Mac Pro with Apple RAID card

[Brutus Rex]

So I have an early 2008 Mac Pro Octo. I purchased the system with the Apple Raid card when there were few other options. I have some questions..

1. is it possible to add the eSATA connector I have seen on OWC to connect some eSATA drives? do you connect this to the 2nd ODD spot?

2. if this doesnt work with the apple raid card, can i do it with a 3rd party card? and i would my current array be affected with installing a new raid card. i am running raid 5 config.

3. if i wanted to updrade the size of my hard drives (i currently have 1tb drives x 3) and a 250hdd for vmware stuff, do i have to back everything up on a separate drive and then transfer everything back to the new raid array?

 

[Tesselator]

I think any and all SATA connections can be taken external where they would be called "eSATA". It's really nothing more than an extension cable that runs from any internal SATA port and brings it outside the box. eSATA is typically only the data part of the two cables tho so you have to supply power to the drives externally.

So, if the apple RAID card has standard SATA ports on it then I don't see why not.

 

[nanofrog]

So I have an early 2008 Mac Pro Octo. I purchased the system with the Apple Raid card when there were few other options. I have some questions..

1. is it possible to add the eSATA connector I have seen on OWC to connect some eSATA drives? do you connect this to the 2nd ODD spot?

2. if this doesnt work with the apple raid card, can i do it with a 3rd party card? and i would my current array be affected with installing a new raid card. i am running raid 5 config.

3. if i wanted to updrade the size of my hard drives (i currently have 1tb drives x 3) and a 250hdd for vmware stuff, do i have to back everything up on a separate drive and then transfer everything back to the new raid array?

The way you posted the question, I'm slightly confused (location of eSATA connections), but hopefully, this will help.

1. If you mean to attach to one or both of the ODD_SATA ports on the logic board, then you can add the eSATA bracket adapter. Please note, that the MP does not support hot-swapping.

2. The eSATA bracket adapter won't work with Apple's RAID card. Wrong connector on it.

It is possible with some 3rd party cards however, so long as they use SATA connectors, and are OS X compatible. Check out Highpoint and Areca. If you wish to boot into OS X, pay close attention to the specifications, as not all can, and only have driver support (boot off a single disk or software array, then have use of the RAID card).

3. It's a good idea to have the backup anyway, as things can go wrong. Redundancy is not the same as a backup. That said, as it's a RAID 5, you can pull a drive, and add one. Let it rebuild complelely, then repeat until all disks are replaced with the larger ones. Slow, but it does work. If you have the time, just swap the drives, create the array, and restore the data. It's less stressful than swapping drives in an existing RAID 5 set. Sometimes faster too.

I think any and all SATA connections can be taken external where they would be called "eSATA". It's really nothing more than an extension cable that runs from any internal SATA port and brings it outside the box. eSATA is typically only the data part of the two cables tho so you have to supply power to the drives externally.

Yup.

So, if the apple RAID card has standard SATA ports on it then I don't see why not.

It doesn't. It uses a single MiniSAS connector.

 

[Brutus Rex]

Nanofrog

Sorry about the confusion.

So I connect this connector to the logic board:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/MPQXES2/

My question is this:
Will this still work if I have the other drives connected to the apple raid card. I *thought* I read on here a long time ago it would not work, but it has been a long time. Can anyone confirm this will work while the apple raid is in use as well?

 

[Tesselator]

It doesn't. It uses a single MiniSAS connector.

WHAT??? Frigging Apple man...

Hehe

 

[nanofrog]

Sorry about the confusion.

So I connect this connector to the logic board:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/MPQXES2/

This is the bracket I was thinking of.

And Yes, you connect it to either one or both of the ODD_SATA ports on the logic board. Or on an internal SATA card if you desired, though getting one with eSATA ports makes more sense. (No wasted PCIe slot just to fit it out the back).

My question is this:
Will this still work if I have the other drives connected to the apple raid card. I *thought* I read on here a long time ago it would not work, but it has been a long time. Can anyone confirm this will work while the apple raid is in use as well?

AFIAK, it would work. If you plan to use it in a Windows evironment, you'd need to install AHCI drivers IIRC. Handy to have anyway, if this is the case.

WHAT??? Frigging Apple man...

Hehe

Meh... They're very common on RAID cards. Far more have these than SATA ports on gear from major makers anyway (Areca, Atto, LSI, AMCC/3Ware, Adaptec,...). Extremely convenient as well, for both cable routing and identification. The break-out (SATA/SAS) ends even tend to be numbered.