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5th and 6th SATA drives in Mac Pro (mid-2010)

:: Monday, August 30th, 2010 @ 3:31:10 pm

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SSD installed on 6th internal SATA port, Mac Pro (July 2010) 12-core

In 2007, I stuffed 6 drives into my Mac Pro. Over the years, I replaced 2 of the 1TB drives with SSDs (an Intel 160GB X25-M and a SuperTalent 64GB for swap) and 4 of them with 2TB drives, but I’ve now been using some sort of 6-drive setup for 3 years with great results. I’ve finally replaced my aging Mac Pro with a new one; as usual, subtle changes inside the Mac Pro case have made things more complicated.

When I received the machine, I cracked the case open immediately and discovered that the 5th and 6th SATA ports were still on the motherboard, easily accessible.


5th and 6th SATA ports are on the motherboard at the front of the Mac Pro (July 2010) 12-core


5th and 6th SATA ports are on the motherboard at the front of the Mac Pro (July 2010) 12-core. By default, one is connected to the SuperDrive.

However, unlike older Mac Pros, the new Mac Pro uses SATA for its optical drive (instead of PATA), so one of the two extra SATA ports is being used. Luckily, Apple wired up both SATA ports to the optical bay, so adding a 6th SATA drive the Mac Pro is as easy as plugging it in. For a spinning disk you’d need some sort of tray to lock it in place, but an SSD can just be left hanging. In the photos, you can see a heat sync attached to my SSD; this is something that came with an old Mac Pro SSD tray adapter — I decided to leave it on the drive.


Mac Pro (July 2010) 12-core with optical bay pulled out


Built-in SATA + power connector makes it easy to install a 6th drive in Mac Pro (July 2010) 12-core

So now, I have 5 internal drives in my new Mac Pro, but I’d really like to have 6. I am evaluating the following options:

  1. Remove SuperDrive and use it externally. I have an external, bootable SuperDrive enclosure (USB / Firewire), so this would be easy. I almost never use the optical drive, so this is a good option (I don’t care if it’s slow). I’d mount the two 2.5″ SSDs using a 2.5 to 5.25 bay adapter.

  2. Add the 6th drive via eSata (though Sonnet Tempo E4P PCIe card). The Mac doesn’t recognize eSata drives attached to the Sonnet card until boot (not bootable), and since I would be using the 6th drive for swap, I’m not sure if this would work.

I’m leaning towards option 1.

Incidentally, I ordered the 12-core machine with a 1TB drive pre-configured. The drive they shipped is a Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB (WD1001FALS-41Y6A0). This information can be hard to get, so I’m putting it in this post.

Popularity: 1% | San Francisco, CA | link | trackback | Aug 30, 2010 15:31:10
  • Chester

    You can't add in a PCI-E SATA controller to connect up to the 6th (or more) SATA drive? Because, if you did, that drive would be bootable, no?

    Glad you pinged me today…I've been wanting to stock eSATA cards for Macs…but was dumbfounded to find out that the new Macbook Pros have no Expresscard slots and thus no way to add eSATA (or USB 3.0). Don't get it…

  • http://echeng.com/ Eric Cheng

    I'm almost certain that Macs can't boot from eSATA without heroic measures. The eSATA cards need drivers which aren't loaded until the OS loads.

    Connecting the internal SATA ports to external via adapter cables creates bootable eSATA, though.

  • http://echeng.com/ Eric Cheng

    The 17″ MBPs have ExpressCard/34, but they took it out of the smaller ones. Smart, since 99% of people don't even know what eSATA is, but annoying for folks like us who want it.

  • Chester

    I don't know if I'm missing something obvious, but reading your post, your situation is that you lost 1 of 6 internal SATA ports due to the optical switching from PATA to SATA…so…why think of adding a sixth HD with eSATA?

    Why not just add extra internal SATA ports with a PCIe SATA controller?

  • http://echeng.com/ Eric Cheng

    Really, the only reason is that I am not sure yet where to find power on the motherboard. My video card is a serious card and takes up both power sources in that area, and using power in the optical bay would mean running cables. Last time I did this, it was a huuuuge pain. Macs just aren't designed to have people like me trying to get around their standard use scenarios. :)

  • http://echeng.com/ Eric Cheng

    The other reason is that I already have an existing 4-port eSATA controller, and a new internal SATA controller would cost $172 (Sonnet Tempo E4i, which I know works in Snow Leopard). My last eSATA controller stopped working when I upgraded to OS X 10.6 because Silicon Image didn't release a Snow Leopard driver and said they were probably not going to. I switched to Sonnet for their Marvell chipset and compatible driver.

  • Chester

    That's just bonkers that you can't get a PCIe internal SATA controller for a reasonable price.

  • http://echeng.com/ Eric Cheng

    I'm probably going to take the optical drive out. Who uses flat spinning discs these days, anyway??

  • Chester

    I'm sure a very high percentage of people will never use an ExpressCard expansion slot…but…I don't really get what great benefit its elimination brings. It's got to be an incredibly insignificant amount in terms of cost and, in terms of the design…I don't imagine it dramatically changes what is possible in terms of component layout/overall size.

    It's just weird to me to think about photographers and videographers not being able to use eSATA or USB 3.0 drives with their 15″ MacBook Pros…

  • Chester

    Yeah…like you said…the most sensible thing is to just go external optical for the random occasions you need it. Or, shit…just share an optical drive over the network.

  • Drew

    That's why you must wait for Apple to get off its butt and put USB3.0 in. I didn't want to buy the new i7 mbp 15″ until my old one broke. I'm hoping they'll put the express 34 slot back in once they realize their powerusers want it, guys who use it for shoots etc.

  • HFTobeason

    I am correct in assuming that you can boot off the SDD running off SATA port #6?

  • http://echeng.com/ Eric Cheng

    Yes, you can boot off of SSD running off SATA port 6. Some people route this port to the outside to boot off of eSATA.

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