Putting in an SSD drive - what mounts?

[iOrbit]

so some of you know i got my first mac pro recently. Im happy to say i managed to put a working Optical drive in there now, for just £7! (it was actually £17 but i had a £10 eBay voucher from eBay!). It's a Samsung SH-BL123 (or something like that), and yep - its a blu ray drive. so I'm really pleased with that.

now I've just bought a cheap make-do SSD drive for £25, that cheap 'Integral' SSD drive from amazon with 3 years warranty. (I won't be storing data on the machine that i want to keep, so if it has a higher failure rate, its fine with me, i'll only be storing the basic OS on it and doing encoding work with which the files will be going straight onto an external drive).

so my question is:

does anyone know what 2.5 - 3.5 inch mounting bays i can use with the Mac Pro? i do not like the OWC one i think it is ugly and unnecessary. and to be honest, i want something even cheaper. there seems to be a lot of mounting trays for SSD's on Amazon UK but few reviews from Mac Pro owners.

has anyone here from the UK bought some cheap alternatives (under £8) for their Mac Pro's that work well?

 

[h9826790]

1) You don't need any adaptor if you simply plug that SSD into the lower optical bay SATA port. (Assuming your post means that you replace the faulty optical drive with a working one, therefore, the lower bay still empty.

2) If you want to plug them into one of the 4 HDD bay, you can just plug it in and leave it hang at there. The SSD is so light and the SATA connector itself is strong enough to hold it. My friend use his SSD like this for few yeas already, zero trouble.

3) If you really want an adaptor, you will need something like this or this. The main point is the adaptor must have the standard mount point on the TOP side, AND connect the SSD via a SATA connector. I manage to get one for just $5 from a local store in Hong Kong, but I can hardly find a good one on line with less than $10.

I also can't see any point to go for OWC. If I want something expensive, I will go for the native Apple adaptor.

 

[iOrbit]

1) You don't need any adaptor if you simply plug that SSD into the lower optical bay SATA port. (Assuming your post mean you replace the faulty optical drive with a working one, therefore, the lower bay still empty.

2) If you want to plug them into one of the 4 HDD bay, you can just plug it in and leave it hang at there. The SSD is so light and the SATA connector itself is strong enough to hold it. My friend use his SSD like this for few yeas already, zero trouble.

3) If you really want an adaptor, you will need something like this or this. The main point is the adaptor must have the standard mount point on the TOP side, AND connect the SSD via a SATA connector. I manage to get one for just $5 from a local store in Hong Kong, but I can hardly find a good one on line with less than $10.

I also can't see any point to go for OWC. If I want something expensive, I will go for the native Apple adaptor.

1. Ah, i didn't think of that! (i haven't built a machine like this for years) is the Sata connector for the optical drives the same Sata II as the HDD bays? i'll probably end up doing this option for awhile.

2. this seems plausible (though i still feel a bit uncomfortable with it). But i do believe this SSD is particularly thin and light.

3. *i think* i know what you're talking about wit the 'TOP SIDE'. so some mounts have the SATA connection on a different end of the frame? top and bottom ends. this is one of those things that i'll probably start getting confused over. Im looking at the ICY BOX that has been used in Mac Pros, some go cheap. I agree - i'd like to get the official Apple SSD mount just because i like keeping everything apple-original sometimes lol

thanks for posting

 

[h9826790]

1. Ah, i didn't think of that! (i haven't built a machine like this for years) is the Sata connector for the optical drives the same Sata II as the HDD bays? i'll probably end up doing this option for awhile.

2. this seems plausible (though i still feel a bit uncomfortable with it). But i do believe this SSD is particularly thin and light.

3. *i think* i know what you're talking about wit the 'TOP SIDE'. so some mounts have the SATA connection on a different end of the frame? top and bottom ends. this is one of those things that i'll probably start getting confused over. Im looking at the ICY BOX that has been used in Mac Pros, some go cheap. I agree - i'd like to get the official Apple SSD mount just because i like keeping everything apple-original sometimes lol

thanks for posting

1) exactly the same, that's what I am doing now. Just plug it in, leave it there. There is no moving parts inside the SSD, so, no need to mount on anything, nothing to worry about.

2) I've try that myself as well, no problem at all. If you worry about that, just use a tap to secure it, which should be more then enough. Virtually zero cost.

3) Some adaptor with no SATA connector, those are for PC with cable connection, but not making the 2.5" SSD has 3.5" standard mount point and connector location. Some adaptor only has standard mount point on the left and right side, and nothing on the the top. Which means you can't mount them inside the Mac Pro properly. e.g. This one.

 

[flowrider]

There have been multiple threads on this. Here's one:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ssd-adapters.1948066/#post-22421981

Lou

 

[DPUser]

Put the optical drive the lower bay and rest your SSD on top. Mount with double sided foam tape if you move the beast a lot.