Adding USB 2.0 ports to a Mac Pro 2008

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Adding USB 2.0 ports to a Mac Pro 2008

Hi,

I love my Mac Pro 2008! Great machine, awesome performance, but I need more ports

Who needs only three USB ports in the back, that's a joke!

Anyways, I just bought 2 StarTech 6-port USB 2.0 PCI cards from an online vendor, but quickly found out that it didn't fit my Mac. The description of the card even says it is compatible with Mac OS X. I suspect that Apple have changed the PCI slots for something else in the Mac Pro 2008. What are they and can we buy USB card that fit those slots? If so where? I am desperate for more ports.

Mac Pro Dual Quad-Core Xeon 3.2 Ghz 2008 model, Mac OS X (10.5.5), 6 Gb RAM + 3 TB HD

Posted on Nov 20, 2008 7:19 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 20, 2008 7:50 PM in response to Mr. Speedy

The Mac Pro uses PCI_Express (PCI-e). PCI or PCI-X cards will not fit. I use a Sonnet Allegro™ Express USB
<http://www.sonnettech.com/product/allegro expressusb.html>
(The white connector on the top of the card is not used for Macs.)

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Answer 2

Mr. Speedy Author

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Nov 21, 2008 8:43 AM in response to Malcolm Rayfield

Thanks. This is great information. It would have been nice for Apple to mention that somewhere! Now I have two unusable USB cards!

Can you install more than one of those Sonnet Allegro card in any one Mac Pro? I would install two to get 8 more ports.

Thanks

Message was edited by: Mr. Speedy

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Answer 3

direwolf8

Level 4

1,286 points

Nov 21, 2008 9:11 AM in response to Mr. Speedy

If you made your way to this forum, that information should have been easy to find. Instead of heading for Discussions,

Apple Web Site --> Support --> Specifications

The detailed specifications for your computer list the expansion slots as PCI-e.

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Answer 4

The hatter

Level 9

61,031 points

Nov 21, 2008 9:16 AM in response to Mr. Speedy

You may have stumbled upon or checked some of the support pages?

http://www.apple.com/support/macpro/
- which has a link to an article titled "about your PCI Express slots"
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304122

Specs 2008: http://support.apple.com/kb/SP11:
PCI Express expansion7
Three open full-length PCI Express expansion slots
One PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot
Two PCI Express x4 slots

And of course support for up to four PCI Express video cards; Fibre Channel; Mac Pro RAID.

You could install a powered USB hub, or FW/USB2, as long as you have free slots for more. I have FW800, a 1x Sonnet Tempo (couple storage drives), and a 4x Tempo (multiple RAID sets; Port Multiplier card and multi-drive enclosures and 4 channels).

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Answer 5

Nov 21, 2008 9:53 AM in response to Mr. Speedy

Can you install more than one of those Sonnet Allegro card in any one Mac Pro? I would install two to get 8 more ports.

You can install two or three. (Some cards don't work in slot 2 of the latest Mac Pro). If you aren't using many USB devices transferring a lot or data simultaneously, you can use USB hubs, though it will make for messier cabling.

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Answer 6

Mr. Speedy Author

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Nov 21, 2008 10:52 AM in response to Malcolm Rayfield

You can install two or three. (Some cards don't work in slot 2 of the latest Mac Pro). If you aren't using many USB devices transferring a lot or data simultaneously, you can use USB hubs, though it will make for messier cabling.

Thank you. Yes, I want to avoid powered USB hubs and messy cabling. I've got all my cabling neatly bundled together and routed straight to the back of My MacPro. All I need now is enough ports to connect them all to the Mac! 🙂

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Answer 7

Mr. Speedy Author

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Nov 21, 2008 10:56 AM in response to direwolf8

If you made your way to this forum, that information should have been easy to find. Instead of heading for Discussions,

Apple Web Site --> Support --> Specifications

The detailed specifications for your computer list the expansion slots as PCI-e.

Ok, got it now, but it's kind of hard to find (or easy to miss which ever one you like)! And the little note at the bottom, in light gray color, is easy to miss: "+PCI Express slots are not compatible with PCI or PCI-X expansion cards.+"

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Answer 8

Mr. Speedy Author

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Nov 21, 2008 11:01 AM in response to The hatter

The hatter wrote:
You may have stumbled upon or checked some of the support pages?

http://www.apple.com/support/macpro/
- which has a link to an article titled "about your PCI Express slots"
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304122

Thanks for all the info and links. Very useful!

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Answer 9

Nov 24, 2008 3:19 AM in response to Mr. Speedy

It is rather dissapointing to see so few ports on such a machine. There are machines that have considerably more connectivity on their back panel than the Mac Pro does.

I came from a self built pc with 8 USB2, 4 firewire 400, SPDIF optical & coaxial, 2 eSATA, discrete analog audio outputs.

While most of those can be done without I would have really liked to keep all 8 USB ports.

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Answer 10

direwolf8

Level 4

1,286 points

Nov 24, 2008 8:31 AM in response to Ludacrisvp

On a lot of computers with multiple USB ports, you still only have one or two buses and the rest of the ports are set up as a usb hub anyway.

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