Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

2.5" to 3.5" SSD Sled for Mac Pro?

nanofrog said:
YES, it can boot, but (...)
Hope this helps. :)
Click to expand...
Thanks again, nanofrog.
nanofrog said:
As for the clearance issue for placing two drives in a single bay, GREAT. But it would be up to a company like Trans Intl. to make it for most, unless they have access to a machine shop and can design/build their own PM board for attaching both drives to the single SATA port on the logic board. Beyond most DIY enthusiasts I think. :(

Perhaps a group effort to flood Trans Intl's email with requests for such a device would help. :D :p
Click to expand...
Maybe we will see how it works (even RAID0 ?!) soon - here?!
 
nanofrog said:
It shouldn't be a problem. ;) Just keep in mind, the PM chip used will slow you down.
Click to expand...

This is only for the 09 Pros right?

With the 08's you have two sata ports to connect them to so there is no need for a PM, but for the 09's there's the single sata port located in the bay which would require a PM.
 
whatisthe said:
This is only for the 09 Pros right?

With the 08's you have two sata ports to connect them to so there is no need for a PM, but for the 09's there's the single sata port located in the bay which would require a PM.
Click to expand...
It's in terms of using a device (Pro Drive) Trans Intl makes that attaches two drives to one sled port. This would apply to any PM chip tied to a single port, internal or external.
 
Really? The SATA ports in ANY of the Mac Pros are multiples? I thought all 4 (and I recently learned there were 6) were dedicated and port multiplying wasn't even supported by the controller.

No?
 
Tesselator said:
Really? The SATA ports in ANY of the Mac Pros are multiples? I thought all 4 (and I recently learned there were 6) were dedicated and port multiplying wasn't even supported by the controller.

No?
Click to expand...
The SATA ports (at least those for the sleds), actually worked with a simple PM (2 drives to 1 port). Trans Intl built the Pro Drive for just that purpose, but was limited to 2.5" drives for clearance.

I'm not sure about the '09's, as I haven't checked if Trans Intl verified they'll work with these. As I understand it, the sleds are deeper on the new models.
 
I was going to get a Icy Dock adaptor for an SSD but can't find any UK source. Can anyone confirm the OCZ adaptor works OK with the 2009 drive sleds? These do seem to be available? Also does it matter if the SSD is 7 or 9mm tall?
 
nanofrog said:
The SATA ports (at least those for the sleds), actually worked with a simple PM (2 drives to 1 port). Trans Intl built the Pro Drive for just that purpose, but was limited to 2.5" drives for clearance.

I'm not sure about the '09's, as I haven't checked if Trans Intl verified they'll work with these. As I understand it, the sleds are deeper on the new models.
Click to expand...

So those ports are multipliable but not multiplied as currently configured. This is what I had thought too. That's kewl tho! It means if we're not using our top PCIe slot then we could easily rig three of the bays to hold 2 HDD units each just by simply piggybacking and modifying the cables. That's an internal 7 drives plus the two not connected to anything (that can be mounted under the optical drive) making it 9 total. And if we run the drive-bay 1 cable Y mod over a little we could maybe put a third drive piggybacked on the drive-bay 2 sled. That would make 10 total! Sweet!

If the two "secret" SATA ports are multipliable we could triple up bays 3 and 4 too for a total of 12.

If any combination can be used in a RAID that would be three 4-drive RAID 0 arrays! At $80 a pop now that's only about $1k for 12TB of RAID 0 space. Or $2K for 24TB if we use the 2TB drives.

Mmmm.... <ponders actually doing this mod> :cool:
 
Mattww said:
I was going to get a Icy Dock adaptor for an SSD but can't find any UK source. Can anyone confirm the OCZ adaptor works OK with the 2009 drive sleds? These do seem to be available? Also does it matter if the SSD is 7 or 9mm tall?
Click to expand...

I have also shopped around to find a bracket for my ssd. I have been to maplins, yoyo, and no-one seems to have anything close. If the OCZ adapter works, great where can I buy one or more.

Edit: I did some googling and found the OCZ that your talking about, not sure this will work, as the mounting doesn't look right. Our ssd's need to be mounted using the under side screw holes. The other options mention sound fine, but expensive. I am considering a 2 port PCI-e card and installing the SSD into an external esata portable case. Maybe if we can get those WD adapters that might work.

Thanks,
Colin
fold4life.com
 
If you get a card, set the SSD in the PCIe slot area. The drive does not vibrate and it is not susceptible to vibration so it will be fine there.
 
Does anybody know what RAID controller this is using? I've just had a bad experience with Icy Dock's dual 2.5 RAID adapter so much so that in addition to their RMA unit I'm sending them back the original, the RMA replacment as well as their single drive unit in the same anodized enclosure. I'm done with IcyDock. Their product just doesn't work for me. The single drive unit does but I simply don't want any of their hardware near my computer now.

hayduke said:
Looks like it would work perfectly. Thanks for this one!

http://www.newegg.com/picture...

Also, here is the sled I was talking about. Very cool. Pretty pricey.

http://www.transintl.com/store/category.cfm?Category=2746&RequestTimeOut=500
Click to expand...
 
In the UK you're probably hard up for choices. There's a video on YouTube that shows you one buy who simply drilled holes into a CD and used that in addition the sled to adapter the SSD to the sled. That's your best solution.

casw1000 said:
I have also shopped around to find a bracket for my ssd. I have been to maplins, yoyo, and no-one seems to have anything close. If the OCZ adapter works, great where can I buy one or more.

Edit: I did some googling and found the OCZ that your talking about, not sure this will work, as the mounting doesn't look right. Our ssd's need to be mounted using the under side screw holes. The other options mention sound fine, but expensive. I am considering a 2 port PCI-e card and installing the SSD into an external esata portable case. Maybe if we can get those WD adapters that might work.

Thanks,
Colin
fold4life.com
Click to expand...
 
steffi said:
Does anybody know what RAID controller this is using? I've just had a bad experience with Icy Dock's dual 2.5 RAID adapter so much so that in addition to their RMA unit I'm sending them back the original, the RMA replacment as well as their single drive unit in the same anodized enclosure. I'm done with IcyDock. Their product just doesn't work for me. The single drive unit does but I simply don't want any of their hardware near my computer now.
Click to expand...
The Icy Dock unit is just a mount to stuff 2.5" disks into a 3.5" location.

The Pro Drive most likely uses a part from Oxford (PLX now) or Silicon Image.
 
The Icy Dock Dual Drive RAID unit (hardware RAID 1 0 etc) lets you use two 2.5's in a 3.5 bay. Didn't work out for me and uses a JMicron controller.

The single drive product they have that uses the same case essentially did work and all it does it just lets you seat 2.5 in the Mac Pro sled via their enclosure.

I probably won't buy anything Icy Dock in the future based on what I've seen with their RAID unit.

nanofrog said:
The Icy Dock unit is just a mount to stuff 2.5" disks into a 3.5" location.

The Pro Drive most likely uses a part from Oxford (PLX now) or Silicon Image.
Click to expand...
 
steffi said:
The Icy Dock Dual Drive RAID unit (hardware RAID 1 0 etc) lets you use two 2.5's in a 3.5 bay. Didn't work out for me and uses a JMicron controller.

The single drive product they have that uses the same case essentially did work and all it does it just lets you seat 2.5 in the Mac Pro sled via their enclosure.

I probably won't buy anything Icy Dock in the future based on what I've seen with their RAID unit.
Click to expand...
The pic was just a drive mount, so that's what I was going by for the Icy Dock.

As per the types of chips used, keep in mind they're cheap, which means compromised. JMicron is no different, and results in a fair number of legitimate complaints as to usability/problems associated with products built on their components. The others aren't much different either (Oxford had some serious issues in the not too distant past, which is part of the reason they went up for sale and were purchased by PLX). Since the PLX purchase, their parts have improved.

But all of them still have their faults, especially with Port Multiplier chips and SATA controllers when they're each from different manufacturers (what none of them will tell users - directly or through the vendor).
 
nambuccaheadsau said:
Get an Icy Dock that is advertised as metal and plastic. They have locking clips which prevent any movement or vibration when the slide is closed. Not the all plastic one as above.
Click to expand...
SSDs do not vibrate. I'm using the plastic one in my 2009 Mac Pro and it works great.
 
The AdaptaDrive from Newer Technology seems to be a very attractive mounting solution for the Mac Pro (tested with 1,1):
http://www.newertech.com/products/adaptadrive.php.
It looks like there are no electronic parts on the board, so SSDs should work exactly as they would if they were plugged in directly. The adapter is made of die cast aluminum (painted).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back