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MP 7,1 Alternative to the J2i & J3i

flowrider

flowrider

macrumors 604
Original poster
Nov 23, 2012
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Well - We have these two:

forums.macrumors.com

Promise Pegasus J2i Alternative？

Are any 3rd party parts available yet? Because really don't need that 8TB drive. and the cable and cage should not be very hard to make for companies like OWC In Mac Pro 5,1 era is there any similar Alternative? When about those 3rd party parts come out after the Mac Pro 5,1 release?
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com

And now more affordable and more functional alternatives:

PRO CADDY V INTERNAL STORAGE SOLUTIONS For NEW MAC PRO 2019 Archives - TransIntl

www.transintl.com www.transintl.com

Wish I had waited.

Lou
 
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Those do look like good alternatives. Especially if you want to use your own drives.
Makes me happy the 4,1 and 5,1 didn’t charge extra for the empty drive sleds.
 
I like the 10 SSD unit, but I wish they made cutouts for air flow on the sides where the drivers are screwed in. I worry no airflow can get through them. Curious why they didn't do that.
 
The 10x 2.5" caddy looks very handy - does anyone know of a 10x SATA controller that would work with it?

Personally I'd find it hard to invest in more SATA SSDs at this stage, given that NVMEs have fallen to almost equivalent pricing. And Highpoint have an 8-slot NVME PCIe card coming out soon (which would provide a much simpler connection/power arrangement).
 
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^^^^Looks like an update to the PCIe cards of old, Like the Apricorn, that held 2½" SSDs.

Lou
 
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Seems closer to the Sonnet Fusion Dual 2.5 (for SATA SSD & HDD), but no USB-C and for U.2 drives. Dual U.2 in relatively cheap and easy to deploy form factor is good to at least have as an available option in the future. Seems like there is a special add on plastic or aluminum-like “wing” that might help with circulation in MP7,1.
 
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The Inateck HDD bracket arrived. Build quality is exactly like in the pictures. Slots perfectly into the Mac Pro and looks like Apple quality. It includes a custom power and data cable just like the Promise offering. There really seems no reason to buy the Pegasus J2i, unless you like massively overpaying for an 8TB HDD. HDDs can be had for $15/TB these days.

The build quality of the bent metal and the cable is much nicer than the Sonnet J3i, and is half the cost. Seems no reason to buy the J3i either, unless you want that extra 2.5" drive row.

Transintl offerings are still interesting, if you need 1, 3, or more rows. The 10 slot 2.5" offering is particularly unique, but requires a PCIe RAID card.
 
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"HDDs can be had for $15/TB these days."

Oh, how I wish this was the case for quality HDDs.
Western Digital Red Pro: $50/TB (2TB) to $32/TB (16TB)
Western Digital Black: $50/TB (2TB) to $38/TB (6TB)
Seagate IronWolf Pro: $36/TB (4TB) to $39/TB (18TB)
Seagate IronWolf: $43/TB (2TB) to $35/TB (14TB)

However, Tim may have a point since Cyber-Monday is around the corner. I am keeping an eye on HDDs prices.
 
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Tim, hats off to you. Thank you for the article. It appears there is some confusion as some people point out that you are "gambling" because you won't know the manufacturer until you buy it. I agree with this but only on small to mid-sized HDDs (1TB-6TB). There are only a limited number of manufacturers making 14TB, 16TB and 18TB HDDs (3.5").

I headed over to Western Digital's website and found the following 14TB ($13/TB), 16TB ($19/TB) and 18TB ($19/TB). As of today, WD 16TB and 18TB standalone HDDs are listed as "new item, coming soon". However, they are available in the Easystore. While some may be quick to point out that you might end up with a cheap, no-name HDD, I respond by asking, show me what "cheap" 14, 16 or 18TB HDD WD could put into the Easystore?
 
Its a certainty you'll get an enterprise class drive as long as you go 8TB or higher. The smaller sizes are consumer drives, but WD doesnt make any consumer drives above 6TB, so they use their enterprise drives in the Easystore, etc for 8TB and up. The general thinking is that these are "b grade" drives that they white-label and sell to consumers instead of just material recycling. Some are 7200RPM drives that didn't quite meet spec, so they are firmware locked to 5400RPM and white-labeled.

I've run dozens of Easystore drives in NAS RAID for years and not had a single issue. Three of them literally had Red labels (this was before Red Pro became a thing, but would be labeled Red Pro today), the rest had white labels, and some were even Helium filled, which is highly desirable.
 
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The Inateck bracket went on sale for $70 recently… not sure if it will again or soon.
 
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