I'm posting this assuming that there is no solution, and more of a for-your-information. But if you happen to think of a solution please tell me. I have extended an unused SATA port (and adapted a power connection) from the motherboard of my 12-core Mac Pro (current version) to exit through the unused 2nd optical drive slot out the front. I use it to back up/get data from many "internal" SATA hard drives that I have laying around the house. It works great and my drives are read as if they were internal drives. It is very simple and effective.
The problem - Last week I installed Office 2011 and am having MAJOR activation issues. Every time I switch the hard drive connected to that cable or have no drive at all Office requires me to reactivate my license. I quickly used up the allotted number of activations Microsoft allows and now I have to personally call their phone number to reactivate each time. It's very annoying. Apparently adding hard drives (not even touching the system drive) triggers Office's activation to believe you are on a completely different computer. I am only willing to connect my SATA drives through SATA or eSATA and do not wish to buy an eSATA adapter because PCIe slots are limited after adding an AJA KONA and RAID card and connecting the drives directly to the internal SATA connector works better and is free.
Has anyone else installed Office 2011 and then tried to add an internal hard drive? That's basically what I'm doing - adding an internal hard drive, but mounting it outside my case. I've also spent many hours with Microsoft tech support and they finally had to schedule a phone call for me with a Senior advisor who will call me back in the next week.
The problem - Last week I installed Office 2011 and am having MAJOR activation issues. Every time I switch the hard drive connected to that cable or have no drive at all Office requires me to reactivate my license. I quickly used up the allotted number of activations Microsoft allows and now I have to personally call their phone number to reactivate each time. It's very annoying. Apparently adding hard drives (not even touching the system drive) triggers Office's activation to believe you are on a completely different computer. I am only willing to connect my SATA drives through SATA or eSATA and do not wish to buy an eSATA adapter because PCIe slots are limited after adding an AJA KONA and RAID card and connecting the drives directly to the internal SATA connector works better and is free.
Has anyone else installed Office 2011 and then tried to add an internal hard drive? That's basically what I'm doing - adding an internal hard drive, but mounting it outside my case. I've also spent many hours with Microsoft tech support and they finally had to schedule a phone call for me with a Senior advisor who will call me back in the next week.
