Multiple SATA Controller Cards

In addition to a couple of external firewire drives and an external dual SATA enclosure, I'm considering installing the Sonnet G5 Jive or similar multi-bay internal solution.
I don't see this as presenting much of a problem, but just curious if anyone else has had any issues installing two PCI-X SATA controller cards in their systems...
anyone tried this?

Thanks for the response DaddyPaycheck
That's interesting. I hadn't considered power supply issues; I just assumed that any manufacturer...particularly Sonnet...would have considered a potential problem such as this...(maybe that's a bit naive on my part).
At the same time, I hadn't really done much research on the Jive. I wanted to be certain that two SATA cards wouldn't pose a problem first...
Thanks again

Similar Messages

  • Recommend a 4 way SATA controller card?

    I am having huge problems of finding a SATA controller card that:
    1. Can attach 4 discs
    2. No raid (i will use ZFS)
    3. supports NCQ
    4. supports SATA II (i.e. 3Gbps)
    If anyone know of a card that works, please post the model here, so I can buy it. Ive looked everywhere, but it seems that the SATA chipset that are supported, can only be found on motherboards, and not as standalone cards.

    Ok, this card requires a PCI-X slot. It is therefore suited to server motherboards. I have heard that PCI-X will work with an ordinary PCI slot without problems. Can anyone confirm this?

  • KT6V LSR (MS 7021) SATA controller card second opinion, please

    I want to thank Fredrik Asenius for his reply to my previous post.
    However, due to the fact that the purchase of a SATA controller card and two SATA2 hard disks will be handled, of necessity, at a distance of 800 kilometers (involving courier expenses), the technician of the store has requested that I ask for a second opinion from another expert in the forum. An error, therefore, could be very costly. (No offense of any kind intended to Fredrik Asenius)
    My motherboard is the MSI KT6V LSR (MS 7021) Via KT600 Northbridge and Via 8237 Southbridge chipsets.
    Both SATA connections are currently taken up by two SATA hard drives (no striping, nor mirroring in use). The rest of the installation consists of IDE CDRW and DVDRW drives, as well as an MSI Nvidia NX6200AX (256 RAM) AGP video card and a Soundblaster Live Value PCI audio card. The other four PCI slots are not occupied. The system also has 1.5 gigabytes of RAM and a 520-watt PSU. I am running Windows XP SP2 Professional.
    My questions are the following:
    (1) Since the two SATA connectors on my motherboard are occupied, if I wish to add another SATA device I will have to install a SATA controller card. Does the SATA controller card have to be SATA 1 or can I also use a SATA 2 controller card?
    IMPORTANTLY, the technician questions whether the motherboard will accept a controller card adding more SATA devices. He says that you cannot add any more SATA devices to this motherboard. Is he correct?
    (2) If it is possible to add more SATA devices using a controller card, since the chipset on the motherboard is Via the SATA controller software is also from Via. Does the SATA controller card also have to be one that uses the Via SATA RAID software? (In other words, are there compatibility issues? Can all this all work together?)
    Once again, thanks for the help.

    Quote from: bjmcm on 14-December-06, 04:40:05
    (1) Since the two SATA connectors on my motherboard are occupied, if I wish to add another SATA device I will have to install a SATA controller card. Does the SATA controller card have to be SATA 1 or can I also use a SATA 2 controller card?
    IMPORTANTLY, the technician questions whether the motherboard will accept a controller card adding more SATA devices. He says that you cannot add any more SATA devices to this motherboard. Is he correct?
    (2) If it is possible to add more SATA devices using a controller card, since the chipset on the motherboard is Via the SATA controller software is also from Via. Does the SATA controller card also have to be one that uses the Via SATA RAID software? (In other words, are there compatibility issues? Can all this all work together?)
    Once again, thanks for the help.
    I have had a fair amount of experience with this kind of issue.
    1. No, the add in card does not need to be SATA I, it can be SATA II. I recommend a SATA II card and SATA II drives. Putting SATA II drives on a SATA I controller can fail to work.
    2. Is he wrong? Essentially, yes he is wrong. It depends on how literally you take his words. You can NOT add more SATA drives to the motherboard. You CAN add an add-in SATA card and then put the additional SATA drives on that new add-in card. The difference in wording the answer is critical.
    You ask about the Via chipset on the motherboard and also on the add-in card. Actually, it is probably LESS likely that the add-in card will work if the chipsets are the same. The issue is the computer being able to differentiate between the two controllers. I had this very problem with a machine.
    That computer had two add-in cards. Each was the same brand. The computer could not differentiate between the two cards and gave a hardware error. I replaced one of the cards with another brand and it works fine. The manufacturer suggested trying the cards in different PCI slots. I did not try that, I just got a new card because it was easier for me.
    The add-in card does NOT need to support RAID, that is optional. If you do not want to use RAID, the card does not have to support it. If you do want to use RAID, obviously the card does need to support it. RAID is part hardware and part software so if the card supports it and you do not to set it up as RAID, that is fine.
    One caution...If the add-in card has an external port that you want to use, be aware that there is something called e-SATA that might use an incompatable type of port connecter. I had a card with that connecter and I found that the cables are extremely expensive and also hard to find. Most external SATA connectors are the SATA I style that you are used to though.

  • Problem with NEO2 and sata controller card

    1.Product Type: MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum (MS-7025)
    and the controller card is a InnoVision DM-8301 and the hard drive is a Seagate ST3320620AS
    2.BIOS version: The newest one, 1C0 or something.
    3.External VGA Type: Geforce 6800 GT
    4.CPU Type: AMD 64 3500+
    5.Memory Type: G Skill ZX 2048mb.
    6.Power Supply Type:
    7.Operating System: Xp Pro
    8.Problem Description:
    Hello. I have a strange problem with my controllercard. I wrote this text to InnoVision suport and they send me files and bios updates for a whole week and it was still the same problem. And then i tried the card in an older computer and everything worked fine.
    I wrote
    "Hello. I got some problems with my new controller card. I can find my new harddrive ,that's conected to the controller card, when iam inside windows and it's seems to be no problem. I can look on every seting on it and everywhere i look i can read "No problem". I Also did some test with the seatools programe and everything was fine. But when i schould copy files to it the coumputer start lagging after a few seconds and i cant do anything. After a while i can move the mouse around but the it laggs again. My computer is overclocked at the time but i have tried to use the harddrive when it's not clocked also. Also when im goin in to teh controlpanel and starts the setings for Sillicon Images sata controll and have music on my computer, the music laggs for a very very short moment. Something must be wrong and i can not find it."
    It's still the same problem in my computer. The older computer had a MSI moderboard with a VIA chip and i have a nForce 3. InnoVison said i should talk to you about this problem. I have 3 harddrives but i use this controllercard because i want to have my computer overclocked and then i can't use 2 of the sata ports as i think you know.
    I would be very thankful if you could help me with this problem.
    //Martin

    I've used a noname SATA pci card (non raid) with SIL3112 on my neo2 without problems with 1C bios.
    Think you may try with a disk lower than 48bitLBA need (137GB barrier), eg a 120GB disk
    Quote:
     have the InnoVision EIO DM-8301 and had alot of problems using it with WD 160MB SATA drive.
    I am using Intel 865 based MB with 2 original SATA channels. The original SATA channels are bootable.
    I could not used the EIO card with 160G HDD. The whole setup is working only after I connected oine of my 120G Segate SATA HDD to the EIO Sata card.
    I think this card do not properly support HDD above 120G.
    Please respond to: [email protected]
    http://www.devhardware.com/forums/storage-devices-80/sata-as-boot-20080-2.html
    Btw: you have xp sp2 ?
    48bitLBA is not enabled in the first version.
    http://www.48bitlba.com/winxp.htm
    Edit:
    Here's another with complete different setup and same problems
    http://forum.tweakxp.com/forum/Topic212148-4-1.aspx
    I doubt it has anything to do with your motherboard and/or bios.
    Btw: I looked at innovision and their drivers in download area are very old.
    Get the latest SIL3112 drivers for XP here:
    http://www.siliconimage.com/support/supportsearchresults.aspx?pid=63&cid=3&ctid=2&osid=4&
    And remember 3112 is sata150 only , so it's not sure it will work with your drive at all .
    Anyway it should be set to fixed sata1.5G with jumper - not certain the controller can autonegotiate
    without trouble. You cannot have command queing enabled either , disk support only NCQ and controller TCQ
    so having command queing set ON will cause major conflicts in data transfers.

  • SATA controller card - will it work?

    I need to grow my RAID5 but have run out of SATA ports on my motherboard, so I am considering buying a [url=]Lycom PE-103R5[/url] which is a PCI-Express 1x card based around the Silicon Image SiI3132. The sales spiel claims that it is supported in 32/64-bit RHEL & SuSE, but I haven't been able to find out whether it will work in my Arch64 box?
    Can anybody help shine any light onto this?

    It appears the sata_sil24 module provides functionality for this card:
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  • SATA11 is it compatable with all controller cards

    I want to add 500gb HD's to my G4 Giga and know I need a SATA controller card, I am considering this one card pic is this card compatable with SATA11 hard drives?
    Powermac G4 Giga-ethernet Dual 1.2ghz 100bus 2 Gig Ram 2xHD 80gb+120gb USB1+2/FW   Mac OS X (10.4.9)   wireless network

    Thanks Japamac, can I go through this deadhead style...
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    set your Startup Disk Preferences, you are able to
    select the OS that you want, as well as the disk that
    you want.
    Does this mean I have to make a partion thing on the same disk for each (even the same) OS?
    Do I use the original install disks to do this?
    Another way to select startup disk/OS, is to boot
    while holding the Option key. This will open the
    Startup Manager, and allow you to select which and
    where you want to boot from.
    This is the screen I remember from my Apple Care Plan Help Desk days
    It is a good idea to have a second (and third)
    bootable disk in your system.
    Is the third disk on a partion thing ( I have researched this and have found, using "disk utility" I can make "partitions", if I understand correctly, my machine will "see" a partition as a separate disk, am I miles off?
    That way, heaven
    forbid, should one disk have trouble booting, you can
    use the Startup Manager to select an alternate disk,
    and then diagnose and repair the ailing disk from
    there.
    Do I use "disk utility" from another partition disk to do this?
    This is, actually, a very important thing to
    have in your system. by all means, install the OS on
    the other disk.
    A partition on the 120gb, how big should the partition be?
    Remember, to keep both disks backed up. So, don't
    give up on your external drives all together. They
    are VERY useful.
    This is where you are going to hate me... I dont have any externals or back ups.... this is why I am trying to work out what to do... I back up my photo's to DVD when I have enough, its not good practice because it can take a months worth before I have time to physically go through all the work to decide what I will archive to DVD, I would love for all of the work to automatically copy itself to a safe place.
    While we are on the subject, a very good way to
    backup, is to use Super Duper. This is a clone
    utility. SD will copy bit for bit, your drive, and
    then make that backup bootable. This is a very nice
    feature. Also, after that, you can use the Smart
    Update feature, which updates any changes of a volume
    to it's clone. This way, you always have an exact
    copy of your system and data. Invaluable!
    This is obviously what I need... I will download it and try to understand its functions
    I like OWC, myself. Even with shipping and tariffs to
    Japan, it is most often cheaper to do so. Also, the
    company is very reputable, has great service (try
    their live chat) and stands behind what they sell.
    OWC also has lots of install tutorial video (and
    PDF's) in their support section. Check it
    out.
    I have trusted OWC since you recommended them for my processor upgrade and have just ordered the SATA controller from them and am going to get a 500gb internal HD for now until I can learn to rationalise my disk space... at the moment my files are just copies of themselves on the same disk (120gb)
    Hey Japamac... I have to say thank you to you sir, you have obviously put a lot of time and effort into your reply and I really do appreciate it...
    As Arnie says.... "I will be back"
    G4AGP(450)Sawtooth,
    2ghz PowerLogix, 2gbRAM, RaptorSATAATA, ATI Radeon
    9800   Mac OS X (10.4.8)   Pioneer DVR-109, 23" ACD,
    Ratoc USB 2.0, QCam Ultra, Nikon Coolscan
    Powermac G4 Giga-ethernet Dual 1.2ghz 100bus 2 Gig Ram 2xHD 80gb+120gb USB1+2/FW   Mac OS X (10.4.9)   wireless network
    Powermac G4 Giga-ethernet Dual 1.2ghz 100bus 2 Gig Ram 2xHD 80gb+120gb USB1+2/FW   Mac OS X (10.4.9)   wireless network

  • Addonics SATA Controller / KP Update

    A while back I posted regarding the Addonics ADSA3GPX1-2EM SATA controller card causing an immediate KP whenever I powered on the attached "SataVault" 2 drive enclosure. I also have an EP2 card from Sonnet that I was going to try. However while reading the documentation, I noticed the statement that the card needed to be in a "1 lane" PCI slot. Checking using the Expansion Slot Utility revealed that the ADSA3GPX1-2EM was installed in an "8 lane" slot. So, before changing the card, I checked out the online documentation for the ADSA3GPX1-2EM and found that it too is a "single lane" card. I don't remember seeing anything about this in the installation instructions and it is pretty deeply burried in the documentation. At any rate, I moved the card to a slot indicated as being a "1 lane" slot and rebooted the computer. So far I have been able to power on the drive enclousure without getting a KP. I have done so several times now just to be sure and all seems good. I thought this might be a useful "heads up" for others with similar problems with PCI SATA controllers. I really don't completely understand this "lane" thing so if anyone wanted to shed some light.....

    PS Do I remember reading somewhere that drives connected to a Sonnet E2P controller are not bootable?
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    The ONLY Mac Pro PCIe controllers that I have tested that provide boot capability are made by Areca. The ARC-1221x eight channel host adapter can boot the Mac Pro with RAID 0, 1, 3, 5, 6, 10 or JBOD configurations.
    AMUG installed the new Areca firmware that supports EFI booting and started up a RAID 6 eight drive boot drive on the Mac Pro. Xbench disk scores went through the roof
    You can learn more about the ARC-1221x here:
    http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/areca/1221x/

  • 975X and a PCI Controller Card

    I am trying to install another SATA controller card to I can flash my firmware on my 360. But for what ever reason this board (975X) isn't allowing me to ever boot to the PCI card.
    Any ideas on what settings I need to pick to do it?
    Thanks!

    I think I have tried that and nothing worked. The card is seen in Windows but just not while booting. I'll try it again here once my computer is done doing some things to where I can reboot. I wanted to make sure I was doing it right and it sounds like I am.

  • Will not startup from SATA controller.

    I've added an SATA controller and drives to my blue G3 and hoped to start up from one of the internal SATA drives. It doesn't seem to be working. Does anyone know if this is possible?

    Bootable controller cards are firmware-based. Did you install a Mac-compatible SATA controller card? More often than not, the System recognizes drives connected to a controller card (ATA or SATA) as SCSI devices. After the card and drive(s) were installed, did you attempt booting from your installer or Restore CD, and either run Disk Utility (OS X) or Drive Setup (pre-OS X) to format the drive(s), so that a SCSI driver was written to the disk(s)?

  • Serial ATA Controller Card for bigger hard drives on 8600/300

    Hi again,
    Can a Serial ATA Controller Card work on the PowerMac 8600/300 as well as on the G4 tower?
    How can I tell if the PCI slots are the same?
    Thanks
    web dude

    According to the specs listed for Sonnet's Tempo Serial ATA controller card, it's compatible with the early PCI Macs - like the 8600, as well as newer G3s, G4s, etc. The FirmTek SeriTek 1S2 SATA controller card has gotten favorable feedback in the Forums. The 8600's PCI slots are probably PCI 2.0-compliant, whereas the G4 AGPs probably have PCI 2.1-compliant slots. Even though the FirmTek card specifies PCI 2.2-compliant slots, it's undoubtedly backward-compatible. If you just want to use larger IDE/EIDE drives in your 8600, the (now-discontinued) Acard Ultra ATA-66 PCI controller card is an inexpensive solution at $25. Unlike the Acard Ultra ATA-133 controller card, it has the 128 GB limit, so a 120 GB drive is the optimal choice for it. Newegg has a Seagate 120 GB ATA-100 (8 MB Cache) hard drive for $55. I've got (3) 8600/300s and they were one of Apple's better-designed towers, especially with the large cooling fan in the side panel. I installed a G3/266 MHz processor in one, along with a pair of 4 GB hard drives, an ATI Rage 128 graphics card, and FireWire and USB PCI cards. It runs so well and quietly, that I'm reluctant to part with it - in spite of the fact that I rarely use it anymore. With the hard drive mounting plate on the bottom of the chassis floor, it can accommodate more hard drives than the shortened version of the same mini-tower case, used for the beige G3s.

  • SATA-3 Card for Hard Drives

     Slots
    • 3 PCI Express gen2 x16 slots
    - two dark Blue PCIE x16 slots (PCI_E2 &PCI_E4) support up to PCIE x16 speed, one Blue PCIE x16 slot(PCI_ E5) supports up to PCIE x4 speed
    - supports ATI® Crossfire™
    • 2 PCI Express gen1 x1 slots
    • 2 PCI slot, support 3.3V/ 5V PCI bus Interface
    My original motherboard was replaced with a MSI X58 Pro-E.  This motherboard does not support SATA-3 as are my hard drives. 
    Is there a SATA-3 card that would work in one of the above slots at the SATA-3 6GB/sec?

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=100006519&isNodeId=1&Description=sata+controller+card
    Not sure how well they work. With spinner HDD's, I don't believe there is much difference between SATA II and SATA III performance.
    Some SATA III HDD's have a place for a jumper on the back that allows them to run without any problems on SATA II ports and controllers.

  • MOVED: SATA-3 Card for Hard Drives

    This topic has been moved to Intel Core-iX boards.
    https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=167453.0

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=100006519&isNodeId=1&Description=sata+controller+card
    Not sure how well they work. With spinner HDD's, I don't believe there is much difference between SATA II and SATA III performance.
    Some SATA III HDD's have a place for a jumper on the back that allows them to run without any problems on SATA II ports and controllers.

  • H61M-E33 won't post with SATA controller installed

    I'm having trouble with using a specific PCIe x1 SATA controller with my H61M-E33. 
    This board has three PCIe slots, and I'm trying to use three PCIe x1 SATA controller cards.  Two cards are based upon the SiL 3132 chipset, and work perfectly.  The JMicron JMB363 chipset card is the problem.
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    I'm running the latest beta firmware that's available (A41), but I had this same problem on the shipping firmware (A20).  Is there anything I can do to try to figure out what is going on?

    Quote
    The JMicron JMB363 chipset card is the problem.
    Recommend to contact both MSI Tech Support with a ticket, & it may also be a good idea to contact the card manufacturer & see what they have to say as well. It is rather apparent it is a compatibility conflict of some kind since the other two cards work fine.

  • 3rd Party SATA raid cards for internal drives?

    All --
    Apart from the discussion as to if RAID actually benefits a home desktop system, I am wondering if anyone has the lowdown on using 3rd party SATA raid cards to support the INTERNAL hard drives on the Mac Pro series?
    My Mac Pro is still slated to be built at Apple and for now I have the minimum memory and HD spec being requested at Apple, with the plan to upgrade the memory and drives from OWC or another vendor.
    I've toyed with the idea of utilizing Disk Utility's software RAID features (e.g. RAID 0 for scratch disks, RAID 1 for boot, RAID 0+1 for all else.) I've also toyed with the notion of searching for a hardware raid solution which would allow me to transfer the internal SATA cable runs from the motherboard to a host adapter card for an internal multi-channel experience (with options to create and break mirrors to external devices for backup purposes.)
    So....
    Has anyone experience or utilized 3rd party hardware raid controllers which can connect to the internal HD bays? Are there limitations to this (ie, does the boot drive HAVE to reside off the internal motherboard controllers, or can an internal hardware controller successfully boot the system) of which ought be noted?
    Finally, in the event that a host adapter card cannot drive the interna bays, can anyone give feedback to hardware SATA cards to power external drive bays with support for Disk Utility (to allow RAID1 pairings of internal drives to external snapshot-backup drives)?
    Thanks for your time,
    Ian Poulin
    Richmond, Va

    I am wondering if anyone has the lowdown on using 3rd party SATA raid cards to support the INTERNAL hard drives on the Mac Pro series?
    There are many 3rd party controllers that support the internal HDs if an internal iPass connector is used. The problem is that some are bootable but most are not.
    The Areca ARC-1680ix-12 and the HighPoint RocketRAID 4320 are bootable. However, the system cannot be installed via the Apple DVD. Instead the user needs to clone a boot drive with the proper drivers to the boot volume on the controller and then boot from the 3rd party controller.
    The other issue I found is that these controllers do not support Boot Camp. If Boot Camp is desired, my recommendation would be to leave the internal HDs on the Mac Pro internal bus intact and use the 3rd party controller for external storage. This method provides four internal bays that are bootable, support Boot Camp and can be used for system backups. I use the 3rd party controller for external storage for large RAID sets and hot swapping hard disks.
    With the internal bays intact and external hot swap RAID storage available the user can support Boot Camp, multiple system volumes and large external RAID sets. From my experience using a 3rd party controller with the internal HD bays always has some limitations. The user usually does not realize it unit later when Boot Camp does not work or the computer fails on a system upgrade or the controller does not work at all with a new version of Mac OS X.
    Staying with the standard internal Mac Pro bay configuration will be the best configuration to avoid compatibility issues with future versions of Mac OS X. It is rumored that the new Snow Leopard may require 64-bit drivers. If that is the case, I would expect most if not all existing 3rd party controller drivers to fail. Some drivers will be upgraded after a few months while others may not. Having the internal Mac Pro SATA controller intact should at least allow the Mac Pro to boot if my guess about compatibility issues is correct.
    can anyone give feedback to hardware SATA cards to power external drive bays with support for Disk Utility (to allow RAID1 pairings of internal drives to external snapshot-backup drives)?
    There are a large number of external controllers that work with Disk Utility. Here are some of my favorites.
    1. FirmTek SeriTek/2SE2-E and the SeriTek/5PM
    http://firmtek.stores.yahoo.net/sata5pm2se2.html
    http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/firmtek/5pm/
    2. Sonnet Tempo E4P
    http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/sonnet/mac-pro/
    3. DAT Optic eSATA_PCIe8
    http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/datoptic/pcie8/
    Have fun!

  • Mac Pro RAID and Boot Camp and eSATA controller Card

    Hello all,
    I have carefully read the topics concerning the Apple RAID card and its inability to run Boot Camp. Of course, I read this after placing my order. I have been mulling over my alternatives based on everyone's input. Here is what I want to do and how I think I can get there:
    My system, when it finally arrives and is assembled will be:
    Mac Pro 3.2GHz
    12MG RAM
    4 x 1TB hard drives
    Apple RAID Card
    ATI 2600
    Except for the RAID card, the memory and drives are third party.
    My plan was to create a RAID 5 with 3 of the internal drives, with the OS and apps on the non-RAIDed drive. I wanted to install Windows in a Boot Camp partition, but since learned this is not possible with the Apple card. I also planned on using the OWC Mercury Elite RAIDs I have (each enclosure house 2 x 500GB drives, and I have 4 enclosures for a possible max of 4TB of back up) to handle Time Machine (or other BU strategy) for the internals.
    I have not received the Mac yet, so cannot look inside. From what I can gather, the Graphics card will occupy the Slot 1. The Raid Card will occupy Slot 4. This leaves me with only one 4x slot for a 4 port eSATA controller card (such as the RocketRAID 2314)
    As I see it, I have a couple of obstacles to overcome, and I would appreciate advice/feedback on my possible solutions.
    Problem 1: In order to use my existing OWC RAID enclosures, I need TWO controller cards, each with 4 eSATA connectors. Unless I scrap the 500GB drives for 1TB drives, I am stuck. Am I correct in assuming I cannot use Slot 2 for another controller card? Is there any work around?
    Problem 2: Boot Camp. Can I purchase the Newer Technology extender cable to access the two eSATA ports on the Mac's motherboard to attach an external SATA drive for this purpose?
    Questions:
    1) I assume I can set up an external RAID (another RAID 5?) with my OWC drives and use Time Machine to back up to them?
    2) From the illustration in the Mac Pro manual I downloaded, there appear to be only 4 PCIe slots, but 5 openings (one seems to be aligned with the back-up battery). I assume this is the double-wide space for the graphics card. Can I use the extra opening for the Newer Tech ports since there is no card taking up space?
    3) Should I remove the Apple RAID card (resell on ebay) and buy the CalDigit RAID Card? It has the virture of allowing a Boot Camp install AND has ports that I can buy SAS to eSATA cables for, allowing me to use all of my OWC drives.
    The CalDigit Card sounds good, but I would like to make the Apple card work if I can. Also, with the OPTIONAL battery back-up, the CalDigit card isn't that much less than the Apple card. Besides, I cannot find this card anywhere, everyone's at NAB, and it's Passover next week. AND I need to get this system up and running ASAP so I can begin making the money to pay for it.
    Any input would be most welcome.
    Gary

    Problem 1: In order to use my existing OWC RAID enclosures, I need TWO controller cards, each with 4 eSATA connectors. Unless I scrap the 500GB drives for 1TB drives, I am stuck.
    You could get new enclosures with SATA port multipliers for up to five drives per SATA port.
    Am I correct in assuming I cannot use Slot 2 for another controller card? Is there any work around?
    Apple says any PCI-e card should work in slot 2
    <http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Hardware/Conceptual/HWtechPCI/Articles/pciimplementation.html#>
    "Mac Pro detects whether an inserted card is PCIe 2.0 (5.0 GHz) or PCIe (2.5 GHz) and selects the operation depending on the card's maximum capability."
    but there have been reports of trouble (maybe caused by the recent firmware update). Check with the card maker to be sure.
    Problem 2: Boot Camp. Can I purchase the Newer Technology extender cable to access the two eSATA ports on the Mac's motherboard to attach an external SATA drive for this purpose?
    No. Those ports are only usable from OSX, but if you only have one optical drive, you can mount another drive in the lower optical drive bay with a Pro Caddy for use with Boot Camp.
    <http://www.transintl.com/store/category.cfm?Category=2704&RequestTimeOut=500>
    This simplest connection is to use the optical ATA cable (with a SATA to ATA adapter for a SATA drive).
    If you want to use a SATA connection, use a iPass to SATA cable from the iPass port on the Mac Pro logic board, which is normally used for the four SATA drives when there is no RAID card.
    <http://www.pcconnection.com/IPA/Shop/Product/Detail.htm?sku=7252016>
    Questions:
    1) I assume I can set up an external RAID (another RAID 5?) with my OWC drives and use Time Machine to back up to them?
    Yes
    2) From the illustration in the Mac Pro manual I downloaded, there appear to be only 4 PCIe slots, but 5 openings (one seems to be aligned with the back-up battery). I assume this is the double-wide space for the graphics card. Can I use the extra opening for the Newer Tech ports since there is no card taking up space?
    It looks like it should work if you route the cables just above the graphics card.
    <http://www.newertech.com/Static/articles/images/macensteineSATA_5.jpg>

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