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The Mac Pro First Generation is an Intel Xeon-based workstation computer manufactured by Apple Inc. The first generation model includes the machines from 2006 through 2008.

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Using external PSU for additional Harddrives

Hi there,

I have got a Mac Pro 2006 2ghz (Basic model). It is not my every day Machine, it is more likely my toy. I found out today that it has in addition to the four HDD enclousures two sata ports on the motherboard. I connected to them two sata cables. Since I do not have any powerconnectors left over, my idea was to use a second PSU to power the drives which I want to connect to these extra SATA ports. So my question, will it harm my computer/Mac if I will power a Harddrive from another PSU than the Mothermoard is powered and connect the sata data cable to the motherboard?

So it would like this:

1. PSU of Mac pro Powers mother board

2. External PSU power's two HDD's

3. Connect the two HDD's to the motherboard (Sata-Data Cable only)

Greets Simon

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Can you clarify your current setup.

The four HD bays which you access from within the system have both data & power.

The upper bays are for optical drives and you should have two connections already there to hookup two full sized optical drives.

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There are near the two six pin connector for the GPU two SATA ports, google "hidden SATA ports mac pro 1.1". So I have two optical drives, 4 HDD in the HDD carriers, and these two SATA ports. I d'like to use these two ports additionally to the rest (there is not any power connector left over) . Can I power the these two HDD's with another Power Supply and then connect the Data-SATA cable to the ports on the motherboard?

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I would recommend you just bring the SATA connections to a spare PCI slot and mount up a eSATA port board like this NewerTech eSATA Extender Cable Adapter Then just plug in an external eSATA drive case like SB 3.0/eSATA Dual 3.5” SATA III Hard Drive External RAID Enclosure w/power supply & fan

That way you have a neater setup and you don't need to worry about the power supply and you can then double up the your 2 SATA ports into 4!

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The external PSU shouldn't harm your system. However, you'll need to have a way to turn on the external PSU. Usually a paperclip between the green and black connection to power it on.

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You do need to be careful when adding power internally as the AC outlet wiring can cause a cross-wired condition if one is not careful which will blowup your system. You also need to consider the added heat as well.

Best to run the SATA connections to an external case (eSATA) which has its own power supply and cooling.

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