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Swipe SuperDrive for a 2nd HDD?

milan03

milan03

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 16, 2002
440
13
New York City
I'm thinking of buying the new Aluminum Macbook 2.4Ghz, and since the SuperDrive is basically SATA2 drive (vs ATA on the previous mb), I'm thinking what would take to swipe that with, lets say 7,200rpm hdd or SSD.
It would be highly beneficial if we could run our OS X out from the HDD thats placed on the SuperDrive's spot, and have another HDD on its regular spot, where you could hot-swipe (not quite, but with a shut-down) them whenever you want, depending on what your tasks are. An external SuperDrive is much more economical, since you dont really need the speed and the access time while youre watching DVD's, while in Music or Video industry, the speed is crucial.

I'm not sure if this has been done before, but would love to hear your input.

Please discuss.
 
its possible but the problem would be trying to figure out a way of spinning down the second hard drive when not in use to save battery life. it may just spin down using the "Put hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" option in Energy Saver preferences or it may not.

then theres the extra heat coming off another hard drive in use like exporting a movie to it or continuously playing content on the second hard drive while OS X is booted into the main hard drive at the same time. its possible but i dont think anyone is game enough to do it! be the first!
 
milan03 said:
I'm thinking of buying the new Aluminum Macbook 2.4Ghz, and since the SuperDrive is basically SATA2 drive (vs ATA on the previous mb), I'm thinking what would take to swipe that with, lets say 7,200rpm hdd or SSD.
It would be highly beneficial if we could run our OS X out from the HDD thats placed on the SuperDrive's spot, and have another HDD on its regular spot, where you could hot-swipe (not quite, but with a shut-down) them whenever you want, depending on what your tasks are. An external SuperDrive is much more economical, since you dont really need the speed and the access time while youre watching DVD's, while in Music or Video industry, the speed is crucial.

I'm not sure if this has been done before, but would love to hear your input.

Please discuss.
Click to expand...

How do you plan on mounting the 2nd hard drive?
 
im sure you can find a mounting bracket for 2.5" drives http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en-au&q=2.5"+hdd+moutning+bracket&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 or someone could custom make one for the MacBook themselves. good market im sure someone will make it but im not up for the challenge tho as i dont even have a new MacBook.

all you need to do it take of the back 8 screws, unplug the optical drive, remove its screws and then remove the optical drive and somehow mount the 2.5" drive with the SATA and power ports facing to the right.

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It should totally be doable as long as someone makes the casing for hdd that would fit into the superdrive bay. Or perhaps fiting the hdd into the superdrive casing...
 
People definitely seam to be interested in this topic.

Here it has been discussed a little bit further already.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/582906/



Problems that remain:

-Fitting the smaller hdd into the optical drive space.
-Insuring the power connection is similar.
-Putting the drive to sleep if not needed, to save battery when mobile.


So who is out there with a new macbook willing to give this a quick try?
 
Another thing I've been wondering about -- would it be possible to move the existing HD into the superdrive slot, then increase the size of the battery? That way you could probably get up to 8 hours or more of battery life.
 
wordmunger said:
Another thing I've been wondering about -- would it be possible to move the existing HD into the superdrive slot, then increase the size of the battery? That way you could probably get up to 8 hours or more of battery life.
Click to expand...

Duct tape and Duracell's....
 
Lol... The energizer bunny would not appreciate that.

I dont think the problem would be to fit the hdd in the superdrive spot, as long as someone makes the casing for the 2nd hdd that looks simlar to the superdrive bay so all the screws are in place.
 
Oh wow! That looks like something what we might need. Im gonna send them an email to see if they could make the bay for the new macbooks.
 
dhy8386 said:
this might fit. back bracket for the MB looks the same as on other notebooks. Problem is the screws. But you could use some tape or velcro. people do it all the time when modding desktops. Given the hard drive attaches to this enclosure, shold not move around and the enclosure itself should be a pretty good fit

http://newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2_27
Click to expand...

Those are really interesting, and although they should fit, and actually work, you have to remember apple uses thinner optical drives in the MacBooks. If they did fit, you would also have to remove the trim piece because the MacBooks use slot load drives vs. tray drives (which should not be a problem).
 
Geesh, this is a whole lot of speculation.

Doesn't ANYONE even have a new Macbook to try it out on?

Do I have to do everything myself? :D

I would know in about 20 minutes after I open the box as I would take the bottom off right away just to see if it's a standard connector.

and I imagine it is as these are generic drives.

this mod is pretty important with advent of cheap SSD's that are around the corner (albeit, widish corner)

get with it fellas :D
 
You could bring your macbook to the authorized service and they could do it for you. For example, here in NYC there are about 10 authorized services that can replace optical bay for a HDD, shown in newmodeus.com video. The real question is, will they make something that would work on macbook.
 
dhy8386 said:
These are even better!

Made for the macbook/MBPs. Just spoke with them and they tested in the new alum MBs and they work fine. Only problem is they are pricey ($129) but should fit like a glove. thinking about picking one up and throwing in an SSD as my main and the spare 250gb for storage....

http://store.mcetech.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=OB-MB15&Category_Code=
Click to expand...



So there is our solution then!

Didn't see before, that they have the Optibay with SATA now.


You said, you have talked to them? It fits in the New Macbook and everything is fine? Please report, if you have any more info.
Thank you.
 
No more info other than he said they fit and would work. I obviously would confirm before you buy but this looks like a great solution. Since i want the intel X-25 ssd, it may be a bit before i could test. Love to hear if someone else does and the results - both performance and heat.
 
dhy8386 said:
No more info other than he said they fit and would work. I obviously would confirm before you buy but this looks like a great solution. Since i want the intel X-25 ssd, it may be a bit before i could test. Love to hear if someone else does and the results - both performance and heat.
Click to expand...

If you live in a big metropolitan area, you might wanna go in one of the authorized service stores, and ask on the spot. Here is the list http://www.mcetech.com/resellers.html
 
Would love to get one of these. Although the OptiBay does support SATA 2.5" drives there is one more thing to confirm. We need to make sure they support new Alu MacBook/Pro. The superdrive now has SATA interface unlike previous Macs.
 
watergun said:
Would love to get one of these. Although the OptiBay does support SATA 2.5" drives there is one more thing to confirm. We need to make sure they support new Alu MacBook/Pro. The superdrive now has SATA interface unlike previous Macs.
Click to expand...

I e-mailed mce and received the following reply. It seems that the new macbook is supported but not officially, but they are working on it.

---->


Thank you for your inquiry. Although it has not been determined whether MCE Technologies will be offering an OptiBay Hard Drive solution for the newly announced MacBook or MacBook Pro systems, this is actively being pursued by MCE engineers and staff. However a timetable for making this determination has not been specified.

MCE Technologies will make an announcement regarding this on our website and the major Mac news sites when it has been determined if and when this solution will be offered.

The OptiBay Hard Drive responds to the hard drive spin down commands one can set in the Energy Saver control panel.

Best Regards,
Customer Service
MCE Technologies
www.mcetech.com
 
Bah, the reply sounds very cryptic to me. The most important thing for me to know is the kind of interface Optibay is using now to connect to the logic board. If it's SATA then we can definitely use Optibay on the new MB/MB Pro even though it is not officially supported yet - aside from all the other software problems lol.

I wish someone can take a close up picture of the Optibay (esp. its interface) so we can compare with the new SuperDrive.
 
I think the old optibay might not be the same size as the new superdrive, also the screws may not align, but those are minor issues imo.
 
^^

I don't think it would look professional (the outer slot would still be there correct?)...but it's theoretically possible if you needed it.
 
of course the slot would still be there, being that the entire chassis is milled from a chunk of aluminum. I suppose it would just be your own little secret that you are carrying around an extra hard disk, instead of an optical drive.
 
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