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

thomast0001

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 29, 2019
90
62
So the Sonnet Fusion Flex J3i has arrived. Nothing too exciting but thought I’d share details. I’ll add more info to this thread as I go through installation and testing. If you have any questions, now is the time to ask!

3AD50FE9-4DA2-4BC1-BF5C-061F2343F005.jpeg
54E7E8B6-4348-4E2C-9E77-690EE29F84D9.jpeg
070820E0-3858-4650-BB21-674C47390D88.jpeg
952212CB-C979-447D-BDA0-2FFB481424D9.jpeg
 
  • Like
Reactions: AlexMaximus

thomast0001

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 29, 2019
90
62
Drive installation was a bit fiddly because you need to line up the screws. However, that’s to be expected. Make sure you have both a Philips and T8 Torx screwdriver for the installation.

D4C7A816-B72C-457F-8FC4-BA8DD6B841F9.jpeg
A759E5A3-D1C0-4192-BD9F-704FEF262040.jpeg
81D3C830-BD11-4240-AF9B-5BCD90A31D5D.jpeg
 

thomast0001

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 29, 2019
90
62
The drives I’ve installed are WD Ultrastar 2TB HDDs. Some quick performance checks roll in at about 185-195 MBps for read and 193 MBps for write with a single disk. (All these numbers are very rough.)

I then set them up as RAID-0 with 64k chunks using disk utility. Performance was around 372-396 and 379-383 MBps for read and write, respectively.

Similarly I set them up as RAID-1 and got about 180-197 and 176-182 MBps for read and write, respectively.

The performance numbers mean little with respect to the J3i since it’s just a carrier and cables, but I thought it’d be helpful to have a rough measure of performance for people looking to purchase internal SATA HDDs for the 2019 Mac Pro.

Sorry, I didn’t have a spare 2.5” SSD to measure performance using the internal USB connection (or the regular SATA connection for that matter).
 
  • Like
Reactions: choreo

demitri

macrumors newbie
Jul 25, 2002
19
2
Los Angeles
I received mine on Tuesday, as well, but I installed a 2.5 drive, and connected it to that internal USB port.

The problem is that the drive that's connected to the USB port randomly gets connected a couple of times a day, and I don't why it's doing that. I keep getting the "drive was ejected improperly" or something along those lines error message. Obviously, I need something more reliable than that, so I'm hoping it's a bad cable? Maybe the Mac Pro needs a firmware update? Not sure. There was ONE instance of all three drives disconnecting, but that was after waking it from sleep - again - not good. But if it's a matter of just not having it sleep, I can live with that for the time being.

I reset the SMC, but that hasn't helped.
 

thomast0001

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 29, 2019
90
62
I received mine on Tuesday, as well, but I installed a 2.5 drive, and connected it to that internal USB port.

The problem is that the drive that's connected to the USB port randomly gets connected a couple of times a day, and I don't why it's doing that. I keep getting the "drive was ejected improperly" or something along those lines error message. Obviously, I need something more reliable than that, so I'm hoping it's a bad cable? Maybe the Mac Pro needs a firmware update? Not sure. There was ONE instance of all three drives disconnecting, but that was after waking it from sleep - again - not good. But if it's a matter of just not having it sleep, I can live with that for the time being.

I reset the SMC, but that hasn't helped.
Sorry you are having trouble. With two HDDs, so far I haven’t had any issues — as far as I can tell. Please keep us updated.
 

flowrider

macrumors 604
Nov 23, 2012
7,317
2,998
I received mine on Tuesday, as well, but I installed a 2.5 drive, and connected it to that internal USB port.

The problem is that the drive that's connected to the USB port randomly gets connected a couple of times a day, and I don't why it's doing that. I keep getting the "drive was ejected improperly" or something along those lines error message. Obviously, I need something more reliable than that, so I'm hoping it's a bad cable? Maybe the Mac Pro needs a firmware update? Not sure. There was ONE instance of all three drives disconnecting, but that was after waking it from sleep - again - not good. But if it's a matter of just not having it sleep, I can live with that for the time being.

I reset the SMC, but that hasn't helped.

I put three Samsung 2½" SSDs. All Series 840s. One Pro and two Evos. Had 'em lying around. No "ejected improperly" messages. I remember I had a problem with messages like that a few years ago and the problem turned out to be the electronics on an external HDD enclosure. What brand of 2½" SSDs do you have ❓ IMO, I would look there.

Lou
 
Last edited:

flowrider

macrumors 604
Nov 23, 2012
7,317
2,998
What would the best current 1TB SSD to buy for this?

Either of these:

TinyGrab Screen Shot 6-27-20, 6.23.01 PM.png



The Pro being a bit faster, but for storage, you probable wont notice. Also capacity the 1GB Pro will be 1024GB the Evo 1000GB.

There is a thread called:
MP 7,1 SSD upgrade kits
It might help with info

That thread is not apropos to choreo's situation.

Lou
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: choreo

demitri

macrumors newbie
Jul 25, 2002
19
2
Los Angeles
I put three Samsung 2½" SSDs. All Series 840s. One Pro and two Evos. Had 'em lying around. No "ejected improperly" messages. I remember I had a problem with messages like that a few years ago and the problem turned out to be the electronics on an external HDD enclosure. What brand of 2½" SSDs do you have ❓ IMO, I would look there.

Lou

Two different brands have both randomly ejected when connected to that same internal USB 3 port - which is why I'm hoping it's just a matter of a cable being replaced. They are Crucial and Micron SSDs. These are both SSD Drives that were previously in an external drive case attached to my old 2013 Mac Pro for three years, and I never once had this issue with either drive.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.