WillFriedwald2

Q: is there such a thing as a 3.5" internal SSD Drive?

is there such a thing as a 3.5" internal SSD Drive?

 

I was thinking of putting one in my 2008 MacPro, to possibly speed things up (re a suggestion I received here on the Apple forum), but now I'm not sure if I can find one... maybe I misread the suggestion?

 

thanks for any feedback,

 

W

Mac Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3), MANY internal & ext. hard drives

Posted on May 31, 2016 6:11 AM

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Q: is there such a thing as a 3.5" internal SSD Drive?

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  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,Apple recommended

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder May 31, 2016 7:19 AM in response to WillFriedwald2
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    May 31, 2016 7:19 AM in response to WillFriedwald2

    No, but you can find a 2.5-in form factor drive and use an adapter.

     

    The 2006, 2007, and 2008 adapters are different from the 2009 and later -- the spacing of everything is different. The adapter you choose needs to keep the left side of the drive fixed (oriented as installed, handing from the sled) -OR- have a connector and a short cable for the drive. Generic adapters that add space on BOTH sides are useless.

     

    The other suggestion is to install in bay 1 and put a block of non-conductive material under the far end to prop it up on the fan housing.

  • by lllaass,Apple recommended

    lllaass lllaass May 31, 2016 7:21 AM in response to WillFriedwald2
    Level 10 (189,785 points)
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    May 31, 2016 7:21 AM in response to WillFriedwald2

    No, there are no 3 1/2 inched SSDs

    You need to get an adopter/carrier the holds a 2 1/2 inch SSD with outside dimensions of that of a 3 1/2 inched HD. Here is one:

    http://www.amazon.com/Icy-Dock-EZConvert-2-5-Inch-Converter/dp/B002Z2QDNE/

     

    Note the while there are third-party sleds that accept a 2 1/2 drive and go into a Mac Pro those only work with a 2009-2012 Mac Pro

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder May 31, 2016 7:28 AM in response to lllaass
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    May 31, 2016 7:28 AM in response to lllaass

    You use the Icy Dock with your existing sled. Since it has a small cable and connector, the drive position relative to the sled is mooted.

  • by John Lockwood,

    John Lockwood John Lockwood May 31, 2016 7:36 AM in response to WillFriedwald2
    Level 6 (9,349 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    May 31, 2016 7:36 AM in response to WillFriedwald2

    The best way to fit a SATA SSD which by the way is only available as a 2.5" version is to use a PCIe adapter card. This is because the internal drive bays on all Mac Pros are only SATA II and a PCIe adapter would give you twice the speed being a SATA III interface. See http://www.apricorn.com/products/desktop-ssd-hdd-upgrade-kits/vel-solox2.html

     

    The other way to do this is to get an adapter which allows fitting a 2.5" drive on to the standard 3.5" Mac Pro drive bay tray. See http://www.newertech.com/products/adaptadrive.php

     

    While my own Mac Pro is a 2010 model I have successfully used one of the above NewerTech adapters to fit a standard 2.5" SATA SSD drive.

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder May 31, 2016 8:29 AM in response to John Lockwood
    Level 9 (61,180 points)
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    May 31, 2016 8:29 AM in response to John Lockwood

    SATA-II bays used in the Mac Pro can support maximum transfers of up to 375 M Bytes/sec. This may be slightly slower than the cited TOP speeds of some of the typical SSD drives you can buy, but that should not deter you.

     

    This is so much faster than a Rotating Drive, I have opted to install one this way. It seems a lot simpler than the PCIe card. My SSD is rated at top speeds of 500-ish M Bytes/sec, but typical transfers are not quite that fast, so the drive is only slightly slowed by being in a Bay rather than on a PCIe card.

     

    Typical Rotating Drives have 10 to 20 milliseconds of "dead Time" used to seek the correct location on the drive, then can produce a burst of about 125 M Bytes/sec, not steady-state, then require the dead time of another seek.

  • by WillFriedwald2,

    WillFriedwald2 WillFriedwald2 Jun 5, 2016 8:35 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
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    Jun 5, 2016 8:35 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    thanks for all the above info!

     

    so this really would be a speed boost for a well-used, much-loved 2008 MacPro?  I still have many, many traditional drives attached to the unit (internal and external via USB 3) and this would still be a performance boost? (It currently takes me a very long time to startup!  usually I give it at least 10-15 minutes altogether...)

     

    I was unclear about the Velocity Solo x2 card - does that contain the SSD hard drive itself, or do I need to use that in conjunction with an SSD hard drive, that I would buy separately - anyhow, will watch the video and see what I can learn/

     

    thanks again,

     

    w

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Jun 5, 2016 8:39 AM in response to WillFriedwald2
    Level 9 (50,953 points)
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    Jun 5, 2016 8:39 AM in response to WillFriedwald2

    WillFriedwald2 wrote:

     

    is there such a thing as a 3.5" internal SSD Drive?

     

    I was thinking of putting one in my 2008 MacPro, to possibly speed things up (re a suggestion I received here on the Apple forum), but now I'm not sure if I can find one... maybe I misread the suggestion?

     

    thanks for any feedback,

     

    Amazon lists many, here is a sample

    Screen Shot 2016-06-05 at 10.38.03.png

  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Jun 5, 2016 9:21 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 10 (189,785 points)
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    Jun 5, 2016 9:21 AM in response to Csound1
  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Jun 5, 2016 9:25 AM in response to lllaass
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    Jun 5, 2016 9:25 AM in response to lllaass

    Yes, there was no specification for price in the question, merely existence.

     

    And the drive in your link is not a 12", it's a 2.5"

  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Jun 5, 2016 9:41 AM in response to Csound1
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    Jun 5, 2016 9:41 AM in response to Csound1

    Correct, it is a 2 1/2 inch. Just get proper carrier and it will work in a 3 1/2 inch bay

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Jun 5, 2016 9:45 AM in response to lllaass
    Level 9 (50,953 points)
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    Jun 5, 2016 9:45 AM in response to lllaass

    That is NOT what I (or you) said.

     

    Try again

  • by WillFriedwald2,

    WillFriedwald2 WillFriedwald2 Jun 7, 2016 7:01 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 2 (171 points)
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    Jun 7, 2016 7:01 AM in response to Csound1

    Hi again! thanks for all the info and help.

     

    so basically there are three (or 2.5) options:

     

    1 - full on 3.5" SSD drive, very expensive (yes, cost is a factor)

     

    OR

     

    2 - or 2.5" SSD drive, mounted in one of two ways:

    A - drive adapter in the drive bay OR

    B - PCIe card in the PCI slot

     

    I would probably go with the 2.5", since they're much cheaper.

     

    there are advantages to both of the 2.5 options.  I have always found dealing with the drive bays easier than dealing with the PCI slots - and the drive bay adapter is relatively inexpensive.  But using the PCI slot would give me a whole free drive bay, or, in other words, not make it necessary to use a drive bay.

     

    Of course, I don't know if I have a free PCI slot.  I remember that I have two eSATA cards in different slots (along with a more recent USB3 card).  I hardly ever use eSATA anymore, so possibly I could remove one of the eSATA cards and use that slot for PCIe for a 2.5" SSD drive.

     

    thanks again!

     

    w

     

    just checking my system info, and this is what it tells me re PCI info:

     

    ATI Radeon HD 2600:

     

      Name:    ATY,Lamna

      Type:    Display Controller

      Driver Installed:    Yes

      MSI:    Yes

      Bus:    PCI

      Slot:    Slot-1

      Vendor ID:    0x1002

      Device ID:    0x9588

      Subsystem Vendor ID:    0x106b

      Subsystem ID:    0x00a6

      Revision ID:    0x0000

      Link Width:    x16

      Link Speed:    5.0 GT/s

     

    pci1b73,1100:

     

      Type:    USB eXtensible Host Controller

      Driver Installed:    Yes

      MSI:    Yes

      Bus:    PCI

      Slot:    Slot-2@3,0,0

      Vendor ID:    0x1b73

      Device ID:    0x1100

      Subsystem Vendor ID:    0x16b8

      Subsystem ID:    0x6e01

      Revision ID:    0x0001

      Link Width:    x1

      Link Speed:    5.0 GT/s

     

    pci11c1,5901:

     

      Type:    IEEE 1394 Open HCI

      Driver Installed:    Yes

      MSI:    Yes

      Bus:    PCI

      Slot:    Slot-2@4,0,0

      Vendor ID:    0x11c1

      Device ID:    0x5901

      Subsystem Vendor ID:    0x16b8

      Subsystem ID:    0x6e11

      Revision ID:    0x0008

      Link Width:    x1

      Link Speed:    2.5 GT/s

     

    pci1095,3132:

     

      Type:    Other Mass Storage Controller

      Driver Installed:    Yes

      MSI:    No

      Bus:    PCI

      Slot:    Slot-4

      Vendor ID:    0x1095

      Device ID:    0x3132

      Subsystem Vendor ID:    0x1095

      Subsystem ID:    0x3132

      Revision ID:    0x0001

      Link Width:    x1

      Link Speed:    2.5 GT/s

     

    pci1095,3132:

     

      Type:    Other Mass Storage Controller

      Driver Installed:    Yes

      MSI:    No

      Bus:    PCI

      Slot:    Slot-3

      Vendor ID:    0x1095

      Device ID:    0x3132

      Subsystem Vendor ID:    0x1095

      Subsystem ID:    0x3132

      Revision ID:    0x0001

      Link Width:    x1

      Link Speed:    2.5 GT/s

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Jun 7, 2016 7:04 AM in response to WillFriedwald2
    Level 9 (50,953 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 7, 2016 7:04 AM in response to WillFriedwald2

    Frankly, so would I, the 2.5" drives are well tested, and the carriers are easy to use.

     

    Although the PCI drives are a lot faster.

  • by Notary Sojak,

    Notary Sojak Notary Sojak Jun 9, 2016 6:39 PM in response to WillFriedwald2
    Level 1 (143 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 9, 2016 6:39 PM in response to WillFriedwald2

    Only in the Enterprise environment. Several years ago I was stunned by an announcement by Seagate (if I remember correctly) of a 3.5" SSD boasting 128TB. 128 Terrabytes.

    Cost was in the $4,000 range so it was only for well heeled data crunchers. I can't find that news item any more.