MacBook Pro :: Running 2 Hard Drives Through One SATA Port
Feb 19, 2010
I have used an optical caddy to fit a SSD into my macbook pro along with the existing 500GB hard drive. My next ambition is to fit 2 hard drives and a SSD inside the macbook pro. My questions are:
1) Can I use a Sata port doubler (Do they exist?) to run 2 hard drives through one sata port. (The bandwidth is there)
2) Failing the above can I use a cable linking a sata drive to the airport express slot? (is it PCI express?)
1) Does Bootcamp properly support Vista 64-bit ? If so how stable is it (don't want any crashes caused by poor drivers - really want rock solid stability under Vista) ?
2) Will the Mac Pro support any SATA hard drive or would I have to buy specific models/brands ?
Looking at my system profiler, while there is nothing attached to it, it does report the presence of a SATA port. Is that correct? Can it ever be used with another internal drive?
I have an old laptop hd which i have in an enclosure. The problem is the enclosure uses a Y-usb cable (think thats what its called - the cable that plugs into 2 usb ports on your comp) - you see where i'm going?!
Anyone know of an enclosure for a 2.5" sata drive which will work from just one usb port so i can use it with my soon to be macbook air?
I see Seagate & WD have announced these but I'm struggling to find many available to order. Only the WD Green one appears to be even offered as an internal option. What is more it is more expensive buying the internal drive than buying the external USB one.
Has anyone bought one of these externals and stripped out the drive to put in their Mac Pro? I'm running out of space on my 1.5TB and swopping to 2TB hardly seems enough.
I'm a graphic designer but I don't know much about my computer's inner workings. I have a mirrored drive door dual 1Ghz G4. I have two SATA drives that were used in a Dell server on a RAID setup. They are Western Digital Caviar HDs, 250 GB apiece.
My question is: is there any way to install one of these drives in my computer?
The time has come to move to a RAID setup in my Mac Pro. Ideally I'd like to run 4 1.5TB SATA drives in a RAID 5 or 10. It seems there are a LOT of threads on this topic all filled with different information, so I have a few questions...
Which RAID cards are bootable?
Do any work like the Apple card and interface with the drives through the logic board?
If not, how do you connect the internal drives to the RAID card in their stock bay locations?
I have a Mac Pro 1,1 and I was wondering, can I use one of the sata ports behind the front fan for a sata optical drive since the one included is IDE? Also, if I use that sata port for an optical drive, can I eject it with the eject button in the OS.
I know some SATA II drives can be jumpered to be SATA I compatible. Would they be reliable in this application? I have an iMac G5 and I'd like to upgrade the internal HD.
Just wanted to confirm that the Seagate Sata 2 hard drives are compatible with the MacPro4,1 Quad-Core Intel Xeon. I'm looking to buy two Sata 2 drives. One drive as a data backup on the mac side, and one to backup Windows 7 (accessed with Bootcamp and Parallels 5) on the windows side.
I'm thinking of upgrading my HDD on my new Mac Mini(2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo) and I'm wondering if this is possible. I would like to clone the old to the new without having to buy a USB or Firewire to SATA adapter. Would it be possible to disconnect the Super Drive(CD/DVD) and connect up the new drive, use Super Duper to clone, then replace the old with the new and reconnect the Super Drive?
I've searched the forums to see if anyone has tried this but I didn't find anything. I'm not even sure if there is a second SATA port that would work for a HDD. I know the Super Drive is a SATA because it's listed when I look at system info.
I've seen a lot of folks using USB or Firewire to do this so that's my backup plan but it would seem if I can get both drives connected this would be pretty straight forward.
Is it possible to install 4 SATA drives into a G5 tower? I didn't open it up yet cause I have to move so much material to get to it. I'm assuming you can purchased a SATA PCI card but is there room in the case for 2 additional drives?
So I bought that LG HD-DVD/Blu-Ray drive for my Mac Pro. I used the extra SATA ports near the fan to install it, and it works great while using OSX, but it won't work in Windows.
I read somewhere about enabling AHCI or something like that in Windows so it can recognize the spare SATA port, and therefore recognize the Blu-Ray drive, but I cannot figure it out for the life of me.
It's awful confusing...
I want to be able to rip my Blu-Ray movies onto my computer to pop them onto the tv, but the only hurdle is having Windows recognize the drive. Any help at all would be very appreciated.
I have two drives in my Quicksilver 2002 G4, one is a 250GB which can be fully used, the other an 80GB. Can U rid both of these drives and install two SATA 1.5TB drives? I do not want to use the PCI slots for a SCSI card and wire additional drives that way, because the transfer speed will be limited to 40mbps I believe. I have a Sonnet card a dual PPC 1,8Ghz card, a PCI USB 2.0 card and have other open PCI slots, but finally ran out of storage, and have a use for this machine to hold a LOT more. Other than the transfer speeds possible on SATA, are there any other differences between the original IDE (ATA) drives? Do they connect the same way?
I want to know if there is a way to connect sata 2.5 hd's to the sata connections in the mac pro. I cannot seem to find the cables to be able to do this. Can someone help with a link? I have several 250gb sata drives that have been taken out of mbp's and would like to put them to work.
I have looked and found several ways to access the ports, but have been stuck at finding the cable.
I have a 13" MacBook Pro 2011, 2.3gHz, 320GB. What connector does it have? And would SATA still work with my laptop? One more question, what are the exact dimensions of the hard disk drive bay in my laptop, the manual only says 2.5".
I have an early 2008 black macbook and would like to upgrade the HD to 1TB if poss, has anyone done this already or can you tell me which is the best HD to buy.
I'm looking at the specs page for the MacBook Pro and it reads this...
Your MacBook Pro comes standard with a 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive. Choose a hard drive with a faster speed for greater performance. Or you can choose a solid-state drive that offers enhanced durability.
Basically suggesting that the HDD option has a performance advantage over the SSD, but is this the case? I always thought SSDs could read & write quicker because they use solid-state flash memory as opposed to hard disks.
I want to go with the 256GB SSD but I want to know how it ranks in speed.
I recently bought an SSD vertex 64gb for only 200$ cad. Unfortunately, I do not have enough space to install the Soundtrack Pro components on this drive. I recently bought too an eSata powered cable and a express card esata who came with it. The hard drive can't be detect on my macbook pro unibody late 2008 2,4" but runs. I install the silicon image drivers non-SL and adding over that the SL drivers.
[URL] In that case, I want to know how to uninstall those drivers from silicon image 3132? I thought about another thing if it really not work eventually. The dvd-drive bay could be remplaced by an enclosure 2.5" for my factory 250gb 5400rpm.
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Second question, Does this other hard drive will take a lot more power?
Im considering purchasing a higher capacity internal hardrive around the 750Gb/1Tb mark. However my macbook is the early 2008 model, and it seems the majority of hardrives are SATA II, having speeds of 3Gbt, which my mother board may not be capable of (apparently only 1.5Gbt) From researching and reading some reviews of others who have purchased internal drives on Amazon UK, some have had difficulty due to this problem, but have been able to fix the issue with a firmware update reducing SATA II drive speeds to 1.5Gbt.
Questions I have: Do all SATA / SATA II internal hardrives need a firmware update if replacing on to a new computer?(If so, would I need to look for a specific firmware update for the specific drive I intend on buying? And if you're in the knowledge would you mind posting links to these updates?)What is the process of updating the firmware i.e. would I need to put firmware on external usb hardrive 1st, then upload it to macbook after installing new internal drive (if it boots up my OS that is) etc. Would a 'hybrid' (disk+solid state) drive be compatible with a macbook as old as mine?Do I need to update my operating system to OS X Lion first, or can it be done after installing the drive?
my current laptop hardware:
Macbook Pro 15.4" (Early 2008 Model) Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4Ghz ProcessorGeForce 256Mb 8600M GT Graphical Processor Intel ICH8_M AHCI 1.5 Gbt MotherboardToshiba MK1655GSXF 160Gb 2.5" Hard DriveOperating System: OS X Leopard 10.5.8
Info: MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.8), 15.4" 2.4Ghz (Early 2008 Model)
I have 1st generation MBA 1.6 with 80 gig HD. (Which now I have to sell) I bought the new MB when it was released earlier this month. I found it to be a very responsive machine but took it back for either a pro with a great resolution or wait for the new MBA. I decided to get another air. I really love the weight of the machine.
Now the help I need is to (1) get the 1.6 which speed right now I find good or get the 1.8 Ghz. then the big question . . .
(2) get the SATA hard drive or spend the bucks and get the Solid State. I hear the start up time is very quick on the Solid State, but it's slower on writing to disk. I use this machine on the road when working with customers and use File Maker Pro mostly when in that situation. I am a novice compared to what I see on here so I'm asking all y'all mac experts....what would you do?
Where is a good store online to purchase a Hard drive Model 1.8 128GB Sata Lif? I have been checking all local computer stores near my areas and no one can get a hold or them. Anyone know where i can find these online from a good website like newegg or etc?
