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How to mount 2.5" drives in a Mac Pro?

5

50thVert

macrumors regular
Original poster
Hello all,
I'm going to be receiving my new Mac Pro soon and a friend has some 74GB 2.5" SAS drives that I am considering using for some fast storage. How would I go about mounting these up in the 3.5" Mac Pro drive bays?
 
Some people have gotten 2.5 to 3.5 adapters and then just unscrewed the connector and plugged them in carefully, but that's quite a pain.

Not only that, but do you have a SAS controller or the Apple Raid controller? Onboard will only do SATA, not SAS.
 
Ah, was not aware the onboard did not handle SAS.

Well the same question applies for 2.5" SATA SSD's. What is the best way to mount one of these in a Mac Pro's stock 3.5" drive bay?
 
Same as what I said. But it's not a clean way to do it.

Why buy 2.5" SATA drives when 3.5" drives have more capacity, cheaper, and faster? The only thing 2.5" gets you is less heat, which isn't a huge concern in such a large case.
 
I was planning on going with a 2.5" SSD drive, which is why I asked. Looks like there is no aftermarket carrier that will easily adapt a 2.5" drive to the 3.5" bays, and I don't wanna go unplugging things and letting stuff just sit in the case unrestrained.

Time to find a cheap 150GB Raptor. 🙂
 
50thVert said:
I was planning on going with a 2.5" SSD drive, which is why I asked. Looks like there is no aftermarket carrier that will easily adapt a 2.5" drive to the 3.5" bays...
Click to expand...

I take it you didn't use Google much... cause i found cause I found this, possible solution perhaps? ... Though it's not very "technical"
And there's this aftermarket carrier!!


50thVert said:
and I don't wanna go unplugging things and letting stuff just sit in the case unrestrained.

Time to find a cheap 150GB Raptor. 🙂
Click to expand...


Also if you search the forums you can find a thread about installing four 2.5" drives in the lower optical bay...
This topic has been covered before. Look... someone did it here!!
 
UltraNEO* said:
I take it you didn't use Google... cause I found this, possible solution perhaps? ... Though it's not very "technical"

Also if you search the forums you can find a thread about installing four 2.5" drives in the lower optical bay... This topic has been covered before.
Click to expand...

You "took" wrong. Google did not yield the result I was looking for: A clean install of a 2.5" drive into the 3.5" bays. That particular solution is almost worse than just sitting the drive into the bay and hoping it stays connected.

I saw the threads about putting them in the lower optical bay and decided not to go that route as well.
 
50thVert said:
You "took" wrong. Google did not yield the result I was looking for: A clean install of a 2.5" drive into the 3.5" bays. That particular solution is almost worse than just sitting the drive into the bay and hoping it stays connected.

I saw the threads about putting them in the lower optical bay and decided not to go that route as well.
Click to expand...

Huh? You can always resort to some DIY..

Just becaise someone used some tape, doesn't mean you can't improvise and improve on their technic.
Buy some sheet metal, M3 spacers and get a drill, make some holes in the sheet metal then mount your
2.5" drive on them. I think a child with a little creativity can manage this.


You "took" wrong???
Click to expand...
😕 english?
 
The solution I was looking for doesn't exist: A replacement drive slide that securely mounts 2.5" drives into the 3.5" bays in the Mac Pro. I don't want to just sit the drives in there, tape them to whatever I can, or take up an optical bay I may fill with a Bluray burner at some point.
 
50thVert said:
The solution I was looking for doesn't exist: A replacement drive slide that securely mounts 2.5" drives into the 3.5" bays in the Mac Pro. I don't want to just sit the drives in there, tape them to whatever I can, or take up an optical bay I may fill with a Bluray burner at some point.
Click to expand...

I know that... that's why i suggested you be a little creative. Get some sheet metal and make something, secure it to the existing drive sledge - it's not that hard to imagine, just takes some designing.
 
50thVert said:
I was planning on going with a 2.5" SSD drive, which is why I asked. Looks like there is no aftermarket carrier that will easily adapt a 2.5" drive to the 3.5" bays, and I don't wanna go unplugging things and letting stuff just sit in the case unrestrained.

Time to find a cheap 150GB Raptor. 🙂
Click to expand...

Buy a new style Velociraptor it will fit perfectly in the 3.5" bay. You then can replace the 2.5" drive in it with an SSD if you choose. Kind of expensive way to do this though, but you will end up with a fast 150GB 2.5" sata drive.
 
Rick Here said:
Buy a new style Velociraptor it will fit perfectly in the 3.5" bay. You then can replace the 2.5" drive in it with an SSD if you choose. Kind of expensive way to do this though, but you will end up with a fast 150GB 2.5" sata drive.
Click to expand...

Did they recently change the Velociraptor? I was under the impression that it didn't fit because the ports were misaligned?
 
Cool - if only SSD's were'nt becomming cheaper I'd get 4 of those baby's - shame I am gonna wait for a backplane kit for 2.5" and SSD up 🙂

(My 4 Hitachi drives are pretty damned quick now so I cant justify going Raptor)...

:S but it is good news for us Mac Pro users indeed.

(but 300GB for £160 is still a big gradient in my opinion as thats 1.5TB in 7200 speed format)
 
50thVert said:
The solution I was looking for doesn't exist: A replacement drive slide that securely mounts 2.5" drives into the 3.5" bays in the Mac Pro. I don't want to just sit the drives in there, tape them to whatever I can, or take up an optical bay I may fill with a Bluray burner at some point.
Click to expand...

We've discussed the 2.5" to 3.5" issue several times here (usually with me asking). This is the cleanest adaptor we've found. Built for the Velociraptor but supposedly good for any 2.5" drive, SATA or SSD.

http://www.maxupgrades.com/istore/i...&product_id=180&CFID=1065021&CFTOKEN=71791031
 
Thiol said:
We've discussed the 2.5" to 3.5" issue several times here (usually with me asking). This is the cleanest adaptor we've found. Built for the Velociraptor but supposedly good for any 2.5" drive, SATA or SSD.

http://www.maxupgrades.com/istore/i...&product_id=180&CFID=1065021&CFTOKEN=71791031
Click to expand...

You could spend $48 on those, or if you just want some simple 2.5" to 3.5" rails, you could spend $8 on these from Amazon:
41yga4Nk6BL._AA280_.jpg

(Edit) That is, unless the hard drive is held in upside down from the screws on the bottom? I don't have a Mac Pro so i'm not sure.
 
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A simple adaptor like that won't work. For one thing, the drives are held in by the screws on the bottom, but more importantly, the key here (and the reason the original VelociRaptors didn't work) is that the drives have to line up to the standard SATA placement for 3.5" drives. An adaptor like that would put the connectors roughly in the middle, rather than at the lower left corner (when looking at the back of the drive sitting normally).

The best bet is probably the MaxUpgrades one, unless getting a VelociRaptor and using the sled is appealing (not a cheap idea by any means), or having one custom made (tricky and also probably expensive considering the precision required).
 
HunterMaximus said:
The best bet is probably the MaxUpgrades one, unless getting a VelociRaptor and using the sled is appealing (not a cheap idea by any means), or having one custom made (tricky and also probably expensive considering the precision required).
Click to expand...

Just wanted to confirm that the MaxUpgrades adaptor does indeed work well for drives other than the Velociraptor. I was able to get a 2.5" SSD in with one.
 
Any good prices on the back-plane ready Velociraptor's? Are the really ~$100 more than the non-back plane ready version? That seems crazy. I could by the MaxUpgrades adapter with the same drive for $50 less.
 
hayduke said:
Any good prices on the back-plane ready Velociraptor's? Are the really ~$100 more than the non-back plane ready version? That seems crazy. I could by the MaxUpgrades adapter with the same drive for $50 less.
Click to expand...
The best price I found today for the WD3000BLFS was $308.99, so yes, they're still crazy. 😱 😀 But if you have a true 2.5" backplane, no Mac Pro and the option of MaxUpgrade's mount, you have to have them. 🙁

In the case of the Mac Pro, you have the right idea. Just get the WD3000GLFS and a MaxUpgrades drive mount for it, and pocket the cash. 😛

You won't be disappointed with the performance. 😀 I've gotten spoiled. 😛
 
pjarvi said:
You could spend $48 on those, or if you just want some simple 2.5" to 3.5" rails, you could spend $8 on these from Amazon:
View attachment 132339

(Edit) That is, unless the hard drive is held in upside down from the screws on the bottom? I don't have a Mac Pro so i'm not sure.
Click to expand...

I tried those clips from Amazon and they don't fit right. there was no way to make 'em work, cheap pieces o' junk.
 
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