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Mid 2012 model, A1278 / 2.5 GHz i5 or 2.9 GHz i7 processor.

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SSD in optical bay recognized but won't format

So my plan with my MacBook Pro was to upgrade the ram to 16gb (done and worked fine),

Replace my standard HDD with an SSD and add a second SSD in the optical bay using this kit, Unibody Laptop Dual Drive and then I was going to run a RAID0 configuration.

I got all the parts put in place just fine with no issues and the machine recognizes both SSDs but the one in the optical drive will not format!

I removed it and used a SATA to USB to format it and then put it back in the machine. I then tried to apply the RAID0 setup and it would not do it because again there was an issue with the SSD in the optical bay.

I again pulled it out and it still wouldn't complete the RAID setup. I have done some research and I have found that it is possibly a problem with the SATA port in the optical bay and there was a firmware update to fix it. I checked and my machine already has the firmware update applied.

I have spent many hours troubleshooting and researching and I am at a loss.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Please let me know if I need to provide more info and or screenshots.

Thanks!

Unibody Laptop Dual Drive Image

Product

Unibody Laptop Dual Drive

$24.99

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Your system is part of this series: MacBookPro9,2

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Sadly I don't think you'll be able to get this to work as Apple has some issues with the optical drive ports in many of their systems. independent of any firmware updates.

For reference: OWC Data Doubler. If you jump down to the very bottom you see this note:

  • "MacBook Pro 13" models: Apple does not support the use of 6Gb/s drives in the optical bay. While we have observed a high rate of success using SATA 3.0 6Gb/s drives in Apple 13" bays where 6Gb/s link is present, some systems may not operate properly with this setup. For guaranteed reliability/compatibility, we suggest 6Gb/s drives be used in the main drive bay only, and 3Gb/s hard drives or SSDs be used in the optical bay when a two-drive configuration is desired. We cannot guarantee proper or successful 6Gb/s drive operation in the Apple MacBook Pro 13" optical bay."

Again, this problem is within the logic board not the given carrier! You will need to get a FIXED SATA 3.0 Gb/s SSD drive which are just impossible to find any more. All of the drives today are either auto sense (ones that match the systems SATA port) or fix SATA 6.0 Gb/s drives. Neither would work here in this config and to add to it you wouldn't want an unmatched drive set for RAID 0.

Damed and double damed here!

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FYI: I've never been able to get the 2.9 GHz model to work with a SATA 6.0 Gb/s drive. I suspect the higher clocking messes up the ports timing which is why you are having problems formatting it in the optical bay.

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Well that confirms my fears. Looks like I will be returning the two, 256 GB SSDs in exchange for one 512GB SSD. Thanks for your help and the detailed response!

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Alex Theodore will be eternally grateful.
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