• Adding SSDs to a 2013 MacPro

    From JF Mezei@jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca to comp.sys.mac.system on Thursday, April 08, 2021 15:10:40
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

    Is there a recommended way to add SSDs to a 2013 Mac Pro that has no
    expansion capability?

    Right now, I have a OWC Thunderbolt2 enclosure with 4 SATA spinning
    drives.

    Considering adding this:
    https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/express-4m2
    It is a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure to support 4 NVMe drives.

    Does it matter if:

    [MAC] ---- [NVME drives] ----- [SATA Drives]
    [MAC] ---- [SATA drives] ----- [NVMe Drives]

    or does it all come down the same? (Mac is Thunderbolt 2 as is the SATA enclosure). I assume the NVNE enclosure will throttle down to
    Thunderbolt2? or do I need an adaptor?


    At the moment, would it be fair to state that the disks are slower than Thunderbolt2 ? But with SSDs, it would the the Thunderbolt2 that becomes
    the bottleneck?


    (The 2013 trash can has proprietary internal SSD that is too small to
    host anything esle than system and apps).

    And in terms of the actual SSDs for OS-X (High Sierra), any M2 NVMe woll
    work or need I be concerned about support by the Mac? Will these appear
    as SSDs to the OS or does the Box/Thunderbolt obfuscate the technology?

    (Consider Trim, and how APFS deals with SSDs differentlty than rotating
    rust platters).
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  • From Lewis@g.kreme@kreme.dont-email.me to comp.sys.mac.system on Thursday, April 08, 2021 20:56:36
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

    In message <RyIbI.902$LI3.364@fx06.iad> JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> wrote:
    Is there a recommended way to add SSDs to a 2013 Mac Pro that has no expansion capability?

    If it has no expansion capability, then you cannot add an SSD. One
    wonders what you did to that machine though, since my 2012 iMac have a
    whitload of expansion capability.

    Right now, I have a OWC Thunderbolt2 enclosure with 4 SATA spinning
    drives.

    Where do you have that? Perhaps connected to your iMac? Would you say
    that has EXPANDED your storage?

    Considering adding this:
    https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/express-4m2
    It is a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure to support 4 NVMe drives.

    Does it matter if:

    [MAC] ---- [NVME drives] ----- [SATA Drives]
    [MAC] ---- [SATA drives] ----- [NVMe Drives]

    Not really, sine you will need a TB2-TB2 dongle which will eliminate
    any benefits of TB3. However, keep that donge as it will allow you to
    use your TB2 devices on a new M1 Mac.

    I currently have M1 Mini -> 2m TB3 cable -> TB3 Array -> -> TB3-TB2
    dongle 20cm TB2 cable -> TB2 array.

    this means my TB3 enclosure runs, theoretically, at TB3 speed and the
    TB2 enclosure gets full TB2, but in point of fact both of them ACTUALLY
    run at 20GB/s anyway.

    or does it all come down the same? (Mac is Thunderbolt 2 as is the SATA enclosure). I assume the NVNE enclosure will throttle down to
    Thunderbolt2? or do I need an adaptor?

    You must have the Apple TB2 to TB3 dongle.

    <https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMEL2AM/A/thunderbolt-3-usb-c-to-thunderbolt-2-adapter>

    At the moment, would it be fair to state that the disks are slower than Thunderbolt2 ? But with SSDs, it would the the Thunderbolt2 that becomes
    the bottleneck?

    No, TB2 is 20GB/s and few SSDs can match that, Some, but not most. Your
    machine cannot support TB3 speeds regardless, so it makes no difference.

    (The 2013 trash can has proprietary internal SSD that is too small to
    host anything esle than system and apps).

    You can buy replacement SSDs for the 2013 MacPro. I know for a fact you
    can put in a 2TB SSD as I know someone who did that several years ago. I
    would not be at all surprised if there were larger ones as well, though
    it is possible the controller is limited to 2TB.

    And in terms of the actual SSDs for OS-X (High Sierra), any M2 NVMe woll
    work or need I be concerned about support by the Mac? Will these appear
    as SSDs to the OS or does the Box/Thunderbolt obfuscate the technology?

    If you are replacing the internal NVMe SSD in the iMac, that is a
    special unit. I replaced mine with a 1TB drive. For external, of course
    it matters not one bit as the Mac has nothing to do with controlling
    external drives.

    (Consider Trim

    No, don't.

    Pretty sure an M1 mini ($799 model) would smoke the 2012 iMac in every
    possible task and meet or beat the Mac Pro as well.

    <looks> Yep, a 16GB M1 Mac mini beats a 12 core 2013 Mac Pro in
    multicore tests (very close) and more than doubles it up in single core,
    so...

    https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/4648680 https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/7318772

    --
    A: You can never go too far.
    B: If I'm gonna get busted, it is *not* gonna be by a guy like *that*.
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