new mac pro and esata [Archive]

rockos

Mar 8, 2009, 03:44 PM

i know the older mac pros had two sata ports that were not used making a total of 6. u could use the adapter and use these in all actuality as esata drives but could not boot from them etc.

well what about the new mac pro. octo core. does it still have only 6 sata ports...also wonder if u are now able to boot into them.

Tallest Skil

Mar 8, 2009, 03:46 PM

We have no idea yet.

rockos

Mar 8, 2009, 04:14 PM

would be great if they did make it so you could boot if need be from these ports.

just hope they didnt kill the two extra ports.

cmaier

Mar 8, 2009, 04:21 PM

Annoying that they're essentially already shipping these things and we still no so little information.

ender78

Mar 8, 2009, 04:32 PM

Annoying that they're essentially already shipping these things and we still no so little information.

Until people have them in their hands, many details will be hard to come by. I expect by sometime next week, lots of questions will be answered.

cmaier

Mar 8, 2009, 04:34 PM

Until people have them in their hands, many details will be hard to come by. I expect by sometime next week, lots of questions will be answered.

Yes, but this information should be (but isn't) available from Apple.

WonderSausage

Mar 8, 2009, 04:39 PM

We'll see tomorrow for sure... but I strongly suspect the way it works.

The ICH10 used on the X58 chipset still has 6 SATA ports.

Since the RAID card offered is the same, the 4 hot swap bays must still connect to the motherboard via a 4-lane SFF-8087 iSAS connector. That accounts for 4 of the ports.

On the Jan08 Mac Pro, the remaining 2 ports were present but unused and could be wired to an eSATA bracket. They were unused because the optical drives were IDE. At that time, IDE optical drives were still cheaper than SATA.

I would be very surprised if the new Mac Pro did not use SATA optical drives. So that's where the remaining 2 ports will go. If you wanted to use only 1 optical drive, you could wire the other port to an eSATA bracket. Otherwise it's time for a PCI-e eSATA card.

WonderSausage

Mar 8, 2009, 04:43 PM

Oh, and if they continue using Sony/NEC Optiarc drives (the Jan08 used an Optiarc AD-7170A) the new drives will probably be AD-7220S.

rockos

Mar 8, 2009, 04:45 PM

We'll see tomorrow for sure... but I strongly suspect the way it works.

The ICH10 used on the X58 chipset still has 6 SATA ports.

Since the RAID card offered is the same, the 4 hot swap bays must still connect to the motherboard via a 4-lane SFF-8087 iSAS connector. That accounts for 4 of the ports.

On the Jan08 Mac Pro, the remaining 2 ports were present but unused and could be wired to an eSATA bracket. They were unused because the optical drives were IDE. At that time, IDE optical drives were still cheaper than SATA.

I would be very surprised if the new Mac Pro did not use SATA optical drives. So that's where the remaining 2 ports will go. If you wanted to use only 1 optical drive, you could wire the other port to an eSATA bracket. Otherwise it's time for a PCI-e eSATA card.

u would hope that they are now having 8 sata drives just like almost any intel motherboard out there. that will still free up the two extra sata for esata and two for optical drives.

cmaier

Mar 8, 2009, 04:48 PM

u would hope that they are now having 8 sata drives just like almost any intel motherboard out there. that will still free up the two extra sata for esata and two for optical drives.

If they are using the X58, then there are likely to be just 6 (http://www.intel.com/Products/Desktop/Chipsets/X58/X58-overview.htm). Doubtful they added an extra chip for 2 more ports that they don't advertise.

WonderSausage

Mar 8, 2009, 05:22 PM

As I said, the ICH10 has only 6 SATA ports. Those boards you are seeing with 8+ ports are using a secondary, extra-cost, third-party controller for the additional ports (usually by JMicron or Marvell). Not only is it extra cost, but it's another driver to support.

sboerup

Mar 9, 2009, 02:26 AM

I don't know why people are saying the 2008 Mac Pro could not boot from the other SATA ports on the logic board. I'm using it right now, drive 1 and an extra one of the SATA ports (routed to a drive in the 2nd optical drive bay) in a RAID0 config. Before I just used that drive as my boot, works just fine for me.

JesterJJZ

Mar 9, 2009, 03:54 AM

I don't know why people are saying the 2008 Mac Pro could not boot from the other SATA ports on the logic board. I'm using it right now, drive 1 and an extra one of the SATA ports (routed to a drive in the 2nd optical drive bay) in a RAID0 config. Before I just used that drive as my boot, works just fine for me.

I think they mean booting in Windows. It requires some weird hack to make it work.

rockos

Mar 9, 2009, 10:08 PM

so it sounds like if still only 6 sata ports....and if the dual optical drives use two othem...only left for the four onboard hd.

your right sounds like pci-e card coming

rockos

Mar 10, 2009, 07:51 PM

so what is the verdict...just 6 sata ports?

Tallest Skil

Mar 10, 2009, 07:54 PM

so what is the verdict...just 6 sata ports?

Yes.

sboerup

Mar 10, 2009, 08:56 PM

I think they mean booting in Windows. It requires some weird hack to make it work.

I used mine for Windows boot . . . oh well, maybe i was lucky?

Also I think that the 2009 Mac Pro's using SATA optical drives stinks. I don't see the need to go SATA vs IDE, I didn't think IDE was the bottleneck for optical drives. I'd rather have the extra 2 SATA for other uses than use them for the superdrives.