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Swapping DVD-Drive for 3rd Party SSD in MBP 2010???

I

ilovecheesekake

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 14, 2010
4
0
Hey everyone!

I've ordered the 15" i7 with HiRes Glossy and the 500GB 72k last week. Now i'm one of the few lucky germans waiting for a volcano to stop bitching around so my new toy can get here...

To shorten the waiting time, i've been a little around this forum reading about this and that. I came across several discussions about whether to use a SSD or a HDD. Reading them a thought crossed my mind:

Why not remove the DVD-Drive (i use my DVD-Drive maybe once every 2-3 monts... for that an external drive would do) and replace it with a medium sized (say 128GB) SSD. One could put OSX on the SSD and have all the pro's of the SSD (instant boot times, etc...), while still being able to use the 72k HDD at the same time...

Would that be physically possible?
 
I failed miserably on this. I tried yesterday but couldn't get the superdive out. It was too sticky and the howto vid applied to last generation's mbp.

So what i did was just replace the 500 gig drive with my ssd and just left the superdrive in tact. hopefully will get the optibay in there once a good how to vid comes out.
 
juandixon109 said:
I failed miserably on this. I tried yesterday but couldn't get the superdive out. It was too sticky and the howto vid applied to last generation's mbp.

So what i did was just replace the 500 gig drive with my ssd and just left the superdrive in tact. hopefully will get the optibay in there once a good how to vid comes out.
Click to expand...

Crap, I hope that is just yours. Im planning on doing this in a few hours when fedex drops off my comp
 
What exactly was it sticky? If you are talking about the warning tab, stuck on the battery, that extends over the DVD drive, then you kinda gotta bend it up, it's really attached on there good so don't worry about breaking it I've pulled my drive like 20+ times (I like using the SATA bus for file transfers) and it's still on there.

The two screws or so near the left near the opening of the dvd drive you really don't need. I just have one screw near the MOBO holding the dvd drive down. It's really secure.

It's really easy to get the drive out, I do it all the time. Just remember which screws are long and short and you should be OK.
Don't be afraid it's really easy.
 
Kingcodez said:
What exactly was it sticky? If you are talking about the warning tab, stuck on the battery, that extends over the DVD drive, then you kinda gotta bend it up, it's really attached on there good so don't worry about breaking it I've pulled my drive like 20+ times (I like using the SATA bus for file transfers) and it's still on there.

The two screws or so near the left near the opening of the dvd drive you really don't need. I just have one screw near the MOBO holding the dvd drive down. It's really secure.

It's really easy to get the drive out, I do it all the time. Just remember which screws are long and short and you should be OK.
Don't be afraid it's really easy.
Click to expand...

basically i couldn't get to the mounting screw on the superdive which was under a bunch of other stuff....being this is my first mac not to mention the most i've ever spent no a computer i didn't wanna risk it and decided to wait until i see someone else doing so. the hdd replace to sdd was a no brainer though and I am currently loving my sdd (intel x25m) performance.
 
keep in mind that according to apple it will void your warranty...l guess you could always put it back just the way they had it and cross your fingers.
 
The only issue I can foresee with it is the power drain would a fair amount more than an unused Super Drive, if I am not mistaken?
 
I replaced the superdrive in my Unibody Macbook with an Intel X25-M Gen2 SSD (so I have both a hard drive and an SSD) and there was no measurable difference in battery life before/after. Also since SSDs aren't the least bit sensitive to shock etc, if you can get the cable adapter, don't spend stupid amounts of money on bay kits, just tape the SSD in place. I had to build my own cable (well, the power connector anyway) but that's straightforward if you're capable of basic soldering.
 
This is really interesting for me actually, as I went for the 256GB SSD to save on the bloody stupid price of the 512GB which I would have loved to get but hey ho.

Having a 500GB+ storage drive right there in my MBP all the time, no mess no usb/firewire cables, would be absolutely perfect for me, best of both worlds. :D

Edit: Found 750GB 5200RPM WD Drive perfect for storage for just £115.43 here (UK)
Just a shame the 17" does not come with the SD Card slot for my camera :(
 
juandixon109 said:
basically i couldn't get to the mounting screw on the superdive which was under a bunch of other stuff....being this is my first mac not to mention the most i've ever spent no a computer i didn't wanna risk it and decided to wait until i see someone else doing so. the hdd replace to sdd was a no brainer though and I am currently loving my sdd (intel x25m) performance.
Click to expand...

Check this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE8kTcVcMUo

It was done on last years MBP but its basically the same. I Just did it on mine and it took maybe 10 minutes. Super easy
 
Can someone confirm the version they are selling fits perfectly with the new i5/i7 MBP?

EDIT: "PRODUCT UPDATE APRIL 13, 2010: The MCE OptiBay for Unibody MacBook Pro (above) is fully compatible with the new MacBook Pro 13", 15", and 17" (Mid 2010) models just released today by Apple."
 
Yea, MCE Optibay is frakkin expensive like hell. Now it costs $100, earlier they used the sell the same thing for $200.
 
Jaro65 said:
This is what I just got too. Works great.
Click to expand...

I got the same. Just to make sure I'm not missing something: the two screws (those close to DVD slot) that used to hold the optical drive cannot be used with this enclosure, correct? so it's only attached to chassis by 1 screw, correct? I guess, the cover holds the enclosure in place anyway.
 
koruki said:
ARGH! I've already placed the order lol ... damn at least there is a free superdrive enclosure ? lol
Click to expand...

Well the enclosure is worth like $15 (you can get it on NewEgg) and it doesn't come with a bezel…

You know you can cancel the order ;)

samiznaetekto said:
I got the same. Just to make sure I'm not missing something: the two screws (those close to DVD slot) that used to hold the optical drive cannot be used with this enclosure, correct? so it's only attached to chassis by 1 screw, correct? I guess, the cover holds the enclosure in place anyway.
Click to expand...

Right; I just taped mine in…
mid2010-swapped.jpg
 
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