MP 7,1 That Pegasus J2i Cage - Internal HDD Mounting

[thisisnotmyname]

It’s an Apple-recommended accessory sold through their own store, Apple still sells 5400 RPM drives in the latest iMac,
good god, do you have anything to contribute to this thread other than being an obnoxious ignoramous? Networked storage is not the norm. We’ve already established people want to use internal drives in their machines, spinning drives are still widely in use, a $400 metal cage is extortion. Move on already!

Yes move on, the era of "I want to stuff a bunch of spinning disks into a tower" was a decade ago. Internal PCIe(NVMe) SSDs and external big and fast storage with quick connectivity is the now. If you feel you're being extorted because you want to get by on the cheap with old tech then there are plenty of 5,1s on ebay.

 

[bwinter88]

Yes move on, the era of "I want to stuff a bunch of spinning disks into a tower" was a decade ago. Internal PCIe(NVMe) SSDs and external big and fast storage with quick connectivity is the now. If you feel you're being extorted because you want to get by on the cheap with old tech then there are plenty of 5,1s on ebay.

Go outside. Take a deep breath and get a drink with a friend. Christ almighty. Enough already.

 

[Korican100]

I cant find where to buy the toshiba surveillance 8tb drive online. I went to OWC, and found this: https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Toshiba/MG06ACA800E/

would that make a good drive to match the specs of the drive that comes with the j2i?

 

[reden]

Why people keep defending stupid choice made by Apple?
With the premium we are paying for MP 7,1, inclusion of the cage is what we should expect. But people are defending Apple's stupid looking decision to maximize its profit on tiny piece of metal.

Guys. We are paying heft price already. Such trivial option we should expect to be included.

dude, if you’re too poor to afford it then don’t buy it? Wait for another company to make a more affordable, welfare option.

 

[zhpenn]

I'm planning to get the cage and mount 2 x 3.5 HDD and make it soft raid0 via mac os, is that soft raid 0 reliable?(will backup for sure)

 

[OkiRun]

dude, if you’re too poor to afford then don’t buy it? Wait for another company to make a more affordable, welfare option.

There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey.

 

[bwinter88]

I cant find where to buy the toshiba surveillance 8tb drive online. I went to OWC, and found this: https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Toshiba/MG06ACA800E/

would that make a good drive to match the specs of the drive that comes with the j2i?

Some good samaritan took a pic of the drive that came with it. I’m sure you can match it if you google some of the stuff on the label. Pic is here.

https://forums.macrumors.com/attachments/img_0629-jpg.882828/

 

[bxs]

I cant find where to buy the toshiba surveillance 8tb drive online. I went to OWC, and found this: https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Toshiba/MG06ACA800E/

would that make a good drive to match the specs of the drive that comes with the j2i?

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Toshiba/MD06ACA800V/ (Sold out)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6066254 ($386.99)

Toshiba Announces New Surveillance & Video HDDs - StorageReview.com

Today Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC) announced that it would be expanding its…

www.storagereview.com

MD06-V Series | Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation | Americas – United States

Toshiba's MD06ACA-V series of surveillance HDDs deliver up to 10 TB of storage capacity and support for up to 64 high definition cameras. The MD06ACA-V is designed for demanding 24/7 surveillance environments with industry-standard 3.5-inch form factor.

toshiba.semicon-storage.com

Internal / Specialty | Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation | Americas – United States

Toshiba Client-grade and Internal-Specialty HDD storage devices provide unsurpassed quality and reliability for consumer and work-load limited storage deployments.

toshiba.semicon-storage.com

 

[Korican100]

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Toshiba/MD06ACA800V/ (Sold out)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6066254 ($386.99)

Toshiba Announces New Surveillance & Video HDDs - StorageReview.com

Today Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC) announced that it would be expanding its…

www.storagereview.com

MD06-V Series | Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation | Americas – United States

Toshiba's MD06ACA-V series of surveillance HDDs deliver up to 10 TB of storage capacity and support for up to 64 high definition cameras. The MD06ACA-V is designed for demanding 24/7 surveillance environments with industry-standard 3.5-inch form factor.

toshiba.semicon-storage.com

Internal / Specialty | Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation | Americas – United States

Toshiba Client-grade and Internal-Specialty HDD storage devices provide unsurpassed quality and reliability for consumer and work-load limited storage deployments.

toshiba.semicon-storage.com

thanks guys, but i believe i lucked up.
I just found an ebay auction someone sold their brand new Toshiba that came with their Pegasus j2i for 190 and i scooped it up.

 

[bxs]

thanks guys, but i believe i lucked up.
I just found an ebay auction someone sold their brand new Toshiba that came with their Pegasus j2i for 190 and i scooped it up.

Well done. 👍

 

[Korican100]

I plan on using Raid 1 for my two toshiba drives in my pegasus. Does anyone know how much slower read/write is on raid 1?

 

[AidenShaw]

I plan on using Raid 1 for my two toshiba drives in my pegasus. Does anyone know how much slower read/write is on raid 1?

Why not get better drives? Bigger, faster, longer MTBF/warranty drives are cheap (less than $300 for 12 TB Seagate Exos drives - and they go up to 16 TB).

 

[Korican100]

Why not get better drives? Bigger, faster, longer MTBF/warranty drives are cheap (less than $300 for 12 TB Seagate Exos drives - and they go up to 16 TB).

what are wrong with these drives?

 

[AidenShaw]

what are wrong with these drives?

the specs (8 TB vs 16 TB)

the name - "surveillance" drives in a workstation (AV/surveillance drives often have firmware that doesn't work to retry errors - because retries are slow, and because a few bad sectors in a surveillance video will probably never be noticed, and will be a flicker at worst - but losing lots of sectors due to the delays due to retries can be bad)

the warranty (3 year vs 5 year for Exos)

the MTBF/MTTF (1M hours vs 2.5M hours for Exos)

The Toshibas are middling drives, toss (or resell on eBay) the one that you're forced to buy, and do some shopping.

 

[Korican100]

the specs (8 TB vs 16 TB)

the name - "surveillance" drives in a workstation (AV/surveillance drives often have firmware that doesn't work to retry errors - because retries are slow, and because a few bad sectors in a surveillance video will probably never be noticed, and will be a flicker at worst - but losing lots of sectors due to the delays due to retries can be bad)

the warranty (3 year vs 5 year for Exos)

the MTBF/MTTF (1M hours vs 2.5M hours for Exos)

The Toshibas are middling drives, toss (or resell on eBay) the one that you're forced to buy, and do some shopping.

I will be using these for backups of recent video projects. so these drives will have errors if used for anything outside of actual multi-camera consistent recording? Surely they wouldn't put it in a macpro component if it was riddled with errors out of the box for workstation performance?

 

[AidenShaw]

I will be using these for backups of recent video projects. so these drives will have errors if used for anything outside of actual multi-camera consistent recording? Surely they wouldn't put it in a macpro component if it was riddled with errors out of the box for workstation performance?

It's unclear from the Toshiba literature whether the firmware doesn't try to fix errors. The capacity, warranty, and MTTF/MTBF numbers are clearly in the specs - and are not workstation class.

Sell the included drive to someone who is too naïve to realize that they're buying a low end drive, and shop for a pair of better drives. Caveat emptor.

 

[Korican100]

It's unclear from the Toshiba literature whether the firmware doesn't try to fix errors. The capacity, warranty, and MTTF/MTBF numbers are clearly in the specs - and are not workstation class.

well unfortunately, i now own two of these. I will just have to make do until i acquire additional drives.

 

[AidenShaw]

well unfortunately, i now own two of these. I will just have to make do until i acquire additional drives.

You'll probably be OK - but be diligent about backups.

 

[Korican100]

You'll probably be OK - but be diligent about backups.

so back to my original question, does Raid1 slow down performance for read and write/ or will i not notice any difference?

 

[bwinter88]

so back to my original question, does Raid1 slow down performance for read and write/ or will i not notice any difference?

You’ll probably get 350 MB per second versus around 700 for RAID 0

 

[joevt]

Identify GND, 5+, 12+, wire appropriately, save $400

Don't forget 3.3V. If there's two of each (with four grounds?), then you could make two separate cables are tie them together for double the allowed current (thicker wires)?

I made my own SATA power cable from scratch for a modular power supply that didn't come with a SATA power cable.

• Corsair SF Series PSU 6-Pin IDE/SATA Modular Connector
• Corsair Style 5 Conductor Flat Ribbon Cable Wire (18AWG Black)
• Professional Molex Crimping Tool
• SIJIAWU Professional Wire Stipper & Crimping Integrated Tool
• TKG Premium SATA Power Easy Crimp Connector (Black) (Long and Short Covers)

It was a little difficult trying to keep the SATA power connectors perpendicular to the 5 conductor wire.

The three screws that COME INSTALLED with the machine are for a singular purpose: to hang this cage. The 2 SATA ports and molex power connector are there for a singular purpose: to connect the drives that go inside the cage.

Voila. Took me an hour to whip up from the dimensions in this picture. Only for SSDs but once I get home and print it I can fine-tune it more, maybe make some full-size 3.5" removable sleds with locking clips. I'll post the pin-out of the 10-pin cable once I have my Mac Pro in my grubby hands. Merry Xmas.

Will you add the two cutout rails on the top of the cage that slides on two bolts on the underside of the top of the Mac Pro? Also the tab that attaches to the top of the Mac Pro with two torx screws? There are YouTube videos of the J2i being installed.

I'm planning to get the cage and mount 2 x 3.5 HDD and make it soft raid0 via mac os, is that soft raid 0 reliable?(will backup for sure)

RAID0 is half as reliable as not raid (because there are double the number of drives that can fail).

 

[giggles]

So green and environmentally sound of Promise (and Apple blessing this) to force unwanted 8TB HDDs both in the j2i and the r4i...we endure this because we’re too busy being excited about the modularity of the MP...we’re starry eyed and thankful for the little concessions from our kidnapper we got already...but this is far from normal..

 

[skippermonkey]

Just ordered a J2i. Will slot in a 2TB HD from my old Mac (including a shedload of assets) and have 12TB at my disposal (plus Time Machine backup).

 

[bwinter88]

Don't forget 3.3V. If there's two of each (with four grounds?), then you could make two separate cables are tie them together for double the allowed current (thicker wires)?

I have a feeling the pinout is actually coming from a single set of power rails at the board, and then breaks out into double pins at the connector to allow separate smaller gauge wire runs to each drive. Tying anything together would defeat the point in that case. Worth checking.

Will you add the two cutout rails on the top of the cage that slides on two bolts on the underside of the top of the Mac Pro? Also the tab that attaches to the top of the Mac Pro with two torx screws? There are YouTube videos of the J2i being installed.

I receive my MP today and plan on measuring and adding the tabs and pins. I'll post the new proto then.

 

[Slash-2CPU]

I have a feeling the pinout is actually coming from a single set of power rails at the board, and then breaks out into double pins at the connector to allow separate smaller gauge wire runs to each drive. Tying anything together would defeat the point in that case. Worth checking.


I receive my MP today and plan on measuring and adding the tabs and pins. I'll post the new proto then.

You are correct with the Molex connector pins going to more than one pin on the SATA power connector. SATA power pins are rated for 1.5 amps per pin. Molex pins are rated for multiple times that, typically 6-8 amps depending on part number.

Should be one 12v, one 5v, two grounds, and one 3.3v.

It’s possible that one of the pins on the motherboard is Power Disable that goes to SATA power pin 3. If you find a pin that gives near zero volts but isn’t ground then gives 2.5-3.6 volts when the system is sleeping, that’s Power Disable. If there is no Power Disable pin on the motherboard, then do not connect SATA power pin 3 to anything. The old standard was to feed 3.3v into pin 3. If you do that with newer drives, they’ll stay in Power Disable (off) mode all the time.