Mac pro usb3 0 upgrade how to#
Mac pro usb3 0 upgrade upgrade#
Mac pro usb3 0 upgrade free#

Again, referencing the above photo, you can see the header in blue on the left hand side.

Mac pro usb3 0 upgrade free#

Second, if you need to connect the USB 3.0 ports on your case or on any sort of bay expansion (like the Rosewill model listed here) you will either need a free header on your motherboard or you will need a USB card with a 19-pin header that can accept an internal USB 3.0 male cable. In the photograph below you can see the molex power port, the 4-pin/milky white port on the right, on the HooToo-PC002. You should never purchase a USB 3.0 expansion card that lacks a power adapter as the PCI expansion slot cannot supply enough power to meet the demands of a fully loaded USB 3.0 card. LetвЂ™s take a moment to look atВ the hardware specifics to ensure you pick the right card for your needs.ДЇirst, you always want to purchase a card that includes a power connector of some sort (some cards have an older molex 4-pin power jackВ and typically come with a molex-to-SATA adapter and some have a SATA power adapter onboard). There are two important considerations when purchasing a USB 3.0 expansion card.

The third item in the list is a bay expansion that allows you to turn an unused 5.25вЂі driveВ bay into a USB hub and media card reader. The first two pieces of hardware are expansion cards that must be inserted into an open PCI-E slot in your computer to function.

The Rosewill RDCR-11004 Multi-Port USB and Card Reader Bay Expansion, ~$30.

The HooToo HT-PC001 SuperSpeed USB 3.0 4 Port PCI-E Add-on Card, ~$16.

The HooToo HT-PC002 SuperSpeed USB 3.0 2-Port +19-Pin Header PCI-E Add-on Card, ~$17.

Here are the hardware components we used in the process of upgrading both computers. TheВ secondВ computer has a modern motherboard (purchased in late 2013) that features both USB 3.0 ports on the back port panel as well as USB 3.0 pin headers on the motherboard to support USB 3.0 ports on the front of the case and/or via expansion bay hubs. The first computer has a dated motherboard (purchased in mid-2006) that has neither USB 3.0 ports on the back port panel nor USB 3.0 pin headers on the board itself. Depending on your needs you can mix and match the hardware we used in the two machines to achieve your desired outcome.

Mac pro usb3 0 upgrade upgrade#

Rather than list off every potential combination of hardware add-ons and their permutations, weвЂ™re going to highlight two very common upgrade paths.ДЇor the purposes of this guide we upgraded two computers with several different USB 3.0 related upgrades to showcase the different upgrade paths you can take. This tutorial is slightly different in that there are several ways you can go about upgrading computers both old and new to support USB 3.0. Normally we haveВ a cut and dry list of the hardware you need for a given tutorial. The external powered USB 3.0 hubs found therein are an excellent way to expand the port capacity of a USB 3.0 capable laptop. If you have a laptop that has a USB 3.0 port or two and you wish to expand upon that we would encourageВ you to check out The HTG Guide to Purchasing the Perfect USB Hub for Your Needs.

While there are, in fact, USB 3.0 expansion cards for laptops with expansion card slots, those cards perform poorly, consume large amounts of power, and are generally not worth the hassle. This tutorial will not cover the upgrade process for laptop computers as laptops are difficult to upgrade to USB 3.0.

Note: This tutorial will cover the upgrade process for desktop computers. In addition to significantly increasing the speed, the USB 3.0 standard introduced better bandwidth management (USB 3.0 devices and connections use two omnidirectional paths instead of the one-way communication available with USB 2.0), better power management, improved bus utilization (which translates to faster at-ready times when new devices are added to the host computer), among other minor but welcome improvements. Same hardware, same disk size, different USB ports and standards.

Mac pro usb3 0 upgrade how to#

During the disk cloning process we employed in our article How to Upgrade Your Existing Hard Drive in Under an Hour, for example, we were able to clone a 120GB SSD over a USB 3.0 connection in a mere 15 minutes but the same clone process over a USB 2.0 connection took around an hour. Even when USB 3.0 connections donвЂ™t hit the theoretical limit they are still staggeringly faster than USB 2.0 connections. The maximum theoretical speed of USB 3.0 is ten times faster than USB 2.0. The most obvious benefit is the increase in speed.