Mac Pro 2010 - How do I add usb 3.0 (card)?

You can get a variety of USB3.0 PCIe cards that will fit in one of your slots. These range from cheap generic PC cards to a couple of more Mac aimed makes.

Some of these cheaper cards either openly admit they may not be compatible with El Capitan or later and some have been reported by users to have similar problems again with El Capitan and/or later. As an example Inateck themselves say their card is not officially compatible with Yosemite or later although many users have said it worked for them despite this.

I personally have a Sonnet card - this one http://www.sonnettech.com/product/allegrousb3pcie4port.html this is the slightly cheaper sister model of the one listed by kaz-k and is officially listed as compatible with Yosemite, El Capitan and Sierra.

For completeness it is now in theory possible to get and use a USB3.1 card in your Mac Pro. The only brand that officially claims Mac compatible is this CalDigit card http://www.caldigit.com/Fasta-6GU3plus/ however again some third-party cards are also supposed to work but some definitely do not work in El Capitan but might work in Sierra, e.g. the Asus card. The cheaper Aukey card described here http://appleinsider.com/articles/17/01/13/install-an-inexpensive-usb-c-pci-e-car d-in-a-mac-pro-for-full-usb-31-data-tran… is supposed to work but requires an additional power cable internally.

https://www.amazon.com/Inateck-Ports-PCI-E-Express-Version/dp/B00I027GPC/ref=sr_ 1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1494592853&sr=1-1&k…

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Sonnet%20Technologies/USB3PRO4PME/

udougy22 wrote:

Thanks John. I ordered the sonnettech one you suggested/using. I have another question however. Does this come with a driver or is one needed? Will this tax my power supply? I am going to use it for a Drobo 5 bay.

It does not need a driver to work just as a USB3.0 card in OS X but there is a driver to enable 'high power mode' for charging devices like iPads. There is also a driver required for using this card in Windows.

See http://www.sonnettech.com/support/kb/kb.php?cat=473&expand=&action=a3#a3

Your power supply will be fine with this card.

Note: Even if your revision of card comes with a power socket on the card for additional power it is not needed in the Mac.