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USB 3.x PCIe Cards for Classic Mac Pro
- Thread starter ActionableMango
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Not knowing your OS nor Firmware versions nor what other non-apple drivers are installed; the following is just a guess and all bets are off if you're running Mojave:
iirc, it has to do with Etron drivers (EtronUSBxHCI.Build.0.89.pkg) not being 'signed'. Perhaps if you disable SIP before installing, install the package & shutdown. Attach a self-powered device to one of the card's ports and restart but do a PRAM Reset; boot to your macOS volume. The Etron driver should now be loaded.
I can confirm this works on Sierra with firmware MP51.0085.B00.
btw, if you need to uninstall the Etron drivers:
Remove /System/Library/Extensions/EtronUSBxHCI.kext
Remove /System/Library/Extensions/EtronUSBHub3.kext
Remove /System/Library/Cache/"any Etron files"
and reboot
It's still connected but I'm not using it for any other device. I just leave it there in case I need to power something outside of the optical bay. I'm currently using SATA power splitting cables from bay 3 and bay 4. Both bays also have SSDs connected; power from bay 3 is connected to a CalDigit FASTA-6GU3 Plus. Power from bay 4 is only used by the SSD in bay 4.
I really desire the new Mac Pro to be a real Pro computer.
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May I ask you why you have a power connected to the CalDigit FASTA-6GU3 Plus?
Theres a thread for that. This isn’t it however. See the link below.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/waiting-for-mac-pro-7-1.1975126/
And another thread:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/who-is-the-mac-pro-going-to-be-for.2177532/
I have now received the Ableconn asm1142-based USB controller and SATA splitter and extension cable and I'll report back my findings once I do the install.
The dream of a combined USB3 card and SATA controller may not be dead after-all as I've recently discovered that the CalDigit FASTA 6GU3Pro card could work to fulfill that role (if I can find one).
Because it's there. The documentation doesn't explain how connecting power to the card affects its capabilities. The card will work without it. I don't have any bus powered devices that require the extra power. Maybe I should use a PD sniffer to see if the card offers more power delivery options when extra power is connected.
Thanks. Never tried to use tha power port. I have a USB amperimeter. I will try and tell you.
I promised to get back with the Aja test results for my various RAID 5 set ups.
I originally had a RAID 5 x4 4TB HDDs in the MP internal 3GB/s bays. I purchased an OWC Mercury Elite Pro Quad Ext. case w/ USB 3.1 Gen2.
I also had a 4-port Sonnet Allegro Pro (SAP) USB3 (Gen1) PCIe card and then purchased a 4-port Sonnet Allegro Pro USB-C (Gen2) PCIe card. Installed the new PCIe card into Slot #4.
I only used one USB port so that no secondary drives were sharing simultaneous bandwidth (except a USB3 hub with only peripherals attached).
x4 4TB HDD Read/Write Aja results:
Speaking of my backup drive. It is a x2 6TB RAID 0. Originally installed in an OWC USB 3 Gen1 case and consequently moved to the MP internal bays when I transferred the x4 4TB HDDs to the external case.
x2 6TB HDD Backup Drive Read/Write Aja results:
I hope all this provides some insight. (And a testament to my tech geekiness!)
(MP 5,1, 6-core 3.46ghz, 48GB RAM, Samsung 970 EVO NVME, Radeon 7950 GPU, Mojave 10.14.3)
I originally had a RAID 5 x4 4TB HDDs in the MP internal 3GB/s bays. I purchased an OWC Mercury Elite Pro Quad Ext. case w/ USB 3.1 Gen2.
I also had a 4-port Sonnet Allegro Pro (SAP) USB3 (Gen1) PCIe card and then purchased a 4-port Sonnet Allegro Pro USB-C (Gen2) PCIe card. Installed the new PCIe card into Slot #4.
I only used one USB port so that no secondary drives were sharing simultaneous bandwidth (except a USB3 hub with only peripherals attached).
x4 4TB HDD Read/Write Aja results:
- RAID 5 in Internal cMP Bays - 390/280
- RAID 5 in OWC Gen2 case using SAP Gen1 card - 185/165
- RAID 5 in OWC Gen2 case using SAP Gen2 card - 410/410
- RAID 1+0 in OWC Gen2 case using SAP Gen2 card - 300/330
- RAID 0 in OWC Gen2 case using SAP Gen2 card - 595/665
Speaking of my backup drive. It is a x2 6TB RAID 0. Originally installed in an OWC USB 3 Gen1 case and consequently moved to the MP internal bays when I transferred the x4 4TB HDDs to the external case.
x2 6TB HDD Backup Drive Read/Write Aja results:
- RAID 0 in OWC Gen1 case using SAP Gen1 card: - 240/190
- RAID 0 in OWC Gen1 case using SAP Gen2 card - 245/190
- RAID 0 in Internal cMP bays - 370/370 (compare these results with the original RAID 5 internal bay results above)
I hope all this provides some insight. (And a testament to my tech geekiness!)
(MP 5,1, 6-core 3.46ghz, 48GB RAM, Samsung 970 EVO NVME, Radeon 7950 GPU, Mojave 10.14.3)
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RAID 0 will always be faster because there is no parity to manage and you were striping data across 4 drives. I'm surprised at your RAID 10 results being lower than RAID 5. RAID 10 Writes usually come close to doubling RAID 5 but I guess that depends on the RAID controller being used. In your case, I'm guessing you're using the bundled SoftRAID XT that came with the enclosure. Am I correct? I'd be willing to bet that may play a little into the results. Anyway, those are very respectable RAID 5 benchmarks at 410MB/s using the Allegro Pro gen 2 card. You should be happy with that.
The process was was significantly more difficult than I thought it would be - most of the challenge comes from having both optical bays filled. Firstly you'll need a braided male to female SATA power extension cable. The cable must be braided to prevent the wires from splaying in front of the optical drive preventing the tray mechanism from opening and closing. If you do not have a braided cable you may instead wrap the cable in electrical tape. The longest cable I've found available for purchase is 24" but that won't be quite long enough so you'll need an additional 12" male to female SATA power extension cable as well to reach your PCIe card.
Remove hard drive #1 and remove the optical drive caddy. Remove the front faceplate from your bottom optical drive in order create enough room for the optical drive door mechanism to function once the SATA extension cable is installed.
Next remove the two screws securing the plate behind the optical drive sled. There is a small slot in the bottom left hand corner of the optical drive compartment that the SATA extension cable will feed through. This same slot is where the optical drive SATA data and power cables feeds through from the mainboard. The space available to feed the SATA extension cable through is sufficiently narrow that the female end of the cable will be too thick to fit while the male end will be too wide to fit through the other way. In order to fit the cable I had to shave off the ridges on the cable where it says "SATA" and "POWER" with a razor blade to open up a mm or two of extra space. This was just enough to allow the female end of the cable to fit between the optical drive cable and the bottom of the case. With the extension cable installed reattach the plate below the optical drives making sure that the SATA extension cable is wedged into the bottom left corner of the optical drive bay between the left of the plate and the front of the case.
Plug your SATA 22-pin data and power splitter into the bottom optical drive. Plug the other end of the SATA data and power splitter into the bottom optical drive connector and also plug in the other optical drive. Feed the second SATA splitter power connector in between the bottom of the optical drive and the optical drive sled. It is a good idea to wrap this cable with electrical tape to prevent it from splaying and interfering with the sled action. Feed the female end of the braided extension cable into the front of the optical drive sled below the bottom optical drive and connect it to the second splitter power connector on the left side of the optical drive sled. You'll want to get the cable as close to the top of the sled as possible to allow for the sled action to work. Feed the braided extension cable down the front of the optical drive with as much of the cable as you can wedged between the bottom optical drive and the bottom of the sled. There is a bit of aluminum at the far end of the sled preventing you from from tucking the cable completely underneath the optical drive. This bit of aluminum is the part that causes interference with the drive door when the bottom optical drive faceplate is installed. Pull on the other end of the extension cable as you slide the optical drive sled into place to keep the cable taught. Open the bottom drive door mechanism manually and inspect inside to make sure that the cable is not interfering with the optical drive tray and that the door mechanism has enough clearance to open and close freely.
Connect your second SATA power extension cable to the other end of the braided cable, snake the cable over the PCIe fan assembly and plug the other end into the PCIe card. Reinstall your hard drive back into slot #1, put the side door back on and you're done. I am happy to report that USB drive disconnect notices when my Mac goes to sleep are no longer present after performing this process.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/e9QKZhaALFsxVLw3A
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I was surprised myself at the RAID 10 result. I only tried that because you had suggested it earlier. I had expected a better result. Also, RAID 10 would only give me 8TB and that could be an issue in the future, I'm at 5.8TB.
You are right, I am using SoftRAID but the full version, not XT. I needed to upgrade to use RAID 5 and 10 in the OWC case and in the internal bays. Are there other solutions for creating faster RAID formatting? I'm at my limit budget wise so a controller card may not be possible, but I'd be interested.
Now to decide if RAID 0 or RAID 5 is the way to go. I have plenty of backups so it would not be catastrophic if a drive died. Mostly a hassle to get a new one and rebuild. RAID 5 has the one drive cushion. Speed vs security.
Very nice document. Especially the pics. Thanks for taking the time.
I'm going to PM you my reply. I'm afraid we have gone off topic for this thread. Perhaps we can even start our own thread for RAID on cMP. I want to continue our conversation so I'll PM you.
I don't understand why you go under the DVD instead of to the side where all the other cables are like I did in my MacPro3,1. Is it because of the length of the cables?
Software RAID means the computer needs to send more data over USB for the mirroring and parity aspects of RAID 5 and RAID 10. The fact that RAID 10 uses more space than RAID 5 means more data needs to be sent for RAID 10. RAID 0 doesn't have mirroring or parity so it's nearly 100% efficient (the amount of data sent over USB is equal to the amount of file data). Hardware RAID would remove the need to send data for mirroring and parity - the computer would only see a single hard drive.
I wish I had a better answer for this but I only have 5400rpm hard drives to test :/
No, that's not the reason, I didn't think of going over the side. I've tried that now and it works, but it is not as aesthetically pleasing as going under the DVD because you see the cable. This change does not critically alter the rest of my troubles, you still gotta fit the sata cable through a tiny slot, and you still gotta snake the cable down just right so that it doesn't interfere with the bottom drive.
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I meant beside the optical drives, on the unseen side next to the hole. Here's a picture:
What is going on here? What are the red SATA cables taking up slot 3 for? Is that the GC Titan Ridge in slot 2? And the two SATA SSD's in drive bays 1 & 2 are interfacing with the SATA from optical bays? I'm looking at the picture and your notes and trying to figure it all out but it's confusing me. I think this is really cool and I haven't seen anyone do something like this.
I see now, I can fit the cable around the back of the drive underneath the plate along with the pair of optical drive sata cables. That makes it easier to avoid the tray mechanism because the cable isn't going in front of the optical drive which does make the install a bit easier. Ultimately the cable does go through that hole. Thank you for taking the time to guide me through.
It´s a Mac Pro 3.1. Red sata cables comes from the "hidden" sata ports in the motherboard.
By plate, I believe you mean the bottom of the DVD drive cage. I don't think the plate extends all the way to the wall, so the cable doesn't need to go underneath it. In my picture, you see that the PATA ribbon cable is against the wall above the bottom of the plate. In this new picture below, you see the plate stops at the left edge of the DVD drives. The right side has at least a centimeter of space between the DVD drives and the cage which means there's probably a centimeter of space on the left side too.
MacPro3,1 optical drives normally use PATA ribbon cables. The red SATA cables come from the ODD SATA ports on the MacPro3,1 motherboard which could be used to replace the PATA optical drives with SATA optical drives (but the ODD ports are not useable by Boot Camp because of limitations in Apple's Boot Camp firmware).
Yes, a GC-TITAN RIDGE is in slot 2, because it can use more bandwidth than the PCIe 1.0 x4 slots (slots 3 and 4). The USB card (containing a PCIe 2.0 x4 switch, an ASM1142 USB controller, and a SATA controller) is in slot 4 because the ASM1142 (PCIe 2.0 x2) can't use more bandwidth than PCIe 1.0 x4 and I am not simultaneously using any eSATA drive. I currently use the USB ports of the GC-TITAN RIDGE because they are not limited by PCIe 2.0 x2 as the ASM1142 is.
The HD bays are numbered from left to right. Bay 1 (far left, above the fan assembly and under the hole used by the Molex power extension cable and PATA cable and other cables) has a 5 TB 3.5" HD. Bay 2 has a 250 MB 2.5" SSD using a 2.5" to 3.5" Adapter. Bay 3 and bay 4 (shown without the trays so you can see the mounting and cabling) have 1 TB 2.5" SSDs. Each bay has their own SATA 22 pin connector (contains SATA data and power) that each drive slides into (except bay 3 and 4 is using a SATA power splitter).
Anybody try any new USB 3.1 cards lately? I'm anxiously awaiting for the ASM 3142 cards to really start hitting the market. Sonnet told me May. We'll see if that's true.