Can i use that mini-PCI-E port for something useful?

[TK2K]

Hey,
So question! The wireless card addon for the mac pro plugs into a mini pci-express port. Being on gigabit, I really have no use for it, and there are tons of other solutions for bluetooth.

So, could I, for example, put a mini pci-express SSD drive in there or something exciting like that? anyone have any luck with this?

 

[J the Ninja]

All 4 of the regular PCI-E slots in your machine are full?

 

[TK2K]

All 4 of the regular PCI-E slots in your machine are full?

Here's the thing, PCI-E standard SSD cards are extreme amounts of money ($1k plus) while mini pci-e SSDs are more reasonable and still have 150MB rates. Just a thought really.

 

[J the Ninja]

Here's the thing, PCI-E standard SSD cards are extreme amounts of money ($1k plus) while mini pci-e SSDs are more reasonable and still have 150MB rates. Just a thought really.

Have you looked at a sled adapter to get a normal 2.5" SATA SSD into the Mac Pro's hard drive carriers? They do exist, and you might find them to be an easier solution:

http://www.maxupgrades.com/istore/index.cfm?fuseaction=Product.display&product_id=180


I'm not trying to discourage you, but it seems to me your approach of retrofitting an SSD to the AirPort slot isn't the most cost-effective way to go about this.

 

[TK2K]

Have you looked at a sled adapter to get a normal 2.5" SATA SSD into the Mac Pro's hard drive carriers? They do exist, and you might find them to be an easier solution:

http://www.maxupgrades.com/istore/index.cfm?fuseaction=Product.display&product_id=180


I'm not trying to discourage you, but it seems to me your approach of retrofitting an SSD to the AirPort slot isn't the most cost-effective way to go about this.

Got a raid 5 array in there, boot drive is in the optical bay
What i'm lookin for probably isn't doable, it was mostly just an idea

 

[2002cbr600f4i]

Got a raid 5 array in there, boot drive is in the optical bay
What i'm lookin for probably isn't doable, it was mostly just an idea

eh, well, I just looked at the offerings for what you want to do on newegg, and to be honest, the performance of them looks HORRIBLE.

If you DO go this route and get it working, please let me know as I'd be interested as well. It might make for a nice emergency boot partition or something like that...

 

[Transeau]

I've been thinking of this as well.

I would like to put a 64GB Mini PCIe SSD in there and use it as a "maintenance" drive. Something like a clean 10.5.7 install with all the various disk utilities.

Problem is, I don't want to buy one of these, not knowing if it's going to work.

 

[TK2K]

eh, well, I just looked at the offerings for what you want to do on newegg, and to be honest, the performance of them looks HORRIBLE.

If you DO go this route and get it working, please let me know as I'd be interested as well. It might make for a nice emergency boot partition or something like that...

I found a trend micro drive with 150/150 which seems descent.. still looking though.

 

[srvmr]

For what its worth, I tried a RunCore 32GB SSD that I use in my Dell Mini 9 with Leopard. I couldn't get it recognized through disk utility and it wouldn't mount. It did mount with the included micro USB cord so maybe that slot is only capable of wireless.

 

[rtrt]

a

 

[Dark Dragoon]

You need to be careful with mini-PCIe slots as the slot and the card can support various different interfaces but look identical. Such as PCIe x1, USB, SATA/IDE passthrough.

You would need to make sure the SSD you buy uses an interface that the slot supports.