Contribute
Register

m.2 to mini SAS - for connecting the Apple hdd sata harness

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Apr 7, 2016
Messages
4
Motherboard
mATX ASUS MAXIMUS VIII GENE Z170
CPU
Intel Core i7-6700k
Graphics
Gainward GeForce GTX 970 4GB Phantom
Mac
  1. MacBook Air
  2. MacBook Pro
  3. Mac mini
  4. Mac Pro
Classic Mac
  1. 0
Mobile Phone
  1. Windows Phone
Hi everyone

I'am currently trying to convert my old Mac Pro 2006 case to mATX compatible, but I'we have a problem with the HDD bays on the case.

I have a mATX Asus ROG Maximus VIII Gene. This motherboard have a m.2 slot and I own a Asus hyper kit (m.2 - to mini SAS) witch is compatible with my MOBO.

My thoughts was to use this to connect to the Apple HDD SATA harness (SAS), but any ideas how?
 
Those ports are slower than SATA III. IIRC, they're closer to SATA I speeds. Since I don't care "how nice" my interior looks, I used a long SATA III from the motherboard to the SSD I placed on top of the DVD drive and secured with velco. (The DVD drive also has a long SATA III cable.) You can "snake" the SATA and the power cables from the lower part of the case to the DVD drive shelf using the slots in the top shelf.)

There are lots of good examples of disk mounting in the Mac Pro case mod forum section > http://www.tonymacx86.com/mac-pro-mods/

Welcome to the Mac Pro case hackintosh crowd. :thumbup:
 
Those ports are slower than SATA III. IIRC, they're closer to SATA I speeds. Since I don't care "how nice" my interior looks, I used a long SATA III from the motherboard to the SSD I placed on top of the DVD drive and secured with velco. (The DVD drive also has a long SATA III cable.) You can "snake" the SATA and the power cables from the lower part of the case to the DVD drive shelf using the slots in the top shelf.)

There are lots of good examples of disk mounting in the Mac Pro case mod forum section > http://www.tonymacx86.com/mac-pro-mods/

Welcome to the Mac Pro case hackintosh crowd. :thumbup:

Thank you :)

Do you mean the mini sas cable is slow or the Apple SATA harness cable is slow?
 
Thank you :)

Do you mean the mini sas cable is slow or the Apple SATA harness cable is slow?
Ah, good question. It depends on your SATA to SAS converter. If it's like this one, you'll get SATA III 6GB speeds.

http://www.maxupgrades.com/istore/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=177&ParentCat=332 <---wrong one :rolleyes:
http://www.maxupgrades.com/istore/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=330&ParentCat=332

The original Mac Pro 3,1 motherboard was SATA II speed.
 
Ah, good question. It depends on your SATA to SAS converter. If it's like this one, you'll get SATA III 6GB speeds.

http://www.maxupgrades.com/istore/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=177&ParentCat=332 <---wrong one :rolleyes:
http://www.maxupgrades.com/istore/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=330&ParentCat=332

The original Mac Pro 3,1 motherboard was SATA II speed.

Okay, thank you for hooking me up!
Here is what I'am considering to do:

What are your thoughts on this chain:
M.2 slot - M.2 hyper kit (M.2 - SFF-8639) - SFF 8643 to SFF-8087(cable) - MaxConnect Link (SFF-8087 to SFF-8087) - Apple SATA HDD harness (SFF-8087).

MOBO:
https://www.asus.com/no/Motherboards/MAXIMUS-VIII-GENE/

Hyper Kit:
https://www.asus.com/no/Motherboard-Accessories/Hyper_Kit/

Cable:
https://www.dustinhome.no/product/5010756038/sas-kabel-sff-8643---sff-8087-1m-blackblue

MaxConnect SAS / SATA Link adapter:
http://www.maxupgrades.com/istore/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=177&ParentCat=332


The hyper card promise, is to deliver transfer speeds ut to 32Gb/s, BUT if the MaxConnect link adapter only is capable of delivering SATA III speeds, I would have to settle for a bottleneck in that adapter?
 
Okay, thank you for hooking me up!
Here is what I'am considering to do:

What are your thoughts on this chain:
M.2 slot - M.2 hyper kit (M.2 - SFF-8639) - SFF 8643 to SFF-8087(cable) - MaxConnect Link (SFF-8087 to SFF-8087) - Apple SATA HDD harness (SFF-8087).

MOBO:
https://www.asus.com/no/Motherboards/MAXIMUS-VIII-GENE/

Hyper Kit:
https://www.asus.com/no/Motherboard-Accessories/Hyper_Kit/

Cable:
https://www.dustinhome.no/product/5010756038/sas-kabel-sff-8643---sff-8087-1m-blackblue

MaxConnect SAS / SATA Link adapter:
http://www.maxupgrades.com/istore/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=177&ParentCat=332


The hyper card promise, is to deliver transfer speeds ut to 32Gb/s, BUT if the MaxConnect link adapter only is capable of delivering SATA III speeds, I would have to settle for a bottleneck in that adapter?

First, thank you for finding the ASUS Hyper Kit.:thumbup: I'm going to investigate it for when I swap out my Z87 mATX motherboard, currently in my Mac Pro case, with my GENE in the near future.

Second, I gave the wrong product link in my previous posts. I have this SAS/SATA converter cable and adapter: http://www.maxupgrades.com/istore/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=330&ParentCat=332. I am using this in my Mac Pro Case Mod which uses the Z87MX motherboard's SATA ports. :thumbup:

You are now out in front of everybody else. If the Hyper Kit card outputs SAS, you just need to plug the Mac Pro case's SAS cable into an adapter cable (mini SAS to SAS). However, if you use the Mac Pro case's SATA "plugs", then you're only limited to the speed of the SSD/HDD that use those SATA connectors. Unfortunately, I don't know of any drive that uses the SATA connector that is faster than SATA III's 6GB speed. Another question is does the Hyper Kit card support more than one SAS device at once like the Apple Mac Pro case's SAS to four SATA connectors?

If the Hyper Kit supports four SATA drives as does the Mac Pro motherboard, then you won't need the MacConnect PCI card.

Wow! The ASUS Hyper Kit could be coolest accessory to our Mac Pro case mod projects...and it's not that expensive. I'll have to get a M.2 to PCI adapter card for my Samsung 950 Pro.


For US readers:
ASUS Hyper Kit: https://www.asus.com/Motherboard-Accessories/Hyper_Kit/
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZONEZMM/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813995042


Update: The more I read, the more I'm convinced that the Hyper Kit was designed to only support one SAS device, like the Intel 750 SAS SSD blade. (See this Anandtech article: http://www.anandtech.com/show/9453/the-asus-tuf-x99-sabertooth-review. Search for "hyper." It's at the third occurrence.) Too, bad, because the price is right. Sigh... So, for Mac Pro Case mod'ers, the MacUpgrade's solution appears to be the best solution since you can still use the M.2 motherboard slot for a M.2 SSD blade and not lose the 2nd PCI graphics card slot.

However, for our GENE, and similar mATX motherboards with the same layouts, the MacUpgrades card goes in the 2nd PCIe slot thus turning both PCIE slots 1 & 2 into 8x speed slots as per the GENE's User Manual at the bottom of page 1-19. Ugh! I don't like the trade-off here for our GENE. I thought that SATA PCIe card shown in the MacUpdate's link came with the SATA to SAS cable and converter. I should have had more coffee before I responded this morning.
 
I revised my previous post with the correct information.
 
First, thank you for finding the ASUS Hyper Kit.:thumbup: I'm going to investigate it for when I swap out my Z87 mATX motherboard, currently in my Mac Pro case, with my GENE in the near future.

Second, I gave the wrong product link in my previous posts. I have this SAS/SATA converter cable and adapter: http://www.maxupgrades.com/istore/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=330&ParentCat=332. I am using this in my Mac Pro Case Mod which uses the Z87MX motherboard's SATA ports. :thumbup:

You are now out in front of everybody else. If the Hyper Kit card outputs SAS, you just need to plug the Mac Pro case's SAS cable into an adapter cable (mini SAS to SAS). However, if you use the Mac Pro case's SATA "plugs", then you're only limited to the speed of the SSD/HDD that use those SATA connectors. Unfortunately, I don't know of any drive that uses the SATA connector that is faster than SATA III's 6GB speed. Another question is does the Hyper Kit card support more than one SAS device at once like the Apple Mac Pro case's SAS to four SATA connectors?

If the Hyper Kit supports four SATA drives as does the Mac Pro motherboard, then you won't need the MacConnect PCI card.

Wow! The ASUS Hyper Kit could be coolest accessory to our Mac Pro case mod projects...and it's not that expensive. I'll have to get a M.2 to PCI adapter card for my Samsung 950 Pro.


For US readers:
ASUS Hyper Kit: https://www.asus.com/Motherboard-Accessories/Hyper_Kit/
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZONEZMM/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813995042


Update: The more I read, the more I'm convinced that the Hyper Kit was designed to only support one SAS device, like the Intel 750 SAS SSD blade. (See this Anandtech article: http://www.anandtech.com/show/9453/the-asus-tuf-x99-sabertooth-review. Search for "hyper." It's at the third occurrence.) Too, bad, because the price is right. Sigh... So, for Mac Pro Case mod'ers, the MacUpgrade's solution appears to be the best solution since you can still use the M.2 motherboard slot for a M.2 SSD blade and not lose the 2nd PCI graphics card slot.

However, for our GENE, and similar mATX motherboards with the same layouts, the MacUpgrades card goes in the 2nd PCIe slot thus turning both PCIE slots 1 & 2 into 8x speed slots as per the GENE's User Manual at the bottom of page 1-19. Ugh! I don't like the trade-off here for our GENE. I thought that SATA PCIe card shown in the MacUpdate's link came with the SATA to SAS cable and converter. I should have had more coffee before I responded this morning.

I'll try it(the hyper kit) out with a Raid0 config. to check if it's working with multiple units, also try to order a PCIe solution as a backup solution.

Anyways.. Seems that I'll be stuck with SATA III speeds!

One more thing! Does the Max connect unit include a adapter? SFF-8087 to SFF-8087
 
...One more thing! Does the Max connect unit include a adapter? SFF-8087 to SFF-8087
Yes. It's called the "Link" on the web page.
Part Description​

MaxConnect SAS/SATA Link for PCIe Controller with 7-Pin SATA Connector
  • MaxConnect SAS/SATA Link <--- the SATA to SAD adapter
  • MiniSAS to 4x SATA Cable
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top