Optibay for macbook pro, where to buy and how to setup

[rivet]

Hi,

I'v got a refurbished early 2011 13inch macbook pro with 320g hd on the way. I have a 120g intel 320 SSD on my old laptop. And I am thinking of putting it into the macbook pro as a boot drive along with the original HD. I know I need to buy sth. like optibay, now I have two questions?

1. Where should I buy the optibay. I searched on ebay, there is lots of general optibay product that only cost about $15 including shipping. Would purchasing one of them work? Does the performance depends on which optibay adapter you buy? And where is the cheapest place to buy the original optibay that everybody refers?

2. Should I put SSD in the optibay for boot drive, or should I do it the other way around by putting SSD in original HD place, and move the HD to optibay? How do I set it up initially.

Thanks.

[Moose7]

I am pretty sure you need to switch up the drives... SSD in the hard drive space, and your 320GB HD in the optibay

[infamouskid]

I am pretty sure you need to switch up the drives... SSD in the hard drive space, and your 320GB HD in the optibay

no leave the platter in the optibay.

[imonkey]

I haven''t done this, but I have been researching it. The bay is just there to hold the SSD in place and no one bay (i.e. original or ebay type) will give differing performance.

I have heard good things about this seller and their optibay (although other sellers could very well be just as good): http://myworld.ebay.com/nimitz**/?_trksid=p4340.l2559

I believe the original optibay is from OWC and you can't buy it elsewhere, but it is a bit expensive for my taste.

[NoSoul]

For pre-2011 Macs, it doesn't make a different because they are both SATAII but for your model, you should have the SSD in the HD compartment. The optical bay is SATAII and the HD bay is SATA III.

You can look on Mac rumours as they have a extensive thread. Also, check System Profiler for the listed speed.

http://i.imgur.com/a22lhl.jpg

[rivet]

Thanks for all the reply, I have a SATA II SSD, so it probably does not matter where I put.

I have another question, I need to connect it to external monitors (DVI and VGA), should I buy Thunderbolt or mini-displayport to DVI/VGA adapters?
Would a general one on ebay work well?

[NoSoul]

I believe the cables alone are 50 dollars, I remember the cables for straight thunderbolt were pretty expensive. I think you can just use those display port to DVI then to whatever.