Macbook Pro Options for Second Hard Drive Installation

C

char507

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
Messages
159
Hey Everyone,

I know there have been a number of threads mentioning this topic as a side note but I wanted to start a central thread with information about installing a second hard drive in a Macbook Pro.

I recently upgraded to an OCZ 120GB Vertex 2 for my primary drive and will never be able to go back. However, like many others I need additional space for storage of pictures, music, virtual machines etc. An external drive seems like too much of a hassle so my plan is to install a second hard drive in the optical bay.

I am trying to decide how I want to approach this. There seem to be a number of options for mounting kits or setups in addition to the option of DIY. Could everyone that has installed a second drive please post what you used? The kits definitely seem to vary in price.

Lastly, for the DIY route: does anyone have an explanation of the electronics that seem to be present on the bay kits? Will I need some sort of adapter or does the drive just plug in normally?
 
bump. Nobody has a reply to this? I figured there would be a few people in this section of the forums that have had an experience putting a second drive into a MacBook Pro.
 
18-27 day shipping seems like a deal breaker to me. I hate ordering stuff from china.
 
I think Mr. Wolf on the forum has done this modification. You might want to PM him if he doesn't reply to this thread.
 
look for newmodus or newmodeus it seems to have the same concept and much cheaper option..
 
From my experience, and ancedotal experience from stories mentioned on several apple forums, the actual MCE Optibay is probably the best option.

It's a bit more money, but it seems to be the only one that consistently works with spindown/powersave/etc, every other drive seems to have issues with it. Also MCE actually includes a mounting cage/cables/etc to turn the Superdrive into a USB external. (And a bit of software to allow you to use it to play DVD's, which it turns out apple DVD player doesn't do normally w/o an internal DVD drive)

Personally, $99 for the MCE optibay was a good investment for me, but to each their own.
 
brom42 said:
I just bought one of them. I'll let you know in a month or so when/if it shows up.
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I'm counting on you to bump this thread or make a new one when it comes!!!

Also, 450, $5 extra dollars?!?!?! Does money grow on trees in your town?
 
Zumino Zufeilon said:
From my experience, and ancedotal experience from stories mentioned on several apple forums, the actual MCE Optibay is probably the best option.

It's a bit more money, but it seems to be the only one that consistently works with spindown/powersave/etc, every other drive seems to have issues with it. Also MCE actually includes a mounting cage/cables/etc to turn the Superdrive into a USB external. (And a bit of software to allow you to use it to play DVD's, which it turns out apple DVD player doesn't do normally w/o an internal DVD drive)

Personally, $99 for the MCE optibay was a good investment for me, but to each their own.
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There really shouldn't be a difference between them. All the bay is doing is acting as a mount and converting the hard drive power connector to the shorter laptop optical power connector. The Optibay just has a few traces on a tiny piece of circuit board. The only difference that would matter is the HDD brand you use. Its like saying the brand of SATA cables that you use make a difference. My cheap ass Monoprice ones work just as well as a brand name one.

My gut feeling is that the MCE Opitbay is the Monster Cable of optical bay adapters.
 
brom42 said:
There really shouldn't be a difference between them. All the bay is doing is acting as a mount and converting the hard drive power connector to the shorter laptop optical power connector. The Optibay just has a few traces on a tiny piece of circuit board. The only difference that would matter is the HDD brand you use. Its like saying the brand of SATA cables that you use make a difference. My cheap ass Monoprice ones work just as well as a brand name one.

My gut feeling is that the MCE Opitbay is the Monster Cable of optical bay adapters.
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shrug, except I'm not aware of any issues with spindown/powersavings with an optidrive, while I've seen dozens of threads complaining about issues with the cheaper alternatives.

I'm not basing it on all the people claiming the Optibay is better, but rather, on the large disparity between threads about issues with an Optibay vs. one of the cheaper
 
Zumino Zufeilon said:
shrug, except I'm not aware of any issues with spindown/powersavings with an optidrive, while I've seen dozens of threads complaining about issues with the cheaper alternatives.
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links please. interested in reading these
 
ryken said:
links please. interested in reading these
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I'll be honest, I was speaking from ancedotal evidence, but when I went to search for those threads I couldn't find them. I still stand by what I said, because I didn't spend a ton of time searching as I'm rather busy.
 
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