Reddit reviews NewerTech AdaptaDrive 2.5" to 3.5" Drive Converter Bracket
We found 8 Reddit comments about NewerTech AdaptaDrive 2.5" to 3.5" Drive Converter Bracket. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Compatible with any 2.5-Inch SATA hard drive or Solid State drive (SSD). Fits all 3.5-Inch SATA drive baysIncludes compatibility with backplane trays such as those found in Apple Mac Pro modelsFully SATA 3.0 Revision (6Gb/s) compatible and Backward compatible with SATA 2.0 Revision (3Gb/s) and 1.0 Revision (1.5Gb/s) drivesFor use with OWC, Samsung, Kingston, SanDisk, Intel, Crucial, ADATA PNY, and other Solid State DrivesOpen design allows for full air flow for proper drive cooling, Solid aluminum frame design; Includes mounting screws. 5 Year Newer Technology Limited Warranty
As a 1,1 owner I definitely have some advice to give.
Processors
The processors have been upgraded, so I would definitely do the 1,1 to 2,1 EFI upgrade and the recently discovered SMC flash. That'll give the machine better support for your processors & cooling. This essentially turns it into a Mac Pro 2,1.
GPU
I have little to no need for the bootscreen, and wanting one drastically limits your choices for GPU and drives up costs. So I would go with a 6870. Cheap, powerful, and easy to find. You don't get the bootscreen but everything else works perfectly. You can always pop in the 7300 when you truly need a bootscreen, but IMO it's not needed. No reflash or alterations needed, no modified kexts or anything. Just drop it in and boot. You WILL need the proper cables though. Many people make them and sell them, here is one such individual. I've used a an official 7300, official 8800GT, reflashed 4870 and an off the shelf 6870 and the 6870 is my favourite by far. This is my current card.
Bootscreen
If you insist on the bootscreen (which you may need because of Linux, the other OSes can alter the boot partition easily but there is no such utility for Linux AFAIK) you really do limit your options. You're basically stuck with the 4870 or 5770. The 4870 card is not only a bitch to find but you'll need to make the EFI yourself using Zeus. It also runs hot, VERY hot. Mine failed due to overheating and actually left scorch marks inside my Mac Pro due to a poorly thought out design on the part of Apple. The 5770 is easier to find and runs cooler, but an OEM one will be overpriced.
My advice is to get a GPU without bootscreen support and put it in slot 1, and allocate it 16x. Then put the 7300GT in slot 4 and allocate it 8x. Attach it to an alternate input on one of your monitors. Finally, yank anything related to Nvidia from OS X kexts so it doesn't KP on boot. This will give you an ugly but functional bootscreen that you can easily access. You will need to remove any reinstalled Nvidia drivers that come through with 10.9.x updates though.
I don't recommend this but it did work for me for a year or so when I couldn't get the partition blessing to work properly and had to point at the Chameleon partition at every boot. Keep in mind that if you give up the ability to boot into Linux, you can simply boot from Windows to OS X and vice versa from within the OSes themselves.
SSD
The Mac Pro has four drive bays so it's very easy to split your data between a small SSD for the system & apps and a large HDD for everything else. I had a 64GB for a long time. Worked fine, but it was a little tight and not very fast. I would say you can definitely get away with 120gb though. You'll need a 2.5 to 3.5 drive adapter that's compatible with a backplane mounted SATA port. I swear by the NewerTech AdaptaDrive. Own a bunch, they work great. Slap in the SSD of your choice. I like the 840 EVO right now. Easy to find on sale, reliable and fast. Put any decent 2TB drive in Bay 2 and map your media and data there.
The OS X System
Go with Mavericks, there is no good reason to use anything older. This part is actually super easy. Throw the SSD in another Mac or in an external drive and connect it to another Mac. Install Mavericks to the other SSD. Replace the boot.efi file with the modified one that allows EFI32 machines to boot, and add your BoardID and model identifier to the usual places, detailed here. That's it! Mavericks runs without issue, updates fine, and allows full use of iCloud services. Sleep works as expected, it runs like an officially supported model. I used to use the Chameleon hack to get Mountain Lion and Mavericks working but the boot.efi one works way better and is simpler to implement.
Windows
Despite Apple attempting to thwart your ability to do so, 64-bit version of Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 all work fine on the Mac Pro 1,1. To start, you'll need to modify the boot media. 64-bit Windows wasn't meant to boot with EFI32 and errors out. Modifying the media is fairly easy, I used this tutorial. There are some issues with installing the Apple provided Bootcamp utility and whatnot but that is also easily overcome, just follow this guide. I don't run Windows on my Mac Pro anymore (got a standalone machine for that purpose so I didn't have to dual-boot) but when I did I experienced no issues, and with the 6870 it was even a decent gaming workhorse.
Notes
After all that you end up with a great Mac that benches quite well considering it's age and can flawlessly boot into the latest Mac OS X version. You're stuck with the slow RAM, and Xeon processors cost a fortune so I wouldn't recommend it unless you really need this machine to be your one and only. It uses ECC FB-DIMMs, which are kind of a dead end when it comes to an upgrade path.
If you have any questions I would be happy to answer. I have spent lots of time working on my Mac Pro from the day the 2nd Developer Preview of Mountain Lion launched that broke EFI32 support, so I'm pretty comfortable with bringing it up to speed.
> I remember buying snow leopard, but I think it needed a different software ?
No, you don't need different software, Snow Leopard is fine. However, you can update the iMac 2008 to OS X 10.11 El Capitan via the Mac App Store. You need to use this link if you want to upgrade it to OS X 10.11 El Capitan:
What can you do to breath new life into it?
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Next to installing the most recent macOS version it can run, as described above, you can also add more RAM to it and replace the internal HDD with an SSD!
The RAM upgrade is very easy to do. The iMac 2008 supports up to 6 GB RAM (1 x 4 GB RAM module, 1 x 2 GB RAM module). It has two RAM slots, meaning two RAM modules in total will fit in. A higher total amount than 6 GB RAM won't work due to a limitation in the logic board.
The iMac 2008 needs RAM that matches the following specification:
PC2-6400 DDR2 800 MHz, 200-pin
Here are some examples of RAM modules that should work flawlessly in the machine:
You can mix different RAM brands without any problem, just make sure that the RAM you buy remains within the specification outlined above.
You may find information online which states that your iMac 2008 supposedly only supports 4 GB RAM (2 x 4 GB RAM modules), but this is outdated information! Back in 2008, 4 GB RAM modules were not commonly available, so Apple could only test with 2 x 2 GB RAM = 4 GB RAM. However, when 4 GB RAM modules became commonly available, users found out that the iMac 2008 can actually recognize and utilize up to 6 GB RAM, so I recommend that you add 6 GB RAM. I recommend that you update to OS X 10.11 El Capitan before you do the RAM upgrade, the reason being that the iMac will run the latest firmware available for it to rule out any possible issues related to an outdated OS.
Before doing the RAM upgrade, check which RAM modules are already in there via the Apple menu at the top left corner of the screen -> "About This Mac" -> "Memory". If a 2 GB RAM module is already in there, you only need to buy 1 x 4 GB RAM module for the upgrade.
This video shows the RAM upgrade procedure (again, extremely easy to do):
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As for the SSD:
The SSD upgrade would give the machine an even greater speed boost (though you should do both the SSD & RAM upgrade, if you can), but is also far more complicated than the RAM upgrade. An SSD improves performance dramatically: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9PngoDlD28
Getting an SSD in there requires a partial disassembly of the device, which you should only do personally if you are very much technically inclined, otherwise let someone else do it for you.
You need an SSD that matches the following criteria:
Here are some examples of SSDs which should work fine:
The SSDs have a physical size of 2.5", yet the HDD that is currently in your iMac is 3.5" in size. You will need an adapter like this one to make the SSD fit in:
This video shows the SSD upgrade procedure:
Again, I recommend that you let someone else do the SSD upgrade for you if you think that you won't be able to perform the upgrade yourself. It's worth it, though, as it's the single greatest update you can add to the machine.
If you want good airflow, get these: http://www.amazon.com/NewerTech-AdaptaDrive-Drive-Converter-Bracket/dp/B005PZDVF6
Could go with one like this. Bolts right to the existing drive sled.
I didn't realize it was 2.5".
Is this something I would need to use it with my regular sata cables?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005PZDVF6/
Here are some links you might find useful:
identify your machine: http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/specs/imac-core-i7-2.8-27-inch-aluminum-late-2009-specs.html
How to for different things on late 2009: https://www.ifixit.com/Device/iMac_Intel_27%22_EMC_2309_and_2374
Replacing the hard drive: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+27-Inch+EMC+2309+and+2374+Hard+Drive+Replacement/1634
note that you can also put a hard drive into the optical drive bay and keep 2 hard drives in it. You can then buy a $20 usb external disk drive for when you need to insert a dvd. You need a little caddy so the drive will mount in the superdrive bay. On this 2010 27in iMac I put a 1T SSD into the superdrive bay and kept the internal 1Tb HD. On the 2009 as I mentioned, I replaced it's internal HD with a hybrid 2 Tb SSHD. This one: https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Seagate/ST2000DX002/ You can get the 1Tb version for less than $100.
If you want to go full SSD, I like the EVO line http://a.co/d0Hwi7J You can get 500 GB for $105 and when your machine finally goes the way of Steve Jobs, you can take the drive out and put it in another desktop, laptop or use it as an external drive. Note that even though your machine is SATA 2 (the connection type between the disk and motherboard) all later versions of SATA are backward compatable. You will just run at slower (but still way faster than HD) speeds.
You will need a few tools like the suction cups to pull the screen protector off it's magnets. If you just want to buy it all in one place look here: https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/YIMAC091Y2.0/
If you put a 2.5in SSD into the 3.5in hard drive bay, you also need a bracket like this: https://www.amazon.com/NewerTech-AdaptaDrive-Drive-Converter-Bracket/dp/B005PZDVF6/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1503800751&sr=1-5&keywords=SATA+2.5+to+3.5+bracket
that gives you the drive and tools and OWC links the install videos from that page. It's really not difficult. I had no experience prior to doing my 2 machines. Just get a work surface and put a towel down and go slow and watch the videos/ read the step by steps.
Any 2.5" SATA SSD will work in your Mac Pro. Though, you need a caddy to fit it into the sled that slides into your Mac Pro. Also, be aware that if you connect a SATA SSD to the onboard SATA, it will be limited to SATA 2 (3Gbps).
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MMP35T25/
OR
http://www.amazon.com/NewerTech-AdaptaDrive-Drive-Converter-Bracket/dp/B005PZDVF6/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1459457886&sr=8-6&keywords=2.5%22+to+3.5%22
OR
You can just jirry-rig it with tape
Awesome, so is something like this what I want to buy? I would have to get a converter, too, from what I understand.