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Cable management issues in 2009 Mac Pro

alphaod

alphaod

macrumors Core
Original poster
Feb 9, 2008
22,194
1,260
NYC
I've reached a point where I cannot fit any more HDDs into my Mac Pro. The computer is packed to the gills.

The issue is the cabling is a mess and I can't even close the cover anymore. That's annoying as my apartment is dusty, so I have to clean it often.

I'm also trying to add one more drive, but I have no space.

I'm curious to know how people with the 2009/2010 Mac Pros are handling the cable routing for the drives they have mounted in the optical bay area? Right now I have SATA cables routed through the handle slots, but I can't close the door as such.

Any advise here?

Thanks.
 
I speak for the 2006 Mac Pro, not sure what the 09/10 looks like, but you should be able to sneak a cable to the second bay through the corner hole the power cable comes through, with enough manipulation/force. Screwing out the first bay helps getting the cable through. I had to do this to get another power line to my graphics card, just took the empty bay's power and made a custom cable to get back to the pcie area.
 
Thanks chych. Unfortunately, I tried that already that and I couldn't route 4 SATA cables and a power cable cable through that one hole.

I might have to drill a hole in the chassis under the optical drive…
 
Hellhammer said:
Why don't you get a multi-bay enclosure and use them externally via eSATA?
Click to expand...

My eSATA card isn't bootable; that's not to mention I don't have any PCIe slots for any more cards.

If I did get a bootable enclosure it would need to connect via the SFF-8088 connector and I can't seem to find a place that sells those without breaking the bank.
 
alphaod said:
eSATA isn't bootable; that's not to mention I don't have any PCIe slots for any more cards.

If I did get a bootable enclosure it would need to connect via the SFF-8088 connector and I can't seem to find a place that sells those without breaking the bank.
Click to expand...

Hmm, that sucks :( How about a long SATA cable from inside to outside the Mac Pro and then using them externally?
 
Angelo95210 said:
Can you post a picture ?
Click to expand...

That would help indeed!

As I mentioned in an earlier thread, it is possible to lead another 4 SATA cables through the gap between PCIe section and ODD bay. You just need to disassemble the PCIe fan and the power connector plate.
 
Sorry didn't get a chance to post a picture, but after disassembling the entire machine (basically stripping everything out), I was able to squeeze in one power cable. That was it. So I decided to just re-arrange the drives. Anyways things are good now.

Thanks.
 
ActionableMango said:
DX4?

http://www.transintl.com/store/category.cfm?Category=2799&RequestTimeOut=500
Click to expand...

You would still need to get the power cable from somewhere and that caddy takes up a PCIe slot which I can't give up.

Anyways I took a picture of what I did:
mr_powercable-100910.jpg
 
I have 3 SSDs in the lower optical bay connected to an Areca raid card via an internal break out cable (2010 MP). I use a 3 way power splitter from the unused OD connector.

In order to make room for the cable I trimmed the lower front edge off from the OD drive cage. I can now easily pass the cable under the front of the case along the left side of the cage. The cage still fits snugly and locks in place. Will post photos if requested.
 
cutterman said:
I have 3 SSDs in the lower optical bay connected to an Areca raid card via an internal break out cable (2010 MP). I use a 3 way power splitter from the unused OD connector.

In order to make room for the cable I trimmed the lower front edge off from the OD drive cage. I can now easily pass the cable under the front of the case along the left side of the cage. The cage still fits snugly and locks in place. Will post photos if requested.
Click to expand...

As you can see, I already got the power cable through. I don't think a lot folks will want to trip their drive cages… (?)

Also when you said the front of the case, did you mean the side that opens up?
 
cutterman said:
I think fewer will want to completely dismantle their computer ;)
Click to expand...

Neither is necessary to get additional cables through there. The only thing I removed was the PCIe fan and the power supply cable cover.
From my point of view, it is not necessary to remove the logic board.
 
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