Want to add internal hard drive to my Mac Pro

I want to add an internal hard drive to my Mac Pro bought in 2011
Running Lion 10.7.5 Processor is 2.8 GHz Quad Core Intel Xeon
Have a 1TB SATA
Do I need a 2.5" or 3.5" ? Any other criteria i should know about when looking?
Advice is appreciated.

For a Mac Pro you'll probably want to go with a 3.5" drive. I would recommend Hitachi. I put a 2.5" new model Hitachi in my laptop along with an SSD and the Hitachi HD is unbelievably fast for a "spinner." If that's how there 2.5" models are there 3.5" models will only be better.
Make sure none of the drives you use have a variable rotational speed. Some of the Western Digital Green drives have that and they go to sleep a lot. When they sleep they have to wake up and when they wake up it causes a delay. It won't happen if the drives in constant use but it can be annoying. I believe the Green drives are intended primarily for backup use where speed isn't critical but energy savings and longevity are.
These are my opinions and observations.

Similar Messages

What is a recommended internal hard drive for a Mac Pro 1,1 (2006)?

What is a recommended internal hard drive for a Mac Pro 1,1 (2006) model? I would like to
add more hard drive space by utilizing the three available slots. However, from my understanding,
Apple does not produce hard drives for my older computer so I'll need to turn to a third party.

You are very much over-due for some new larger more efficient drives.
the most common best approach goes something like this....
SSD 120GB for system
WD Black 1-2TB for data (and put all your data and media files, all your home account sub-folders)
Backup. I use WD Green but use what you want. I have a small boot volume, TimeMachine, and 3rd that is a clone image of the boot drive volume.
Very fond of WD 10K VelociRaptor drives. Not much louder now than the WD Black 2TB, $100-200 for 250GB to 1TB.
You can use any size SATA 3.5" drive, most now are 1TB and up to 4TB.
You should have always bought Amazon or Newegg or outside of Apple, Apple can often charge 3x what those places charge.
Probably want to add or replace FBDIMMs you have, these are excellent and price in the last year has fallen.
2x2GB FBDIMM DDR2 667MHz @ $29
http://www.amazon.com/BUFFERED-PC2-5300-FB-DIMM-APPLE-Memory/dp/B002ORUUAC/
WD Black 1TB $93
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Internal-Desktop/dp/B0036Q7MV0/
WD Green 3TB $149 - backup
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Green-Desktop/dp/B004RORMF6/
WD VR 10K 250GB $103 200MB/sec boot drive :
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007V5A1BK/
Those last and last and make a nice boot drive.
SSD: Samsung 840 128GB
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Series-120GB-internal-MZ-7TD120BW/dp/B009NHAF06/
Over-due to upgrade and replace the graphic card most likely it sounds like also:
ATI Radeon 5770
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC742ZM/A
http://www.amazon.com/Apple-ATI-Radeon-5770-MC742ZM/dp/B003Z6QH6M
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/726537-REG/Apple_MC742ZM_A_ATI_Radeon_HD_5 770.html
Your OEM 7300GT isn't helping now and with Lion or the X1900 dust magnet and out of date too. If you have a functional 8800GT still working you are lucky and no need.

I have a Mac pro(1 free bay) and a mac mini I need to back both of them Is it better to use an external NAS HD or an internal hard drive on my mac pro (mid 2010) What option has the faster GB/s?

I have a Mac pro(1 free bay) and a mac mini I need to back up both of them (time machine) Is it better to use an external NAS HD or an internal hard drive on my mac pro (mid 2010)
What option has the faster GB/s?

Disk drive using native SATA bus interface will allow the drive to copy and always present and ready.
But once you have backup any hourly changes should be smaller and as long as the NAS and your switch should allow enough.
You should always have off line backups and don't rely on just one backup set or just TimeMachine.
WD RED models are designed for RAID and NAS and 7.2k instead of your more standard slower green 5400 rpm green models while still costing less than WD Blacks.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008JJLW4M/
How to clone your system:
http://macperformanceguide.com/Mac-HowToClone-backup.html
http://macperformanceguide.com/Mac-HowToClone.html
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7032/carbon-copy-cloner
Using Cloning as a Backup Strategy
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7032/carbon-copy-cloner
http://www.bombich.com/software/updates/ccc-3.5.html
Clone to internal, TimeMachine to NAS is one way to go at it.

Best replacement internal Hard Drive for a Mac Pro 3

I am looking for a replacement Hard Drive for my Mac Pro 3. It currently has an Intel ATA drive. Can I replay it with a SATA drive or a Solid State drive to upgrade it? Thanks.
Craig

I need to inform you there are no SATA. hdd in your or any Maqc Pro. Serial ATA only.
Buy yourself a 250GB Samsung SSD $150 or 500GB $250 are best.

Internal Hard Drives for Apple Mac Pro

Hello there,
Does any one have some advice on the following internal HDs. I am in Germany and this is what I have found that I am interested in. I just don't know if they all are for Apple Mac Pro because the provider doesn't specify.
1) HD 1000GB Western Digital RE2 GP, SATA, intern, 3,5'', 7200rpm, 16MB Cache, RoHS compliant, 5 years warranty (not bad eh?) = 139,00 €
2) HD 1000GB Samsung SpinPoint F1 HD103UJ SATA intern 7200rpm 32MB Cache 8,9ms: 109,00 €
3) HD Seagate Barracuda ES.2, 1000GB, SAS, intern, 3,5'', 7200rpm, 16MB Cache, 8,5ms, 5 years warranty: 214,00 €
Any bad experience with Wester Digital? Or recommendations for internal hard drives, they are greatly appreciated!
I was wondering too, does it affect the hard drive, that the bigger it is the shorter it will live? I love having 1T, and I already got 2T EXTERNALS from WesternDigital. But I am certainly concerned that the bigger they get, the more chances to fail the might have. Does this make sense?
I am also a little doubtful about internals, they seem to fail faster than the externals, is this true in most cases?
I just want to have the capability of storing my Aperture Library in an internal HD, for easy access and all the images on an external drive.
Thank you for the advice!!
Cheers!
E.

http://www.barefeats.com/hard94.html
I would get WD Black, Hitachi (latest, not their earlier model) or Seagate (no need to spend on ES).
WD has been excellent in Mac Pro, I just would skip on GP.
I only had one drive with 4 bad blocks in 20 WD drives.
Personally, I would get 4 x 640GB WD Caviar drives for internal. They are fast, quiet, and run cool. And sells for US$80.
http://www.wdc.com/th/products/products.asp?driveid=394
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Western%20Digital/WD6400AAKS/
http://www.barefeats.com/harper14.html

Internal hard drive issue with Mac Pro

I work for two office that share information through a VPN. Each office has one Mac Pro being used as a server for data storage. The Pros have four internal hard drives (1TB each).
Hard drives in the Pro for OFFICE 1 were configured like so:
HD1 - OS/Boot drive
HD2 - Time Machine backup of HD1/DATA1/DATA2
DATA1 - Data storage
DATA2 - Data storage
Three weeks ago: Time Machine could not find HD2 and could not backup. I rebooted the machine and HD2 reappeared. However, after the reboot, DATA1 did not mount. I was unable to find DATA1 in Disk Utility. However, the drive could be accessed by all other Macs on the network. This machine was taken to the local Apple Store and we were told that HD2 was a bad drive and need to be replaced. We opted not to replaced the drive at this time and turned Time Machine backups off. We haven't had any problems with DATA1 since. (NOTE: During the weeks prior, the client machines intermittently lost connection with DATA1 and would have to reconnect)
Last week: OFFICE 2 - Mac Pro hard drives configured the same as OFFICE 1; however, HD2 was not used for TM backups. TM was turned on and set to backup HD1/DATA1/DATA2 to HD2 (exactly like OFFICE 1). The next day, TM could not find HD2 and backups stopped running. I rebooted the machine, HD2 reappeared, but we did not restart the TM backups.
Today: OFFICE 2 client machines have experienced intermittent disconnecting of DATA1.
I wasn't extremely concerned with the situation at OFFICE 1 as these Pros are almost five years old and in constant use. We plan on purchasing an external drive for the TM backups. HOWEVER, with a similar situation now being experienced in OFFICE 2, I am perplexed.
Could both machine be experiencing hard drive failures weeks apart? They were both purchased and installed at the same time.
Is there a known issue with TM and internal drives?
One difference between the two machines: OFFICE 1 is running OS X 10.8.5; OFFICE 2 runs 10.6.8
Any suggestions/help is appreciated. Thanks!

Relying on TimeMachine has some issues, along with only having one, I use at least two swapping TimeMachine so that they rotate AND I clone every drive (volume actually) so I can swap drives if need be, especially useful for t he system but good for any drive.
Power issues in t he buildings?
There are some programs that will scan for and report and./or attempt to reassign a failing sector ("fail" is qualitative, is 10 write failures a fail? then the 9th is not but it is a "weak sector.") Some run in the background.
Mirror can be 2 or 3 ( I prefer 3, that way if one fails I STILL have a mirror array in place) where any failure is not acceptable, AND where the array data is backed up usually - less important when using a three-drive configurations.
How old, when last initialized (zero), and is it showing spare blocks being used? that last is the most indicative of failed drive.
Rare but a bad SATA cable or power (seeing how the cables are tucked away) is only way generally for multiple failures in same drive bay or computer. Note: early on in 2006-7 there were reports of some customers having motherboard and trouble with a drive bay , and t he problems showed up early.
Often though it is NVRAM or SMC related issue trigged by something else, a USB cable or device that is faulty, even a PCIe controller that is the culprit. And replacing cable, keyboard, device, and resetting SMC and NVRAM (often NVRAM needed to be done multiple times, but never keep resetting SMC) - unplugged and when you connect back up, do not install anything other than system, keyboard and mouse and see if that helps.
With a drive, likely the drive in 85% or more, is fine, but the directory is not, or it needs to be erased to rebuild all the system partitions.
1TB is small for TimeMachine. 350% of the amount of data, and always have free space for a full backup set of all the data. T.M. will try and prefers to automatically backup any and everything plugged in and connected, rather than my preference which is ASK FIRST to add a drive to TM backup set, otherwise leave it out. 600GB of data and system would mean 2.5TB drive, maybe 2TB minimum.

Swapping out internal hard drives within the Mac Pro

I'm thinking the answer is a huge NO but was curious to know for sure. Is it safe to switch out internal drives from within a Mac Pro while the machine is up and running? Meaning if the drive is ejected from the machine by unmounting the drive in the finder window can one then physically pull out the drive tray while the machine is still on? The same question applies to popping another Mac formatted drive into an empty slot (say from another mac pro). Kind of like popping in a thumb drive to a USB port. Just curious. Thank you.

Oh, absolutely NOT! Those slots are not designed for hot swapping hard drives. Doing so will most likely damage the drive, the computer, or both.

Which internal Hard Drive for a Mac Pro

Hi there
anyone got any preferences or heard anything negative about,Seagate, Hitachi and Western 500GB Hard Drives to fit in a Mac Pro ? Or is there another make I should be looking at ?
Just about to upgrade and Apple prices are silly.
Thanks

Western Digital strongly recommends not using the RE2 for non-RAID desktops for a reason. It's not that you can't use it for a non-RAID, but only if your data safety isn't a major concern to you.
This is one of their warnings in their own words:
"It is important to realize TLER-capable hard drives should not be used in non-RAID environments."
Digging a little deeper into WDC's website they give the reason:
"Western Digital manufactures desktop edition hard drives and RAID Edition hard drives. Each type of hard drive is designed to work specifically in either a desktop computer environment or on RAID controller...
"When an error is found on a desktop edition hard drive, the drive will enter into a deep recovery cycle to attempt to repair the error, recover the data from the problematic area, and then reallocate a dedicated area to replace the problematic area. This process can take up to 2 minutes depending on the severity of the issue. Most RAID controllers allow a very short amount of time for a hard drive to recover from an error. If a hard drive takes too long to complete this process, the drive will be dropped from the RAID array. Most RAID controllers allow from 7 to 15 seconds for error recovery before dropping a hard drive from an array. Western Digital does not recommend installing desktop edition hard drives in an enterprise environment (on a RAID controller).
"Western Digital RAID edition hard drives have a feature called TLER (Time Limited Error Recovery) which stops the hard drive from entering into a deep recovery cycle. The hard drive will only spend 7 seconds to attempt to recover. This means that the hard drive will not be dropped from a RAID array.
"If you install a RAID edition hard drive in a desktop computer, the computer system may report more errors than a normal desktop hard drive (due to the TLER feature). Western Digital does not recommend installing RAID edition hard drives into a desktop computer environment."
Of course when they are speaking of desktop hard drives here, they mean it in the context of non-RAID. Elsewhere on their site they recommend the RE2 for desktops but only in the context of a RAID system.
2.66 GHz MacPro, 4GB RAM, 250 GB HD Mac OS X (10.4.8) Cinema 30"

Appropriate 3rd Internal Hard Drive for Quad Mac Pro

I'm a newbie, and haven't added a new hard drive before... so before I order a new one...
Current system purchased Nov 2006 with a 250GB 7200rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s, and a 500GB 7200rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s as a scratch disc. Now I need a 2nd scratch disc for heavy video workload.
Here's my question... Do I need to use a 500GB 7200rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s to match the hardware I'm already using, or can I use the 500GB, (or even the 750GB) Ultra ATA Apple Drive Module for Xserve RAID?
Thanks!

All you need to do is buy a bare SATA or SATA II drive. The Xserve drive module comes mounted in a bracket which is different to the Mac Pro bracket. As you already have the brackets you don't need anything more than the drive.
As for which drive, it really doesn't matter what size you buy. You might even have a look at the Hitachi 1TB drive. Apparently it's quite the screamer and would be perfect for video.
The instructions to do the actual installation is in the small booklet that came with your MP.

New hard drive in a Mac Pro - my experience.

After taking delivery of my MacPro I was keen to add an extra hard drive to use in conjunction with amateur level video editing and photo imaging software.
At first I bought a 3.0 Gb/s, 320 GB Seagate 7200.10. and it worked Ok but did not seem any faster than the OEM drive (250 GB Western Digital SE) . XBench confirmed that it was in fact 20% slower overall.
I then consulted this forum and read the many posts re the Seagate firmware problem and other suggestions for suitable hard drives. To be honest it was all great stuff but, for me, a little overwhelming. So today, back went the Seagate in exchange for a 3.0 Gb/s, 250 GB, Maxtor Diamond Max 10 which was all I could afford. I installed the drive, what a dream the MacPro is, partioned it and ran XBench. The Maxtor is 2.5 to 3 times faster than the Seagate and is a quiet drive.
So if you, like me, want a single, affordable fast and quiet drive, the Maxtor does the job. I am sure other drives are just as good if not better but if you find the research confusing, the Maxtor seems to be a safe choice.
Also, congratulations for reading this forum before making a purchase - it saves you the 20% restocking fee for returns!

I want to install another hard drive in my Mac Pro. Just looking for something in the 250GB or smaller range - Western Dig. Maxtor, etc.
I see plenty of SATA 3Gbs drives - what do I look for in terms of specs. The dimensions are listed in the Mac Pro booklet, however, what type of connector is needed or not needed - seems no cables are needed... how many pins, etc.????
Appreciate any help.

I need to buy some new hard drives for my Mac Pro

I had an extra internal hard drive in my Mac Pro, a Seagate one, that suddenly stopped working and I needed to send it to a data recovery company, so...
Now I'd like to
- Install a new internal HD
- Install a NAS with two/three disks. (Hitachi if possible, as I have read are the ones that last longer, more reliable than WD and by far more than Seagate).
But to do that I'd like to know how to find out the right type of disks for my computer.
I'd be very gratefull if anyone would tell me where to look it up.
Thank you in advance
In case any of you can help with this, these are the details of my Mac Pro
thanks again
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 (11G63b)
2 x 2.66 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
Memory 7GB 667 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM
Model Name:          Mac Pro
Model Identifier:          MacPro1,1
Processor Name:          Dual-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed:          2,66 GHz
Number of Processors:          2
Total Number of Cores:          4
L2 Cache (per Processor):          4 MB
Memory:          7 GB
Bus Speed:          1,33 GHz
Boot ROM Version:          MP11.005D.B00
SMC Version (system):          1.7f10
Serial Number (system):          Not Available
Hardware UUID:          00000000-0000-1000-8000-0017F20F9F40
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The only HD now
Intel ESB2 AHCI:
Vendor:          Intel
Product:          ESB2 AHCI
Link Speed:          3 Gigabit
Negotiated Link Speed:          3 Gigabit
Description:          AHCI Version 1.10 Supported
ST3250824AS P:
Capacity:          250,06 GB (250.059.350.016 bytes)
Model:          ST3250824AS P
Revision:          3.BQK
Serial Number:                      9ND1P4X7
Native Command Queuing:          Yes
Queue Depth:          32
Removable Media:          No
Detachable Drive:          No
BSD Name:          disk0
Medium Type:          Rotational
Bay Name:          Bay 1
Partition Map Type:          GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status:          Verified
Volumes:
disk0s1:
Capacity:          209,7 MB (209.715.200 bytes)
BSD Name:          disk0s1
Content:          EFI
HD INTERNO PRINCIPAL:
Capacity:          249,2 GB (249.199.591.424 bytes)
Available:          37,91 GB (37.914.918.912 bytes)
Writable:          Yes
File System:          Journaled HFS+
BSD Name:          disk0s2
Mount Point:          /
Content:          Apple_HFS
Recovery HD:
Capacity:          650 MB (650.002.432 bytes)
BSD Name:          disk0s3
Content:          Apple_Boot

NAS is of course external and depends on how you access it. And then t he ideal for RAID5 for instance woudl be WD RED series, but those do not work inside Mac tower.
Look up "TLER" regarding WD drives and RAID.
Apple does not endorse or anything, not in decades and when there were problems - G5 and early adoption of SATA and changing standards and features, it was users that did the troubleshooting.
So unles you are using Apple's PRO RAID card, which I don't think anyone would or should and which is limited to 2TB drives and only instance of a ceiling on supported drives (it is req'd for SAS though), use your own research.

I've lost the use of Appleworks in 10.9.2. Is it possible to partition the internal hard drive of my MacBook Pro and install an older Mac OS (10.6.8) on the second partition with OS 10.9.2 on the other?

I've lost the use of Appleworks by upgrading to 10.9.2.
Is it possible to partition the internal hard drive of my MacBook Pro and install an older Mac OS (10.6.8) on the second partition with OS 10.9.2 on the other? I'd like to be able to boot to the older OS when I need Appleworks and few other applications that aren't available on OS 10.9.2.
Any suggestions?
Thank you for your help.

Hello again, WZZZ,
Here's an update. I was successful in creating two partitions on my internal drive, and in installing OS 10.6.6 on the second partition, as per your guidence. I now have it up to 10.6.8 with all the security updates and AppleWorks. A great thing.
Some thoughts:
• The partitioning had one hitch; it failed at first. But once I "repaired" the disc with Disc Utility the partitioning went thru.
• The partitioning took a long time in 'resizing the partition.' A few hours I think it was. Lots of progress bar watching.
• If I had it to do again, I'd size the two partitions differently. My original data was occupying about 230 Gb of the 320 Gb disc. I made the new partitions share the space, about 230 and 75Gb. That left very little available space for the main disc. I ought to have put some breathing room in there. As it is, it's an incentive to clean up all those files, especially all those iTunes files. I now have about 10% of available space there and mean to continue deleting.
So, all in all a good project that got me where I wanted to go. Thank you for your help.
Appreciatively,
wallah

HT204370 I have changed my internal hard drive on my macbook pro. I have put old hard drive into a capsule and have this plugged into my laptop. I can't find the movies on my old hard drive now? Any idea how I can move them to iTunes again? cloud taking H

I have just changed my internal Hard drive on my MacBook pro. I had recently downloaded some movies on iTunes which I want to put into my iTunes library on my new internal hard drive. I have put my old internal hard drive into an external capsule but when I open the icon of the hard drive from the desktop I can't find my movies.
At the moment I have the new movies downloading again from the cloud but it is literally taking hours for even one movie to load.
When I changed the internal hard drive I restored my info from my old external hard drive which hadn't been backed up in a month and hence does not have my latest movies...
I am concerned that I might go over my internet usage limit (flatmate is refusing to change to unlimited package!!!!) by downloading all the movies again from the cloud never mind how long it is taking...
Is there any way to restore all my info and media from the old internal Hard drive in the capsule as well as from the external hard drive?

It means there is no bootable system on the drive. If you still have access to the old drive, then I suggest you boot from it then clone it to the new internal drive. Use OPTION boot to boot from the Recovery HD on the old drive:
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
     1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu then press the Continue
         button.
     2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
     3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
     4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it
         to the Destination entry field.
     5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to
         the Source entry field.
     6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Source means the external old drive. Destination means the new internal drive.

Can I install CS6 on 2 internal hard drives (running different Mac OS's) as well as my laptop?

Hey- I am installing another hard drive in my Mac Pro (late 2012). I will be installing Yosemite on that drive while retaining Mountain Lion on the original drive. I have CS6 installed on the original drive as well as my MacBook Pro. Will Adobe allow me to install CS6 on the new internal hard drive? I won't be running them at the same time. This would be a great question for the 24/7 chat line but they are "closed" (??). Anybody know the answer?

You have 2 activations and that is that. You cannot add a third.
Mylenium

I'm trying to clone a internal hard drive from another mac using a usb connection.

I'm trying to clone a internal hard drive from another mac using a usb connection to an external drive so that I don't lose the file before reinstalling the software but I keep on getting a message:
"Restore Failure
Source volume is read-write and cannot be unmounted, so it can't be block copied."
Any advice on how to make a copy of this internal drive?
Thanks!
....also the internal hard drive i am trying to copying run on a mac os x 10.5 and i'm reinstalling the software because the computer is not starting and only shows a grey folder with a question marks inside.

I've had my Maxtor external OneTouch 250GB for about 18 months now and it hasn't skipped a beat. I have hear of people having their Maxtor drive just up and die but you will probably find that goes for all manufacturers.
By the way, Maxtor is, amongst others, an OEM supplier to Apple.

Want to add internal hard drive to my Mac Pro

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