Add new SSD to optical drive or hard drive bay?

Hi all,
I am looking to add a SSD drive to my wife's macbook pro (2011-2012?), I read a few videos and articles on how to do it, but what I want to know is
whether I should install the SSD hard drive into the optical bay, and keep the original non-SSD HDD in its HDD bay, or should
I place the SSD into the HDD bay, and put the original non-SSD hard drive to optical bay? pros and cons?
I have read that macbook pro do not support hibernation on optical drive so any hard drive that is placed there won't be able to sleep.
Also I have read that only the HDD bay in macbook pro support the shock sensor, so if the original HDD is moved to the optical bay then
it loses the benefit, since SSD drive doesn't care shocks.
What will be the best approach, should I want to keep two HDDs in the macbook pro?
Cheers

The usual 'rule of thumb' is to place the SSD (boot drive) in the HDD bay. Please see this user tip:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4741
Ciao.

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Booting from HDD/SSD in optical drive bay.

Macbook Pro 15" non retina mid 2012 2.7 GHz 8GB RAM
Hi,
A while ago I partitioned my hard drive and installed Windows 7. I use it for gaming and eventually decided I would swap my superdrive out for a SSD so Windows could run on it’s own drive.
So I now have two drives, the original Seagate Momentus XT 750GB hybrid, and a new Samsung 840 EVO SSD 1TB. Ideally I would like Windows 7 on the SSD, in the optical drive bay and OSX on the hybrid in the primary bay. My only reason for that position is that I believe the hybrid would be less prone to overheating in the primary bay. However, after a bit of research I believe Windows will only boot from the primary bay so I can live with either.
So far I have managed to boot Windows (on the SSD) from the primary bay. Works well. It would not complete booting from the optical bay.
OSX on the hybrid (this is my original drive before this upgrade) boots fine as usual from the primary but will NOT boot from the optical bay. I get the apple and loading wheel only.
A clone of that OSX on an old HDD will boot fine from the optical bay. When I booted from this drive in the primary bay I can see both the SSD and the hybrid if I have them in the optical bay and system profiler reads them well.
So my first question is; does anyone have any experience or knowledge of Momentus XT’s not working in the optical bay? I believe they had some firmware updates years ago but my drive has always ran very well until I tried it from the optical bay.
My second question is; does anyone know if it is possible to persuade my macbook pro to boot Windows from the optical drive?
Many thanks.

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Adata sp900 sdd 128-GB ssd, optibay optical drive to replace superdrive, and 16 GB upgrade for macbook pro mid 2012.

Hello everyone,
Thank you in advanced for all of the support. This is my first post to the communities. I just bought a 2.9 GHz core 17 processor MacBook pro mid 2012 13" with 8 GB of RAM and I am in the process of upgrading it. When I bought the MacBook pro originally, I was told that I would never mac out the performance because I do not do a lot of photo/video editing. This is true, but I am an academic researcher and tend to multitask often, having 20+ safari tabs open, SPSS (a statistical program), full screen mail app, full screen calendar app, and preview, iTunes open all at the same time. I often get slow performance and error messages that state low memory. This is why I am interested in upgrading the laptop. I am getting ready to go to medical school and I want to have a powerful laptop. I also want to future proof because I plan on having a dual boot system to mac OS and windows OS.
Because I know I will be maxing out the performance of the computer, I want to take full advantage of upgrades, especially now because the cost of the components is reasonable at the moment. The following are the proposed upgrades:
1. Upgrade my current 8-GB ram (2x4-GB) with 16-GB ram (2x8-GB). I plan on using crucial RAM.
Crucial 16-GB Ram: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008LTBJFW/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&coli d=2B1KHELSPJPNN&coliid=IYGJWGQDH8LV0&psc=1
2. Replace my optical drive with a hard drive. I will place a SSD into my current hard drive position and then install my current HDD into the optical drive bay with the optibay optical drive caddy. I am doing this because I plan to use the SSD as the boot drive and my current HDD as my backup and files drive. I am putting the SDD into the HDD because I have read it is better to place it in this bay for performance. I will put the other HDD in the optical drive because the performance of that one will not be as important.
Adata SSD: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008LTBJFW/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&coli d=2B1KHELSPJPNN&coliid=IYGJWGQDH8LV0&psc=1
Optibay Optical Drive Caddy: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0058AH2US/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&coli d=2B1KHELSPJPNN&coliid=I3GI8MGWAKXY79
My questions:
1. Is the listed RAM appropriate and sufficient for my MacBook pro?
2. Is the listed SSD appropriate and sufficient for my MacBook pro?
3. Is the listed Optical Drive Caddy appropriate and sufficient for my MacBook pro?
4. Is there still a firmware problem that does not allow for SATA 3 (6Gb/s) support in the optical drive?
5. Would it be easier to format the new SSD outside of the MacBook using a SATA to USB adapter?
6. Does working on any of the listed components void my AppleCare (I plan on keeping all of the original components so I can replace them, if I ever need to see apple support)?
7. What is the best way to put Mavericks onto the SSD to make this my boot drive?
8. What is the best way to make all of my files remain on the HDD, but link to the SSD with the operating system?
9. Has anyone ever successfully upgraded to 16-GB RAM and used their optical drive for a secondary hard drive?
10. Is there any miscellaneous advice for this project?
Please feel free to give partial answers. I know this was a lot of information, but I wanted to be efficient in my post. I am very appreciative of everyone who will contribute.
Thank you!

rmichaud91 wrote:
Hello everyone,
I just bought a 2.9 GHz core 17 processor MacBook pro mid 2012 13" with 8 GB of RAM
16 GB of RAM is the best you can do.
The optibay HD will null and void your warranty.

Can I use the 2nd Optical Drive Bay on my Mac Pro for an SSD?

Since I have no plans to add a second Optical Drive to my Mac Pro in the Second Optical Drive bay, I was wondering if I could put an SSD in that bay using a 2.5' to 3.5" drive carriage. Is this possible? Would it work? Would I be able to use it as my boot drive? Never tried this, so not sure if it would work.
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This question was solved.
View Solution.

Dảkwarrior1912 wrote:
Why hard drive conection support SATA 3 but optical drive support SATA2??As i know the other notebook like asus or dell support SATA 3 both conection(hard drive and optical drive)
It appears that you did not understand the post that I made.
If you purchase a high end notebook that has a chipset with sata controllers that support SATA3 then SATA3 devices will run at SATA3 bandwidth. Your notebook is not one that does.
It would not matter which brand you chose.
If you decided to economize and purchase a mainstream notebook, then the issue would still be the same.
Notebooks are not created equally. It is the same with desktop PCs.
That is why each manufacturer has a tiered structure to accomodate the economic means of the target market.
1) Entry level (basic chipset and CPU) $
2) Mainstream (mid level chipset and mainstream CPU) $$
3) High end. (high end chipset and high performance CPU, wifi adapter and even SSD hard disks) $$$
****Please click on Accept As Solution if a suggestion solves your problem. It helps others facing the same problem to find a solution easily****
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Add new SSD to optical drive or hard drive bay?

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