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MP 7,1 2019 Mac Pro with missing original SSD - Junk?

V

vindasal

macrumors member
Original poster
My work had a few of these bought in January 2020 that are being decommissioned now that 26 is headed for the history books (app support more than security) and I will have a chance to possibly take one home for a good price or maybe even free, but with the original SSD removed. I am trying to find info on whether one of these is usable without the original storage module installed, or without a replacement Apple part.

Ideally I would like to be able to provide my own storage as the boot media because I can imagine the Apple parts are not cheap. I have various SSDs of other types lying around that would be good candidates, but I see a lot of conflicting info about whether the machine can even boot without the original module, something about the T2 chip requiring pairing with it. I know for sure this is a problem with Apple silicon Macs, but I am not so sure about T2-equipped. I asked ChatGPT twice and it gave me a different answer altogether for the same question. Guess I shouldn't be surprised there... Even if I need an original module I may take it as a Parts machine and profit off it. Don't know if I'd want to put a lot of my own money into getting it running.
 
Buy an Apple SSD off ebay, and have a functional iphone or MacOS device with a working Apple ID to get it working. Otherwise not worth the hassle IMO.
 
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What are they doing with the original SSDs? They're proprietary parts, so separate resale value is so-so. Destroying them would be a crying shame instead of wiping them. Or does the CIO just want them as collectibles for his mantle at home?
 
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reader50 said:
What are they doing with the original SSDs? They're proprietary parts, so separate resale value is so-so. Destroying them would be a crying shame instead of wiping them. Or does the CIO just want them as collectibles for his mantle at home?
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in enterprises when a machine is decommissioned the storage is always destroyed to prevent data recovery. I assume it's that
 
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Yep, unfortunately it's just policy here. Anything I've ever taken home in the past has been stripped of its storage, we had some 2018 Mac minis as well at one point but I was not allowed to have one because of the soldered storage.
 
Without the SSDs (which have no controller, only NAND carrier boards) the Mac won't boot anymore. Even with OS installed on PCIe- or SATA-SSDs.

I guess the OS for the T2 will only installed/placed on the internal SSD. Get this machines only if the price is very good, the NAND modules are very expensive and not available as new spare parts from Apple. Imho similar modules for Apple Silicon aren't compatible, only modules from the iMac Pro.
 
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Borowski said:
... Imho similar modules for Apple Silicon aren't compatible, only modules from the iMac Pro.
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I tried iMac Pro SSD modules in the Mac Pro 7,1.
Running the DFU process produced an error.

I installed the 00-module in slot 1, and the 01-module in slot 2.
It did not occur to me to try swapping the modules, if the 00-module should be in slot 2?
Perhaps that would work?

I would not advice to buy an iMac Pro kit, unless someone can confirm it will work.
 
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