MP 1,1-5,1 Hmm what to do with old SSDs lying around?

[pullman]

I've been upgrading all the drives in my Mac Pro 3,1 this weekend and now find myself with a few SSDs lying around to no use.

Rummaging in a few boxes I discovered a MaxPower eSATA card gathering dust. With time on my hands waiting for SuperDuper to clone all the drives I began wondering if there are any external enclosures I could throw the SSDs in to use as a JBOD or a scratch disk for Photoshop.

Does anyone have suggestions for such enclosures? Or perhaps other suggestions for how to put the SSDs to use?

Thank you in advance
Philip

 

[Macschrauber]

I have a bunch of 2,5” sata drives what I use with Sata USB3 cables for Full Backups, experimenting with System patches and stuff.

If I want to boot from I can do either via USB2 or plug it with a sata extension cable directly to the internal sata ports. Or plug it directly in when the Mac is lying on its side.

 

[Juicy Box]

Or perhaps other suggestions for how to put the SSDs to use?

I use a few SSDs to keep old bootable OS partitions on. You never know when you might need to go back to an old OS. Trouble shooting, old SW, helping a friend with their Macs, etc.

Another thing I do with some old SSD and old HDDs, make external stripping SW RAID drives. I use them for scratch disk and such. If they are SATA, you can get some USB/SATA USB adapters, they are really cheap. Connect them to a Mac, or a hub/dock.

if there are any external enclosures I could throw the SSDs in to use as a JBOD or a scratch disk for Photoshop.

There are some (relatively) inexpensive multi-bay drives out there. I got this one 7 years ago:

Mediasonic ProRaid 2 Bay 3.5" SATA Hard Drive Enclosure - USB 3.0 & eSATA Support UASP and SATA III 6.0Gbps Speed (HUR3-SU3S3)

Mediasonic ProRaid 2 Bay 3.5" SATA Hard Drive Enclosure - USB 3.0 & eSATA Support UASP and SATA III 6.0Gbps Speed (HUR3-SU3S3)

www.amazon.com

It is a two-bay drive, with HW stripping and mirroring RAID support, and JBOD support.

There is a few newer 4-bay versions, with faster 10Gbps USB. One has HW RAID, and the other doesn't.

 

[pullman]

Thank you both very much for your suggestions I've also been wondering what to do with the several HDDs I have too.

That Media Sonic enclosure looks great. When I now searched around I came across this Icy Box um box which takes 8 drives but only 3,5" unfortunately. It would be good to have one that also accepts SSDs. In any event this would be a great solution to keep old drives alive and useful!

I have a bunch of 2,5” sata drives what I use with Sata USB3 cables for Full Backups, experimenting with System patches and stuff.

If I want to boot from I can do either via USB2 or plug it with a sata extension cable directly to the internal sata ports. Or plug it directly in when the Mac is lying on its side.

I use a few SSDs to keep old bootable OS partitions on. You never know when you might need to go back to an old OS. Trouble shooting, old SW, helping a friend with their Macs, etc.

Another thing I do with some old SSD and old HDDs, make external stripping SW RAID drives. I use them for scratch disk and such. If they are SATA, you can get some USB/SATA USB adapters, they are really cheap. Connect them to a Mac, or a hub/dock.



There are some (relatively) inexpensive multi-bay drives out there. I got this one 7 years ago:

Mediasonic ProRaid 2 Bay 3.5" SATA Hard Drive Enclosure - USB 3.0 & eSATA Support UASP and SATA III 6.0Gbps Speed (HUR3-SU3S3)

Mediasonic ProRaid 2 Bay 3.5" SATA Hard Drive Enclosure - USB 3.0 & eSATA Support UASP and SATA III 6.0Gbps Speed (HUR3-SU3S3)

www.amazon.com

It is a two-bay drive, with HW stripping and mirroring RAID support, and JBOD support.

There is a few newer 4-bay versions, with faster 10Gbps USB. One has HW RAID, and the other doesn't.

 

[MarkC426]

You can get a bracket to reduce from 3.5 to 2.5inch.

SABRENT 2.5" HDD SSD to 3.5" mounting Frame, Internal Hard Disk mounting kit Adapter, Removable Frame Bracket kit Compatible with All Types of 2.5" Hard Drive / SSD, Screw Pack Included (BK-HDDH)

SABRENT 2.5 Inch to 3.5 Inch Internal Hard Disk Drive Mounting Bracket Kit (BK-HDDH) 2.5" Solid State Drives (SSDs) or Hard Disk Drives offer many benefits over larger 3.5" hard disk drives, such as lower heat output, faster speed (with SSD), and lower power consumption. But installing a new 2.5"...

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[Juicy Box]

You can get a bracket to reduce from 3.5 to 2.5inch.

SABRENT 2.5" HDD SSD to 3.5" mounting Frame, Internal Hard Disk mounting kit Adapter, Removable Frame Bracket kit Compatible with All Types of 2.5" Hard Drive / SSD, Screw Pack Included (BK-HDDH)

SABRENT 2.5 Inch to 3.5 Inch Internal Hard Disk Drive Mounting Bracket Kit (BK-HDDH) 2.5" Solid State Drives (SSDs) or Hard Disk Drives offer many benefits over larger 3.5" hard disk drives, such as lower heat output, faster speed (with SSD), and lower power consumption. But installing a new 2.5"...

www.amazon.co.uk

I am unsure if this particular adapter would work for most enclosures though, as the connectors might not match up, at least judging by the photo.

But, you are right about adapter brackets, there are a lot out there, and they are cheap. To the OP, just make sure it is one that has the SATA connectors in the right place.


They are expensive and there are cheaper options out there, but I bought a bunch of these IcyDock ones in bulk before, and they work great:

ICY DOCK Light Weight 2.5" to 3.5" SATA (22pin) HDD & SSD Converter / Mounting Kit for Internal 3.5" Drive Bay | EZConvert Lite MB882SP-1S-2B Dual (Two Units)

Introducing the ICY DOCK EZConvert MB882SP-1S-2B: another milestone in our 2.5” SSD product line. Through manufacturing efficiency, we have managed to redesign the original MB882SP-1S-1B without any sacrifice to our standard of high quality products. The new version is lighter weight for simplici...

www.amazon.com

I got 10 of them for less than $8. It was many years ago, and I guess the price has increase since then.

 

[pullman]

Thank you both very much. Sounds like a great solution to use brackets. I'll keep this in mind as I look around for an enclosure.

Cheers
Philip

You can get a bracket to reduce from 3.5 to 2.5inch.

SABRENT 2.5" HDD SSD to 3.5" mounting Frame, Internal Hard Disk mounting kit Adapter, Removable Frame Bracket kit Compatible with All Types of 2.5" Hard Drive / SSD, Screw Pack Included (BK-HDDH)

SABRENT 2.5 Inch to 3.5 Inch Internal Hard Disk Drive Mounting Bracket Kit (BK-HDDH) 2.5" Solid State Drives (SSDs) or Hard Disk Drives offer many benefits over larger 3.5" hard disk drives, such as lower heat output, faster speed (with SSD), and lower power consumption. But installing a new 2.5"...

www.amazon.co.uk

I am unsure if this particular adapter would work for most enclosures though, as the connectors might not match up, at least judging by the photo.

But, you are right about adapter brackets, there are a lot out there, and they are cheap. To the OP, just make sure it is one that has the SATA connectors in the right place.


They are expensive and there are cheaper options out there, but I bought a bunch of these IcyDock ones in bulk before, and they work great:

ICY DOCK Light Weight 2.5" to 3.5" SATA (22pin) HDD & SSD Converter / Mounting Kit for Internal 3.5" Drive Bay | EZConvert Lite MB882SP-1S-2B Dual (Two Units)

Introducing the ICY DOCK EZConvert MB882SP-1S-2B: another milestone in our 2.5” SSD product line. Through manufacturing efficiency, we have managed to redesign the original MB882SP-1S-1B without any sacrifice to our standard of high quality products. The new version is lighter weight for simplici...

www.amazon.com

I got 10 of them for less than $8. It was many years ago, and I guess the price has increase since then.