2012 MBP Optical Bay SATA Issues

..is this it?

http://blog.macsales.com/11895-2011-macbook-pro-sata-problems-resolved

Hi Halfmoonh4,

Just wonder how your M4 is working now? I have 2009 Macbook Pro 13" and I bought a new M4 512GB (firmware 010G). It has this sleep/wake issue when I installed in optical drive. Twice in two days of owning it. i plan to return it and get either Samsung 830 or 840. The M4 didn't crash in Main HD space during the two days of owning it.

When I googled this issue, your post came up on top. But I am shocked to see you have the opposite experience than me.

So how is your M4 working out for you now?

To start, I am thriled to find this post, as it is EXACTLY what I experienced.

In short summary:

- Seagate Momentus XT 750 Hybrid in PRIMARY bay = GREAT

- OCZ Vertex 4 256GB SSD in OPTICAL bay = FLAKE

- Seagate Momentus XT 750 Hybrid in OPTICAL bay = FLAKE

- OCZ Vertex 4 256GB SSD in PRIMARY bay = GREAT

- Seagate SATAII 500GB drive in OPTICAL bay = GREAT

In talking with Tech Support at OCZ, they confirmed that their SSDs MUST go in the primary bay.

The only difference is that when booting from the OCZ in the Primary bay, sleep works perfectly. The difference? I have a new (replacement) mobo installed by Apple just 2 days ago (my card reader died).

Maybe you can help clarify something for me ...

I do mostly video editing and had wanted to allocate the XT 750 to video clips and renders. Not possible, it seems, unless I attach it externally.

Am I better off installing a non-hybrid 7200RPM drive into the Optical Bay or just keeping my original configuration with the XT 750GB as the primary boot (p1) and data drive (p2)?

Does the XT Hybrid deliver a continuous 6GB/s or only burst at that rate when it is pulling from its SSD memory? Or, what is the data rate of the Hybrid when it is calling from the spindle and not the SSD?

Sure, with the SSD I can boot in 11 seconds, but not certain that really helps if my video data is moving at just 3.0GB/s.

kai

Halfmoon - does this mean that you now have the Crucial M4 - 512GB (SSD) working consistently in the Optical bay?

500 GB Momentus XT worked fine, but upgrading to the 750 XT didn't. Drive formatted externally, shows up, but is unwritable.

I have not again attempted to place a 6Gb/s device in the optical bay, but remain very pleased with the performance of the OCZ VERTEX4 SSD in the primary bay and even the original 750GB / 5400 RPM drive in the Optical bay. I usually leave the second drive unmounted, unless editing video, to conseve power. As the rendering process is far slower than the data transfer capacity of a 5400 RPM drive, it is not a bottleneck.

The sad part to this whole discussion is that these are the last of the models by Apple which will ever support this kind of upgrade. For professional videographers, film makers, and photographers, even sound engineers who work with large volumes of files in a mobile workspace and do not desire to always attach external storage, Apple is no longer a solution.

As I am an avid Linux user and have OSX only for Premier, I will switch to Lightworks ASAP and never come back to OSX or Apple. Sad, after twenty years of enjoying their hardware.

Yes, as a professional photographer with a 17" Macbook and SSD and optibay updgrades, I am very concerned as to what my hardware future holds, having only ever used Apple for twenty years. A 15" retina without updgrade options feels awfully limited. Will Linux run Lightroom and Photoshop ok? And what kind of laptop would you recommed I consider, if I were to switch now?

No one knows what Apple is going to do with future MacBook Pro products - I'm hoping that even if they all do 'go Retina' there will still be models with which the user can upgrade the RAM, the hard drive and retain the optical bay. But who knows?

Until Apple only sells hermitically sealed MacBook Pros, I'll stay with them. If they offer only the 'sealed' versions in the future, that's when I'll start looking elsewhere.

And, no, you can't run Photoshop or Lightroom under Linux - only OS X and Windows...

Clinton

Leaving the drive Un-Mounted does not save any power. In fact maybe the opposite. If un-mounted the system doesn't really know it is there and will always supply power to it as it is Connected to the power . The Power connection is independent of the Data connection.

Kai Staats wrote:

I have not again attempted to place a 6Gb/s device in the optical bay, but remain very pleased with the performance of the OCZ VERTEX4 SSD in the primary bay and even the original 750GB / 5400 RPM drive in the Optical bay. I usually leave the second drive unmounted, unless editing video, to conseve power. As the rendering process is far slower than the data transfer capacity of a 5400 RPM drive, it is not a bottleneck.

The sad part to this whole discussion is that these are the last of the models by Apple which will ever support this kind of upgrade. For professional videographers, film makers, and photographers, even sound engineers who work with large volumes of files in a mobile workspace and do not desire to always attach external storage, Apple is no longer a solution.

As I am an avid Linux user and have OSX only for Premier, I will switch to Lightworks ASAP and never come back to OSX or Apple. Sad, after twenty years of enjoying their hardware.

There are no versions of Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop for Linux. So you are stuck, at the present, in using either Mac OS X on an Apple computer or Windows on ANY Other Personal computer Manufactured today or anytime in the near future.

By the way Apple and Adobe don't get along very well, from what I read. Which is funny seeing that Apple Mac's are touted as being the systems to buy if you use the Adobe line of Graphic Arts programs. But in the end those programs run just as well if not better on Windows PCs.

I am a Advanced Amateur photographer and have never run Lightroom or Photoshop on a Mac. I have always used a home built Desktop Windows computer for those programs. Never held me back one bit. In fact since I have a dual monitor Windows system I find when I do open PS on my Dell notebook I say "I'll Wait until I get home to Edit these photos".

Wildatheart wrote:

Yes, as a professional photographer with a 17" Macbook and SSD and optibay updgrades, I am very concerned as to what my hardware future holds, having only ever used Apple for twenty years. A 15" retina without updgrade options feels awfully limited. Will Linux run Lightroom and Photoshop ok? And what kind of laptop would you recommed I consider, if I were to switch now?

Interesting. I can hear that the 2nd drive is not spinning. Does that not mean it is conserving power? or are you saying that by mounting it and letting it spin-down, it saves more?

Yes, Lightworks is still coming for OSX and Linux, but according to their website, any day now (end of Q1 2013).

I truly enjoy working with Premier, but use GIMP for most of my photo work. I have not used PS for a long time. For what I do with photos, GIMP is satisfactory.

Well, that time is now:

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro

There is only one 15" MBP with an interchangeable drive and that will be phased out soon according to the folks at the Apple Store here in Barcelona. The Retina will become the standard with no Optical bay and fixed SSD storage. Their solution is Thunderbolt (a marketing hoax until SSD drives become affordable), which means bringing external drives everywhere you go. Sure, I have external backups, but when I walk to cafe or a client site, to attach external storage every single time is not ideal.

If I yet need OSX, I will likely switch from running a virtual machine with Ubuntu on OSX to running an OSX VM on top of Ubuntu on a Samsung or Sony or some other laptop which yet has the capacity for 1TB internal storage.

Clearly, professional users do not make enough money to keep Apple's focus any more.

Well if you can actually hear the drive spinning, without putting your ear to the notebook, then I'd say there is something wrong with that drive. Most any notebook drive I have ever owned I have not been able to hear it spinning and the only time I have ever heard a notebook drive is when doing some heavy disk activity, with the head going back and forth.

Normally if the drive has power, the system is turned on, it is spinning even if there is not data cable connected to it.

No, nothing wrong with the drive. Yes, my ear to the unit. Also, even the highest quality units cause a subtle vibration. Will do some testing, mounted vs unmounted to learn if the auto drive sleep is better than unmounted. I appreciate your input, as I had not considered this.