Two SSDs in the Second Optical Bay

[bluesteel]

In my 2010 Mac Pro, I run OSX 10.8 on one SSD and Windows 7 on another SSD via Bootcamp. I would like to put both of these SSDs in optical bay 2, but I'm unsure of what cable I need to connect both SSDs to the one cable available in optical bay 2. I have two questions:

1. Anyone know what y-cable or splitter I should use to accomplish my goal?

2. Since I can be in only operating system at at time, only one SSD will be active in optical bay 2. This setup will work, correct?

Any advice and/or opinions would be really helpful. Thanks in advance

 

[JesterJJZ]

Not possible, you would need to manually plug the sata cable from one drive to the other to switch them. Easiest solution is to move your optical drive outside your tower and run it on USB2.

Otherwise you're looking at getting a sata card or SSD for your PCI slots.

The thing I love about my 2006 is that I can have the 4 drive bays, Optical drive, 2 additional sata drives, and even another IDE drive all in the box.

 

[bluesteel]

darn! yeah, i can definitely move the drive in optical bay 1 (blu-ray) to the outside...didn't want to, but it might be time. thanks for the info, its much appreciated.

i'm in the process of re-organizing the box. i've got 2TB of movies, and 1TB worth of work related files. i'm trying to figure out what the best use of all six internal bays would be with the drives i have available, 2x2TB 7200RPM and 2x3TB 5700RPM HDDs, and two SSDs (OSX & W7).

i'm also trying to figure out an external backup solution with the four identical 2TB 5400RPM HDDs i have. i'm thinking about a 4-bay external RAID enclosure that'll do RAID-5 or RAID-10. don't know what the most reliable external enclosure would be. was thinking about a Drobo, then i figured a cheaper non-proprietary solution would be better...something like the OWC Mercury Elite Pro Qx2. i wish the Qx2 has USB 3.0 and/or Thunderbolt to future proof the purchase.

i'm seeing the advantages of your 2006 Mac Pro as well

 

[JesterJJZ]

I hear the OWC Mercury Elite Pro Qx2 is pretty badass.

 

[SDAVE]

In my 2010 Mac Pro, I run OSX 10.8 on one SSD and Windows 7 on another SSD via Bootcamp. I would like to put both of these SSDs in optical bay 2, but I'm unsure of what cable I need to connect both SSDs to the one cable available in optical bay 2. I have two questions:

1. Anyone know what y-cable or splitter I should use to accomplish my goal?

2. Since I can be in only operating system at at time, only one SSD will be active in optical bay 2. This setup will work, correct?

Any advice and/or opinions would be really helpful. Thanks in advance

Actually it's very much possible. I put in 2 SSD's in the lower bay and left the DVD-R burner in the first optical bay. I have a 2008 Mac Pro so I had to use a Molex to SATA Power splitter. In your case your MP comes with a SATA Power cable already, so you will need the following:

1. 5.25 to dual 2.5 adapter
2. Sata Power Splitter
3. Sata Right angle and straight cables.

However, remember that you cannot boot to Windows (as far as I know, it's not possible on my 2008) from the extra sata ports, but you can definitely move both SSD's there and get yourself a SATAIII expansion card and run the wires back to the 2 SSD's and still have your 4 bays available not to mention the 2 extra SATA ports which you can put 2 more drives in the upper bay and use it under OS X.

 

[Fangio]

Actually it's very much possible. I put in 2 SSD's in the lower bay and left the DVD-R burner in the first optical bay. I have a 2008 Mac Pro so I had to use a Molex to SATA Power splitter. In your case your MP comes with a SATA Power cable already, so you will need the following:

1. 5.25 to dual 2.5 adapter
2. Sata Power Splitter
3. Sata Right angle and straight cables.

However, remember that you cannot boot to Windows (as far as I know, it's not possible on my 2008) from the extra sata ports, but you can definitely move both SSD's there and get yourself a SATAIII expansion card and run the wires back to the 2 SSD's and still have your 4 bays available not to mention the 2 extra SATA ports which you can put 2 more drives in the upper bay and use it under OS X.

Thanks man!

I'm facing the same challenge with my Early 2009, missing the extra ports I've had in my 1,1 before. That covers very well the solutions and options I was looking for.

 

[SDAVE]

Thanks man!

I'm facing the same challenge with my Early 2009, missing the extra ports I've had in my 1,1 before. That covers very well the solutions and options I was looking for.

Here's another solution (maybe two of these?):

http://www.apricorn.com/products/desktop-ssd-hdd-upgrade-kits/vel-solox1.html

and

http://www.sonnettech.com/product/tempossdpro.html

(This should technically fit without wiggling. But bit too pricey, better off with 2 of the above)

And finally, this and an msata SSD (prices are dropping)

 

[ColdCase]

Actually it's very much possible. I put in 2 SSD's in the lower bay and left the DVD-R burner in the first optical bay. I have a 2008 Mac Pro so I had to use a Molex to SATA Power splitter. In your case your MP comes with a SATA Power cable already, so you will need the following:

However, remember that you cannot boot to Windows (as far as I know, it's not possible on my 2008) from the extra sata ports, but you can definitely move both SSD's there and get yourself a SATAIII expansion card and run the wires back to the 2 SSD's and still have your 4 bays available not to mention the 2 extra SATA ports which you can put 2 more drives in the upper bay and use it under OS X.

I think the 2010s have SATA optical drive(s), which uses up spare MB ports. So you typically only have one MB SATA port but the OP wants to connect two drives. There are a few two port ~$30 PCI cards that have both internal and external SATA ports.

 

[DPUser]

As noted, the 2008 solution is not feasible in the 2009 and later MPs because they use a SATA optical drive. An inexpensive ($15) SATA card can add the needed SATA ports.

 

[SDAVE]

I think the 2010s have SATA optical drive(s), which uses up spare MB ports. So you typically only have one MB SATA port but the OP wants to connect two drives. There are a few two port ~$30 PCI cards that have both internal and external SATA ports.

That's very much correct, so 2009 loses the IDE ports. Kind of nice to have the IDE's for the optical. I rarely use it, but it's nice that it's there.