Hi, Guys:
I'm trying to determine if I need a separate eSATA card to connect my external 2T Fantom Green Drive to my Mac Pro (mid-2012) of just an extender cable. Newer Technologies has an extender cable that seems to have worked with older Mac Pros, but I can't find any indication that it would work with the newer ones. The drive mfg'ers were no help. Thanks for any information.
Mac Pro (Mid 2012), Mac OS X (10.7.5), 2T external Fantom Green Drive
At least early 2009 Mac Pro4,1 is able to connect eSATA extender cable:
The extender cable will work in any Mac Pro, but it uses the optical drive SATA ports. On early (before 2009) Mac Pros, both ports are free since the optical drives were PATA. Newer Mac Pros use SATA optical drives. so only one port is available for external SATA drives if you have one optical drive. If you have two optical drives there will be no ports left.
The optical SATA ports require the drive to be powered on and connected when the computer is booted.
Thanks, Malcolm. That's the clearest answer I've gotten that explains everything. Also confirms my suspicions that the extender was not necessarily the solution I was looking for. I was suspicious because everything I read about it working was dated before 2010. Unfortunately I have two optical drives, one of which is BlueRay. So I'll need a card to use eSATA. Thanks again.
You could remove the DVD drive. The Blu-ray drive can also handle DVDs and CDs.
External eSATA Drive to Mac Pro
