Mac Pro Motherboard Format

mdjmcnally

mdjmcnally

mdjmcnally

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Am sorely tempted to get a Mac Pro after the refresh however whilst the case is gorgeous I really want something with more storage potential.

The box will be running MAC OS X Server and VMWare Fusion so will be adding a RAID card to run the VMWare images from. ie MAC OS X internal drives, VMWare external drives.

Rather then add an external eSata storage, and I have managed to find some Mac Pro case styled 4 bay devices, I would rather be able to run the disks internally.

Looking at the case rear then it resembles an ATX format rear. Does anyone know if the Motherboard is a standard ATX or eATX format, and if so I could gut the Mac Pro case and place in a larger PC case with more drive bays.

Many Thanks
 
No, it's not ATX, and it won't fit into another case.

It has 4 internal drive bays, I don't see an issue with running more drives in an eSATA enclosure (as they will run at native speed).
 
I was just hoping to avoid the extra power sockets, and external cabling that will entail.

I figure get a Highpoint 2314 and run into a 4 port encloseure with each disk directly attached to the controller, so I know the performance is there. I even found a Mac Pro styled enclosure to use so just need to hide the cabling out the back. Just have too make sure don't look at the back and spoil the looks.

Thanks for the help and info.
 
A lot of external enclosures can combine everything down one SATA cable (forgotten the word for it) as long as you use a compatible card at the other end. This reduces the cabling a bit, could be worth looking at.
 
Caged said:
A lot of external enclosures can combine everything down one SATA cable (forgotten the word for it) as long as you use a compatible card at the other end. This reduces the cabling a bit, could be worth looking at.
Click to expand...


^^

I've seen some that can use two cables, 600MB/s, more than enough :)


Hell 300MB/s is enough lol (75MB/s x 4 = 300MB/sec) and I doubt U can get 4 HDs going 100% flat out ;)
 
If you need more internal storage, get bigger hard drives.

If you still need more (over 2TB) then you need to re consider your digital life tbh :p
 
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