MaxUpgrade's MaxConnect Install *In the wild*

[hayduke]

For some reasone pics of MaxUpgrade's MaxConnect and any install information is *very* lacking on the web. Their own website is kind of odd. I decided I wanted to mount to more drives internally and have a few pics to show from my recent upgrade. Enjoy. Let me know if there are any questions.

Product: http://www.maxupgrades.com/istore/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_id=158

#1: The parts (left to right) include hard drive mount/sled which slots into the optical bay guides, riser to mount the DVD drive above the two SATA drives, and the necessary cables to make it all work.

#2: Optical bay pulled out, cables disconnected, ready to drop in the new parts.

#3: Running the red SATA cables was a bit tricky. It would be easier if you removed the lower left fan assembly. I had a hard time getting them into the SATA ports on the motherboard without some angled pliers (bottom right of #3 and #4).

#4: The assembled tower (upside down and backwards). Gives a sense of how the SATA drives and the DVD are assembled. This whole assembly slides in and out of the optical bay very easily. The drives could be swapped without too much trouble (pull out assembly, two screws per drive, and two cables per drive).

#5: The *almost* installed assembly. Just before it slotted in.

I forgot to reconnect the power to my video card and was surprised to learn that my 30" display still showed the login prompt, but a warning popped up telling me to reconnect the power to the card!

 

[Horst]

Thanks for the images, nice one !

There is also an installation guide floating around on the web, the official one with images, but I couldn't find the link anymore...

 

[pwn247]

"Flawless Victory!" (Sorry, I couldn't help myself )

Looks like a great opportunity to add even more space to our favorite internal layout. The only tricky part that I can see is getting to those SATA cables. Other than that, I would love to get my hands on one of these. Load all 8 slots up with 1.5TB drives and we've got 12TB of storage! :O

 

[hayduke]

I should mention that the build quality is excellent. It all machines from aluminum and then powder coated. The only thing that would be nicer is if the drives still used the native sleds and could be pulled out as easily.

 

[djwhiterabbit]

MaxUpgrade's MaxConnect Install *In The Wild*

I should mention that the build quality is excellent. It all machines from aluminum and then powder coated. The only thing that would be nicer is if the drives still used the native sleds and could be pulled out as easily.

I've got this MaxUpgrades MaxConnect installed in my Mac Pro (Early 2008). Is there a way to assign and view the location ID and serial numbers of the two extra drives with Terminal or Open Firmware for troubleshooting like the factory Bays 1-4 without removing each one? Bays 1-4 are identified when you select info for those drives in the Disk Utility and in Apple System Profiler you can view their serial numbers for advance replacement purposes. I called MaxUpgrades regarding this issue and they said they are not working on any solution for this.

 

[jons]

Nice work.

 

[costabunny]

Awesome - mine is in the mail (will finally get those loose drives mounted properly). Yous pics and description made a big grin appear -

 

[Tesselator]

Where does the data cable connect to? Is there a free connector on the MB? Or does it plug into the end of the cable designated for the 2nd optical drive?

Also how about temperature sensors? Anything?

 

[sparkie7]

#4: The assembled tower (upside down and backwards). Gives a sense of how the SATA drives and the DVD are assembled. This whole assembly slides in and out of the optical bay very easily. The drives could be swapped without too much trouble (pull out assembly, two screws per drive, and two cables per drive).

Can you fit 4x 2.5" SSD drives in that optical adapter? (in the lower optical bay alone, leaving the top bay for the original CD/DVD drive). The photo shoes this adapter, anybody know if it will fit the 2008 optical drive bay?

Also, I think I read that there are only 2 SATA connecters on the motherboard, so are we stuck with only putting two drives?

 

[costabunny]

Also, I think I read that there are only 2 SATA connecters on the motherboard, so are we stuck with only putting two drives?

Correct. There are only 2 connectors (6 x SATA in total) - the way round is to fit a SATA card (or if you have the Apple Raid get a Mini-SAS to 4xSATA connectors cable = 4 disks in bays + possible 6 more elsewhere)

 

[scaley]

Can you fit 4x 2.5" SSD drives in that optical adapter? (in the lower optical bay alone, leaving the top bay for the original CD/DVD drive). The photo shoes this adapter, anybody know if it will fit the 2008 optical drive bay?

Also, I think I read that there are only 2 SATA connecters on the motherboard, so are we stuck with only putting two drives?

I can confirm that you can get 4 drives in the lower optical bay. Scroll down to the pics posted in this thread here. You have to drill extra holes in the MaxConnect 2 mount but it works. As for the connectors I think you will be limited to 2 drives if you use the 2 sata connectors on the 2008 MP. Two of the 4 drives in my setup are connected to the controllers on the logic board, the 2 3.5 inch drives are connected to my RAID card.

 

[Tesselator]

Where does the data cable connect to? Is there a free connector on the MB? Or does it plug into the end of the cable designated for the 2nd optical drive?

Also how about temperature sensors? Anything?

So where does it connect to?

 

[sboerup]

So where does it connect to?

It plugs into 2 on-board SATA ports, just behind the fan shroud. You can access them without removing the fan shroud, but I find it much easier to remove it.

 

[milk242]

Great writeup and very clear pictures. Is it hard to wire the sata cables up to the ODD bay? I haven't really looked.

I wish someone could take a picture of a 2009 mac pro, I really want to see the sata connectors for the hd bays on the board.

 

[macuserx86]

I've been thinking about doing this for a while. What temps do the Optical bay mounted drives run at? There's no fan up there (unless the PSU also intakes front-ways) so I'm not sure how the drives will get adequate airflow.

Thanks!

 

[costabunny]

the two seagates in my optical bay are happy at 38 degrees (its about 23 degrees ambient in my room)

 

[MacACK]

I am looking at the MaxConnect option for a 2009 MP SZ-MPRO2509-04. Would be using it for SSDs... In total I would have 3 SSDs in a RAID 0.

Can I reaid 2 SSDs via MAxConnect PCI Express card and one in the normal drive (with adapter sled)?

How is the performace on the included PCI Express card?

Thanks!