IDE hard drive adaptor? to save data...

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Level 1

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IDE hard drive adaptor? to save data...

I have 4 hard drives in my Mac Pro Tower. They are the older style IDE hard drives. My Mac Pro computer is coming up on 8 almost 9 years. I have pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I cannot afford to plunk down $3500-$5000 for a new Mac Pro tower with a new Monitor (old Cinema HD Display is starting to suffer from burn in). So I am thinking about getting the biggest and best iMac for about $3100 with 5k retina, best Hard Drive, best video card, best... you get the pic.

So my question is. If my old Mac Pro takes a poopy and dies on me. How can I get at the data on my 4 old Hdd's short of finding and using someone elses non iMac, non Macbook Pro Laptop? Is there an adapter?

Thanks/

Posted on Apr 12, 2016 9:54 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Rysz

Level 8

44,391 points

Apr 12, 2016 10:12 PM in response to Damballa

You could purchase external drive housings for the existing drives, but my advice is to just purchase brand new external drive (or two) to be used for backups and to transfer your data.

The existing drives are probably not very new, so they're likely to break any time. Their capacities are probably very small as well. Modern drives come in very large capacities for very little cost. Try a site like Newegg http://www.newegg.com/Mac-Hard-Drives/SubCategory/ID-552

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Answer 2

Damballa Author

Level 1

20 points

Apr 12, 2016 10:47 PM in response to Rysz

Well, I have 2-1 TB drives and 2-640 GB drives for a total of 3.28 TB. And thats not counting an extra 1TB USB 3.0 Hdd. And before you go off and say something like, "Download a lot of movies huh?" Actually the truth is that I backup or mirror my files/data. That how you can get a little less than 1 TB end up using up 4.28 TB...

Also, I want to be able to have all my stuffs mirrored so "IF" I get "Ransom-Wared" I can tell the ransom dude Kiss off mate... So I wouldnt mind something that maybe automatically backs up like time machine, but is somehow separate from my computer so Ransom-Ware cant get to it. Maybe there isnt such a thing as automatically backing up AND being separate for Ransom-Ware???

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Answer 3

Apr 13, 2016 2:38 AM in response to Damballa

It is highly unlikely your Mac Pro has IDE drives in it. All classic Mac Pro models i.e. the big silver metal ones have only ever had SATA hard drive bays. Even the PowerMac G5 tower also only had SATA drive bays.

However in case you are right the following is a solution.

http://www.amazon.com/SANOXY-A12940-Drive-Adapter-Converter/dp/B001OORMVQ/

It is only USB2 rather than USB3 but it does support both IDE and SATA type drives and can be used with both 2.5" and 3.5" drives.

If you do as I believe have SATA type drives then the following is an alternative solution.

http://www.amazon.com/Freecom-Hard-Drive-Dock-Quattro/dp/B004BHADPA/

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Answer 4

Apr 13, 2016 3:01 AM in response to Damballa

I also have serious doubts about the drives being IDE, as all Mac Pro models that have ever existed had SATA connections.

In any case, you should not rely much on these old drives. All drives fail eventually, it is a matter of when, not if.

Instead of spending money on four usb enclosures, you could buy a single dock (make sure it supports IDE drives if indeed they are), and copy their contents to one or more new drives.

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Answer 5

Damballa Author

Level 1

20 points

Apr 13, 2016 4:55 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Yes, you guys are correct. I dont know where I got IDE from. Brain fart. They are all SATA. And they are getting long in the tooth. My MacPro does NOT have a Thunderbolt port. But I would really like to get a drive that supports USB 3.0 AND Thunderbolt. This way I can use it while I still have my old Mac Pro(USB 3). Then, when I do eventually upgrade to a Top of The Line "pimped out" iMac that should have at least Thunderbolt 2 or possibly 3 I should be good to go. And lastly, I would really like to get SSD. I know that overall SSD prices are coming down all the time. But, when I look at a Thunderbolt x USB 3, SSD drive that is 2 or 3 GB... Lets just say that the prices are not THAT low yet.

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Answer 6

Damballa Author

Level 1

20 points

Apr 15, 2016 7:55 PM in response to Damballa

So if I want a hard drive thats between 2-3 TeraBytes... But I want Thunderbolt 2 or 3 AND USB. This way I can use it with USB with my current computer. Then when I get a new iMac, I would be able to use the Thunderbolt connection. AND I would "like" it to be a SSD. Thats gonna be mega expensive isnt it? I dont really want an off brand Hdd either.

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Answer 7

Apr 15, 2016 10:39 PM in response to Damballa

While you can get a 2 or 3TB SATA SSD drive from Samsung it will be massively expensive. You are not likely to find both a Thunderbolt drive case and an SSD from the same major brand either and will need to fit the SSD yourself. You can find an external USB/Thunderbolt drive fitted with a traditional hard disk and from a leading brand.

Here are some drive cases with both USB and Thunderbolt.

http://www.g-technology.com/products/g-drive-thunderbolt - G-Technology are actually owned by HGST who formerly were part of Hitachi and make hard drives. This one has a traditional hard drive and both USB and Thunderbolt interfaces.

http://www.lacie.com/gb/en/products/desktop-storage/d2-thunderbolt-2/ - Lacie are a long time maker of products for Mac and this is a USB and Thunderbolt drive with a traditional hard disk. Lacie do not make their own drive mechanisms. They do interestingly also have this http://www.lacie.com/gb/en/products/thunderbolt/d2-ssd-upgrade/ which adds SSD to the d2 drive I just listed and makes it in to a combined HD/SSD hybrid drive so while it is not a full SSD it helps improve the performance. Of course this will add to the cost.

See the Thunderbolt industry website here https://thunderbolttechnology.net/products?tid=1&field_company_nid=All&field_pro d_os_value_many_to_one=All&field_prod_tb… if needed filter it to Storage category. Bear in mind that many Thunderbolt drives are RAID enclosures as a means of generating additional performance via RAID0 striping since single hard drives are too slow.

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Answer 8

Damballa Author

Level 1

20 points

Apr 15, 2016 11:19 PM in response to John Lockwood

Maybe I would be better off to go with a Thunderbolt 2 x Usb drive (non-ssd) like you linked and then when I get my new imac I could get a SSD installed as the main Hdd inside. Would that be a decent solution?

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