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Need to install PATA/IDE hard drive into Mac Pro; tips?

watchmainspring

watchmainspring

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 2, 2005
1,044
311
Boston
Hey guys, thanks for all your great support in the past.

I am looking to install two PATA hard drives into a Mac Pro: any tips on what cable to buy/where to get it?

Perhaps a simple adapter won't suffice (due to case limitations)?

Thanks again!
 
Do you have a 2nd connector on the optical drive cable (IDE/PATA)?
Add a set of drive rails to mount it in the empty (assumption) optical bay.

Otherwise, the link provided by LotusLord will work well. ;)

That being said, why use an old HDD of this type? :confused:
Critical data on it, or just lying around collecting dust?
If the latter, it's your choice, but the slowness might drive you insane. :p
 
nanofrog said:
Do you have a 2nd connector on the optical drive cable (IDE/PATA)?
Add a set of drive rails to mount it in the empty (assumption) optical bay.

Otherwise, the link provided by LotusLord will work well. ;)

That being said, why use an old HDD of this type? :confused:
Critical data on it, or just lying around collecting dust?
If the latter, it's your choice, but the slowness might drive you insane. :p
Click to expand...

Am I insane for doing this? I had these nice drives laying around, but am I wrong to assume that:
1. IDE with the adapter will be risky in terms of potential frying motherboards
2. IDE will be much slower.
 
WHAT IS THE STORAGE CAPACITY OF THE DRIVES?
If It is less than 500 GB total I would consider retiring them or selling them on ebay & getting 750 GB - 1 TB drives in SATA flavor for the MacPro. Otherwise you are almost wasting space. I have 3 1 TB seagates in mine + a 150 GB Raptor 10K for booting. Slower out of date low storage drives do not make any sense to put in there. IMO.
 
Winstonp said:
Am I insane for doing this? I had these nice drives laying around, but am I wrong to assume that:
1. IDE with the adapter will be risky in terms of potential frying motherboards
2. IDE will be much slower.
Click to expand...
1. Shouldn't be a probelm. I've never seen nor heard of this happening.
2. Yes. IDE is slower than SATA I/II. But it will work. ;)
 
Let me be clear, this is not possible. The Mac Pro uses drive sleds that interface directly with SATA data and power connections. There is no room for extra adapters; these won't allow the sled to be all the way in, which means they won't be fully secured and may slide around. You would also need to buy an adapter to supply power to the drive - the Mac Pro doesn't supply the 4-pin molex connections found on IDE drives.

Theoretically, you could do this if you rested the drive on the bottom of the MP, unsecured, and ran the necessary cables to it through some adapters. But it's about the least elegant solution possible, so just get some SATA drives.
 
AC773 said:
Let me be clear, this is not possible. The Mac Pro uses drive sleds that interface directly with SATA data and power connections. There is no room for extra adapters; these won't allow the sled to be all the way in, which means they won't be fully secured and may slide around. You would also need to buy an adapter to supply power to the drive - the Mac Pro doesn't supply the 4-pin molex connections found on IDE drives.

Theoretically, you could do this if you rested the drive on the bottom of the MP, unsecured, and ran the necessary cables to it through some adapters. But it's about the least elegant solution possible, so just get some SATA drives.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, I didn't realize that was how the MacPro handled it's drives (though I suppose I probably should have looked)
 
AC773 said:
Let me be clear, this is not possible. The Mac Pro uses drive sleds that interface directly with SATA data and power connections. There is no room for extra adapters; these won't allow the sled to be all the way in, which means they won't be fully secured and may slide around. You would also need to buy an adapter to supply power to the drive - the Mac Pro doesn't supply the 4-pin molex connections found on IDE drives.

Theoretically, you could do this if you rested the drive on the bottom of the MP, unsecured, and ran the necessary cables to it through some adapters. But it's about the least elegant solution possible, so just get some SATA drives.
Click to expand...
For drive sleds, you are correct. :)

If you use a drive rail adapter, an empty optical bay could be used. Then connect the SATA cable to one of the ODD ports. A bit of a hack, but can be done. (Mounting location listed in previous post.) ;)
 
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