SSD drive into 2008 Mac Pro?

[wfriedwald]

thanks very much! yes!

 

[orph]

you can also instal osx on to a usb stick (think it has to be 16GB or biger) boot from the usb stick and instal it from there if you need to pull your os drive but that way may be a pain.

but it is handy to have a usb stick you can boot from ^^

 

[wfriedwald]

nuts! rats! nuts! rats! nuts! rats! again!

Okay, I got the SSD drive & I put it in the ICY DOCK, then put the ICY DOCK in the mounting bracket and then I put it in the drive bay - and nothing.

Does not show up in disk utility - nothing - the system has no idea that it's there.

I used a drive bay that had a working drive in it previously, so I have to assume it's not the bay, it's either the SSD drive or the adapter.

questions - what do I do now?

Is there a way to test the SSD drive without it actually being in the Mac Pro? - I do have a Probox external dealie thing that holds two 3.5 drives and connects via USB 3 - I guess the likely thing is to test it in there.

But even assuming the drive is okay (assuming it works in the Probox) ... what else can be done to make sure that it can work inside the Mac Pro?

I guess the next step is to explore the idea of installing the SSD Drive via a PCI card - I am going to start asking for recommendations.

(also - should I start a new thread? or just keep going with this one?)

once again, thanks for all feedback and suggestions!

w

 

[nigelbb]

you can also instal osx on to a usb stick (think it has to be 16GB or biger) boot from the usb stick and instal it from there if you need to pull your os drive but that way may be a pain.

but it is handy to have a usb stick you can boot from ^^

You cannot boot a Mac Pro 3,1 from a USB stick.

 

[wfriedwald]

Latest - maybe Friday the 13th is NOT a good day to be doing this!

Okay, I took the SSD (in the ICY DOCK) out of the current drive bay, and using the Probox, I got it to mount as an external drive.

I'm going to try installing El Capitan on that as an external. So far the process is buggy but we shall see.

I'm also going to try put it in one of the other bays.

Right now there are two WDC drives in there with two partitions each. The current OS resides in a partition titled YOSEMITE.

immediate question, is there any way using disk utility to tell which of the two drives is the one containing the OS? Is there anything in Disk Util that tells me if the one on the left OR the one on the right contains the OS?

thanks!

 

[Coyote2006]

I'm using this one:
Syba PCI-Express-Karte (2 SATA-Ports mit 6 Gbit/s, PCI Express 2.0, PCIe x1)

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B005B0A6ZS/ref=pe_386171_37038021_TE_M3T1_dp_1

Together with two Samsung SSD850Pro drives.

Cheap, bootable, no problems.

Getting r/w at about 370 MB/s. If you are not working with huge files all day long and already have some SSDs, this is one of the best combinations.

I've placed them together just under the DVD into a double slot 2.5"/3.5" holder. You need some longer cables but it's quiet easily done.

 

[wfriedwald]

thanks ! I may try that!

1. Regarding the Syba PCI-Express-Karte (2 SATA-Ports mit 6 Gbit/s, PCI Express 2.0, PCIe x1) -

a - it's possible to mount an SSD drive on that? I have so little experience with these things that I know I don't know what I'm talking about. But how and where, exactly, would you mount the drive? I can't see where it would fit.

b - It would be of greater use to me to have more USB3 ports, you don't happen to know if there's a USB3 card that can also host an SSD drive?

2. Another basic question: over the years, I have never been able to use an external drive as a startup (with the Mac Pro 2008 / 3,1) - has anyone else had this experience? I can select an external drive in the system preferences, and then when I re-start, it always defaults to the internal drive - no matter what I tell it.

(I don't know what it would do if there were ONLY an external drive with the OS, if there were NO internal startup drive - it probably wouldn't start up at all!)

w

 

[OS6-OSX]

2. Another basic question: over the years, I have never been able to use an external drive as a startup (with the Mac Pro 2008 / 3,1) - has anyone else had this experience? I can select an external drive in the system preferences, and then when I re-start, it always defaults to the internal drive - no matter what I tell it.

I have no problem starting from an external drive either from system prefs or holding option. I have been using this RAIDON box for years and it is connected via FW800.

 

[wfriedwald]

well, yes!

I somehow managed to stick the SSD into the Mac Pro Drive slot #2 - without the ICY DOCK and without the proper tray either! Just kind of dumb luck. Hopefully it's not too precarious, though I worry that if I jiggle the thing a little it might fall out!

Anyhow, it's staying in for now. am posting a picture below.

Wasn't sure how to handle the transfer of info / accounts / app's etc. Not sure if I should use a migration utility or just do everything one at a time. I am dealing with a smaller startup drive now and want to be very selective about what goes on there...

I still am considering installing the SSD via a PCI card, that would give me greater security and also free up the drive bay... that's down the line maybe.

anyhow, the speed has certainly improved : according to Black Magic, we're now at 258 MB/s read & 270 MB/s write. Yes, an improvement!

w

 

[Coyote2006]

thanks ! I may try that!

1. Regarding the Syba PCI-Express-Karte (2 SATA-Ports mit 6 Gbit/s, PCI Express 2.0, PCIe x1) -

a - it's possible to mount an SSD drive on that? I have so little experience with these things that I know I don't know what I'm talking about. But how and where, exactly, would you mount the drive? I can't see where it would fit.

w

No. It's a tiny PCI card and you have to connect the SSDs with SATA cables. I've placed the SSDs into the second DVD slot.

If I remember correctly you'll need:

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B003IP4RUI/ref=pe_386171_37038021_TE_3p_M3T1_dp_1

and

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00269JQMQ/ref=pe_386171_37038021_TE_3p_M3T1_dp_1

and of course

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B005B0A6ZS/ref=pe_386171_38075861_TE_item

And a SSD 3.5"/2.5" box to fix the SSDs. The cables need to be placed around the inner case of the MacPro. You should find a description here in the formum. If not and you decide to use this solution, I'll send you some fotos.

I've attached the macOS SSD to it and it boots without any problems.

Read/Write is at 375MB/s. Fast enought when working with smaller files. If you already have some SSDs it's a really fast and cheap solution.

 

[hwojtek]

I do NOT recommend running RAID 0 for SSDs on one of those cards. Twice the likelihood of everything crashing, and in these systems the modest additional improvement in speed (maybe 50% max) is not worth it. Indeed, it turned out to be a big headache for me and I switched to non-RAID drives with perfectly fine speeds.

I'd rather say it's your setup that's faulty, not the obvious maths of RAID0.
The cons of a RAID0 in regards of data integrity are well known, it doesn't matter (in terms of data integrity), however, if one of the disks is running off a PCI-E card and the other off the factory SATA bus. It will just not be as fast, as it could theoretically be.

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B005B0A6ZS/ref=pe_386171_38075861_TE_item
(...)
I've attached the macOS SSD to it and it boots without any problems.

Great price. Bootable in which Mac Pro?

 

[PaulB-UK]

I still am considering installing the SSD via a PCI card, that would give me greater security and also free up the drive bay... that's down the line maybe.

anyhow, the speed has certainly improved : according to Black Magic, we're now at 258 MB/s read & 270 MB/s write. Yes, an improvement!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262496734440

Might solve your problem. Best of luck.

Paul B.

 

[TonyK]

I know when I installed the Curcial SSD in my system I had to find and do a firmware update but after that it worked like a dream in bay 1 of my 3,1 (early 2008) MP.