Safe to add an SSD?

TheSkateyBird · 24 Mar 2015 at 16:42

Hey,

So I've recently installed a new SSD into a friends laptop and now getting the itch to stick one in my Macbook Pro 2012. I was thinking of using one of those adapters that fills the space of the DVD drive and adds room for a 2.5" drive for a 250GB SSD.

Just making sure that before I order anything that it'll be safe. I mean I know lots of people do it but I've read in places that SATA power for the DVD drive isn't designed to power a HDD/SSD and can cause fire, death etc.

Is this true or is the DVD bay perfectly capable?

Cheers.

lamboman · 24 Mar 2015 at 17:16

Don't know where you've heard it being dangerous, but that's completely false. The only issue you may get with the optibay is speed issues due to poor shielding (don't think your model is affected by that if it's a 13") and some issues with sleep (again, not sure about this, it depends on model).

An SSD would work well in the optibay as it doesn't use any of the protective mechanisms that are offered by the hard drive bay.

shiver · 24 Mar 2015 at 17:17

Had the same setup in my 2012 MBP, worked perfectly. My advise would be don't get a cheap eBay adapter, go for something like the OWC one. Cost's a bit more but it's solid.

TheSkateyBird · 24 Mar 2015 at 17:28

Okey doke, mine's the 15" mid-2012 model. I remember reading on a tech blog somewhere that putting a HDD/SSD in the optical bay causes to greater power draw from the SATA power that it wasn't designed to handle and can cause problems etc etc. But thanks for the clarification.

@shiver

Been looking at some around the £20 mark on Amazon, would that be sufficient or should I just go for the OWC one?

shiver · 24 Mar 2015 at 18:39

extra £9 for an OWC and from a UK vendor isn't too bad! I can't comment on how good the others will be.

TheSkateyBird · 24 Mar 2015 at 19:44

Okay, I'll grab one from OWC. Thanks for the advice chaps!

andrewohare · 28 Mar 2015 at 21:13

TheSkateyBird said:
Hey,

So I've recently installed a new SSD into a friends laptop and now getting the itch to stick one in my Macbook Pro 2012. I was thinking of using one of those adapters that fills the space of the DVD drive and adds room for a 2.5" drive for a 250GB SSD.

Just making sure that before I order anything that it'll be safe. I mean I know lots of people do it but I've read in places that SATA power for the DVD drive isn't designed to power a HDD/SSD and can cause fire, death etc.

Is this true or is the DVD bay perfectly capable?

Cheers.

You need to put the ssd in the hdd slot and you can put another hdd in the dvd slot with an adapter
Mines been set like that for a couple years