Mac Pro on its side

[dog299]

Hey guys,

quick question. My mate wants to upgrade to MacPro but wants to keep/use it on its side. Is this possible? I know that the DVD drive might be an issue as it opens etc.

Cheers guys

 

[Tallest Skil]

Your mate doesn't want to do that. If he's that strapped for room, I'd tell him to clean things up and rearrange a bit first.

 

[Tracer]

It'll run just fine on it side, there are no air vents on either side so that won't be an issue.

However, I don't think the optical drives would be able to work at full capacity.

Post Photos, it will certainly be an unusual setup.

Tracer

 

[supercooled]

I thought the PowerMac G5 were rack mountable? In any event, it should work fine but I would avoid using the optical in that state.

 

[dog299]

cheers guys!

He wants to have it in his front room. He has a Mac Mini and fallen in love with all things Apple (another convert by me! honestly Jobs should cut me a cheque!) but now he is wanting more power etc...

anyways will pass on the suggestions!

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

Although its possible, I would say make sure to put something soft underneath it and on top of it otherwise it'll get scratched up. The base has kind of rubbery like things to protect it.

 

[macworkerbee]

Something just makes me feel like this is a bad idea but I don't know why.

 

[dog299]

Something just makes me feel like this is a bad idea but I don't know why.

i know thats what i said when he first mentioned it. He wants something more powerful to connect to his LCD TV in the front room; my other response was perhaps get a macbookpro and use that? close the lid and use it etc...

 

[TheNightPhoenix]

The Disc drive is fine as long as he makes sure its sitting properly in the slot. The biggest problem of side mounted drives is the disc falls out during closing.
Put it in properly and it should be fine, we had one like this in the back of the car for a while and had no issues.

 

[snberk103]

Could you expand on this ? ?

The Disc drive is fine as long as he makes sure its sitting properly in the slot. The biggest problem of side mounted drives is the disc falls out during closing.
Put it in properly and it should be fine, we had one like this in the back of the car for a while and had no issues.

Did you have a Mac Pro in your car? On its side or standing up, that should be an interesting story! Or perhaps it was merely a sideways optical drive?

 

[echoout]

Lots of facilities keep their Mac Pros on their sides rackmounted in an air conditioned machine room.

 

[TheNightPhoenix]

Did you have a Mac Pro in your car? On its side or standing up, that should be an interesting story! Or perhaps it was merely a sideways optical drive?

The Mac was on it's side, the whole unit not just a drive. Worked like a charm.

 

[Cryptic1911]

it'll work fine.. people have been using optical drives sideways for like 20 years

 

[siddd]

it'll work fine.. people have been using optical drives sideways for like 20 years

I would have agreed with you till about a week ago - when we replaced some of our sideways mounted mac pros (purchased in 2006/7) with some Early 2009 8 Core 2.26 Xeons. The drives in these they are very loud when reading CDs/DVDs when putting a blank disc in for burning, the disc will not show up in finder.

Judging by this other article they are not that good when upright either though:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/681314/

Cheers,
Siddd

 

[Syonidism]

there is a really easy diy mod that will enable you to get the drivers horizontal when the mac is sideways.

however you will probably hate me for stating this afterwards...