Chosen Solution
I read on OWC’s website* that if I try to use a SATA III drive it will revert to SATA I specs and not SATA II. Does this only count for the optical bay, or both SATA connections? *See special compatibility notes, second to last paragraph.
OWC has already stated the solution for this. Reread what they said: 2008/2009 MacBook/MacBook Pro 13", 15", and 17" models. (Model IDs: MacBookPro5,1; 5,2; 5,3; 5,4; 5,5 and MacBook5,1; 6,1; 7,1) While a 6G SSD does function, it will only do so at SATA Revision 1.0 (1.5Gb/s) speeds rather that the SATA Revision 2.0 (3.0Gb/s) speed the machine can deliver. Should owners of these machines desire another SSD option, the Mercury Electra™ 3G SSD does run at the full SATA Revision 2.0 (3Gb/s) specification.
Don’t see anything like that stated on the linked page. Generally you can drop back ONE SATA generation without problems but not more. e. g. SATA III to SATA II OK, or SATA II to SATA I OK but not SATA III to SATA I. Some drives have jumpers that must be set manually, others may “automagically” change themselves, some of the self-correcting drives have been reported here to hang and freeze so ensure your vendor guarantees backward compatibility so if you have problems it wont cost you extra to replace/exchange the drive. If this Answer is helpful please remember to return and mark it Accepted.
