSX on the SSD while it is in the main bay. Will post the result on the forum.