New dual internal hard drive option available for MacBooks
MacBook and PowerMac G4 users who don't need an internal optical drive can now replace it for a custom fit hard drive case, providing a secondary drive for as much as 1 TB of total disk storage and the option of striping performance or data redundancy using RAID.
The new MCE Tech OptiBay can be ordered either as an empty enclosure for use with any 2.5" SATA hard drive, or bundled with a 5400 RPM drive in 250, 320, or 500 GB capacities or a 7200 RPM 320 GB drive. MCE also offers an external USB enclosure for continued use of the old optical drive, with some exceptions.
The new case works within the original and unibody MacBook and MacBook Pros (both 15" and 17"), and with the titanium 15" and aluminum 12", 15", and 17" PowerBook G4 notebooks. Most models support user installation, althought MCE "highly recommends" that users of 12" PowerBooks have the drive installed professionally due to the complexity of removing that model's optical drive.
Once installed, the secondary drive can be formatted as a secondary volume for additional storage or use with Windows using Boot Camp, or can be striped, mirrored or concatenated with the primary internal hard drive to create either a faster, or fault tolerant, or simply larger single RAID volume.
Many original optical drives that shipped in PowerBooks or MacBooks can be used with the optional USB optical enclosure, although neither the original DVD drive from Titanium PowerBooks nor the 9.5 mm SuperDrives used in 15" MacBooks and MacBook Pros will fit. MCE offers a replacement bus powered optical drive mechanism as well.
The new MCE Tech OptiBay can be ordered either as an empty enclosure for use with any 2.5" SATA hard drive, or bundled with a 5400 RPM drive in 250, 320, or 500 GB capacities or a 7200 RPM 320 GB drive. MCE also offers an external USB enclosure for continued use of the old optical drive, with some exceptions.
The new case works within the original and unibody MacBook and MacBook Pros (both 15" and 17"), and with the titanium 15" and aluminum 12", 15", and 17" PowerBook G4 notebooks. Most models support user installation, althought MCE "highly recommends" that users of 12" PowerBooks have the drive installed professionally due to the complexity of removing that model's optical drive.
Once installed, the secondary drive can be formatted as a secondary volume for additional storage or use with Windows using Boot Camp, or can be striped, mirrored or concatenated with the primary internal hard drive to create either a faster, or fault tolerant, or simply larger single RAID volume.
Many original optical drives that shipped in PowerBooks or MacBooks can be used with the optional USB optical enclosure, although neither the original DVD drive from Titanium PowerBooks nor the 9.5 mm SuperDrives used in 15" MacBooks and MacBook Pros will fit. MCE offers a replacement bus powered optical drive mechanism as well.
Comments
Just replaced my Macbook Pro 15 "'s (June 200) with a 7200 rpm Seagate 320 GB. Which by the way, works beautifully and unbelievably quiet.
At $88, it was a bargain. Unfortunately, the USB 2/Firewire enclosure added another $24. Not that I am sorry, because it made installing/migrating exceptionally simply. And I do now have an external Firewire drive to boot as well,
Certainly, the availability of the new MCE's would have made the decision on which drive to get much harder. But would have bought the MCE immediately if an external enclosure for the DVD was also available.
MacBook and PowerMac G4 users who don't need an internal optical drive can now replace it for a custom fit hard drive case, providing a secondary drive for as much as 1 TB of total disk storage and the option of striping performance or data redundancy using RAID.
My PowerMac G4 has four internal hard drives, including one in the place originally occupied by the internal optical drive.
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Any vibration issues?
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The MCE hard disk/enclosure ~ how long is the warranty for?
Edit: Found it, 3 years warranty.
...Many original optical drives that shipped in PowerBooks or MacBooks can be used with the optional USB optical enclosure, although neither the original DVD drive from Titanium PowerBooks nor the 9.5 mm SuperDrives used in 15" MacBooks and MacBook Pros will fit. MCE offers a replacement bus powered optical drive mechanism as well.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
Suggested correction to article, there is no 15" MacBook.
Since I work on music, this means I will no longer have to lug my external audio drive around, it will always be IN the laptop.
Sweetness!!!
As to Macintox's query, I have a 64GB IDE SSD in my TiPB 1Ghz G4 right now. I got it at Geeks.com back over Xmas for about $125. I figured $2 a GB for a SSD in that size is pretty good.
I suppose the Optibay solution will let you use a SATA instead. I have been considering it to add a large drive, considering my startup drive is now only 64GB.
Love it :-)