I've got an SSD on order for my 2010 13" MBP . One thing I'm looking forward to is zero vibration & zero noise. If I stick my old 640GB in the optical bay but only mount the disk when I need to, will it spin down & be absolutely powerless/silent/vibration free when it's not mounted?
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SSD+HD OptiBay Question
- Thread starter sososowhat
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Question about the appearance to the Optibay.
What does it look like from the outside? What happens to the slot where the CD went into? Does it Seal that up so that its flush with the rest of the side or the slot is still open and the Optibay seals it from the inside?
Any pictures around showing the outside installed?
What does it look like from the outside? What happens to the slot where the CD went into? Does it Seal that up so that its flush with the rest of the side or the slot is still open and the Optibay seals it from the inside?
Any pictures around showing the outside installed?
OP: What brand and rpm is your 640GB HDD?
I love zero noise and zero vibration too. But I have not been able to get it with any of the 7200rpm drives that I've been able to get my hands on. Hitachi, WD, Seagate.
I have been successful with a hitachi 5400rpm. Even when being used it's (almost) silent with no vibrations.
Check the box for "put disks to sleep when possible" in the energy saver preferences.
I love zero noise and zero vibration too. But I have not been able to get it with any of the 7200rpm drives that I've been able to get my hands on. Hitachi, WD, Seagate.
I have been successful with a hitachi 5400rpm. Even when being used it's (almost) silent with no vibrations.
Check the box for "put disks to sleep when possible" in the energy saver preferences.
Nope, the slot is still there!! But you're unable to insert anything into the space since the optibay's facia is right behind! Helps keep unwanted dust out!
It's a WD 5400 RPM. It's not bad, but not as silent or still as I'd like; not as bad as the 7200 RPM Seagate 500 in my other machine.
Do you find that "put hard disks to sleep when possible" does anything for one's boot disk? For some reason I've never had a disk spin down even when the machine's sitting still. Actually, even external disks don't seem to completely spin down.
That's awesome, thank you. I'll give it a try. Do you know if certain disks (brands? firmware?) spin down & others don't?
i'm not sure about the boot disk but for the optibay it does spin it down.
with externals i've only ever used WD usb drives and they seem to spin down when not used.
I have an Intel X25-M SSD in the Optibay slot (boot drive) and 1 TB Toshiba 5400 RPM HDD in the normal hard drive bay. I've noticed that when the HDD hasn't been used for a while, it will automatically spin down (even if it's still mounted). Likewise when it's not mounted.
Does having the SSD in the optibay work fine?
I've read that it sometimes causes problems with sleep / hibernate?
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When spotlight does something you will be activating the HD. If you currently can feel you HD vibrating you will still be able to feel it.
When spotlight does something you will be activating the HD. If you currently can feel you HD vibrating you will still be able to feel it.
Impressions & observations
So, it arrived & I installed in two days ago. A couple of things to note:
1) To move the HD to the OptiBay took a $75 adaptor from OWC. I guess there are cheaper ones out there, but I didn't want to mess around. The problem is that the optical drive uses a different SATA connector than the HD. It's a slightly more tricky job than a regular HD swap or whatever, but nothing too bad.
2) Remember to install your OS on the SSD before killing your optical drive! I didn't
.
3) I've got everything I use except the iPhoto library (200+ Gigs) and my iTunes library (100+ Gigs) and some rarely used user accounts on the SSD.
4) The HD still spins up quite a bit even when I boot off the SSD. Not sure why. Maybe spotlight. I know things like iStat access it. It didn't seem much more quiescent than before the SSD.
5) Using Disk Utility I "unmounted" the HD. Cool!!! It goes totally silent. The machine becomes still. Nothing breaks!!! except I can't use iPhoto or iTunes w/o going back to Disk Utility & clicking "mount". It's easy. I'd prefer a "mount/unmount" widget at the top (next to the battery indicator). Anyone know how to do that?
The machine is definitely snappier. In & out of Office apps used to be painfully slow; now it's a snap. Opening Mail with lots of re-open windows now flies. But the big thing for me is the stillness & quiet. Battery life seems the same.
Also, the back is substantially cooler. I no longer have to put a pillow or notebook on my lap!
Overall: A very good upgrade. I've dreamed of having a perfectly silent & still machine for years. Now I've got one!
btw, OWC lowered the price for Black Friday before mine arrived & they credited me $15 when I sent them a note about it. They're a good vendor.
So, it arrived & I installed in two days ago. A couple of things to note:
1) To move the HD to the OptiBay took a $75 adaptor from OWC. I guess there are cheaper ones out there, but I didn't want to mess around. The problem is that the optical drive uses a different SATA connector than the HD. It's a slightly more tricky job than a regular HD swap or whatever, but nothing too bad.
2) Remember to install your OS on the SSD before killing your optical drive! I didn't
.3) I've got everything I use except the iPhoto library (200+ Gigs) and my iTunes library (100+ Gigs) and some rarely used user accounts on the SSD.
4) The HD still spins up quite a bit even when I boot off the SSD. Not sure why. Maybe spotlight. I know things like iStat access it. It didn't seem much more quiescent than before the SSD.
5) Using Disk Utility I "unmounted" the HD. Cool!!! It goes totally silent. The machine becomes still. Nothing breaks!!! except I can't use iPhoto or iTunes w/o going back to Disk Utility & clicking "mount". It's easy. I'd prefer a "mount/unmount" widget at the top (next to the battery indicator). Anyone know how to do that?
The machine is definitely snappier. In & out of Office apps used to be painfully slow; now it's a snap. Opening Mail with lots of re-open windows now flies. But the big thing for me is the stillness & quiet. Battery life seems the same.
Also, the back is substantially cooler. I no longer have to put a pillow or notebook on my lap!
Overall: A very good upgrade. I've dreamed of having a perfectly silent & still machine for years. Now I've got one!
btw, OWC lowered the price for Black Friday before mine arrived & they credited me $15 when I sent them a note about it. They're a good vendor.
just replied to another post about exactly this. i'm certain there's a menu bar driven applescript out there but i dont remember what its called
maybe try google