Powerbookmedic.com and their DualDrive FAIL.

[POST UPDATED: See end of post]

Well, this morning has been frustrating as hell to say the least.

The plot line.

I have a dead DVD drive in my macbook pro. At some point in my wanderings I heard of, and eventually found, Powerbook Medic and their DualDrive system (Powerbook Medic). Cue impressed noises and rustling of credit cards being yanked from wallets.

A few days later (this morning) once it had arrived, I decided to spend a little time installing it. “Oh, sure, it’ll be a fifteen minute job only” I told myself, eyeing off my screwdrivers. Yeah, right.

After fifteen minutes I was only just lifting away the keyboard after trying to get the 2.5″ drive to happily fit in the new dualdrive case.. not easy, especially as it leaves about 3mm gap between the drive and the flexible metal top of the case, something i was rather nervous about.

Soon I had extracted (read: wrenched bodily) the existing DVD not-so-superdrive from the laptop, and even holding the two in my hands I started to have doubts about whether the dualdrive would even fit, especially with its shiney silver faceplate that did little more than hold a crappy LED that I intended to disconnect anyway.
Moving on, I removed the mounting brackets from the old drive, and started putting them on the new drive.. left hand side went on ok… right hand side, not so much. The new drive was too fat, and meant the little bent metal bracket was even more crooked than the Italian government.
Nevertheless, I decided that that bracked was somewhat unnecessary, and proceeded to try and install the last bracket, probably the most important, which holds the drive steady from lateral rotation, vibration and other nasty things.
No go.
The screw holes were all wrong… the closest fit left the remaining screw hole about 6mm away from the matching socket on the PCB, it may as well been 6m. Turning the bracket around, i managed to line it up, but it would only take one screw without being brutally mangled, and at this point I decided I didn’t trust this new modification enough to pass that point of ungodly no return.
Soon enough, I had all the brackets in place as best as I could, and seated the drive in place.. lo and behold, all the tabs that the screws hold onto the PCB were about 3mm off their sockets.. pressing on, I managed to screw the most of them down, bending the brackets even further.
Soon enough, the promised land was in sight (even if I could already detect a whiff of bullshit). Putting everything back in place, I reconnected the keyboard, and oh, what a surprise.. the part over the dvd drive wouldnt sit in place.. not a small gap, more like that magical 2-3 mm. At this point I went googling and found not a single scrap of info, so, trying again, I removed a few of the brackets (the left and right ones) and reseated it. It now wobbled around like a two year on a bike old just off training wheels, but it seemed to sit lower.. again, I replaced the case..
It barely fit.. and by barely, there was a huge and noticable bulge where the drive sat, the edging wouldnt click into the bottom section of the case, and I was nervous to put any screws in, just in case they zipped off into the nether depths of my office at work.
No way did this drive fit, and although i’d love a second drive, I value my macbook too highly to desecrate it with some crap peice of bent metal and a dodgy sata converter that didnt even fit.

So, now I’m going to email them and ask if I missed a critical step involving a  dremel and a hacksaw, or perhaps didn’t utter the incantation right as I was making a ritual sacrifice to the laptop gods.

the TL;DR of the story
Dualdrive (PN, SKU1725711) for macbook Pro, 15″, non unibody, doesnt fit. I wouldnt reccomend buying one of these, even if it seems like an awesome addition to your mac, unless you personally know someone who has installed the same drive, in the same model as your macbook / pro.

The screw of the story? I dont get shipping refunded, so the drive that cost me 60 bucks is going to pay for its own shipping to and from me. What a waste of time.

[UPDATE 15/1/10]
Ok, I finally recieved more information from PBM the other day regarding the dualdrive. It seems the completely fail to mention that on the MBP 15″ Non Unibody, you need to remove the top cover of the DVD drive as the bluetooth module that hangs from the bottom of the keyboard tray just above the DVD drive bay is too fat to fit if you dont remove this. So, pulling it all apart, I’ve gone and removed that cover, re-fitted the brackets, which actually seem to fit a little easier, and mounted it.

I must admit at this point, that my initial indignation at the dualdrive and powerbook medic was a little harsh, but still deserved perhaps. I now have two drives in my mac, and it runs very nicely.

If you would like any more info about this, please comment here with an email address and I’ll get back to you when I can. Dont hold your breath though

- Mak

Advertisement