ATA HDs on MPro

[zoran]

Is there a way instead of placing SATA drives on those magnificent SATA hard drive bays to place ATA drives? Perhaps with a use of a SATA 2 ATA device, if theres one out? Of course the speed loss is inevitable.

 

[studiox]

Is there a way instead of placing SATA drives on those magnificent SATA hard drive bays to place ATA drives? Perhaps with a use of a SATA 2 ATA device, if theres one out? Of course the speed loss is inevitable.

No, there's no chance at all. If you could find a convert that gives both PATA interface and power to the SATA socket it will be to big to let the drive "snap in".

You can however install one drive in the free superdrive slot. But that's all.

 

[zoran]

In the superdrive slot? How? An ATA drive?

 

[generik]

I am confused... the ATA drives are the same size as the newer SATA drives right? They are all 3.5"

 

[SmurfBoxMasta]

I am confused... the ATA drives are the same size as the newer SATA drives right? They are all 3.5"

Same size, yes..... but w/ way different connectors 😛

 

[Krevnik]

In the superdrive slot? How? An ATA drive?

Apple designed it so that the 4 HDD bays were SATA connectors on a 'backplane'. This is getting pretty common for high-end equipment, as SATA connectors are better for this type of use than PATA, and there is definitely more demand for things like hot-swap drive bays.

However, using SATA for the optical bay is overkill. Apple wired up the two optical bays to older-style IDE buses which helps isolate bandwidth, and I think it might save em a few pennies on cost of parts, and maybe a couple bucks on the drive itself. Just go about your business as if you are going to install a second optical drive, but put a PATA drive there.

Sounds like you have existing drive(s) you want to keep around. Am I right? If I am not, then you really should consider investing in SATA moving forward. The cost difference to the consumer is getting to be about 6-10$, and the better performance is usually worth it.

 

[zoran]

Exactly i have 4 spare PATA drives, and i dont want to put them all on enclosures! So what are my options? Put one on the optical drive bay?

 

[Krevnik]

Exactly i have 4 spare PATA drives, and i dont want to put them all on enclosures! So what are my options? Put one on the optical drive bay?

That is pretty much the limit... The SATA bays are designed with /just/ enough space so that when the drive+sled is pushed into place, the drive is pushed into the SATA connectors on the backplane. There isn't even a millimeter worth of space to adapt the drives you have into these bays.

I did come across this product, which while is still an external enclosure, it does come empty, with room for 4 PATA drives, and connects via Firewire 800, giving you an external RAID 0 box. http://www.mac-pro.com/s.nl/it.A/id.2742/.f?sc=2&category=443 Barefeats looked at this unit as well. http://www.barefeats.com/hard60.html

Kinda odd-looking in my opinion, but it is something to consider. 🙂

 

[zoran]

very very neat looking