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MP 7,1 What do you guys think of the Promise Pegasus R4i MPX module for the 7,1 Mac Pro
- Thread starter MikeabMac
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I'd be more inclined to go with external storage than use PCIe for that, mainly so I can run dual GPUs at a later date. That said I installed the Promise J2i in mine and an SSD on a PCIe card just below the input card.
I'm anti-spinning-rust in anything but a fileserver these days, so that Promise unit seems like a massive waste of money to me. If they cook up a version that's empty, and includes brackets to add 2.5" SSDs, then I might be more inclined to consider it. But noisy spinners on my desktop? Nah.
I think they should empty cage so people have additional choice mounting SATA SSD of their choice instead of spinners. I not trust spinners anymore, even in RAID configuration.
I recently take out all spinners from my old 5,1 due failure and replacing them with SATA SSD. While it’s slow with provided SATA II on 5,1 bay, it’s still quicker in terms of IOPS, no more scratching header sound anymore when searching files. So I wonder why modern machine such as 7,1 should have spinners inside.
Not entirely ditching spinners though, they still suited for external and archiving purpose.
I recently take out all spinners from my old 5,1 due failure and replacing them with SATA SSD. While it’s slow with provided SATA II on 5,1 bay, it’s still quicker in terms of IOPS, no more scratching header sound anymore when searching files. So I wonder why modern machine such as 7,1 should have spinners inside.
Not entirely ditching spinners though, they still suited for external and archiving purpose.
Buy the J2i and sell off the included 8TB Toshiba HDD then install your SATA SSDs using a 3.5"-to-2.5" tray. I have 1x 8TB and 1x 16TB HDD in my J2i and can replace the two HDDs I have in the J2i with the 2.5" SSDs when I want to. This swap takes me less than 15 minutes to do.
For me, I have Promise Pegasus R4, R6 and R8 for bulk storage, and can use the J2i's stock 8TB Toshiba in these or have them at ready for spares.
Curious to know what price you would be willing to ante up for just the cage & cables ?
Spinning disks in a desktop: no thanks. If I need them they'll go into a synology in the basement or be temporary (and removable) as a backup medium only.
The little sibling that connects via SATA: no thanks: it's going to be slow, very slow compared to the PCIe speeds if you hook up SSD there.
What I'd rather see if I needed massive storage inside my MP7,1: a PCIe to U.2 solution that's fanless and uses the MP7,1's impressive (silent) cooling abilities. Not seen any good ones yet, not sure I need it either. M.2 is too small per module to get to massive sizes.
The little sibling that connects via SATA: no thanks: it's going to be slow, very slow compared to the PCIe speeds if you hook up SSD there.
What I'd rather see if I needed massive storage inside my MP7,1: a PCIe to U.2 solution that's fanless and uses the MP7,1's impressive (silent) cooling abilities. Not seen any good ones yet, not sure I need it either. M.2 is too small per module to get to massive sizes.
Why don't you write/contact Promise and ask them if they have any empty J2i metal cages that are slightly bent and/or scratched that they would sell to you. I'm also sure they would be able to sell the custom made cable harness to you as well. Give it a try, be polite, as you never know where that type of request would lead to.
I'm sure Promise has had some J2i assemblies returned to them for various reasons and could have a few they're willing to sell at a discount.
I'm not sure what your point is, here. I have a J2I already, and have had since December. It's a massive waste of money if you have no intention of running spinning rust. I have no spinning rust in mine. Only SSD and/or NVMEs. My 8TB drive is still sitting in the J2I's original packaging.
An empty rack with the cabling they came up with isn't expensive at all. One of the guys here already proved that by 3D-printing a rack, and properly wiring the cabling up on his own. I'm less interested in trying to replicate his excellent work, mostly because I know my own limitations.
None of that changes my stance that Promise should offer an empty rack with the cabling included. It's a simple gesture, but they won't do it because they're marking that useless HDD waaaaaaaaaay up. But that's Promise for ya. It's nothing new for them.
Why don't you write/contact Promise and ask them if they have any empty J2i metal cages that are slightly bent and/or scratched that they would sell to you. I'm also sure they would be able to sell the custom made cable harness to you as well. Give it a try, be polite, as you never know where that type of request would lead to.
I'm sure Promise has had some J2i assemblies returned to them for various reasons and could have a few they're willing to sell at a discount.
Thanks for the idea - I just emailed them:
Lou
From your post, unless I'm misunderstanding you, I'm a bit puzzled why you decided to buy the J2i. You seem to have wasted your money as presumably you're not using it or have not installed the J2i in your MP7,1, but rather installed Flash/SSD components.
You may not like spinners but others here have no issues with them. They serve a purpose that todays SSDs cannot; cost and storage space come to mind. When a spinner is idle (i.e., not spinning) it makes no noise.
Personally, I have no clue what the cost to Promise is/was for their metal custom cage and cable harness. Your $100 for them is quite likely a reasonable number, but really dunno for sure.
I would expect Promise will at some future time sell just the case and/or just the cable harness, and after the flurry of orders for the J2i start slowing down.
For me, I wanted the ability to have some 32TB of internal storage and the J2i does allow for this using 2x 16TB spinners. At this time I have the J2i with its stock 8TB and added a Seagate Exos 16TB for some 24 TB of internal storage. The 8TB disk gets used infrequently for bulk storage of past Project data and this 8TB is backed up periodically to an 8TB Volume on the 16TB Seagate. The 16TB is partitioned into three; 8TB, 4TB and 4TB. One of the 4TB is for backing up my Sonnet/Samsung 4TB RAID-0 PCIe card and the other 4TB is used for Time Machine that is run manually now and then. These disks are idle for considerable periods and therefore make absolutely no noise at all.
I paid some $360 for the J2i (Corp EPP discount), and some $420 for the Seagate 16TB Exos; for a total of $780. That's $32/TB. The cost for SSD storage far exceeds this number; for example a Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB blade is around $170/TB, and is some 5x more expensive and even more when you consider a PCIe card to house the Samsung blade. Also the J2i consumes none of the precious PCIe slots.
I'm very happy with my decision to adopt the Promise Pegasus J2i for my MP7,1.
I have used it; it's sitting inside my Mac Pro at the moment with 2 2TB SSDs in it. I've made it very clear over all of the posts on this topic that it's a complete waste of money for folks that intend to install SSDs in their system. It's the only current commercial choice, unfortunately. I despise being forced to pay for that useless 8TB drive just so that I can install my SATA SSDs in my rig. But, there we go.
I'm sure we're all quite aware of that by now.
Surely there are other ways for installing 2x 2TB SSDs in the MP7,1 without resorting to using the J2i. Your 2x SSDs are SATA-based units. Could these not be installed on a PCIe card adapter rather than having to use the J2i ? - Such as this https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC...VEr3sCh343gXiEAQYBCABEgK87PD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
For a cost of around $440 I have installed a 2TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus flash/SSD blade into a PCIe adapter x4 card. But of course you're wanting to use your SATA SSDs presumably without having to spend too much money. If it were me I'd buy one of the SATA SSD PCIe adapters rather than installing them into the J2i.
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