MP 7,1 SSD and spinning drives for Fusion Flex J3i?

[machenryr]

I just threw my money down on the Fusion Flex J3i (3-drive Mounting System for 2019 Mac Pro). I'm thinking of either 2 SSD 4TB and one spinning 4 TB for back up, or 2 spinning drives and one SSD. Suggestions for which drives best to get or stay away from with the 2019 Mac Pro?

 

[AidenShaw]

stay away from with the 2019 Mac Pro?

Stay away from it until after next week's WWDC - where they may or may not announce that the next Mac Pro will be using Iphone processors.

 

[machenryr]

Stay away from it until after next week's WWDC - where they may or may not announce that the next Mac Pro will be using Iphone processors.

I’m sorry, stay away from what? The fusion i just bought or the drives I’m asking about?

 

[flowrider]

^^^^Without knowing what your planning to use the expansion for there is no way anyone can recommend drives for you ❓

Lou

 

[machenryr]

^^^^Without knowing what your planning to use the expansion for there is no way anyone can recommend drives for you

Lou

Thanks. Well I had heard, for example, that EVO 860 or 960 or something wasn’t good for 7,1 or nMP. I’m not as concerned about the spinning drives. I have a fairly high end recording studio. So primarily I’ll be doing audio and video. Increasingly more video FCPX stuff.

 

[flowrider]

^^^^It's the QVO series of 2½" Samsung SSDs that are not supposed to be compatible with the Macintosh. However, I used one with my 5,1 cMP. I used it for storage only, and it worked fine for me. I sold it with that machine. As far as SSDs go, all mine (i now have six - will have eight when I mount my 3D printed cage) are Samsung.

Lou

 

[AidenShaw]

I’m sorry, stay away from what? The fusion i just bought or the drives I’m asking about?

Your question was literally " stay away from with the 2019 Mac Pro? " A bit ambiguous.

My response, though, is to stay away from Apple for the next week. They may promise to keep Xeon on the high end and give you a path - or they may turn the 7,1 into a boat anchor by switching to Iphone CPUs.

(My prediction will be "boat anchor" - Apple hasn't been very good at multi-target development.)

 

[Spudlicious]

Spinning drives? In a Mac Pro? Just say no. Even Apple, who have shown a morbid attachment to spinners, don’t offer them as a Mac Pro option.

 

[flowrider]

^^^^Actually they do:

Promise Pegasus J2i 8TB Internal Storage Enclosure for Mac Pro

Promise Pegasus J2i two-drive internal storage enclosure delivers 8TB of SATA storage for your Mac Pro. This module can be installed in your Mac Pro and connects to the main logic board with included cables. You also have space to add a second 3.5-inch SATA drive to your system.

www.apple.com

Promise Pegasus R4i 32TB RAID MPX Module for Mac Pro - Apple

Apple Store Search Results

www.apple.com

Lou

 

[AidenShaw]

^^^^Actually they do:

Promise Pegasus J2i 8TB Internal Storage Enclosure for Mac Pro

Promise Pegasus J2i two-drive internal storage enclosure delivers 8TB of SATA storage for your Mac Pro. This module can be installed in your Mac Pro and connects to the main logic board with included cables. You also have space to add a second 3.5-inch SATA drive to your system.

www.apple.com

Promise Pegasus R4i 32TB RAID MPX Module for Mac Pro - Apple

Apple Store Search Results

www.apple.com

Lou

I wish that I could buy affordable 16TB SSDs and get rid of spinners. It's not there yet.

 

[machenryr]

I have three OWC enclosures with two spinners in each and 3 SSD inside on PCIe cards. So I'm fine, but I'd rather have the Sonnet Fusion Flex J3i. Use the OWC enclosures for more archival and back up. Use one of the internal spinners for time machine and the others.
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^^^^It's the QVO series of 2½" Samsung SSDs that are not supposed to be compatible with the Macintosh. However, I used one with my 5,1 cMP. I used it for storage only, and it worked fine for me. I sold it with that machine. As far as SSDs go, all mine (i now have six - will have eight when I mount my 3D printed cage) are Samsung.

Lou

All QVO series are incompatible? What about the EVO series? I have two QVO 2 TB on PCIe cards. They haven't given me a problem. What is the problem? What should I expect?
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Your question was literally " stay away from with the 2019 Mac Pro? " A bit ambiguous.

My response, though, is to stay away from Apple for the next week. They may promise to keep Xeon on the high end and give you a path - or they may turn the 7,1 into a boat anchor by switching to Iphone CPUs.

(My prediction will be "boat anchor" - Apple hasn't been very good at multi-target development.)

LOL. Well I see, I said what "Suggestions for which drives best to get or stay away from with the 2019 Mac Pro?"

What DRIVES to get or stay away from with the 2019 Mac Pro. I never said to stay away from the 2019 Mac Pro.

 

[flowrider]

^^^^

Samsung SSD QVO disconnecting

Samsung QVO drives are not compatible with Mac Pros, there are dozens of reports about QVO problems with Mac Pros, just use the search. Change for a EVO or PRO model.

forums.macrumors.com

Lou

 

[machenryr]

I don’t know why they’re incompatible. They’ve been working for me for 6 months with no problems.

 

[Crwoo]

I will be using 2 14tb spinners for time machine backup.

 

[Thessman]

^^^^It's the QVO series of 2½" Samsung SSDs that are not supposed to be compatible with the Macintosh. However, I used one with my 5,1 cMP. I used it for storage only, and it worked fine for me. I sold it with that machine. As far as SSDs go, all mine (i now have six - will have eight when I mount my 3D printed cage) are Samsung.

Lou

I'm also using one for more than a year now, not as a startup drive, only storage, without problems on a 4,1-> 5,1.

 

[Spudlicious]

^^^^Actually they do:

Promise Pegasus J2i 8TB Internal Storage Enclosure for Mac Pro

Promise Pegasus J2i two-drive internal storage enclosure delivers 8TB of SATA storage for your Mac Pro. This module can be installed in your Mac Pro and connects to the main logic board with included cables. You also have space to add a second 3.5-inch SATA drive to your system.

www.apple.com

Promise Pegasus R4i 32TB RAID MPX Module for Mac Pro - Apple

Apple Store Search Results

www.apple.com

Lou

But that's not a build option, is it?

 

[demitri]

I posted this in another J3i Forum thread, before I saw this one -

I received my Fusion Flex J3i on Tuesday, as well, and installed 2 SSD drives, and one HDD, with one of the SSDs connected 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've had that drive for over two years. I swapped out that SSD for the other one, to test a different SSD connected to that same internal USB port, and the disconnects happened with that SSD, too.

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

 

[Spudlicious]

I posted this in another J3i Forum thread, before I saw this one -

I received my Fusion Flex J3i on Tuesday, as well, and installed 2 SSD drives, and one HDD, with one of the SSDs connected 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've had that drive for over two years. I swapped out that SSD for the other one, to test a different SSD connected to that same internal USB port, and the disconnects happened with that SSD, too.

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

I have three external drives permanently connected to my iMac. All are SSD although I doubt that's relevant, and all are connected to iMac ports, not via a hub. Like you, and seemingly at random, I frequently see alerts claiming one or more of the drives has not been properly ejected. I dismiss the alerts, ignore them. I find it beyond belief that I could have three renegade cables or housings and have always assumed it's just a MacOS bug. So I can't help you but will follow this thread with interest.

It doesn't help to say I never had this issue with Windows....

 

[machenryr]

I have gotten those messages going offline, not properly ejected - since before I got the 2019 Mac Pro. They’re in external OWC enclosures though. I ignore unless i need the drive(s). These are spinning drives. It must be an OS thing.

I got the J3i yesterday. I now have to buy the drives to install. I can use what I have that are in enclosures already. But I need to start fresh. And two of those in PCIe slots are QVC. I STILL don’t know WHY they are incompatible. They have been running fine unless they’re bound to crash and die.

I’m glad to hear you (?) installed 2 SSD and one spinner. I looked at their page fit verification and it just showed two possibilities- 2 spinners, 1 SSD or 3 SSDs. I thought I verified this before but you know.

 

[demitri]

I have gotten those messages going offline, not properly ejected - since before I got the 2019 Mac Pro. They’re in external OWC enclosures though. I ignore unless i need the drive(s). These are spinning drives. It must be an OS thing.

I got the J3i yesterday. I now have to buy the drives to install. I can use what I have that are in enclosures already. But I need to start fresh. And two of those in PCIe slots are QVC. I STILL don’t know WHY they are incompatible. They have been running fine unless they’re bound to crash and die.

I’m glad to hear you (?) installed 2 SSD and one spinner. I looked at their page fit verification and it just showed two possibilities- 2 spinners, 1 SSD or 3 SSDs. I thought I verified this before but you know.

They clearly have it setup up so you can use any combination of 1 or 2 HDDs, plus a third drive that can only be an SSD. Important tip - I will tell you that if you use the 1 HDD combo, you have to put that in the top "shelf" because the cable that goes to that drive isn't long enough to fit into an SSD.

 

[machenryr]

Thank you. I’m just pulling the trigger now. Whew.

 

[flowrider]

They clearly have it setup up so you can use any combination of 1 or 2 HDDs, plus a third drive that can only be an SSD. Important tip - I will tell you that if you use the 1 HDD combo, you have to put that in the top "shelf" because the cable that goes to that drive isn't long enough to fit into an SSD.

❓

Not sure what you mean? Mine came yesterday, I'm running thee Samsung 840 SSDs. Two Evos and one Pro. The two on the SATA bus are shown as internal the one mounted to the USB plug is shown as external. I have not experienced any "not properly ejected" issues.

Lou

 

[machenryr]

Mine arrived Wednesday but was supposed to arrive Tuesday as well. At the end of the day I got a notice from FedEx that delivery date is unknown. Then it arrived Wednesday morning. Just as well. I didn’t have anything to put in it. I bought two 2TB SSD and a 16 TB 3.5 spinner.

 

[demitri]

❓

Not sure what you mean? Mine came yesterday, I'm running thee Samsung 840 SSDs. Two Evos and one Pro. The two on the SATA bus are shown as internal the one mounted to the USB plug is shown as external. I have not experienced any "not properly ejected" issues.

Lou

Your question was to my reply about how you need to physically mount the drives if you have one HDD and two SSDs. For the cables I received, if you mount the SSDs on the top and bottom "shelves" the top cable won't reach the top SSD. That's why I was suggesting putting the HDD on the top slot. Since you have three SSDs, the placement doesn't matter.

 

[flowrider]

^^^^Ah I see. You are right ?

Lou