I just got a PM from another person on this forum asking me some questions that I hadn't even thought about... I had put a lot of thought into these simple decisions, but in retrospect, they really are major decisions in the process of deciding how to approach your hack... So I'll re-post them here:
Evo-L wrote:
1 - Why did you need the MiniSAS adapter thing? Cant you just plug the hard drives directly into the motherboard?
2 - Attaching the motherboard to the case - did you glue the attachments on there in lieu of just buying something like this?
http://www.mountainmods.com/mountain-mo ... -p-56.html
Hi Evo-L-
I hope my experience saves you some time... My "journey" was mostly trial-and-error, but I learned a lot from the other builds on this forum...
1: If you want to use the original Apple hard drive trays (slide in under the optical drives), you really only have 2 options:
Option A: Use the existing hot-swap connectors -- this allows you to slide the drives in and they "automatically" connect to the docking connectors -- both power and data. It works the way that Apple intended...
Option B: Remove the existing hot-swap connectors and connect the drives "PC-style" using standard SATA data and power cables. This can be done easily -- but you will probably have to cut off (or bend out of the way) the metal tabs that hold the SATA docking connectors. The tabs will impede your ability to use "standard" PC-style cables.
Once you cut these mounting tabs off the chassis, they are gone forever -- so make this decision carefully. Option A is probably a bit more expensive -- but is not really much more work. There is some electrical work to make everything work, but with Option B, you need to do more case-modification (e.g. cutting) work. So I think the "level of difficulty" is about the same... It's really about personal preference.
2: Yes -- I wanted the back of the finished "Hack Pro" to look as close to stock Apple as possible. I really didn't want to cut out the whole back of the case to put in a motherboard tray. The tray may actually be a more elegant solution in the long run, but requires a LOT of extra cutting and other metal work. I wanted to do as little modification (e.g. damage) to the original Apple case as possible and still get decent results. So, I cut out the smaller rectangular hole around the ATX connectors on the mobo and used the PCI slot metal-work from the original Apple part of the case. Plus, using epoxy to glue the standoffs to the inside case was really easy...
If you do it the way that I did it, there is nothing that would prevent you from later changing your mind, cutting out the whole back of the case and putting in a mobo tray -- if you start down the tray route, you're fully committed as soon as you start cutting... I didn't want that kind of inflexibility on my first major build.
Hope that helps!
-Mooner