how to install SSD as a boot drive for Snow leopard? I am confused...

FatMac\>MacPro wrote:

curtispsf wrote:

FatMac\>MacPro wrote:

curtispsf wrote:

I have used ICY DOCK products to mount SSDs on several Mac Pros alongside standard mag drives.. My experience is that they are absolutely fine for SSDs in terms of ventilation. The SSDs will get slightly warm which is what happens to virtually ANY product that has current flowing throught it. (Moving electrons generate heat).

By contrast, the magnetic drives get HOT to the touch. Not exactly scientific, but one can feel the difference.

You are correct, these are docking adaptors, not sleds, but they perform the function of sleds. AND regardless of "name" they are incredibly easy to find without naming or linking to them. All one needs to do is search for "mount SSDs on Mac Pro". That's how I found them.

First, they don't perform the function of sleds, they perform the function of mimicking the shape, mounting points and, hopefully, correct alignment of the bus connectors of a 3.5" HD; you still need Apple's sled to connect the SSD/adapter combination to the Mac Pro's back plane.

Second, if the SSD gets warm when almost fully exposed to ambient air and the heat can dissipate, it's going to get warmer and warmer as the heat is bottled up inside a plastic box in an already warm environment. It's obvious from the pictures on Icy Dock's website that there are some ventilation slots cut in the plastic box and that can't hurt but it won't cool as well as having the drive directly exposed to the blast of the PCI fan. Unless you can get a reliable temperature measurement of the SSD as installed in the adapter on the sled in operation for some time, there's really no way of knowing how well that ventilation is working.

Yes, I believe I did post that. My point was that words and precision matter. Had you planned on replying?

Sorry, obviously terms DO matter. The app I spoke of is called Temperature Monitor. I just installed it and will report back later what I experience using SSDS alongside mags.

curtispsf wrote:

You are correct about the terminology; they are adaptors and of course, a sled is necessary. I have used 4 SSDs so far and the terminology never got in the way of figuring out what was needed to mount. ICY DOCK is very highly rated for MAC products and that is what I would stick with.

Years ago, I was able to measure the temp of installed drives with an application....used it with G4 towers and was surprised by just how hot the drives actually. I'm sure there must still be an app out there to actually test the temp of the drives. That said, I HAVE checked and compared the temp of mag drives alongside SSD drives using a simple device...what all MOMs have used for ages...my hand. I felt the mag drives and then removed the SSD sled/adaptors. The mag drives were all HOT to the touch. I opened the adaptors and the SSDs were slightly warm but nowhere near as hot as the mag drives.

Conclusion: ICY DOCKS are fine for dissipating whatever heat is caused by SSD drives. These drives have much cooler operating temps than mag drives because they have no moving frictional parts (other than electrons).

I doubt that terminology would get in the way of you figuring out what was needed to do something with the Mac since it's clear you have considerable experience in this. But if we're trying to help users who are new to the Mac and/or new to upgrading, fixing or tinkering with them, I think we have a responsibility to offer information in a way they can easily apply it (e.g., providing links to things rather than just look-it-up) so they don't have to fill in the gaps themselves. Having often discovered the pitfalls the hard way ourselves, it's beneficial to newer users to alert them to such problems beforehand. It's possible that they already know some or all of it, but others reading might not. And people using Apple's very useful "More Like This" sidebar can stumble on it in the future.

As to the temperature measuring application, I was going to recommend "Temperature Gauge" in the App Store but I see from my email notifications that you were referring to "Temperature Monitor" in another post as I was composing this one. I will be very interested to see how those measurements work. Temperature Gauge gives accurate and frequently updated readings for many sensors in the Mac Pro including the internal drives. But oddly, while the HD temps look valid, the SSD temp is 32º F and I know I'm not keeping it that cool.

Of course the real test is the one you've described you did - opening the Mac and testing by touch, and, especially for SSDs is, IMHO, the gold standard.

Anyone ever even heard of such low watt device creating any warmth at all? There is none.

The hatter wrote:

Anyone ever even heard of such low watt device creating any warmth at all? There is none.

I'm new to SSD's and don't pretend to be overly knowledgeable about them but according to an extensive AnandTech review of the one I'm using, the idle power consumption is 2.86W and the sequential write power consumption was 5.26W. It's clearly an outlier in the comparison tests, perhaps because there's nearly 1TB of storage in the 2.5" case, but the eleven drives used for the second comparison test started at almost 2W and about 2/3 of them went from about 3W on up. The power consumption page of the review is here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6200/owc-mercury-electra-3g-max-960gb-review-cramm ing-1tb-of-nand-inside-25-chassis/8

An SSD does, in fact, make siginificant heat. But not so much that it needs active cooling or a heatsink.

My SSDs all run about 100*f at idle and up to 130*f when I'm doing a lot of read/write work.

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FatMac\>MacPro wrote:

curtispsf wrote:

You are correct about the terminology; they are adaptors and of course, a sled is necessary. I have used 4 SSDs so far and the terminology never got in the way of figuring out what was needed to mount. ICY DOCK is very highly rated for MAC products and that is what I would stick with.

Years ago, I was able to measure the temp of installed drives with an application....used it with G4 towers and was surprised by just how hot the drives actually. I'm sure there must still be an app out there to actually test the temp of the drives. That said, I HAVE checked and compared the temp of mag drives alongside SSD drives using a simple device...what all MOMs have used for ages...my hand. I felt the mag drives and then removed the SSD sled/adaptors. The mag drives were all HOT to the touch. I opened the adaptors and the SSDs were slightly warm but nowhere near as hot as the mag drives.

Conclusion: ICY DOCKS are fine for dissipating whatever heat is caused by SSD drives. These drives have much cooler operating temps than mag drives because they have no moving frictional parts (other than electrons).

I doubt that terminology would get in the way of you figuring out what was needed to do something with the Mac since it's clear you have considerable experience in this. But if we're trying to help users who are new to the Mac and/or new to upgrading, fixing or tinkering with them, I think we have a responsibility to offer information in a way they can easily apply it (e.g., providing links to things rather than just look-it-up) so they don't have to fill in the gaps themselves. Having often discovered the pitfalls the hard way ourselves, it's beneficial to newer users to alert them to such problems beforehand. It's possible that they already know some or all of it, but others reading might not. And people using Apple's very useful "More Like This" sidebar can stumble on it in the future.

As to the temperature measuring application, I was going to recommend "Temperature Gauge" in the App Store but I see from my email notifications that you were referring to "Temperature Monitor" in another post as I was composing this one. I will be very interested to see how those measurements work. Temperature Gauge gives accurate and frequently updated readings for many sensors in the Mac Pro including the internal drives. But oddly, while the HD temps look valid, the SSD temp is 32º F and I know I'm not keeping it that cool.

Of course the real test is the one you've described you did - opening the Mac and testing by touch, and, especially for SSDs is, IMHO, the gold standard.

What you said made about providing links and helping less tech savvy mac users by providing more detail is absolutely spot on. Sometimes I forget that just because I know how or where to search to get information I need, not everybody is able to do that. Thanks for the reminder. :)

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