Last calendar month , as part of my series on ascent for the MacBook Pro , I covered kick upstairs the MacBook Pro ’s hard drive to a gravid model . Today ’s installment in the serial publication is also about a hard drive rising slope , but one that differ in a rather significant way : or else of replacing the existing hard drive , this rise replaces theopticaldrive .
What I ’m talking about is MCE’sOptiBay Hard Drive . This upgrade , which varies in Mary Leontyne Price from $ 229 to $ 379 , depending on the drive size and upper ( from 80 GB to 160 GB at 5400rpm , or 100 GB at 7200rpm ) , require removing your MacBook Pro ’s ocular driving and in its place putting asecondhard drive , in a sled that equip absolutely in the ocular drive ’s former place . ( The OptiBay is available for 15- and 17 - in MacBook Pros , as well as MacBooks and PowerBook G4s . ) The result is a considerable increase in internal storage space , along with the minor side benefit of a laptop computer that ’s approximately one - 4th hammer lighter — the hard driveway and bracket together are light than the original optical drive . Here ’s an trope of the OptiBay bracket and force back next to the neckcloth SuperDrive from a 15 - inch MacBook Pro :
On the other hand , the big disadvantage of this upgrade is that you lose your optical drive … sort of . Since there ’s a good prospect you ’ll still require to be capable to read and write certificate of deposit and videodisk , for an additional fee of $ 20 the OptiBay parcel for the 17 - column inch MacBook Pro and PowerBook G4 modelling will include a portable , busbar - power , outside optical - crusade enclosure — USB2.0 for the MacBook Pro or FireWire for the PowerBook G4 — into which you put your laptop computer ’s optical drive after removal . The optical cause retain its abilities , so it can be used in the Finder , in iTunes , with Disk Utility , etc .
MacBook Pro temperatures with only the main drive in use (left); with the OptiBay and main drive in use (center); and with an internal RAID. Each measurement was taken after over two hours of continuous disk and battery use.
Unfortunately , the Mac Book and 15 - inch MacBook Pro use a non - received SuperDrive that does n’t jibe in available drive enclosures . With these version of the OptiBay kit , MCE will include a portable SuperDrive ( FireWire / USB2.0 , 8x , double - stratum ) for an extra $ 100 . Alternatively , with any of the software package you’re able to get a background — non - portable—16x FireWire / USB2.0 SuperDrive for $ 120 . My ascent software system included the portable SuperDrive , which worked as well as the original internal version — better , in fact , given that it was quite a bit faster . However , the demand to buy a Modern optic ride does raise the price of the upgrade significantly for MacBook and 15 - inch MacBook Pro owner .
Installation
The OptiBay ascent I test let in a 160 GB , 5400rpm drive . In fact , it was basically the same Hitachi Travelstar 5K160 laptop drive I install in the premature upgrade article , link up above . The only difference is that this one was framework HTS541616J9AT00 instead of HTS541616J9SA00 , intend the drive expend an ATA interface rather of SATA .
MCE offers three installation choice . If you sleep together what you ’re doing , you’re able to elect to deploy the upgrade yourself ; the necessary dick , as well as instance instructions , are admit . However , if you do n’t feel qualified to do this yourself — peculiarly , recommend MCE , if you have a 12 - inch PowerBook G4 — you may choose for one of two installation services . The Standard divine service , $ 49 , involve you to place your computer to an MCE service center on your own dime . With Supreme service , $ 99 , MCE will overnight you a protective shipping container and an overnight return merchant marine label . In both cases , after 1 to 3 days , MCE will send the upgraded laptop back to you .
Having been inside my MacBook Pro before , I elected for the self - install path . The included instructions were clear , although the tools , while sufficient , were basic . If you ’re comfortable taking things apart , you ’ll probably retrieve the process to be fairly straightforward . ( For more on get inside the 15 - column inch MacBook Pro , see the previous upgrade clause . ) Here ’s an image of the inside of my laptop just before take out the optical drive :
The OptiBay sleigh includes all the necessary circuitry and arranger to touch base directly to the ocular - driveway connexion on your laptop computer ’s logic board . bet on which laptop computer you ’re upgrading , the sled also includes some combination of screws and padded - adhesive strips that make the sled burst snuggly and stably in the spot formerly occupied by the optical ride .
Once you ’ve installed the OptiBay sled , reassembled the computer , and started up your laptop , the OptiBay hard drive will seem in Disk Utility as you would expect ; you may require to arrange it after this first inauguration , since it ’s probably formatted as a Windows drive from the factory , but after that it will carry just like any other internal hard drive . Of of course , you should n’t attempt to cleave a disc in the still - existent optical - drive slot ; but even if you do , the sled itself will jam you without damage the disc .
Plenty of space
What you do with the extra blank space provided by the OptiBay driveway is up to you . Some people , specially those with stacks of data or the need for plenty of cacography space , will plainly use the cause as computer storage , just as if they ’d colligate an external FireWire or USB cause . ( You could even apply one drive for Mac OS X and the other for Boot Camp or for , say , the Developer Preview of Leopard . ) However , there are two other option that are also quite utilitarian .
First , if the newfangled thrust is the same sizing as your independent campaign — or if you partition it so that one of its partitions matches the main drive — the OptiBay drive makes for a great emergency accompaniment mass . For much of my testing period , this is how I used the drive : I set up SuperDuper ( ) to automatically clone my main drive once a Clarence Shepard Day Jr. . This left me with a mirror - image , bootable backup of the main drive in casing tragedy struck . It was also utile for testing genus Beta software and performing dangerous system tweak ; if anything went wrong , I could just bring up from the OptiBay crusade and then clonebackto the independent driveway to restore it to a salutary and healthy contour . I made safe use of this setup on more than one occasion . ( I should note that you should also have another stand-in that you keep separate from your laptop ; if your only backup is inside the same computer as the main movement , you hunt the endangerment — for example , if your laptop gets steal or fall victim to a ruinous case — of lose both at the same time . ) MCE includes with the OptiBay a copy of BounceBack Express substitute computer software , but I did n’t try out it .
Alternatively , you could opt to set up the original and OptiBay driving , using Disk Utility , in a RAID . Yes , that ’s right , a laptop RAID ! For object lesson , you could have the OptiBay private road mirror the main movement , which have in mind that any changes you make to the chief driving are also written to the OptiBay thrust ; the second thrust is always a mirror icon of the first . ( I tested this configuration , and it knead well ; the downside is that stamp battery liveliness suffer a bit , as shown below . ) You could also set up the two drives in a stripy form , which would appear as a unmarried , big drive in the Finder and offer improved performance . ( I did n’t quiz this one , although I would imagine battery life would also lose somewhat — not to mention that such a RAID constellation has a higher chance of failure than a single drive . )
Performance and battery life
give that the operose ride used in the OptiBay are good performers , the biggest care I had before establish the OptiBay driveway was that battery life would be reduced importantly . fit in to MCE , this should n’t be much of an issue :
Indeed , in my testing the OptiBay driveway fared quite well in this regard . I ran the same canonical Finder - copy and electric battery - lifetime examination on the unexampled OptiBay drive , while boot from that drive , that I perform on the 160 GB SATA Hitachi replacement drive cover up in the previous article . The fact that the OptiBay cause uses the ATA variant of that drive make these run specially interesting , because both drive should habituate approximately the same amount of power and should provide like public presentation . ( SATA is theoretically faster than ATA , but the inner computer architecture of the laptop itself commit you similar maximal performance . ) As with the previous tests , I score out both parkway , formatted them , and then reinstate them to the exact same state of matter to ensure that each would be as un - fragmented as a new driveway ( and corresponding to each other ) . During examination , I unmounted the drive that was n’t in manipulation to forestall it from affecting the tests .
I also performed the assault and battery - life psychometric test while writing tobothdrives at the same time — this give me a rocky idea of how much battery life you lose if you ’re using both driving continuously . Finally , I tested battery life history when the two parkway ( main and OptiBay ) were configured in a mirrored RAID .
Relative drive performance
Finder trial run times in minutes : s , rounded to the nearest second . Battery test times rounded to the nearest minute of arc .
As you’re able to see , the OptiBay ’s ATA crusade was roughly tantamount in stop number to its SATA , but otherwise selfsame , sibling . peculiarly enough , barrage fire life was actuallylonger , by 13 arcminute , with the OptiBay private road . Just as interesting is the fact that writing data to both drives unceasingly reduce battery life by only around 20 minutes , on average , with a mirrored maraud reducing life by only an additional few bit . I was surprised by these event , as they show that in normal use , having two intragroup hard effort has only a underage affect on overall shelling life , unless you ’re ofttimes access both drives — and even then , the striking is less than I await .
That’s (not so) hot
Another vexation one might have about twofold internal unvoiced movement is that operating temperature would increase . As with the former drive upgrade , I also assess the MacBook Pro ’s national temperature , usingiStat nano , just after the battery test finish — in other words , like a shot after the OptiBay drive had been reading / write continually , and the laptop had been die hard off assault and battery power , for over two hour . ( mention that the MacBook Pro in head was incase in a Speck SeeThru and frisk a “ pelt ” keyboard cover for both tests ; this likely increased temperatures somewhat , but it should have impact both drives every bit . )
MacBook Pro temperatures with only the primary drive in use ( remaining ) ; with the OptiBay and main drive in use ( center ) ; and with an intimate foray . Each mensuration was taken after over two hours of continuous disk and battery use .
Surprisingly , summate the OptiBay drive , and using it unceasingly in addition to the main drive , raised the MacBook Pro ’s temperature readings only around 5 to 7 degree . And RAID temperatures were nearly identical . In other words , tote up a 2d internal hard movement does n’t make a 15 - inch MacBook Pro play much lovesome .
MacBook Pro temperatures with only the main drive in use (left); with the OptiBay and main drive in use (center); and with an internal RAID. Each measurement was taken after over two hours of continuous disk and battery use.
In fact , when it arrive to the overall operation of my MacBook Pro after installing the OptiBay rise , the only physical issue I noticed is that the OptiBay drive was slightly louder than the main crusade . Given that the two cause are essentially identical , I attribute this to the different mounting brackets and surrounding grammatical case construction . ( And it ’s fair to channelise out that the OptiBay drive was substantially quieter than an optical drive during use . )
But is it for you?
Now , of course , the OptiBay is n’t for everyone . For example , if you truly need an optical cause while away from abode , and you do n’t want the additional weight and volume of the outside version , you ’d probably be better off with a outside tough thrust , which would be smaller and light ( and can be left at rest home when you do n’t need it ) . essentially , the OptiBay is for people who need to maximize their on - the - go strong - driving force space , or who want the security system of always take a bootable relief right there inside their laptop . And for these the great unwashed , the OptiBay upgrade offers very good operation without well-nigh as much of an effect on battery life and operating temperature you might require .
( rest tuned for more upgrades ; in future Mobile Mac installments , I ’ll be cover Western Digital ’s 250 GB Scorpio heavily driveway ascent , Toshiba ’s 200 GB portable external hard parkway , and FastMac’s802.11n elevate . )
Update 7/1/2007 : sort out specs on extraneous ocular drive for MacBook and 15 - inch MacBook Pro .
