Can you replace optical drive in a non unibody (early 2008) MacBook Pro with a SATA HDD/SDD?

Question

Can you replace optical drive in a non unibody (early 2008) MacBook Pro with a SATA HDD/SDD?

I have been doing LOTS of research on upgrading my Early 2008 MacBook Pro recently and have come to the conclusion that a SSD is the best way to run Mavericks and my commonly used applications smoothly. I have upgraded the RAM to 6GB (I dont want to test 8GB like people say) I just purchased a 1TB HDD and don't want to lose out on the storing ability of such a spacious drive. Is there a way to remove the LEGACY and USELESS optical drive from my computer and replace it with my 1TB HDD? Thanks for reading and I hope to hear from someone about this soon!

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.3)

Posted on May 20, 2014 4:00 PM

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Answer 1

Andy-J-D

Level 3

645 points

May 20, 2014 4:01 PM in response to Legacy2008Upgrader

Yes. Here's the ifixit guide:

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing+MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Unibody+Late+2008+and +Early+2009+Dual+Hard+Drive/8526

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Answer 2

May 20, 2014 4:04 PM in response to Andy-J-D

I haven't clicked that link yet, but it says Unibody. Mine is not a unibody.

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Answer 3

Kappy

Level 10

361,709 points

May 20, 2014 4:05 PM in response to Legacy2008Upgrader

Have you looked at OWC to see if you can use their Data Doubler in your model? Unfortunately, the optical bay is fitted for Ultra ATA100 running at ATA66. If you can find a hard drive for ordinary IDE, then you could fit both but the HDD will be much slower than SATA.

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Answer 4

Andy-J-D

Level 3

645 points

May 20, 2014 4:06 PM in response to Legacy2008Upgrader

Sorry that's for late 2008. It can be done in the non-unibody too, though. Google 'replace macbook pro early 2008 optical drive' and you'll get some info.

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Answer 5

Kappy

Level 10

361,709 points

May 20, 2014 4:06 PM in response to Andy-J-D

Those instructions are for a Late 2008. The OP has an Early model.

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Answer 6

May 20, 2014 4:08 PM in response to Kappy

So the optical bay in my machine, from my understanding, runs at ATA66 or ATA100? Is this different than the drive bay? I used to be a tech head but everything is advancing before I have a chance to get caught up!

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Answer 7

Kappy

Level 10

361,709 points

May 20, 2014 4:14 PM in response to Legacy2008Upgrader

The HDD bay is 1.5 Gb/s SATA I, so you can put an SSD in there, but not the fastest of SSDs. OWC sells 3.0 Gb/s SSDs that are backward compatible. So does OCZ.

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Answer 8

May 20, 2014 4:19 PM in response to Kappy

But my optical drive is not SATA? This is very curious, why would that SATA the HDD bay but ATA-66 the optical bay?

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Answer 9

Kappy

Level 10

361,709 points

May 20, 2014 4:21 PM in response to Legacy2008Upgrader

You'll have to ask Apple that question. I certainly don't know. But this is what is shown for your model in the specs:

EXPANSION
Slots	1 - ExpressCard/34
Bays	None
Hard Drive Interface	1.5 Gbps Serial ATA (SATA)
Optical Drive Interface	Ultra ATA/100 (running at UATA/66)

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Answer 10

May 20, 2014 4:28 PM in response to Kappy

Thanks for the help Kappy. A couple more questions if you don't mind. So IF I can find a Caddy/Data Doubler for my optical bay, the UATA100 interface COULD run my HDD but it wouldn't be at its full potential? Also, by any chance do you think (this is my thought process) that its running at UATA66 only because it is currently just reading and writing discs and that if I plugged the HDD into it that it would use its full potential (UATA100)? If a 1TB SSD was cheap enough I wouldn't even be here....but it isn't and I have about 100-200GB worth of media that needs to be stored.

Thanks for all the help buddy.

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Answer 11

Kappy

Level 10

361,709 points

May 20, 2014 4:32 PM in response to Legacy2008Upgrader

First, I don't know if OWC's Data Doubler will fit your model. You will need to check on that. Second, you will not be able to use your SATA HDD in the optical bay. Completely different connectors. You would need to find an Ultra100 IDE hard drive. I'm not sure how easy that will be considering they are not much in use these days. I'm unsure you can find one that has a 200 GB capacity or more.

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Answer 12

May 20, 2014 4:33 PM in response to Kappy

Do you think I could go straight RAMBO on this computer and replace that UATA100 connector with a SATA connector or is that just stupid thinking?

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Answer 13

Kappy

Level 10

361,709 points

May 20, 2014 4:39 PM in response to Legacy2008Upgrader

Even were such an adaptor available it wouldn't help the drive run at the SATA speed. It would still operate at Ultra66 speed.

No. You should get a larger SSD, stick with an HDD, or buy a newer computer.

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Answer 14

May 20, 2014 4:41 PM in response to Kappy

See I wouldn't mind it running at ATA66 or 100 speeds. Because it would only be music which wouldn't need ELITE speeds. Thanks for everything Kappy.

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Answer 15

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,516 points

May 20, 2014 5:01 PM in response to Legacy2008Upgrader

OWC's one is for later models. There are others available to suit yours which accept a SATA drive. Some users report very slow speeds with them... try to find one with OK reviews.

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