8TB shucked HDD install in Mac Pro 5,1

[bokkow]

Today I felt lucky I guess I ordered a WD My Book 8TB external drive with the intention to immediately shuck the HDD out of it and put it to work in my Mac Pro 5,1 saving me €70,- in the process compared to a 8TB Red HDD

First I tried the disk in the enclosure (obviously) to make sure it's not DOA and it worked so I went ahead:

I used to plastic purple spudger to squeeze enough room between the gaps on both wide sides of the enclosure on the top to slide in those plastic sheets. This effectively unhooks the plastic hooks and keeps them from snapping. Next was unhooking the bottom and pushing the whole thing upwards so that the HDD slides out. I used the plastic spudger because that plastic is softer than the enclosure's; no damage whatsoever, not even a small scuff. If it's necessary, although perhaps a bit unethical, I will put the HDD back and send it off for warranty. No one can see that the disk has been out

Next I covered the 3rd electrical pin. Because of this reason:

Newer white label WD drives (shucked from easystores) have a 3.3v reset circuit that prevents the drive from working in older backplanes/power supplies. removing the pins from the power connector means that circuit never closes and thus the drive doesn't reset.

Better safe than sorry

Another hurdly to take was the missing standard HDD mounting holes, so I removed the Mac Pro HDD sled screws that were in this position and for the time being used elastic electrical tape wound around the HDD sled to firmly keep it in place. Seems to be solid (at least for now) but will check again in a week to see if it still works as intended.

And PRESTO! 8TB of glorious internal storage at the lowest price possible!

Hopefully as reliable as this HGST Ultrastar He10-8 drive ought to be!
To make sure I'm good, I have a second one that I keep in its enclosure and write backups to

Hope this post helps someone!

 

[tsialex]

Nice to know that the 8TB WD works, thx!

I did exactly the same with my 4 Seagate 5TB HDDs. The 5TB Seagates don't have problems with the backplane and have the standard screw layout.

 

[h9826790]

Thanks for the sharing. AFAIK, it's always cheaper in this way, because you give up the warranty (theoretically).

 

[crjackson2134]

Have you tried it without the tape?

 

[Ludacrisvp]

What is really nice is that they are actually HGST enterprise helium filled drives. (Which you’ve noticed). I shucked 2 of them last year some time for use in my NAS.

WD80EZAZ (White label with metal strips) = US7SAL080 = Ultrastar He10-8 SATA

 

[sunnyj]

10tb also works in my 4.1 Mac Pro. I have 5 of them (2 in my hackintosh) and none requires the tape mod

 

[h9826790]

10tb also works in my 4.1 Mac Pro. I have 5 of them (2 in my hackintosh) and none requires the tape mod

with normal mount points? And no "pin 3 issue"?

 

[sunnyj]

with normal mount points? And no "pin 3 issue"?

Drive 1 and 2 sit on the fan housing. For the third drive I rigged a piece of foam core to support it. I'll take a pic tomorrow

 

[h9826790]

Drive 1 and 2 sit on the fan housing. For the third drive I rigged a piece of foam core to support it. I'll take a pic tomorrow

I see. I did that before, the only difference is I put a little piece of soft material between the HDD and the PCIe fan case as damper. And it should absorb some of the fan vibration. No sure if that help anything, but just feeling that let a HDD in touch with a constantly vibrating fan isn't a good idea.

 

[Ludacrisvp]

Fan vibrations can cause HDDs to go unresponsive / take considerably longer to respond, in the enterprise storage business this would be called “drive stalls”

 

[h9826790]

Fan vibrations can cause HDDs to go unresponsive / take considerably longer to respond, in the enterprise storage business this would be called “drive stalls”

Yeah, I've watched a youtube video, a technician shows how the server recorded the HDD's abnormal behaviour by just shouting to the HDD (the vibration by sound). Of course, it won't make the HDD fail straight away, but form memory, the HDD need to do some error connection because of that shouting.

 

[Ludacrisvp]

Yeah, I've watched a youtube video, a technician shows how the server recorded the HDD's abnormal behaviour by just shouting to the HDD (the vibration by sound). Of course, it won't make the HDD fail straight away, but form memory, the HDD need to do some error connection because of that shouting.

yeah, I too have seen this one. we noted certain RPMs from the 4U chassis would induce stalls in drives.

 

[crjackson2134]

I thought about doing this too, but USB 3.0 interface is rated much faster than the SATA2 interface, and doesn't produce internal heat. I get it that you can't boot from USB 3.0, and it's not as tidy on the desk so if that's your motive it's a good choice.

For me, it's better to locate the external drives and power source apart from the cMP (hidden away on a top shelf), and use the drive bays for SSD's. Granted, they don't work at full potential but they are still faster and make less heat and have less power demands. This is what works for me personally. I'm not knocking your nifty mod. It's much cheaper than mine, and I'm only 1/2 way there. I still have two piles of rust to replace in my Sleds.

 

[bokkow]

Nice to know that the 8TB WD works, thx!

I did exactly the same with my 4 Seagate 5TB HDDs. The 5TB Seagates don't have problems with the backplane and have the standard screw layout.

Nice! Yeah Seagate was an option, but my experience with Seagate made me look for WD / HGST

Have you tried it without the tape?

I thought about doing this too, but USB 3.0 interface is rated much faster than the SATA2 interface, and doesn't produce internal heat. I get it that you can't boot from USB 3.0, and it's not as tidy on the desk so if that's your motive it's a good choice.

For me, it's better to locate the external drives and power source apart from the cMP (hidden away on a top shelf), and use the drive bays for SSD's. Granted, they don't work at full potential but they are still faster and make less heat and have less power demands. This is what works for me personally. I'm not knocking your nifty mod. It's much cheaper than mine, and I'm only 1/2 way there. I still have two piles of rust to replace in my Sleds.

Nah, didn't try without tape since then the drive will be leaning on the PCI-fan bracket which could cause vibration.

I mainly chose to shuck instead of using the USB3.0 enclosure because in the enclosure the HDD will spin down after a few minutes of no use. That causes a delay of a few seconds every time I want to open the folder. This HDD uses ~6 Watt and is a lot less warm in the Mac Pro than in the enclosure (max 40C vs max 50C). Speed difference is neglectable for spinning drives imo.

So I get where you're coming from but I rather have the HDD internally

 

[h9826790]

Nice! Yeah Seagate was an option, but my experience with Seagate made me look for WD / HGST




Nah, didn't try without tape since then the drive will be leaning on the PCI-fan bracket which could cause vibration.

I mainly chose to shuck instead of using the USB3.0 enclosure because in the enclosure the HDD will spin down after a few minutes of no use. That causes a delay of a few seconds every time I want to open the folder. This HDD uses ~6 Watt and is a lot less warm in the Mac Pro than in the enclosure (max 40C vs max 50C). Speed difference is neglectable for spinning drives imo.

So I get where you're coming from but I rather have the HDD internally

For info, there is a little apps called KeepDriverSpinning can keep the external HDD spinning.

 

[Ludacrisvp]

A reason to avoid USB external enclosures is that they are very likely to create issues with sleep.

 

[h9826790]

A reason to avoid USB external enclosures is that they are very likely to create issues with sleep.

Jettision can fix the "unexpected disconnect" issue.