I would like to go the optibay route but am wondering which would be better. I know people have used either of these two so I'd like to hear your thoughts on which might be the better option. Thanks.
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OWC vs MCE optibay
- Thread starter bigpoppamac31
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Well I've never bought anything from eBay before. Is Nimitz a name brand or a person making these things out of his/her moms basement?? I've never heard of that name.
Any other opinions? I'd rather not get something cheap. Paying a bit more is not entirely an issue if I know I'm getting a quality product.
There is no difference in quality. It's just a simple passive adapter, just converting the plug. It's not like it goes through any type of IC in there.
IMO if money isn't the main driver I would buy one of the two you listed. I've purchased computer parts from eBay before and from my experiences they are not the same quality (stripped screws, lose fit, cheap/bent aluminum, etc). I can't personally speak to the one listed on this thread though. I'm not broad-brushing all eBay parts but if money isn't a concern why risk it? I wouldn't want to put junk in my $2700 MBP.
It's the same. MCE just slaps their name on Chinese adapters the same way Nimitz does.
They're all the same. All youre really paying for is a SATA extension and some plastic to hold the drive. Thats it. Theres nothing special about any of the of optibay caddys. Just find yourself the cheapest one you can find on ebay. I got mine from a seller called Segoo and mine works perfectly eventhough it didn't have mounts for two of the three screws. Just find Nimitz on eBay and buy his, it goes for about 25 bucks and does exactly what its supposed to. Even 25 bucks is too expensive though, lol.
To put things in perspective for you:
Do you pay attention to brand names on cables? If not, then you should treat the optibay caddy no different.
Make sure you pick up an enclosure for the superdrive as well. I went with Nimitz's on eBay - http://www.ebay.com/itm/External-USB-enclosure-MacBook-9-5-SATA-superdrive-/280725179879?_trksid=e17004.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D6%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D3212020617654826211#ht_2443wt_994
I've heard that the optical bay drive caddy by Newmodeus is meant to be one of the best ones, but is more expensive than the genetic eBay ones:
http://www.newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2_37
http://www.newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2_37
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The first link you have is simply someone's explanation of the issues with the OWC model, and that the MCE worked better (MCE uses an adapter that looks like an optical drive, vs the OWC bracket). Ones like Nimitz or Fenvi on eBay for a fraction of the price are the same style and quality as the MCE, so you get the benefits of the MCE over the OWC without the price. Tons of people use eBay models (myself included) and the fit, connections, and drive security are perfect.
This is the reason why anybody who buys the MCE is plain stupid. Paying 100 bucks just because some American company puts their name on some cheap adapter made in China that is worth maybe a dollar is a almost a fraud.
It is like buying an adapter for a European power plug for 100$. Nobody would ever pay that much. MCE just preys on the poor souls who think that such an optibay adapter is some hightech thingy that is worth so much. They probably get those from China for 1$ each.
Some guy simply bought an adapter alone without the mounting for 2 $. Worked too. And 2$ is just because in retail you pay a lot for such little things. Bought en masse by Dell/Apple that stuff costs a few cents.
Not true - the MCE Optibay is different from the Newmodeus one, and the latter is the one that the person was writing about in the second half of the post, not MCE. Having looked at the Newmodeus one online, it does look better made than the generic eBay ones, and is cheaper than the MCE one, its another option to consider, anyway.
Maybe. I run a Hitachi 7200 TravelStar. I don't hear it, but others mention that they hear their drives. Some people say that it 'echoes' more in the optibay. I don't think so. Everyone is different in what bothers them and what they hear. If I hear anything out of my box, it's the fans and they're not bad at all.
BTW, the OWC Data Doubler, regardless of what people have said in this thread, fits perfectly - to me that's important. Quality control.
I've had 3 7200rpm drives over time and I can confirm that they definitely make more noise than the 5400rpm ones. I like the 7200rpm for logic files though so it's hard to go to something slower. For casual data i'd be inclined to stick with 5400 rpm tbh