how to activate lower sata ports on mac pro 2008?

[j2048b]

I have seen a thread on how to slip stream ahci drivers to windows but am not really sure on how to do this yet?

is that the only way to enable the other 2 sata ports on the mac pro logic board for a 2008 mac pro?

or is there another way?

thanks
j

 

[dimme]

Are you referring to the two extra SATA ports. Do you want to use them in OS X or windows. I have a Newer Technology eSATA Extender Cable Adapter for Mac Pro that I use for OS X. I have not been able to make it work in windows.

 

[Guiyon]

The simplest and, AFAIK, only way to enable the lower two ports by using a patched bootloader to poke the correct bits in memory to enable them when booted in the BIOS compatibility mode. These ports are not bootable and enabling them does disable the PATA port in Windows.

 

[j2048b]

i was going to install windows eventually and get rid of my extra box here running windows!

but until then i can enable them but it will disable pata in windows?

kind of confused i think?

 

[satcomer]

I use the NewerTech MAXPower 6G It requires no drivers in 10.6.6 or Windows 7 on my 2008 Mac Pro and works beautifully.

 

[j2048b]

I use the NewerTech MAXPower 6G It requires no drivers in 10.6.6 or Windows 7 on my 2008 Mac Pro and works beautifully.

that looks nice, but i am wanting to know if the two sata ports will work if i plug hard drives into them automatically, or do i have to do something to make them work?

if they work i can always add this awesome little card as well, if needed?

thanks


does this also mean you are running windows off of one of these ports in an external drive case?

 

[Guiyon]

i was going to install windows eventually and get rid of my extra box here running windows!

but until then i can enable them but it will disable pata in windows?

kind of confused i think?

Not quite. In order to enable the ODD SATA ports you would need to install Windows and then patch the Windows bootloader, see this thread on InsanelyMac for more information. The downside to enabling the ODD SATA ports is:

• You MUST install Windows with AHCI support. This is a pain with XP but much nicer starting with Windows 7
• As long as the ODD ports are enabled, the PATA port is disabled

 

[j2048b]

So we actually have a para port on our logic board? Why? Makes no sense because pata drives, if I am correct, don't go above 750gigs and sata is quicker,

Does not matter to me about the pata port as I Guess I would never use it? It would be beneficial for a windows disk I guess? Huh, might have to think about this one and possibly pata a windows disk and use the odd's for osx?

Yeah I am just nit a huge fan of windows 7, been on xp for so many years that I can use it so easily and from my dabbling in windows 7, they made it difficult to change stuff and tweak tue OS the way I want it, but may have to reconsider for the future!

Thanks for the link and info!

Not quite. In order to enable the ODD SATA ports you would need to install Windows and then patch the Windows bootloader, see this thread on InsanelyMac for more information. The downside to enabling the ODD SATA ports is:

• You MUST install Windows with AHCI support. This is a pain with XP but much nicer starting with Windows 7
• As long as the ODD ports are enabled, the PATA port is disabled

 

[elvisizer]

the parallel IDE/ATA port on the 2008 machines is used for the stock optical drive, not hard drives.
I'm surprised to see people saying the parallel port stops working in windows if you're in AHCI mode. I've installed windows about 5 different ways on my 2008, with AHCI enabled in each installation, and I've never lost the use of my optical drive. I am using one of the ODD SATA ports to connect my blu ray writer, so I have to enable AHCI to use that drive.

 

[j2048b]

the parallel IDE/ATA port on the 2008 machines is used for the stock optical drive, not hard drives.
I'm surprised to see people saying the parallel port stops working in windows if you're in AHCI mode. I've installed windows about 5 different ways on my 2008, with AHCI enabled in each installation, and I've never lost the use of my optical drive. I am using one of the ODD SATA ports to connect my blu ray writer, so I have to enable AHCI to use that drive.

Ok so did u have to patch windows each time it was installed or did u use other means such as bootcamp, vm, external drive and so on? Just wanting to utilize all ports to the best of both the Mac and my needs and abilities! I am tired of having a separate box runni g windows but at the same time if I keep it this way and continue to connect through remote desktop then nothing on my Mac pro gets down graded or used up in order to run windows on the Mac itself!

also how do u enable ahci in order to connect a sata drive to it? where do u turn that on or patch that? i have an ide to sata board that i connect and it works just fine!

 

[elvisizer]

the link already posted in the thread to the insanelymac forum has the instructions for getting AHCI working.
yes, you do have to do that every time you reinstall windows.
no, you don't have to use 'bootcamp'. all bootcamp really is is a utility to partition your boot drive.
I have always wanted to give windows it's own dedicated HD, so i just boot directly from the windows installer and install onto the disk of my choice. After installation, I install apple's drivers. Then, I switch to ahci by switching the registry key, and then running the bootsector script under OS X. Once that's done, I update important drivers from the vendor since apple's drivers are generally old- I always replace audio, chipset, sata, and GPU drivers. And that's my full windows build procedure.

 

[Guiyon]

the parallel IDE/ATA port on the 2008 machines is used for the stock optical drive, not hard drives.
I'm surprised to see people saying the parallel port stops working in windows if you're in AHCI mode. I've installed windows about 5 different ways on my 2008, with AHCI enabled in each installation, and I've never lost the use of my optical drive. I am using one of the ODD SATA ports to connect my blu ray writer, so I have to enable AHCI to use that drive.

Very odd, I've always had AHCI working but the moment I have it enabled Windows is no longer able to see my PATA ODD.

 

[elvisizer]

Very odd, I've always had AHCI working but the moment I have it enabled Windows is no longer able to see my PATA ODD.

PATA ODD?

all i'm saying is that my top bay optical drive as shipped from apple is a PATA device, and it works under windows in AHCI mode. my blu ray writer is a SATA device, and that's what is plugged into the ODD SATA port. that configuration may not be what you all were referring to. if so, sorry for the derail! 😀


if you are talking about that config, maybe it's because I always install windows in non-ahci mode and then switch over later. that has been my method for all of my builds, and I haven't seen any downside. the machine's rock solid stable.