Reddit mentions of OWC Data Doubler, Optical to SATA HD Converter Bracket Solution for Mac Laptops, (OWCDDAMBS0GB)

You can also add another drive to the computer by removing the optical drive (DVD Drive), buying this, and placing a 2.5" drive into it. You can add another HDD or SSD.

I have done this and I can say it works great. I have the default drive that came with the Mac in the default drive bay, and then a 750GB Hybrid Drive in the OWC Data Doubler.

Dual booting Windows on the stock drive and Mac on the Hybrid Drive did take some troubleshooting if your interested in that, but if your only interested in increasing storage it is very easy!

nope, removed my super drive and put my old HDD into a caddy that takes the place of where the super drive was. I think it's a fairly common upgrade for the unibody mb / mbp

Here is the drive i purchased, Kingston 120gb for a good price. Not the best SSD but it's compatible and cheap

Here is the caddy i purchased that took the place of my superdrive. I went for cheap over quality built and for that I kind of regret it. It didn't mount in all three places like the superdrive did, and I had to slightly modify it. If i were to do it again, I'd go OWC or Optibay route.

Nevertheless, I'm incredibly happy with it! it took a little bit of maneuvering to get back to normal with prioritizing where applications and downloads went, but all in all it's great now. I cloned my drive instead of doing a clean install, a corner i cut that i might go back and re-do later.

> that breaks the bit

Funny that you should use that phrase, because the #00 Phillips bit that came with the iFixit caddy broke when I was putting my MBP back together, lol.

Here's the OWC "data doubler" caddy I bought last night as a replacement, btw: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00724W0N2

the OWC one will work for sure. You want a 9.5mm. https://www.amazon.com/OWC-Doubler-Optical-Converter-Solution/dp/B00724W0N2/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1506103398&sr=8-8&keywords=drive+caddy+mac

Oh, I see. SSD prices fall slowly but gradually. They are substiantially lower than 2 years ago but it's not likely there will be a big drop soon, and they probably won't be down near hard disk levels until 2016.

For you, if you can sacrifice the DVD drive, I'd suggest a dual drive setup. Basically, you take out the DVD drive and in its place put the HDD. In the bay where the HDD originally was, you place an SSD. That way you can get a 250GB SSD for your system and apps and put your media on the slower hard disk.

Here is a Guide and an adapter to fit your hdd in the optical bay.

You should be able to use any type of SATA III drive although you might want to do a quick google search if you are set on a specific model. For example you could use a Samsung 840 Evo.

hey i actually just upgraded the FACKKK outta my 2011 MBP.. it runs like a fucking genius right now.. i'll tell u what i got and then why i got it..

Memory: 2x 8GB = 16GB

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006BMBUAA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

OWC Data Doubler (so I could remove SuperDrive and replace w/2nd SSD

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00724W0N2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

OWC SuperDrive Enclosure (piece of shit, don't buy, didn't work, feels super cheap

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00724YQSY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

SSD: These are the best available on the market, literally, the best.. no, I'm not kidding, they're actually the BEST available.. 2x 512GB

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LF10KTO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1


1st, don't do anything til you've found your model on:

http://www.everymac.com/

once you've found your model, read through everything CAREFULLY.. they will give u full compatibility reports, known issues, specification maximums, etc.

instructional:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ9YkkJRN5c

https://fstoppers.com/video/dont-upgrade-your-macbook-pro-until-you-see-2909

http://blog.macsales.com/18244-owc-diys-wont-void-your-macs-warranty

http://blog.macsales.com/18749-scare-tactics-aside-upgrades-do-not-void-your-warranty

I suggest becoming familiar especially w/those last 2 links.. Apple has serviced my MBP a few times since doing my upgrades (non-related logic board problem), and not for a second did they ever try to void my 3-yr extended applecare plan for me doing those upgrades..

Next you will want to BUY:

http://www.cindori.org/software/trimenabler/

if you don't know what TRIM is, read about it on their site.. very important to have/use w/SSD's that are purchased thru 3rd party suppliers (since apple are assholes and don't like to provide support)

those SSD's i listed are the most cutting edge technology available in the SSD market.. I do not suggest RAID'ing them.. i did this 3x already, i am a computer nerd, i know what i am doing, and every time the RAID had practically failed.. see my thread:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1826359

also, make sure that your MBP supports SATA-III in both drive bays (assuming you want to install 2 SSD's), otherwise you will not get full speed capacity.

check out these speeds w/those Samsung 850 Pro 512gb's:

http://imgur.com/mbxFOVz

basically, i've found that they don't handle RAID-0 well, and their support as well as apple's will provide you no support on that subject either.. i've essentially doubled those benchmarks on both ends by trying RAID-0 on them, but 3x reformatting and trying again, they will ALWAYS revert to a massively terrible write speed (see my macrumors link above).. best to leave them as they are.. they are still blazing fast off the bat.

Finally, I had to ditch Yosemite and stick w/Mavericks for this reason..
very important, do not skip this article:

http://www.cindori.org/trim-enabler-and-yosemite/

also, i'm just waking up so sorry if this is sloppy haha

I do all my editing on a 4 year old 15inch macbook pro and it's absolutely solid for lightroom, photoshop and panorama stitching. If you buy a used non retina macbook, switching out the hard drive for an SSD and putting 16GB of ram in it will only cost you about $160. Get the core i7 and this set up will cost you around $800 and last you years.

With the older macbooks you can also switch out the CD drive with a 2TB hard drive and have all your photos locally, get a data doubler and a 2tb drive and you'll have yourself a beast of a machine with all the storage you need. They give you all the instructions, it's really quite simple

The Data Doubler is the name OWC gave to its product to allow you to put a hard drive or ssd into the optical bay. It is just a piece of plastic that holds the drive in place.

It is not optimal for a spinning hard drive to be in the data doubler chassis, as it is not really designed to keep the spinning drive stable. It is really meant for SSDs.

http://www.amazon.com/OWC-Doubler-Optical-Mounting-Solution/dp/B00724W0N2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1457537224&sr=8-2&keywords=data+doubler

You can find cheaper versions of this around amazon and ebay, and even get an external enclosure for your optical drive, turning it into a USB super drive, but the OWC version has the best ratings.

If you are going to do only 1 SSD, put it in the data doubler. If you are going to do two SSDs, then put an SSD in both places, and possibly even RAID them together so that you get a single drive with increased performance, BUT MAKE SURE TO BACK UP YOUR DATA!

Let me know if you have more questions.

Edit: This is the one I bought: http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Unibody-MacBook-SuperDrive-Replacement/dp/B0058AH2US/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1457537224&sr=8-3&keywords=data+doubler It is better for holding the spinning standard HDD since it is a bit stronger than plastic, and holds the drive in with four screws.

http://www.amazon.com/Doubler-Converter-Solution-selected-SuperDrive/dp/B00724W0N2/ref=pd_bxgy_pc_img_y

WHat if I got this^ in combination with this...

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=pd_bxgy_pc_img_z

my super drive stopped reading/writing DVD's so I don't really use it that much anyway

Wel, I like the DVD drive bay on my macbook anyway: It's how I fit an extra SSD in there...