MP 1,1-5,1 Newertech Adaptadrive for mid-2010 cMP?

[macstatic]

Will the Newertech Adaptadrive (3.5" to 2.5" SSD adapter) fit the drive-sleds in a mid-2010 cMP (Mac Pro 5,1)?
(the manufacturer's page doesn't specifically say)

Are they reliable? I read in some other thread that these come with electronics making it less reliable than say the 2.5" drive sled from OWC (photo below). I even read somewhere a claim that the Adaptadrive slows down an SSD compared to having it directly connected, but find either hard to believe. Judging from the photo it looks to have a circuit board which only holds the SSD connectors on one side and the connectors that go into the cMP backplane on the other side. Please correct me if I'm wrong!

I actually planned on getting a couple of those OWC 2.5" sleds, but not being available locally and very expensive to order from abroad I thought the Adaptadrive looked like a nice option.

 

[MarkC426]

Order from Amazon, they are dirt cheap at the minute
This one in the UK actually comes from Europe

OWC Mount Pro - 2.5-inch Drive Sled for mounting a 2.5-inch drive in Mac Pro (2009-2012, Nehalem" or "Westmere" Models)

OWC OWCMMP35T25 - 2.5 Drive Sled/ 09-10 MacPro Model COMPATIBLE WITH Mac Pro 12-Core (Mid 2010-2012) (July, 2010 / June 2012) Model ID: MacPro5,1 2.40GHz, 2.66GHz, 2.93GHz, 3.06GHz Mac Pro 8-Core (Mid 2010) (July, 2010) Model ID: MacPro5,1 2.4GHz Mac Pro 6-Core (Mid 2010-2012) (July, 2010 / June ...

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[macstatic]

Good call! I had a quick look and (unlike a lot of stuff on their site) they can actually send this to Norway
I'm just a little unsure if they now include local import duties/taxes in the price (which is good as I'll know the actual cost beforehand -if that method works, based on my experience it seldom does) or if I have to pay all that when I receive it.
Failing that, do you know if the Adaptadrive will work just as reliably?

 

[KeesMacPro]

I read in some other thread that these come with electronics making it less reliable than say the 2.5" drive sled from OWC (photo below). I even read somewhere a claim that the Adaptadrive slows down an SSD compared to having it directly connected, but find either hard to believe. Judging from the photo it looks to have a circuit board which only holds the SSD connectors on one side and the connectors that go into the cMP backplane on the other side. Please correct me if I'm wrong!

You're right !

There's no circuitry on the pcb , just copper paths.
So, the claim that it slows down the connection is bogus ; )

Back in the day I've used these in a Mac Pro 3,1 because the nice blue OWC ones dont fit in the MP3,1.

Btw there are Newertech adaptadrives for e.g. a MacBook Pro optical bay that do have a circuitry on the pcb.
I've used them too and there was no slowdown either in that case.

 

[macstatic]

Thanks for clearing that up, KeesMacPro!

Do they also fit the Mac Pro 5,1?
As far as I remember there are some differences between the 3,1 and 5,1 drive sleds, but that might not apply to the Adaptadrive which attaches to the inside of the sled.

 

[KeesMacPro]

Thanks for clearing that up, KeesMacPro!

Do they also fit the Mac Pro 5,1?
As far as I remember there are some differences between the 3,1 and 5,1 drive sleds, but that might not apply to the Adaptadrive which attaches to the inside of the sled.

You're welcome!

Yes, the model you linked also fits in a MP 4,1/5,1 drive sled.

 

[macstatic]

Excellent! Thanks again

 

[spacedcadet]

The OWC ones are a bargain in the UK at the moment. £13.47 on Amazon.

 

[GlynH]

Yeah I bought a one of the Newer Adaptadrive 2.5-3.5" for £13.01 along with an almost identical Sabrent for £9.99 although when I fitted one in my iMac I removed the adaptor board as the iMac uses cables to connect and there was more than enough movement on the cables to directly attach to the drive.

That was only because I would rather not have any extra connectors of any sort inline with anything if I can help it.

Old habits die hard and this comes from many years of high-end hi-fi and Pro Audio experience in live sound where connectors are just another point of failure and an attitude of if it can go wrong it will go wrong!

I also bought one of the blue OWC adaptors from Amazon at £13.47 to put an 860 EVO SSD in and an OWC 3.5" Drive Sled to take the larger HDD that has a different hole mounting position than the standard older/smaller capacity drives/sleds for the Mac Pro and all seem to do the job.

Not having the Slot numbers marked on like the original Apple sleds is messing with my OCD though...?

More sleds than Santa!

Thanks & kind regards,
-=Glyn=-

 

[MarkC426]

I'm just a little unsure if they now include local import duties/taxes in the price (which is good as I'll know the actual cost beforehand -if that method works, based on my experience it seldom does) or if I have to pay all that when I receive it.

When I have bought things from Amazon US, shipped to UK, the price is what is shown.

 

[macstatic]

What I suprise I got when I opened up my cMP today! I already had an SSD installed on an Adaptadrive, so I could easily have answered all my own questions
Oh well, at least other people will read this information.

I've never had any problems with that SSD so the Adaptadrive must have done its job.
KeesMacPro is absolutely right about there being no electronics on it, and as far as I can tell the only difference between it and the blue OWC Mount Pro adapter is that you only need to mount the SSD to the sled while with the Adaptadrive you first mount the SSD to the Adaptadrive, then mount the Adaptadrive to the sled. I believe they're just as reliable and work in the same way.

I have a couple of (nowadays) small sized SSDs which would be great for installing older OSX versions, Windows/Bootcamp and general experimentation, which is why I need a few 3.5" to 2.5" adapters. And I think I'm going to move my main HDD and Time Machine backup HDD over to a dual-drive adapter which I have in the second DVD bay because they make so much seek-noise (large 10TB and 12TB "enterprise" hard drives). Since they'll be attached to SATA cables instead of perfectly aligned with the SATA connector on the backplane I could mount them with some rubber shock-mounts and thus make them more quiet (I hope).