8 Drives Inside of a Mac Pro?

Hello All:
Just wondering if any of you have used this and if so, what your opinions of it were:
http://www.maxupgrades.com/istore/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_i d=158
Do you think something like this is worth it? Would you even considering using this?
I ask because unfortunately I don't have a lot of money available to get the nice external RAID setups; something like this could help increase storage significantly at a lesser cost - especially considering how cheap internal SATA drives are now.
I currently have 3 internal drives at the moment and have never noticed any heat issues thus far. Personally, I would only use a total of 6 drives because I would keep the SuperDrive where it is, but I wonder whether a setup like this would cause excessive heat or air circulation/cooling issues.
Opinions?
Thanks,
Ken
Mac Pro "JUGGERNAUT": 2.66 GHz, 3 GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.8) Logic Pro 7.2.3 User

FWIW my 2c...the two drive version makes sense to me as it does not obliterate the primary optical bay (which is known to be useful from time to time) and utilizes already existing controllers. Another option, discussed here (thanx William Rivas):
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=4434344#4434344
allows you (for a mere 25 bucks) to route the two "extra" headers to the back of the case where they can be used for an eSATA setup. Personally I would not opt for the eight drive configuration because I use the optical drive too often to be willing to give it up.

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REAL hard drive space on early mac pros??
I own one of the first generation Mac Pros 2.66ghz quad, 2006.
I've read that you can use up to 2TB or 3TB of hard drive space inside the machine. I suspect this is understated. So what else is new?
I currently have 3 x 500 gb drives and 1 x 2TB drive in my machine.
I'd actually like to put in 3 more 2TB drives. Has anyone done this?
Any thoughts?

No, not really.
A 3TB HD can be troublesome for BootCamp use, since the Windows partition is put in the area above 2TB and the Master Boot Record (MBR) Windows still uses has trouble / is incompatible with adressing harddisk space above 2.2TB.
With some RAID setup and IIRC the Apple Raid 3TB harddisks are shown and using also only 2.2TB.
So, in essence if you stay away from BootCamp Windows and RAID 4 x 3TB also work fine in your MP.
And I had 2TB HDs in my own 2006 MP before I sold it and got me a 2010 MP.
Stefan

How large can an internal hard drive be on a Mac Pro part #ZOD8 ?

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Hi, I have just purchased a brand new Mac Pro. I have three 2 TB Seagate Backup Plus Slim External USB 3 hard drives that just don't jive with the new Mac Pro's. When the drive is connected, I cannot access the drive, read/write or even format. Finder completely locks up and the drive cannot even be force ejected. When I try to format, Disk Utility either spits out an error that the drive cannot be read, or simply locks up. This happens regardless of the OS on the Mac Pro. I am currently running 10.10.2
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Hi danielsh6,
I recently bought the new Lacie Thunderbolt 2 D2 3TB and I had the same problem as you, i have a macbook pro early 2011, those support thunderbolt but many times there is a bug that doesn't let you connect any thunderbolt drives to your computer. The solution I found was installing this update:
Thunderbolt Firmware Update v1.0
Before doing this I would recommend you updating to mountain lion (not yosemite yet as there is still some glitches and more on preview's macbook pro's).
Hope this helped!
Forest

I had a second hard drive added to my Mac Pro. How do I format it and not effect my orginal hard drive?

I had a second hard drive added to my Mac Pro. How do I format it and not effect my orginal hard drive?

Just format it with Disk Utility as mentioned above. Select the new disk on the list at the left. Click the erase tab. Specify Mac OS Extended (Journaled) if not already specified and give the disk a name of your choice. Then click the erase button.
That's the simplest way to format a disk with a single partition (volum). If you want to create multiple volume (partitions) then click the Partition tab instead of Erase. You can then use then specify a number of volumes and size each volume by specifying its size or just dragging the slider in the bootm right of each partition. Give each a name as before and again Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Click Apply button to create the partitions.
Since you appear to be new at this just "play" with the erase and partition settings so you can become comfortable with them. So long as you have the new disk selected on the left you can't really hurt anything since it's a new disk and no data to loose. You can always go back and erase it back to a single partition.

Starting up problems from an old boot drive in a new mac pro

Just purchased a refurb mac pro last weekend through the apple store. I took my old drive my my first mac pro and was trying to usee it for the boot drive, That machine did not come with snow leopard. I did upgrade it to 10.6.6. When I start up from that drive in the new mac pro it was either starting up real slowly or starting up and would not give me a cursor or. On some occasion I would get a translucent blue huge on the screen. Or I could get a clear screen but nothing would happen if I clicked to open anything. I called support and we reinstalled the on the old drive. I seemed stable and was booting properly from the old drive. Then I upgraded to 10.6.6 again. We used the software the new machine came with for this process. I maybe used the new boot drive for maybe 50 seconds. Apple support wishes for me to go through the process of isolating elements. I've been running the new drive since yesterday. Everything is working well. Except after letting it run for a period of time yesterday got s grey screen after it went to sleep. We'll see what happens with that today. I do not know if it's coincidence or not but the old system went hicky after I started up Paralllels desktop.I'm using Parallelsto run Playon. I'm wondering if Parallels or the xp emulation machine I'm running with it is still trying to read the old macpro ? It did work however. I'm just curious that it's altering something in the Mac osx ? Another thing should I subtract other wirleeless choice devices on the old drive's system ? The old macpro had wireless but the module was installed aftermarket by a mac store.
Thanks

Hard to follow your steps and thoughts. Maybe re-read and cut it into actual steps.
Always clone a system so you have a bootable backup image.
Make sure your software and drivers are compatible.
2010s boot into 64-bit kernel mode by default.
Apple still sells 2009s also on Specials page.
Your old Mac Pro wouldn't come with 10.6 unless it came out in Sept 2009 or later.
Is Parallels current? Is it attached to Windows partition or VM only? does it care that it is running on new hardware? that usually is a non-starter.
New Mac is also a good time to do thorough spring house cleaning. Clean install all the applications and drivers.
Pull your old drive out. The only use for it would be to run Setup Assistant to import your home account prefs.
The "new" refurbished hard drive is still in same state it was in when you got it?
Sleep issue. you may have external devices or 3rd party drivers or bad cable somewhere.
Wireless?
At this point I doubt I can read between the lines.
+Break it into compartments and subjects instead of hash stew for us!+

How can clean the inside of my Mac Pro properly?

I cleaned the inside of my Mac Pro recently but am not sure I got to all of the places I needed to. Doe the panel at the at the very top top of my 7 year old monster
come off so I can clean in there?

It comes off. There is a latch that helps you remove it. However, cleaning it is a delicate task, and because static electricity can damage it, I'd only let someone familiar with doing it safely do it.
Many an authorized service center and Apple retail shop will do the cleaning properly.
Backup your data before taking it in.

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I am looking to replace my internal optical drives on a 2008 Mac pro. I am thinking of purchasing Pioneer BDC-207 - Mac Pro Kit 16X 5.25" Internal Blu-ray Player, DVD.
Does anyone have any experience with this product or recommendations?

<http://store.mcetech.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=BD12XMP INT&Category_Code=STORBD&Product_Count=1>

What's the best way to configure my thunderbolt drive with the new mac pro?

I have an external pegasus drive connected to my mac pro. Obviously the computer is limited in space and I was wondering whether I should move my "user" folder which will include documents, pictures, videos, etc onto the pegasus. That way the 256gb hard drive on the mac pro is dedicated solely for the os and and apps. What do you guys think?

I concur. See the following:
How to use an SSD with your HDD
If you are going to use an SSD as a boot drive together with your existing HDD as the "data" drive, here's what you can do.
After installing the SSD you will need to partition and format the SSD using Disk Utility. Then, install OS X on the SSD. After OS X has been installed boot from the SSD. Use Startup Disk preferences to set the SSD as the startup volume.
Open Users & Groups preferences. Click on the lock icon and authenticate. CTRL- or RIGHT-click on your user account listing in the sidebar and select Advanced Options from the context menu.
You will see a field labeled "Home dir:" At the right end you will see a Change button. Click on it. In the file dialog locate the Home folder now located on the HDD (HDD/Users/account_name/.) Select the folder, click on Open button. Restart the computer as directed.
When the computer boots up it will now be using the Home folder located on the HDD.
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Be sure you retain the fully bootable system on your HDD in case you ever need it.

I had to remove my drive from a broken mac pro and put in another mac pro now my adobe master collection is telling to sign up for a trial

i had to remove my drive from a broken mac pro and place it in my spare mac pro, but now my adobe master collection is asking my to sign up for a trial

uninstall and clean adobe programs you 'migrated' - Use the CC Cleaner Tool to solve installation problems | CC, CS3-CS6
and then properly install your master collection.
Downloads available:
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Acrobat: XI, X | 9,8 | 9 standard
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Download and installation help for Adobe links
Download and installation help for Prodesigntools links are listed on most linked pages. They are critical; especially steps 1, 2 and 3. If you click a link that does not have those steps listed, open a second window using the Lightroom 3 link to see those 'Important Instructions'.

Trouble removing hard drive for upgrade in Mac Pro

I have a 2008 Mac Pro and have read how to install new drives. The problem I am having is getting one of the drive bays, drive bay 1, to release. It seems like I can remove the other drive bays OK, but that one is stuck but good. After looking inside, do you think it may be blocked somehow with the part that stands up vertically inside the case next to drive bay 1? I was wondering if anyone else had issues with this bay or the cages release? The others seem to slide out OK.
Thanks for any thoughts on this.

That's a good tip actually
In most cases, I can get the HD trays out of the Mac Pro without any problem. However, sometimes tray 1 (which sits on top of the fan) can be very snug. Using fingers on the rear of the HD along with the other hand pulling from the front tab is the best way I have found to remove the tray without placing too much tension on the front of the tray.
The Mac Pro front tray lip can only accept so much pull pressure before the lip starts to bend which actually makes the tray even harder to remove. Using a few fingers on the rear of the HD provides a more balanced force for removing the HD.
Have fun!

Hard drive for G4 now, Mac Pro later

I have an early G4 400 MHz (AGP graphics). I want to install an ATA drive in Position 3. In about a year I will buy a MacPro tower and want to move that hard drive from the G4 to the Mac Pro. So I am looking for a hard drive that will fit both computers. I would like to buy a 7200 rpm 500 GB drive, but am confused about the specs (ATA, SATA, PATA).
(1) Can anyone advise what specs I should be looking for to fit the G4 now and to work optimally in the Mac Pro in the future?
(2) If I buy a 500 GB drive, will my early G4 only be able to read/write 128 GB? I believe this is a limitation of my early G4, but 128 GB is OK for now if I can use the full 500 GB in the future Mac Pro.

you current computer uses Parallel ATA all Mac Pros use Serial ATA
In the common use of terms: ATA = PATA = IDE
SATA is usually set aside as its own term
The two technologies use different interfaces that are not compatible.
Without the use and purchase of a PCI card for one of the machines you will not be able to use the same drive internally in both machines. That will run you about ~$60 for either a PCI PATA card for the MacPro or a PCI SATA card for the AGP powermac.
The plus side for the PCI SATA card for the AGP powermac is that you will be able to use all 500Gb of drive space.
Another alternative is to buy a PATA hard drive now to use inside of your AGP tower and then later buy a $40 firewire enclosure to put the drive inside of so that a MacPro can use it as an external drive.
Yes, your current computer will only see 128Gb of a PATA drive.

Moving drives from G4 to Mac Pro

I'm buying a Mac Pro as an early Christmas present to myself. My G4 is "long in the tooth" and seems slow and buggy with Leopard (5.1) installed on a WD Raptor 150 GB drive. I also have Tiger on a WD 500 GB drive (10.4.11).
Can I simply remove these drives from the G4 and plug them in as is into the Mac Pro without any problems? I've been reading about Tiger installation disc problems with Intel Macs and I would like to avoid having to re-install and re-format everything.
Any comments would be appreciated!

If they are Serial ATA (the thin, small cable- not the long flat one), then you can plug them into your Mac Pro and read/write to them. That G4 doesn't support SATA unless you installed a card specifically to let you use SATA drives, so I'm guessing they are IDE drives instead.
If they are SATA drives, then you can plug them into the Mac Pro- but you can't boot from the disk. You'll need to boot from the Mac Pro's stock hard drive, and then drag and drop your data off the G4's disks onto your Mac Pro's boot volume.
Since they are likely not SATA disks, you won't be able to plug them into your Mac Pro... At least on the inside.
Your best bet in this case is to buy a ~$50 external drive case (most computer stores carry these)- which will let you stick that IDE drive in a case that lets you connect it via USB 2.0. That will let you read/write to the disks as usual (but again, you won't be able to boot from the OS drive).
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-SC

Adding hard drives from G4 to Mac Pro

Hi All,
I have a G4 Quicksilver with 2 hard drives, an 80 GB that came with it that has OS 10.3.9 and a 120 GB for storage. Can I put those in my Mac Pro (10.4.11) and run all the programs and swap files from disc to disc etc?
Thanks
-Ian

You will need SATA drives to install inside. Best place for your old drives is FW case probably.
Any applications that you run, make sure they are either installed fresh, or latest version, ideally Universal Binary. Do not use Migration Assistant to bring any applications over.
500GB SATA drive would be under $100. And your MP has room for 4 internal SATA drives.

The best hard drive setup in a Mac Pro

My two 640 GB WDC drives have been a bit flacky lately, so I decided to let them "retire". My new setup (to arrive on Friday) are two 1TB Samsung SATA's and one 480 OWC Extreme SSD disk. I've done the research, but are still in doubt:
Would you agree that I would get the most responsive system, by installing the OS X and samplers and Virtual Instruments on the SSD and then format to the two 1TB with two partitions on each. The first (ones) to function as work drive and the second (ones) to function as a placeholder for older finished projects. This way I used the SSD for the system, the fastest part of the SATAs for current projects and the slowest part of the disk for long term storage. Agree? Or did I misunderstood something?
BTW I am running fairly large ProTools mixing sessions 120 tracks of sometimes 4 hours audio. Also running songwriting sessions with fewer tracks (in the 80s) but with loads of VI's.
Mac Pro 2 x 2.26 Ghz (early 2009) 12 GB ram. Any comments or suggestions are extremely welcome...

I have seen a lot of change in Green drives and new models, be sure the reason it is cheap is trying to off load and get rid of stock.
Some people have no trouble and use them without issue. External USB for TimeMachine can result in the drive parking and OS X and TimeMachine losing communicating. While others have used them even in arrays inside w/o trouble.
3TB Green has been popular. I've only used 1 and 1.5TB though.

8 Drives Inside of a Mac Pro?

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