Who has replaced dvd drive with 2nd hard drive?

[Muscleflex]

I have a mid 2012 13" macbook pro bought last December (brand new)
I have replaced the 500gb hd with an SSD (240gb)

Now... how many people ditch the optical drive and replace it with a 2nd hard drive?
Is this the norm? I don't really use dvds anymore and have started to wonder if I'm best off putting the 500gb drive back in in place of the dvd drive..

Will the laptop be lighter as well without the optical drive?

 

[snaky69]

I have a mid 2012 13" macbook pro bought last December (brand new)
I have replaced the 500gb hd with an SSD (240gb)

Now... how many people ditch the optical drive and replace it with a 2nd hard drive?
Is this the norm? I don't really use dvds anymore and have started to wonder if I'm best off putting the 500gb drive back in in place of the dvd drive..

Will the laptop be lighter as well without the optical drive?

There are thousands upon thousands of people who have done just that, myself included.

Is it the norm? Probably not. Is it common? Very.

Would the laptop be lighter? Not by a noticeable amount, I had my optical drive in my hand when I made the switch and honestly I could barely feel its weight. In fact the laptop got heavier with a second hard drive, because a hard drive and caddy is at least 2-3 times the weight of the optical drive which is just plastic and stamped aluminum.

 

[Muscleflex]

Thank you. Is there a well accepted caddy that most people use? Or just go on ebay and get the cheapest caddy for the laptop?

 

[MCAsan]

leave the DVD and put in a 1TB SSD where there is plenty of fast storage. When you one day move to a newer Macbook Pro that will have a PCIe SSD, you can use the 1TB as an external drive for the new Macbook Pro. You can get 1TB SSD for under $500.

 

[simonsi]

I did just that as per my sig. It gives you further options to upgrade later as SSD prices fall yet you still have the option of HDD prices for volume storage.

 

[justin77]

Thank you. Is there a well accepted caddy that most people use? Or just go on ebay and get the cheapest caddy for the laptop?

Hey, I'm sure you have a solution already, but just in case, I wanted to warn you against using just any old cheap caddy. I've tried and had nightmares with them. I've just installed the OWC Data Doubler caddy and instantly, all the problems I've had (with the 4 other caddies I've tried) have disappeared. It's more expensive, but definitely worth the extra money, especially if you're going to use that second drive in a CoreStorage (fusion drive) setup.

To make it even better, they've brought their price down significantly ($30 USD).

Here's the link! http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DDAMBS0GB/

You can also find them on Amazon, so I'd buy it there if you have a Prime subscription. But it's like $50 on Amazon.

 

[Count Blah]

I did this to my 15" 2012 cMBP. Like justin, I simply went with OWC, as my investigations at the time revealed a number of crummy caddies on eBay.

The laptop will NOT be lighter, as the optical drives are very light. You are replacing the weight of a light optical drive with the weight of a caddy and an SSD.

One suggestion I do have, if you keep the HDD in the optical drive space, is to link your space hungry, but not speed critical folders from your SSD(starting drive) to the HDD. I linked my downloads, documents, media and iTunes library this way, and all that slow storage is NOT taking up space on my SSD. Here is a good link - http://www.macworld.com/article/2148490/slim-down-your-ssd-with-symbolic-links.html

 

[foem]

Did it, early 2011 15". Used OWC bracket, put a 1TB HD in the bracket, 512GB SSD in the main drive. This was like 3 years ago, still going strong. My macbook is pretty heavy but I don't think the drive makes that much difference.

 

[IDMah]

Are all the caddies Equal? price range is crazy $12-$80..
Any reason to get the more expensive one?

 

[snaky69]

Are all the caddies Equal? price range is crazy $12-$80..
Any reason to get the more expensive one?

Bragging rights?

 

[jorgeu]

I have a mid 2012 13" macbook pro bought last December (brand new)
I have replaced the 500gb hd with an SSD (240gb)

Now... how many people ditch the optical drive and replace it with a 2nd hard drive?
Is this the norm? I don't really use dvds anymore and have started to wonder if I'm best off putting the 500gb drive back in in place of the dvd drive..

Will the laptop be lighter as well without the optical drive?

=========


I did this to my 13" late 2011 MBP. Simply went with one OWC caddies.


The laptop is lighter, having primary SSD and secondary caddy with an SSD. Gained an hour and half on battery charge, speed on performance when opening applications.


I kept my original HD as a back up in case something happen in the near future. See my screen shut for more information on my two SSD's.

 

[gngan]

Done this with my early 2011 13''. I'm located in Asia so I bought it straight from China (caddy + DVD enclosure) for USD 15. I've had it for 3 years and it's still working.

128gb SSD + 1 TB HDD. Best investment!

 

[IDMah]

It was a longer and more involved process than I thought but ifixit to the rescue; love them!
Make sure you have a nylon pry tools (aka "spudgers") tool will make the process easier / safer..

I now have 2TB HD and 512 SSD so much happier!!