MP 1,1-5,1 SSD converter for Mac Pro 5,1?

[Mark Bowen]

Hi there,

After successfully upgrading my 2010 Mac Pro 5,1 to Mojave with a Radeon RX580 and 64GB ram I'm now looking to place a couple of internal SSD drives in to it to add some more space.

I've just come across this converter on eBay and just wondering if anyone knows if it will work successfully with the Mac?

Seems like a very simple item and I can't see why it wouldn't work but just wondering if anyone has ever had any use of these before?

Link - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153201952334

Many thanks in advance,

Mark

 

[chrfr]

Hi there,

After successfully upgrading my 2010 Mac Pro 5,1 to Mojave with a Radeon RX580 and 64GB ram I'm now looking to place a couple of internal SSD drives in to it to add some more space.

I've just come across this converter on eBay and just wondering if anyone knows if it will work successfully with the Mac?

Seems like a very simple item and I can't see why it wouldn't work but just wondering if anyone has ever had any use of these before?

Link - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153201952334

Many thanks in advance,

Mark

If you don't already have the drives, get a cheap PCIe adapter card and NVMe SSDs- they're faster.
The adapter you show will not work because the SATA ports will not line up with the connectors in the Mac Pro. The SSD has to be off to one side, so you need something like this one: https://www.amazon.com/NewerTech-AdaptaDrive-Drive-Converter-Bracket/dp/B005PZDVF6

 

[KeesMacPro]

If you'd like to install a NVMe adapter with a m2 SSD(e.g. Samsung 970 EVO) these are good quality and not expensive :

kryoM.2 PCIe 3.0/4.0 x4 Adapter für M.2 NGFF PCIe SSD, M-Key mit Passivkühler

kryoM.2 PCIe 3.0/4.0 x4 Adapter für M.2 NGFF PCIe SSD, M-Key mit Passivkühler: Der kryoM.2 ist ein PCIe 4x Adapter für M.2/M-Key NGFF PCIe SSD und ist kompatibel zu den Baugrößen 2280, 2260 und 2242. Der Adapter nutzt eine Multilayer-Platine mit Goldoberfläche deren einzelne Layer thermisch...

shop.aquacomputer.de

 

[Mark Bowen]

I'd love to be able to do that but having to be careful with money spend at the moment. As I can get a 500GB SSD Internal for about half the cost of buying the NVMe adapter and an NVMe drive and the extra speed bump isn't that massive an importance at the moment then I'm fine with standard SSD at this point.

 

[bsbeamer]

This is what a lot of people use for SATA SSDs in the sleds:

OWC Mount Pro 2.5" Drive Sled Compatible with 2009-2012 Mac Pro

OWC OWCMMP35T25 - 2.5 Drive Sled/ 09-10 MacPro Model COMPATIBLE WITH Mac Pro 12-Core (Mid 2010-2012) (July, 2010 / June 2012) Model ID: MacPro5,1 2.40GHz, 2.66GHz, 2.93GHz, 3.06GHz Mac Pro 8-Core (Mid 2010) (July, 2010) Model ID: MacPro5,1 2.4GHz Mac Pro 6-Core (Mid 2010-2012) (July, 2010 / June ...

www.amazon.com

If you're patient, they do occasionally go on sale through third party and sometimes on eBay in bigger quantities.

There is also a SATA in the optical/5.25" bay that can be used. Many just stick the drive there without a sled or adapter. Just sits and never is an issue, unless you're constantly moving the machine around.

 

[Juicy Box]

I'd love to be able to do that but having to be careful with money spend at the moment.

You can find cheaper 2.5" to 3.5" SATA caddies on eBay:

2.5 to 3.5 Adapter Sata Caddy for sale | eBay

Get the best deals for 2.5 to 3.5 Adapter Sata Caddy at eBay.com. We have a great online selection at the lowest prices with Fast & Free shipping on many items!

www.ebay.com

While I have not tried this one, you can get it for close to nothing here:

2.5" SSD to 3.5" 661914-001 SAS/SATA Tray Caddy Adapter for HP G8/G9 651314-001 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 2.5" SSD to 3.5" 661914-001 SAS/SATA Tray Caddy Adapter for HP G8/G9 651314-001 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

I like Icydock caddies, but they are going to be twice or three times the price as the one I just posted.
[automerge]1592337951[/automerge]

This is what a lot of people use for SATA SSDs in the sleds:

OWC Mount Pro 2.5" Drive Sled Compatible with 2009-2012 Mac Pro

OWC OWCMMP35T25 - 2.5 Drive Sled/ 09-10 MacPro Model COMPATIBLE WITH Mac Pro 12-Core (Mid 2010-2012) (July, 2010 / June 2012) Model ID: MacPro5,1 2.40GHz, 2.66GHz, 2.93GHz, 3.06GHz Mac Pro 8-Core (Mid 2010) (July, 2010) Model ID: MacPro5,1 2.4GHz Mac Pro 6-Core (Mid 2010-2012) (July, 2010 / June ...

www.amazon.com

If you're patient, they do occasionally go on sale through third party and sometimes on eBay in bigger quantities.

There is also a SATA in the optical/5.25" bay that can be used. Many just stick the drive there without a sled or adapter. Just sits and never is an issue, unless you're constantly moving the machine around.

I like that one, I would have purchased it if I would have known about it. I wonder if it might make things a bit cooler.

 

[StuAff]

+1 for the OWC caddy- neat, cheap. But something like OWC's Accelsior S (there are cheaper alternatives) will enable the drive to work at the full speed of 500MB/s. The four internal bays are limited to 300MB/s. In practice, the difference isn't that noticeable- have my Windows 10 drive in a bay and it's still plenty fast enough. But the other advantage is you can fit more drives...

 

[KeesMacPro]

+1 for the OWC Mount Pro .

I've had 2 of the Accelsior S and I wouldn't recommend them based on my experiences:
-for the same price you'd have a NVMe adapter
-speed gain compared to SATA II is not spectacular
-Innie randomly doesn't work on this adapter
-randomly it seems to be connected with x1 lanes
-after sleep it (seldomly) shows an error to be ejected .
Tested 2 of them,on different OS, different Logic Boards in different MP...

EDIT: The OWC Mount Pro is not expensive in Europe:

Support EU

From SSDs and external hard drives, to expansion products and enterprise storage, OWC delivers workflow solutions tailored for any creative project.

www.owcshop.eu

 

[Chips Stephens]

I have a few owc sleads , I like em,
I have ran this.

SoNNeT Tempo SSD 6Gb/s SATA PCIe 2.5" SSD Host Adapter

If you've been thinking about fast, bootable storage, you've read the stories and seen the reviews; SSDs are hot right now. Not only do they offer tremendous performance and easily outperform hard disk drives, they are more reliable, their prices are dropping and you can get more capacity than ev...

www.amazon.com

This card is fairly cheep, holds two drives, about 500 writes , 530 reads.
I had issues with it until I updated firmware, could have also been the bootrom update? Anyway but it’s been solid in the Mac Pro for a year or so now.

That said , I have blades on the way.
I cannot resist them speeds...

 

[KeesMacPro]

I had issues with it until I updated firmware,

Maybe that could have solved my issues with the Accelsior S, but AFAIK there's never been any firmware update since the first release...

 

[MarkC426]

I have a few owc sleads , I like em,
I have ran this.

SoNNeT Tempo SSD 6Gb/s SATA PCIe 2.5" SSD Host Adapter

If you've been thinking about fast, bootable storage, you've read the stories and seen the reviews; SSDs are hot right now. Not only do they offer tremendous performance and easily outperform hard disk drives, they are more reliable, their prices are dropping and you can get more capacity than ev...

www.amazon.com

This card is fairly cheep, holds two drives, about 500 writes , 530 reads.
I had issues with it until I updated firmware, could have also been the bootrom update? Anyway but it’s been solid in the Mac Pro for a year or so now.

That said , I have blades on the way.
I cannot resist them speeds...

Was your issue with drives ejecting?
I had two on one card, and periodically one or the other would eject.
Have since resorted to one per card with no problems.

 

[kohlson]

The least expensive approach is to connect a SATA SSD into one or both of the optical drive SATA ports. No adapter needed.
But if you want to get an adapter, such as discussed above, and you don't already have the drive, I recommend NVMe. The PCIe adapter is priced less than the 2.5 to 3.5 adapter. I use this one - comes with a pretty good heatsink. The NVME and SATA SSDs are priced pretty much the same, like for like. Much faster, no SATA Bay requirement, same price, maybe less. Doesn't make web browsing any snappier. For me, it makes editing 4K footage seamless, and helps move bits across various drives faster. NVMe is my active workspace, and I move projects to/from HDDs for headline and backup.

I did run a SATA on an Accelsior for awhile, and it's my backup OS. It's always worked fine for me.

 

[zorinlynx]

When I had a Mac Pro 1,1 I just shoved the little SSD into place and taped it to the top of the bay. Worked a treat for the several more years until it was retired.

 

[DPUser]

+1 on the Optical Bay placement of SSDs per Kohlson. In my studio Mac 5,1, I simply removed the entire Optical Bay enclosure, leaving room for two SSDs to connect to the Optical SATA ports and two more to connect to a SATA3 PCIe card (using a splitter from one of the Optical Bay power ports). And for temporary (or maybe longer than temporary) use, zorinlynx's approach is perfectly feasible. SSDs have such little mass, the SATA/Power connectors give plenty of support, so tape is optional.

I do like the OWC mounts, when space/ports in the optical bay are gone and a robust installation is desired.

 

[Chips Stephens]

My issue was no boot screen.
Having a flashed gpu, I wanted my dang boot screen.
I run Windows, Mojave and high Serra,

Never had a eject issue, and run two drives , but no raid, I took the card out, was going to send it back, and forgot about it.
Found the card a year later or so, pulled it out, updated Card firmware, had also went through a few boot rom updates, so not sure what did it.
Have no issue now runs fine.
The price sure has dropped nowadays.
And runs a good bit faster than drive or optical bays.

I did for a Awhile just stick ssd’s Put in to the drive Bay Area , with no sleds, just put em in and let them hang. Then got a few ocw sleads just to make it look better. And hold them properly.
The better drive speeds helps with virtual instruments, on the music side any delay is very hard to deal with tempo wise, the sonnet card helped.
Especially with drum samples, and v drums.


SSD7101A-1 Is the next drive I will run.

I still think the 5,1 is the coolest looking computer ever made.











The

Was your issue with drives ejecting?
I had two on one card, and periodically one or the other would eject.
Have since resorted to one per card with no problems.

 

[zorinlynx]

And for temporary (or maybe longer than temporary) use, zorinlynx's approach is perfectly feasible. SSDs have such little mass, the SATA/Power connectors give plenty of support, so tape is optional.

I highly suggest using tape as SATA connectors are fragile and not meant to handle torsion. I used aluminum sealing tape as that stuff doesn't slowly unstick over time like duct tape does and is easy to remove.

 

[jbarley]

I regularly remove the SSD outer case and then just plug in the tiny circuit board.
There is no mass or weight here to cause damage so no extra support required.
This has worked well for me since I started using SSD's.

 

[flaubert]

I've used a couple of these Fenlink adapters from Amazon, and they seem to do the job fine:

Fenlink 6GB 2.5in to 3.5in Internal SSD Hard Drive SATA Drive Converter

Product description: Fenlink FL1510 is to convert a 2.5-inch SATA hard drive or 2.5-inch SSD SATA hard drive to a 3.5-inch SATA hard disk converter, using the FL1510 product can convert standard 2.5-inch SATA hard drive or 2.5-inch SSD SATA hard drive to a 3.5-inch SATA hard drive installation sp...

www.amazon.com

 

[MIKX]

When I bought my first SSD for my cMP I had tools and lots of plastic lying around = made my own SSD drive adapter.

Made a template, drilled the holes, installed. Voila !

Cost = Zero

 

[MarkC426]

I regularly remove the SSD outer case and then just plug in the tiny circuit board.
There is no mass or weight here to cause damage so no extra support required.
This has worked well for me since I started using SSD's.

View attachment 924921

Don't the cases provide some kind of thermal housing.....?
For £20-25 I have all mine on OWC sleds.

 

[jbarley]

Don't the cases provide some kind of thermal housing.....?
For £20-25 I have all mine on OWC sleds.

Thermal housing?
Sure the case traps all the heat inside.

 

[kohlson]

I simply removed the entire Optical Bay enclosure

I left my enclosure in place, as I don't fully understand the airflow in the case. But it's probably fine to remove it. In any event, I removed the original DVD device, so I have 2 SATA "slots" there.I require one of these almost never these days. But I bought an inexpensive USB3 external device, which is connected to my Inateck KT4004 PCIe as needed.