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MacPro 2.66 Xeon Dual core: How do I connect an external e-sata Drive?

What do I need to do to connect an external e-sata Drive to a 2.66 Xeon Dual core MacPro?

MacPro 2.66, Mac OS X (10.4.10), 6 GB ram.. iLife 08 /Aperture / CS3 / LightZone

Posted on Jan 13, 2009 12:11 PM

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13 replies

Jan 13, 2009 12:21 PM in response to hassiman

Depends.

What type of drive case?
Does it have FW/USB as well or just native SATA ports?

NewerTech Kit to run cables out off the ODD ports;
A PCIe SATA controller.

Some cases though do very poorly with multi-interface and running off some controllers.

If you said "what PCI controller" or "I have LaCie (or MyBook or OWC) quad-interface; and single or dual drive case... personally I'd stay away from most and stick with raw native SATA equipment, such as dual SATA case from OWC or FirmTek, without the FW and USB ports.

Jan 13, 2009 1:25 PM in response to direwolf8

They really are the best around. We have 2 of the older FW VR 800 units that have been running trouble free 24/7 for 2 years set to hardware RAID 1. I am getting the newer unit myself. They do a LOT of business with high production video producers...

Contact jons@caldigit.com

Their customer service is the best.

But I am wondering how I will connect it to my MacPro for eSata

Jan 13, 2009 1:30 PM in response to hassiman

Again, this is one of those quad interface devices.

That means there is a bridge to translate SATA signals to USB and FW (400 and 800) along with eSATA.

Not a great idea especially if you are running some type of RAID.

If you want hot swap drive trays and native SATA - you can go cheaper but in the end, I use this unit more and has 3-speed fan rather than an el cheapo $67 native SATA dual drive case but which gets the job done.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Firmtek/SATA2EN2/
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MESATATBEK/

That still leaves where you run your cable(s), FW, USB, or SATA.

Jan 13, 2009 6:56 PM in response to hassiman

Why is this a bad idea for running RAID 1?


Hi,
My guess is this enclosure uses an Oxford 936 chip to create the quad interface. If that is the case, while this configuration provides nice compatibility it will have some limitations.

1. The Oxford Bridge tends to provide lower performance than a direct connect eSATA enclosure like the SeriTek/2EN2.

2. The Oxford 936 bridge is not supported by all SATA controllers. Based on my tests, the FirmTek/2SE2-E with driver 5.3.2 and controllers that utilize the Silicon Image driver are compatible. The HighPoint, Areca cards do not appear to be compatible with Oxford 936 and the Sonnet Marvell based driver does not yet support volumes over 2TB. In other words, Oxford 936 based enclosures will not be compatible with all eSATA controllers.

If you are looking for a faster hot swap dual bay eSATA enclosure that is compatible with most eSATA controllers the FirmTek SeriTek/2EN2 would be my choice.
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/firmtek/2en2/

If having a FireWire connection is more important than higher eSATA performance/eSATA compatibility an Oxford based quad interface enclosure would be my choice.

Have fun!

Jan 14, 2009 11:36 AM in response to waysleight

We have a number of the FW 800 units for mission critical data and also for Video editing with our school's multi-media program. They have run 24/7 without a sputter. Their response time and customer service are the best I have ever encounterd anywhere. I would reccomend them without reservation..

jons@caldigit.com is a good contact.

I have NO financial interest at all in the company... they have just done a great job and build a great product.

Jan 14, 2009 8:11 PM in response to waysleight

From what I understand, the SATA kit is included in the Caldigit VR.


It appears that an extender cable is included. This extends the Mac Pro internal ODD connectors to a PCI slot cover. The downside to using this type of interface is that it is not hot swappable. If the enclosure is turned off the computer will need to be restarted to recognize any SATA disks connected to the extender. The reason this occurs is that the Mac Pro internal SATA ports do not support hot swap.

Most users prefer a SATA controller for use with an external eSATA device as they are hot swappable. This allows the enclosure to be turned off and back on without requiring the user to restart the computer.

Have fun!

MacPro 2.66 Xeon Dual core: How do I connect an external e-sata Drive?

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