Can you install your external drive inside your tower?

[Kotnirid]

Hello, I have a Mac Pro (Intel) and have 2 empty hard drive slots. I have an external 2TB hard drive that I would like to take out of it's case and install into the tower. Can I do this without ruining the external drives? Here is my concern: I own an ACOMDATA 2TB drive, Model DHD2000UFAB-72. It is actually 2 hard drives inside. Is there something in the external case that or motherboard inside the external case that helps them run together as one? If I put each one inside a separate slot in my tower will it work?

Thank you in advance for your suggestions.
Kotni

 

[Hellhammer]

As long as the externals have SATA interface, it should work.

 

[Transporteur]

As long as the externals have SATA interface, it should work.

2TB drives are SATA only. So yes, it works.

 

[Kotnirid]

Thank You

Awesome, thank you. I will try it this weekend. I appreciate your feedback, thanks.

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

He mentioned 2 separate drives so they are each 1TB drives I guess in a RAID0 since you said it comes up as one 2TB partition. There's no 1TB PATA hard drive so you are safe that they are SATA and will work with your Mac Pro drive sleds.

Do you have data on them? I'm not 100% sure but moving them to another spot may destroy your RAID0. I successfully moved my RAID0 from one Mac G5 to another and everything worked just fine so I think the RAID stays with the drives and not on the hardware itself.

Be careful about removing the drives from the enclosure because that may just void any warranty that may be on them or the enclosure itself. I don't think the manufacture would know if the drives were part of an enclosure or not so it may not void the drive itself but the enclosure.

 

[Hellhammer]

2TB drives are SATA only. So yes, it works.

I've heard some drives have USB interface nowadays so the enclosure needs no adapter but this is likely for lower-end externals, not for 1TBs and it may of course be wrong as I heard it from a forum member

 

[Kotnirid]

Hmmm. Ok, the back of the external has the Firewire (800), the older Firewire, as well as the USB 2.0. I do have data on them but it is only a mirror of my second Acomdata 2TB drive. I wanted to install the "mirror" drives into the tower so that I do not have 2 externals sitting on top of my machine. The original one travels back and forth to work with me everyday and then once a week I back the whole thing up to the mirror.
just some more info I thought might help.

Not worried about the warranty. I already opened it up and voided the warranty 6 months ago when a wire came loose.

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

Hmmm. Ok, the back of the external has the Firewire (800), the older Firewire, as well as the USB 2.0. I do have data on them but it is only a mirror of my second Acomdata 2TB drive. I wanted to install the "mirror" drives into the tower so that I do not have 2 externals sitting on top of my machine. The original one travels back and forth to work with me everyday and then once a week I back the whole thing up to the mirror.
just some more info I thought might help.

Not worried about the warranty. I already opened it up and voided the warranty 6 months ago when a wire came loose.

OK then just remove the 2 drives from the enclosure and install them in your Mac Pro. Be sure to shut the MP down first though

**edit**
Oh and if you want to get rid of the enclosure, I'd love to buy that off of you!

 

[Kotnirid]

Sure, let me install the drives this weekend and if it works, then the enclosure is all yours.

 

[Transporteur]

I've heard some drives have USB interface nowadays so the enclosure needs no adapter but this is likely for lower-end externals, not for 1TBs and it may of course be wrong as I heard it from a forum member

Na you're right. Western Digital actually sells their 2.5" 1TB external drive with an internal USB drive. Makes the drive cheaper since no USB to SATA controller is needed.

I haven't seen such a thing for 3.5" drives though.

 

[Kotnirid]

Final Answer

Just in case anyone is interested...
I spoke with the tech at Acomdata and said that positively they will work fine in my tower. He said they will not run together as one drive any longer, that they will pop up as 2-1TB separate drives. There is no way to transfer any data and they will have to be reformatted as "new" hard drives once they are installed. Just thought you all might want to know. Thanks for your help and suggestions!

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

Just in case anyone is interested...
I spoke with the tech at Acomdata and said that positively they will work fine in my tower. He said they will not run together as one drive any longer, that they will pop up as 2-1TB separate drives. There is no way to transfer any data and they will have to be reformatted as "new" hard drives once they are installed. Just thought you all might want to know. Thanks for your help and suggestions!

Like I mentioned before that they *might* work still as 1 drive if that's what you are hoping for? You can always hook them up and try for yourself. Just be sure to back anything up that you may have on them.

 

[nanofrog]

I've heard some drives have USB interface nowadays so the enclosure needs no adapter but this is likely for lower-end externals, not for 1TBs and it may of course be wrong as I heard it from a forum member

SATA drives are SATA ONLY. There's a bridge chip in the enclosure that translates SATA to USB (they also exist for FW). eSATA is pass-through (no chip required at all).

Like I mentioned before that they *might* work still as 1 drive if that's what you are hoping for? You can always hook them up and try for yourself. Just be sure to back anything up that you may have on them.

It would be possible to use Disk Utility to create a RAID 0 out of them, but the existing data will be wiped out in the initialization process. They'd have had to have been backed up properly first (before pulling them from the enclosure), and then that data could be restored (if it's actually needed).

Once the array is created under OS X, it will appear as a single 2TB drive (called a logical drive). JBOD is the same way (n disks appear as one).

 

[Hellhammer]

SATA drives are SATA ONLY. There's a bridge chip in the enclosure that translates SATA to USB (they also exist for FW). eSATA is pass-through (no chip required at all).

I know SATA is always SATA but as Transporteur said, WD makes 2.5" drives with USB interface to save money on the enclosure. Most drives are still SATA though

 

[nanofrog]

I know SATA is always SATA but as Transporteur said, WD makes 2.5" drives with USB interface to save money on the enclosure. Most drives are still SATA though

Odd. I've not noticed such a thing, but it's not impossible to do (stuff the bridge chip on the drive's controller board).

But I don't pay much attention to external drives much (typically they're just one of the maker's consumer models stuffed in an enclosure). Large consumer models (backup use) and enterprise, OTOH...

 

[Hellhammer]

Odd. I've not noticed such a thing, but it's not impossible to do (stuff the bridge chip on the drive's controller board).

But I don't pay much attention to external drives much (typically they're just one of the maker's consumer models stuffed in an enclosure). Large consumer models (backup use) and enterprise, OTOH...

Me neither, I just heard it from someone and thought it's worth saying it in this thread I have four externals but they are all pretty basic and just used for backups and as storage

 

[nanofrog]

Me neither, I just heard it from someone and thought it's worth saying it in this thread I have four externals but they are all pretty basic and just used for backups and as storage

I think it's the My Passport Elite series (it's claimed to be their smalles portable drive). They are USB accessed, but the drive is in an enclosure. So I'd have to take one apart to see if the bridge chip is on the actual drive's controller, or if they stuffed it in the enclosure surrounding the drive (looks like plastic to me).

But there's other features (capacity indicator bar), so I'm guessing it's an additional board (cheaper that way, as one board can be used with every model made, which is a different drive capacity).