So, who has the specifics? I understand that a bracket can be bought to install 2 extra internal HD's in the lower bay for the optical disc in the new Mac Pros. Can we talk about the details?
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6 HD's in a new Mac Pro "Nehalem"?
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From what i've seen there is only one more SATA connection and thats for the 2nd optical bay.
Seeing as mine is filled, im stuck with 4
Seeing as mine is filled, im stuck with 4
Another member contacted MaxUpgrades and Trans International, and apparently, they won't fit as they are. A slight modification, and he made one fit however.
Another thing you could try, is disassembling an old optical drive for the metal plates that make up the enclosure. They make nice drive plates that fit the optical bays nicely, and is far cheaper if you can use a screwdriver and drill a few holes.
Get an internal SATA card, and you're good to go.
Of course they moved; it's a completely different motherboard.
You should still be able to split the SATA connection running to the second ODD bay and run two HDDs off of that, though.
Can you split SATA? I've had a quick search and can only find SATA power splitters, I always thought you needed an individual SATA cable for each drive and you couldn't run two drives like with PATA.
Hmm...I didn't think you could split SATA either. If such a cable exists, I could think of a few good uses for it *looks over at PC with slowly failing motherboard SATA ports*. TS, could you post a link?
You can't just split SATA. It would require a Port Multiplier, but they can be found.
Hey, no kidding? You're not just making it up? Sure you didn't just read that in that long thread?
...They could've left the SATA headers in the same place if they wanted (if it was worth the effort; evidently it wasn't).
Trace layout IS NOT a quick and easy process for something as complicated as a logic board. Real estate is limited, certain rules must be maintained such as trace length and spacing, electrical,..., and some items have a fixed location, depending on the board specification used (processor and slot locations). Apple has ignored socket locations in the past, relocating them slightly, and quite a bit this time, as the daughter board implementation was used.
There are a lot of traces to deal with, and designers try to place connectors as close as possible to their intended devices, but it may not always work out.
In the case of the '09 MP, the board is definitely different than the '08 models, and isn't even close to similar. The board was completely redesigned. There's still 6 SATA connections on the board (all soldered), but the locations are different for the HDD bays, and very likely for the ODD intended ports as well.