SATA III SSD to optibay MacBook 13" early 2011

[bosozoku]

Hi, I just wonder if I can install second SSD with optibay adaptor in my Early 2011 13" i7?
I have checked the system report and SATA configuration says it is both main drive and optical drive Sata interfaces are capable of handling 6Gb/s which is SATA III (as shown at attached screenshots).
So, am I getting it right that I can swap my superdrive with optibay + sata III SSD and get full speed without any issues?

 

[elf69]

Yes I fitted one to a 2010 MacBook unibody.

worked really well.
I has 240GB SSD primary and in optical bay a 250GB HDD.

 

[bosozoku]

Yes I fitted one to a 2010 MacBook unibody.

worked really well.
I has 240GB SSD primary and in optical bay a 250GB HDD.

I already have installed SSD to hdd slot, now I want one more ssd in optibay.
I have read somewhere that two sata III ssd will not be working properly due to the fact, superdrive has sata II port...
but only for 15 & 17 inch MBP 2011. 13 inch seems to be working fine. I just want a confirmation of two ssd working in sata III in MPB early 2011.

 

[elf69]

I have not tried ssd in optical bay.

sadly that Mac died and I cannot test for you to confirm.

 

[bosozoku]

someone else?

 

[elf69]

there is another thread here that said it was some crucial etc that did not work on sata II well.

Samsungs do seem work ok with sata III drive on sata II port.

I will try find the post for you.

 

[Mike Boreham]

Have a look at this thread. Don't be misled by title there is a lot of stuff about SATA 3 in the optical bay there.

There is a lot of machine to machine variability in this issue, but I recall the 13" MBP as being the least susceptible to problems.

Be sure to read post #113 on that thread.

 

[treekram]

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DDAMBS0GB/

Take a look at the red text towards the bottom of the page.

At one point, their warning only applied to the 2011 models but now includes the 2012 models. But on my 2012 model, it has no problem doing 6gbs, although my computer was manufactured in Nov. 2015.

 

[negativzero]

Not all 2011 laptops are dual Sata3. The earlier models are Sata2/3 mixed so you need to verify that beforehand. They’re not software limited but hardware limited.

My 2011 15” came with sata2/3 mixed.
All 2012 macs are Sata3 though

But no issues still to use an optibay increase your capacity in any case. Just make sure you go with the OWC one as some other 3rd party ones don’t support booting from a second hard drive.

 

[Mike Boreham]

Not all 2011 laptops are dual Sata3. The earlier models are Sata2/3 mixed so you need to verify that beforehand. They’re not software limited but hardware limited.

My 2011 15” came with sata2/3 mixed.
All 2012 macs are Sata3 though

But no issues still to use an optibay increase your capacity in any case. Just make sure you go with the OWC one as some other 3rd party ones don’t support booting from a second hard drive.

Yes a few early MBP 2011 were rated SATA2/3 mixed, but the vast majority were SATA3/3. But although they declared in System Report that the optical bay was SATA 3 most people had problems with SATA 3 devices in the optical bay. The degree of problem was variable because it depended on shielding. Even if it appeared to work it may have been accumulating UDMA errors (see my post #70 in the thread I linked above).

I was heavily involved in this topic a few years ago so I am not up to date with the latest optibay offerings, which is why I specially suggested the OP look at post #113 in the above thread about this device which claims to have solved the 6G in 2011 optical bay problem. Actually I see now that that link was also posted much earlier in the same thread.

As I said earlier I believe the 13 inch MBPs were always less prone than the 15 inch and the later models also better, so the OP may get lucky. If it appears to be working, be sure to use DriveDx to check you are not accumulating thousands of UDMA errors as I was.

 

[negativzero]

Yes a few early MBP 2011 were rated SATA2/3 mixed, but the vast majority were SATA3/3. But although they declared in System Report that the optical bay was SATA 3 most people had problems with SATA 3 devices in the optical bay. The degree of problem was variable because it depended on shielding. Even if it appeared to work it may have been accumulating UDMA errors (see my post #70 in the thread I linked above).

I was heavily involved in this topic a few years ago so I am not up to date with the latest optibay offerings, which is why I specially suggested the OP look at post #113 in the above thread about this device which claims to have solved the 6G in 2011 optical bay problem. Actually I see now that that link was also posted much earlier in the same thread.

As I said earlier I believe the 13 inch MBPs were always less prone than the 15 inch and the later models also better, so the OP may get lucky. If it appears to be working, be sure to use DriveDx to check you are not accumulating thousands of UDMA errors as I was.

Ahh, yes, now I remember fully what happened.

I owned both a 2011 and 2012 MBP before I got my 2017. I used a china knockoff data doubler in my 2011 which was SATA2/3 mixed prior to switching to a OWC data doubler for my 2012. It felt to me like the 2012 was more sensitive to errors hence the inability to boot up using the china knockoff, I remember tearing my hair out from testing the hell out of the different combinations before giving up. Fortunately there was an OWC reseller in my area who let me try out the OWC data doubler before purchasing and it worked out well and everything booted properly.

So even though they are expensive, I'd say save all the trouble and go with the OWC data doubler.

 

[Mike Boreham]

So even though they are expensive, I'd say save all the trouble and go with the OWC data doubler.

I am not sure that is a guaranteed solution. I only ever used the OWC Data Doubler and OWC themselves warn of the problem as in earlier post.