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Level 4

1,327 points

Taking apart an older model Velociraptor.

Hi all,

I'm trying to take off the heat sink of the older style Velociraptors, the GLFS. I'm going to put two in a Mac Pro via Maxupgrade sleds. I can't figure out a way to do this carefully, I'm not really sure which screws to turn, and the screws (hexes) I see to turn seem like they will strip before turning.
Does anyone have experience in this area that they could share with me regarding this? I don't want to destroy these drives.

Thanks,
Steve

G5Quad 2.5, 16gb ram, 7800gtx, 5-VR Striped. Sonnet E4i, Jive., Mac OS X (10.5.6), electron22blueIV, 20"cinema display, iPod touch

Posted on Mar 30, 2009 2:59 PM

Best reply

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Posted on Mar 30, 2009 3:35 PM

Okay, let's get this broken down and get you off the ground!

From Barefeats:

INSTALLATION It's a snap to make the switch. You remove four screws holding the Velociraptor to the factory enclosure/heatsink. Then use the provided allen head screws and allen head wrenches to connect the MaxConnect custom aluminum heatsink and custom machined aluminum sled to the "bare" Velociraptor.

One concern is that one of the four screws on the Velociraptor's factory heatsink is covered with a sticker. That implies that removing that sticker is grounds for nullification of factory drive warranty. FLASH #1: Since we posted this article, WD decided to offer a Velociraptor withOUT the factory heatsink (or ICE PAK): see model WD3000BLFS. That will solve the warranty issue.

FLASH #2: As of August 13th, 2008, Western Digital now lists a "backplane-ready" version of the Velociraptor (WD3000HLFS) on their website. Based on the 360 degree view, you can see that you will be able to mount it on the Mac Pro standard sled and plug it into the motherboard connectors like a regular 3.5" SATA or SAS drive. It also works with SATA enclosures that plug the drive into the backplane, hence the "backplane-ready" moniker. As of September 11th, OWC has the "backplane-ready" WD Velociraptor 10K SATA drive in stock.

http://www.barefeats.com/hard106.html

Hope that helps some.
PS: just got the SATA docking station by Thermaltake "BlackX" which can be really versitile and pop in all those older SATA drives on shelf in their bags and use when I want to do backup or grab something. Not too shabby for $35 (price came down).

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23 replies

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Apr 1, 2009 8:26 AM in response to The hatter

From Mac Pro 2009 Discussion:

i was wondering the same thing. i called sonnet today and they don't even have a nehalem mac pro to test on. isn't that crazy?! the guy said, "we are needling the president to get one". anyhow, they did say that any sonnet cards in the new mac pro will kernal panic and crash the new mac pro.

Samsara Author

Level 4

1,327 points

Apr 1, 2009 10:54 AM in response to The hatter

Hi Hatter,

You've been invaluable as always, my sincere thanks. But stop blushing and get one of these for your own sake and mine, I need a mentor with the latest and greatest. 😉 Or are you eagerly anticipating what comes next? 🙂

I've got one of these coming today. It's bootable and it should take care of the overflow. Nevertheless, I think I'm going to pony up more cash for two more of the MaxUpgrades sleds. They work perfectly and I can have all my VRs internal.

I thought that was one way people were boosting their scores, using a RAM disk. Ah, while I tried to push my Quad further up those lists it doesn't seem so important now. Of course I will still be looking for any way to "tweak" this Macs performance though, that's just the Mac fanatic in me. 😉

3DMark6, I can't run that. No Windows stuff on the machine. Thanks for mentioning the IIfx. I didn't recognize what that was at first so I googled it. Wikipedia says they were going between 9 and 12 thousand dollars when first sold. Wow. Now I don't feel so bad... 🙂

Keep in mind the offer I once made, Hatter. In God only knows how much time, the price of an old style Velociraptor could be next to nil for you.

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Apr 2, 2009 4:24 AM in response to Samsara

I'd wait to hear from Firmtek or see if you need a dual-channel card (they aren't designed for high performance, based on 1x chip).

Found something new in SSD:
http://www.hardmac.com/news/2009/04/02/a-pci-express-ssd-from-super-talent

Samsara Author

Level 4

1,327 points

Apr 2, 2009 12:19 PM in response to The hatter

Hi Hatter,

I ordered one of these in a mad flurry of buying to prepare for the MP:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Firmtek/SATA2SE2E/

As I recall this is the only card that allows booting from. I have it now and I think I'll install it today to see what's what.
An unfortunate thing though, I ordered two more sleds from Maxupgrades so all my VRs will be internal now, and thing else I add will just be for storage, Time Machine, and cloning. The unfortunate thing is I ordered and recieved an OWC FW800, 400, USB 2, 2 drive case. Looking back on OWC site it seems there have have just been some dramatic price reductions on many of their cases, I could have gotten an esata case for even less than I paid for this, and that would, I think have been ideal for the firmtek card. I'm jonesing to get the show on the road, but I think I should send the case back and get another with a esata port.

SSD... you're killing me... 😉

Samsara Author

Level 4

1,327 points

Apr 2, 2009 12:36 PM in response to The hatter

Hatter,

Any recommendations on a two bay sata external enclosure with an esata port?

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Apr 2, 2009 1:59 PM in response to Samsara

Many of the eSATA/USB/FW cases have not worked well on 2-channel PCIe SATA controllers, sorry. Handy to have FW800 case for SATA drives, yes.

The FirmTek has not been bootable, unless it changes with each OS update or something, but I thought the 2008 Mac Pro wasn't bootable off FirmTek card.

I really prefer to see Sonnet E4P and Firmtek 5PM. Much more expandable and useful.

For dual drive case, the FirmTek dual case $199. Uses the same drive sled as the 5PM.

Either pure SATA with no USB/FW. Or a FW800 case but no eSATA. Less problems, and FW800 will be bootable - when needed.

Samsara Author

Level 4

1,327 points

Apr 2, 2009 2:14 PM in response to The hatter

Yep, went with the EN2, pricy but I think it's a good choice to work with the Firmtek card. I really don't need that much more expandability, I already have tons of space to spare. And for all that I'll need my existing FW400 drive for, a measly free agent pro, a simple adaptor I ordered from OWC should suffice.

The firmtek card bootable? I could have sworn I ran across that info in a few places. I'll be checking some more.

Samsara Author

Level 4

1,327 points

Apr 2, 2009 3:51 PM in response to The hatter

Hatter,

Found this on the card I have, if you've heard different, let me know:
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/firmtek/2se2e/

Edit: Just got a reply from Firmtek, on the Mac Pro it is not bootable.

Message was edited by: Samsara

Taking apart an older model Velociraptor.