SSD in 3.5" HDD Sled

[barry.pearson]

Hey just wondering if someone could point me in the right direction. I have a Mac Pro 2009 and my HDD is starting to fail so I was going to put in an SSD I have spare, however the ports won't line up. My main drive, also a SSD, sits inside a plastic adaptor to line up with the power and SATA ports. Does anyone know where I can get one of these in the UK? Thanks.

 

[monokakata]

If NewerTech has a UK presence, this one should work for you.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/ADPTADRV/

I have one, and it works as advertised.

You could also mine the text in the link for search terms and give Google a try. I've found that sometimes the common search terms don't give useful results, but a phrase from a product description can lead you to your answer.

 

[barry.pearson]

@monokakata Thanks, that NewerTech adaptor is on a few UK websites. I've just picked one up for £16 inc. postage for reference.

 

[nigelbb]

The low cost option is to hold the 2.5" SSD in place with some gaffer tape. They are so light that is all that is required.

 

[macpro00]

I updated my 2009 with SSD by using this adapter:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MMP35T25/

 

[h9826790]

Just pull the 2.5" SSD out, plug that into the lower optical bay, leave it there, zero cost, 100% safe. There is no moving parts inside the SSD, so, no need to "fix" it. There is also no power or heat issue to leave it in the optical bay.

If you can fit your plastic adaptor into the lower optical bay, you can simply put the whole thing at there, and connect the cable.

 

[r6mile]

I use the NewerTech adapter on my iMac, and have fitted it on a number of other Mac Minis. You can get cheaper ones but the NewerTech is very solid and I wouldn't skimp out on it.

 

[SayCheese]

@monokakata Thanks, that NewerTech adaptor is on a few UK websites. I've just picked one up for £16 inc. postage for reference.

Can you please tell me which site you got that from? I'm also in the UK and would like to look at buying one.

 

[r6mile]

Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/NewerTechno...5962927&sr=1-1&keywords=newertech+adaptadrive
Ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NWT-Adapt...432196?hash=item418f61e6c4:g:oqYAAOSwa39Ux2T2

 

[DPUser]

Just pull the 2.5" SSD out, plug that into the lower optical bay, leave it there, zero cost, 100% safe. There is no moving parts inside the SSD, so, no need to "fix" it. There is also no power or heat issue to leave it in the optical bay.

If you can fit your plastic adaptor into the lower optical bay, you can simply put the whole thing at there, and connect the cable.

I moved my optical drive to the lower optical bay, where it serves as a very nice SSD shelf upon which I rest four SSDs: two connected to the optical bay SATA ports and two connected to a PCIe SATA3 card. Power is delivered via a SATA power splitter fed from one of the optical bay power cables.

 

[MarkC426]

Can you please tell me which site you got that from? I'm also in the UK and would like to look at buying one.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/OWC-Mount-P...qid=1455969787&sr=8-1&keywords=owc+drive+sled

I have two of these in my Mac Pro

 

[kschendel]

Icy Dock is another option that worked for me. I'm sure there are multiple sources, I bought mine through newegg which also sells in the UK. e.g. ICY DOCK EZ-Fit Lite MB290SP-B 2 x 2.5” to 3.5” Drive Bay SATA/IDE SSD/HDD Mounting Kit / Bracket / Adapter ICY DOCK EZ-Fit Lite MB290SP-B 2 x 2.5” to 3.5” Drive Bay SATA/IDE SSD/HDD Mounting Kit / Bracket / Adapter

 

[Gartbull]

I use a HP server 2.5" to 3.5" SATA Adapter Tray HDD Bracket Caddy available on eBay. It works excellent and is made of durable metal.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151947929533?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

 

[kschendel]

If the bracket is being used to mount an SSD, it's hardly going to be subjected to any stresses .. it's just there to properly position the SSD. One could probably make the bracket out of well baked gingerbread and have it last just as long.

The metal ones obviously do lend a certain consistency of look, and the price is right, but for this application I wouldn't fear a plastic unit.

 

[frou]

I love those "Intel Blue" coloured sleds paired with rock-solid Intel SSDs.

I went bananas and kitted my MP out with a full complement of 4 of these, in addition to 2 PCIe SM951s as boot drives for macOS and Win10.

 

[ActionableMango]

I went bananas and kitted my MP out with a full complement of 4 of these, in addition to 2 PCIe SM951s as boot drives for macOS and Win10.

Do you need to do anything special to have Windows 10 boot from the SM951?

 

[frou]

Do you need to do anything special to have Windows 10 boot from the SM951?

I won't know until about 2 weeks from now. Currently, Win10 is running off an Intel because I'm waiting until Win10 "Anniversary Edition" is released to clean-install onto the SM951.

The plan is to boot off a burned official Win10 DVD, with no use of Boot Camp Assistant in OS X, and do a non-EFI install. Are you aware of any problem I might face?

 

[flowrider]

I'm using two of these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Your-Best-D...363238?hash=item3d1e3dabe6:g:cX0AAOSwiYFXIhjB

I removed the HD and replaced it with the SSD. It's a quality adapter.

Lou

 

[ActionableMango]

Are you aware of any problem I might face?

Well I've been interested in the SM951 for Windows boot, but I've asked twice now in the big thread if anyone could verify that Windows will boot from it, and was never answered. I'm not the only one who asked. I found one guy who sort of implied that he did, but it wasn't very clear. When I directly asked him to verify, he would not answer.

I did hear back two theories. The first was that Windows won't boot from an external media source, and PCIe cards are considered to be external media on a Mac, so of course it won't work. The second theory is that Windows will boot from PCIe because even if the Mac hardware thinks of PCIe as external media, all that matters is what Windows thinks of it, and Windows does not see it as external media, so of course it will work.

I was pretty excited to see your post saying you were using SM951 with Windows, but it looks like you're not there yet, so once again I'm just shy of finding someone to verify. When you get around to trying it out, I'd appreciate verification if you get it working, and if you had to do anything special to get there.

 

[frou]

Well I've been interested in the SM951 for Windows boot, but I've asked twice now in the big thread if anyone could verify that Windows will boot from it, and was never answered. I'm not the only one who asked. I found one guy who sort of implied that he did, but it wasn't very clear. When I directly asked him to verify, he would not answer.

I did hear back two theories. The first was that Windows won't boot from an external media source, and PCIe cards are considered to be external media on a Mac, so of course it won't work. The second theory is that Windows will boot from PCIe because even if the Mac hardware thinks of PCIe as external media, all that matters is what Windows thinks of it, and Windows does not see it as external media, so of course it will work.

I was pretty excited to see your post saying you were using SM951 with Windows, but it looks like you're not there yet, so once again I'm just shy of finding someone to verify. When you get around to trying it out, I'd appreciate verification if you get it working, and if you had to do anything special to get there.

Alright, I've made a todo in Things.app to report back

I'm inclined to think that the concept of a PCIe card being "external" is a software-level thing. OS X might be extra squirrelly about it because it's part of a single vendor world and so has a strong opinion of what constitutes a "normal" hardware setup.

 

[h9826790]

Well I've been interested in the SM951 for Windows boot, but I've asked twice now in the big thread if anyone could verify that Windows will boot from it, and was never answered. I'm not the only one who asked. I found one guy who sort of implied that he did, but it wasn't very clear. When I directly asked him to verify, he would not answer.

I did hear back two theories. The first was that Windows won't boot from an external media source, and PCIe cards are considered to be external media on a Mac, so of course it won't work. The second theory is that Windows will boot from PCIe because even if the Mac hardware thinks of PCIe as external media, all that matters is what Windows thinks of it, and Windows does not see it as external media, so of course it will work.

I was pretty excited to see your post saying you were using SM951 with Windows, but it looks like you're not there yet, so once again I'm just shy of finding someone to verify. When you get around to trying it out, I'd appreciate verification if you get it working, and if you had to do anything special to get there.

Even if that's considered external. Is it possible to install Windows on in via the method like installing Windows on the USB drive?

 

[ActionableMango]

Even if that's considered external. Is it possible to install Windows on in via the method like installing Windows on the USB drive?

Perhaps, but nobody who has one seems to be interested in trying to boot Windows from it.

 

[hartleymartin]

The only thing you need to do in the way of a 2.5" to 3.5" adaptor is ensure that it gives you the alignment of the SATA data and power lines. Quite a few of the cheap adaptors are intended for PCs which use separate cables, not ones that directly plug-in.

The other option is to just run some cables into the second optical drive bay and let it sit loose - as far as I can tell, it won't hurt the SSD, but there are other options available out there which allow you to mount a pair of SSDs in that bay. If you go down this path, consider a SATA-III PCIe Card which will give you much faster performance than the SATA-II bus on the motherboard.

 

[s-hatland]

if you've got access to a 3d printer, there are a few mac-pro-specific designs on thingiverse.

just another idea...

 

[ActionableMango]

The plan is to boot off a burned official Win10 DVD, with no use of Boot Camp Assistant in OS X, and do a non-EFI install.

I would appreciate it if you let us know how it goes.