Case Questions - Size and Drive Mounting

Planning ahead for a new i7 system, I'm going to buy components as I find them on sale... so have 2 questions about a new case
First is Drive Mounting
Everything I see today (have not looked at every possible case) uses some kind of "thumb lock" to mound 5.25 drives, such as a DVD drive or, in my case, the hard drive swap hardware I am going to use (Vantec MRK-200ST-BKSATA which goes in a 5.25 opening, then hard drive goes in a housing to slide in and out easily)
I am used to the old style case with screw holes to mount 5.25 drives... so... do the new style cases really work well to hold a drive securely?
Next question is about case size
I'm looking at a mid-tower case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119196 that seems as though it is plenty big enough for my needs, with enough 5.25 openings for DVD and two hard drives... and 3 case fans for cooling... and what looks like plenty of case width to be able to put a Noctua cooling tower on the i7 CPU
I'm also looking a full-tower http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160 that doesn't seem to me to "really" offer anything more I need, since I'm not going to have a raid array and will only have 1 video card
But... is there some advantage I'm not seeing to having a full-vs-mid-tower case?

I did what I should have done in the 1st place, and read the size specifications
A full tower case won't fit in my cabinet (heavy wood furniture we... ie the designer wife... bought for both sides of the office)
I don't need as many external drive bays as the F-T has, so the mid-tower will do fine on that specification
The Coolermaster Scout comes with 3 fans... front, top and back... and has side mounting for up to 2 more for CPU and video card... so I don't think cooling will be a problem
Now, my only point of "wonder" is never having used the type of drive mounting it has... some sort of "thumb thing" you push to lock?
But, since ALL the cases I've looked at seem to have the same/similar mounting, I guess they work OK
Since the CM Scout, and the Corsair 850w power supply are both on sale right now, I think I'm going to buy when I get done with the Honey-Do list and put them away until I'm ready to build... which will be when Win7 64bit is a SP-1 level
Thanks for the comments
ADDED
Found some pictures of the CM Scout, one of which was of the "stuff" that comes with the case
There are drive "rails" included that look like they go on the sides of the 5.25 drives, and then those are locked into place by the quick release case locks
ADDED2
I have been planning on using drive swap hardware (like my current computer) to easily change boot or data drives... but now I'm thinking I'll just keep an extra drive on hand, with an Image of the boot drive made to external drive, and only actually change a drive in case of failure
I now use a dual boot with 1st boot Win2k and Premiere 6 to run my Pinnacle Dv500 and 2nd boot WinXp, so will just set up one drive with Win2k and Win7 64bit
I'll most likely get a 320Gig Sata drive for boot (and extra in reserve) and a 1-T Sata drive for data... with 1-T of space, I can simply put different projects in different folders and, for SD work, I'll have ample space (and, by the time I actually build, I may be able to afford a 2-T data drive)
ADDED3
While they are on sale, and to spread the hit to my tiny budget, I ordered PS and Case today
PS - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139009
Case - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119196
Next month (or sometime soon) I'll watch for Sata drives on sale at Newegg
I'm going to wait until just before I build to buy a motherboard, since by then the Gigabyte I'm looking at MAY be on a 2nd revision with refinements

Similar Messages

Something fishy with file sizes and drives

Hello all,
I wonder if someone might offer up a suggestion on why I cannot seem to copy a file.
Here's the background:
Hardware:
-MacBook Pro 15" (Jan '06)
-External Western Digital 250GB Passport drive powered from the USB connection, connected directly to the computer USB port.
-External 750GB drive in an enclosure with its own power supply, connected through a USB hub, also with its own power supply, plugged into the other computer USB port.
Situation:
I wanted back up my Aperture library, which currently sits on the WD drive. It's a single package file, and OSX reads it as being approx 25.5GB in size. I thought I could simply copy it over to the generic drive. This generic drive currently acts as both a backup using Time machine (currently turned off), and a backup for other misc stuff not under time machine's control. OSX shows that there is 66GB free on the generic drive.
Yet, when I try to copy the Aperture library file, OSX tells me there isn't enough space on the generic drive, in spite of there apparently being over twice as much space as needed.
I've run a Disk Utility verify check on both drives and both appear to be fine.
Does anyone have any idea why this copy won't complete?
My thanks in advance,
m.

That's a good suggestion. I cannot remember how I formatted it. I will check once I'm behind the mac again. I can tell you it isn't partitioned, and it should be formatted to mac formatting, but it's definitely something I hadn't thought of before. Thank you!

Very basic questions, network and drive

I am a newbie to macs. So please excuse me if these sound stupid. How do I figure....
a. Which drive do I have. Superdrive or the normal drive
b. What kindof network is being used on the macbook
I am using a wireless network with Airport extreme. I know that part. I mean how do I figure if its an 802.11G or N
c. How do I figure what the network speed is.
d. What speed should I expect for both 802.11G and 802.11n
I have the 2.16ghz white macbook....
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?nnmm=br owse&mco=5D8C6B1&node=home/macbook/macbook

1. you bought the 2.16GHz. You have a super drive
2. You really can't tell unless you know the wireless router being used you can "guess by speed"
3. Open up network utility in your utilities folder (in your Application folder) Select en1 for your wireless network and see what speed it tells you it's using. If it's 54, it's g, 11, it's b, faster than 54, probably n.
4. g= 54Mb, n is faster, I only ever see 5x faster than n. I never see an actual number set to it. The N specification is still "draft" and not fully developed yet.
Enjoy your MacBook.
Additionally you can download widgets like iStat pro that will give upload/download speed of the network in real time.
Message was edited by: Stuart Vandeventer

H8-1520T Case question and OS transfer question

Hello all in the forums here.
My first question is this- I have an HP H8-1520T and noticed on the back next to the main system fan there are what look like metal shields that you can take out. I was wondering if this is what they truly are, and if so what the purpose would be. I noticed it was located close to the pump fan pins on the motherboard, so I can only assume it would be to allow for a radiator if one wanted to water cool their system. If this is the case, what size and thickness radiator would fit, because I want to water cool my system but don't want to have to buy a new case if I dont have to.
My second question is this- I recently bought a SanDisk Ultra II SSD for my boot drive. I was wondering how to transfer the OS from my 1TB Seagate Barracuda to the SSD. I have already tried two programs, Paragon's Migrate OS to SSD 4.0 and Seagate's DiscWizard software, both to no prevail. I was wondering how to transfer it.
Thanks

There are many SSD Migration Guides, provided by the SSD manufacturers as well as computer industry magazines.
For "Cloning" your new Solid State Drive (SSD), SanDisk recommends
Apricorn® EZ Gig IV with Data Select.
http://mp3support.sandisk.com/downloads/um/ssd-install-guide.pdf
The SanDisk SSD Conversion Kit comes with Apricorn® EZ Gig IV with Data Select for convenient data-migration, which copies files from your existing hard drive to your new SSD.
http://www.sandisk.com/products/ssd/sata/conversion-kit/
Macrium Reflect is a free migration tool (clone hard drive), used by some SSD installers.
http://www.maximumpc.com/how_clone_hard_drive_or_ssd_2014
Click on the green Download Now button (Cnet.com repository) for Macrium Reflect
http://download.cnet.com/Macrium-Reflect-Free/3000-2242_4-10845728.html?part=dl-&subj=dl&tag...
Samsung uses a Proprietary Migration Product, specific for their SSD products.

My G RAID thunderbolt drive mounted just fine onto my iMac this morning. And now it will not mount despite my various efforts. I don't know what else to do. Can someone help me with this?

My G RAID thunderbolt drive mounted just fine onto my iMac this morning. I copied some files from another drive onto the RAID drive, ejected it, and worked on another project for a few hours. When I went to mount the RAID drive again so I could work on the project associated with the drive (I'm a freelance video editor) it would not mount. I've tried everything. It boots up perfectly fine, the drive seems to have no hardware problems. It shows up on Disk Utility and in System Information but is listed as not mounted. I've verified it on Disk Utility and it tells me everything with the drive is fine. I've tried all the various restarting my iMac, ejecting and reconnecting the drive, shutting down the whole system and starting it back up, relaunching Finder, and nothing works. Starting to panic because this is a client's drive, I have no idea what the issue is, it worked perfectly fine only hours ago, nothing happened to it in the meantime, and I fear continuously connecting and ejecting it because I don't know what the state is with the data and if this is only going to further aggravate the problem. I've been up and down Apple and g-raid forums and can't get a straight answer anywhere. I need to know that the data is safe, the drive is undamaged, and how to get it to mount on my iMac. Can anyone out there help me with this??

welcome to the BT community forum where customers help customers and only BT employees are the forum mods
in order for the forum members to help please can you post the adsl stats from your router you may need to 'show detail' to get all stats (if hub enter 192.168.1.254 in your browser and navigate to adsl or if HH4/5 then go to troubleshooting then logs and you are looking for 2 line together when hub last connected to internet and they will show your connection speed and noise margin or if netgear enter 192.168.0.1). Then run btspeedtester (MAC users may have problems). when first test completes then run diagnostic test and post the results ( do not reset the router).
Have you tried the quiet line test? - dial 17070 option 2 - should hear nothing - best done with a corded phone. if cordless phone you may hear a 'dull hum' which is normal
Someone may then be able to offer help/assistance/suggestions to your problem
If you like a post, or want to say thanks for a helpful answer, please click on the Ratings star on the left-hand side of the post.
If someone answers your question correctly please let other members know by clicking on ’Mark as Accepted Solution’.

Envy 17t J000 - Maximum Hard Drive Size and speed

I going to place a 2nd hard drive in the open space in my Envy 17t-j000.
The Maintenance and Service Guide states;
Hard drives Supports 6.35-cm (2.5-in) hard drives in 9.5-mm (.37-in) and 7.0-mm (.28-in) thicknesses (all hard drives use the same bracket)
Customer-accessible
Serial ATA
Supports the following hard drives:
● 1-TB 5400-rpm, 9.5-mm
● 750-GB 5400-rpm 9.5-mm
● 500-GB 5400-rpm 9.5-mm and 7.0-mm
Dual hard-drive configurations:
● 2TB: (1-TB 5400-rpm x 2)
● 1500GB: (750-GB 5400-rpm x 2)
This seems to mean that I cannot use a single 2 TB 2nd drive and cannot use a 7200 RPM drive.
Is this correct? Doesthe bios not allow a larger than a 1 TB drive or the 7200 RPM?
CouldI simply partition the 2nd drive into 2 - 1TB?
Or does the manual simply mean that the standard HP unit is not supplied with larger than these sizes and I could actually use a 2 TB in the 2nd bay?
This question was solved.
View Solution.

It is the latter....the list just says what HP has to sell: it does not describe a system limitation. However, I do not believe the market yet offers a 2 TB drive that will fit in the space available. The 2 TB 2.5 inch SATA drives I have seen are too thick. 7200 rpm or hybrid or SSD; not a problem.
To add a second drive you will need a second hard drive caddy and cable.
http://www.newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_5&products_id=542
If this is "the Answer" please click "Accept as Solution" to help others find it.

Circle with a Slash Through it and Non-Mounting Hard Drive

Hello,
So I have a Macbook Pro (Early 2011) and the other day it was installing some update. It turned off, so I went upstairs to plug it in but once I powered it on and logged in it just shows a circle with a slash on it. The guest user account works fine. After researching on Google, I found out that the circle with slash means its missing boot files and I should try reinstalling the os with an archive and install. It wouldn't show up as a valid partition to recover from. In disk utility, the main hard drive shows up, the Macintosh HD shows up as well but is greyed out and will not mount. I just need to copy the files off it, and then I can do a clean install of the OS.
This is what I get when I try to repair the main hard drive from disk utility:
Verifying and repairing partition map for “Seagate FreeAgent Media”
Checking prerequisites
Checking the partition list
Checking for an EFI system partition
Checking the EFI system partition’s size
Checking the EFI system partition’s file system
Checking all HFS data partition loader spaces
Reviewing boot support loaders
Checking Core Storage Physical Volume partitions
Checking storage system
Checking volume.
disk3s2: Scan for Volume Headers
disk3s2: Scan for Disk Labels
Logical Volume Group C948DC54-AFC3-4E89-81C5-518FEBD8E2AB spans 1 device
Logical Volume Group has a 16 MB Metadata Volume with double redundancy
Start scanning metadata for a valid checkpoint
Load and verify Segment Headers
Load and verify Checkpoint Payload
Load and verify Transaction Segment
Load and verify Transaction Segment
Incorporate 1 newer non-checkpoint transactions
Load and verify Virtual Address Table
Load and verify Segment Usage Table
Unable to bootstrap transaction group 3803: inconsistent crosscheck
Continue scanning metadata for an older checkpoint
Load and verify Segment Headers
Load and verify Checkpoint Payload
Load and verify Transaction Segment
Incorporate 0 newer non-checkpoint transactions
Load and verify Virtual Address Table
Load and verify Segment Usage Table
Unable to bootstrap transaction group 3802: inconsistent crosscheck
Continue scanning metadata for an older checkpoint
Load and verify Segment Headers
Load and verify Checkpoint Payload
Load and verify Transaction Segment
Incorporate 0 newer non-checkpoint transactions
Load and verify Virtual Address Table
Load and verify Segment Usage Table
Unable to bootstrap transaction group 3801: inconsistent crosscheck
Continue scanning metadata for an older checkpoint
Load and verify Segment Headers
Load and verify Checkpoint Payload
Load and verify Transaction Segment
Incorporate 0 newer non-checkpoint transactions
Load and verify Virtual Address Table
Load and verify Segment Usage Table
Unable to bootstrap transaction group 3800: inconsistent crosscheck
No valid commit checkpoint found
The volume C948DC54-AFC3-4E89-81C5-518FEBD8E2AB was found corrupt and can not be repaired.
Problems were encountered during repair of the partition map
Error: Storage system verify or repair failed.
Also, I tried disk warrior but it doesn't show up as one of the drives available to repair. I'm running Lion on my machine.
Any ideas?? Thanks in advance.

SokrMan wrote:
The volume C948DC54-AFC3-4E89-81C5-518FEBD8E2AB was found corrupt and can not be repaired.
Problems were encountered during repair of the partition map
First off, thanks for being so detailed it saves a lot of trouble.
What has occured is your GUID partition map has become corrupted, this small hidden section on the drive is responsible for telling the hardware what and sizes of the partitions are on that drive. (OS X Lion, Lion Recovery and EFI)
The only way to rebuild the partition map is to erase and reformat the ENTIRE drive, including the hidden Lion Recovery Partition (which you booted into (Command R) to use Disk Utility to try to repair the drive.) Obviously this can't be done from the same drive booted from.
Unfortunatly with OS X 10.7 Apple didn't provide OS X install disks to install OS X onto a external drive or to boot from to perform the complete erase and reformat of the entire drive.
However if you have a blank powered external drive and a fast, reliable Internet connection (AppleID and password), you can Command R boot into Lion Recovery, format the external drive (Disk Utility: Partition: Options: GUID, Format: OS X Ext. J) and then install Lion from Apple's servers onto the external drive.
Once you have that, reboot holding the Option key down (wired keyboard) and select the external drive to boot from. Once you go through setup, try to grab your files off the internal drive.
(DataRescue can be used to recover deleted or corrupt file structure files directly from the 1's and 0's on the drive itself, it's $99, but a option if for some reason you can't do it manually via drag and drop)
Once you have all your files off the machine (make another copy to another drive and disconnect that drive), use Disk Utility (booted on the external drive, it's in the Utilities folder) to select the entire internal drive (drive makers name and size) and perform a Erase with Security Option Zero All Data. This will take a few hours so wait it out. What this will do is force 0's to every bit on the drive, if the hardware detects a bad sector it will map that bad sector off. (I suspect you have a failed sector in your GUID parititon map.)
Once that's complete, check the Partition tab: that Options is GUID and Format is OS X Extended (j)
Now if you have a newer Mac, if you reboot normally (no external drive connected) the Mac itself should install either the Lion Recovery Partition or combined with OS X all by itself over the Internet, I haven't seen or done this yet, so you'll be poineering this aspect. If you get Lion Recovery, then simply boot into it (Command R) and install Lion onto the Lion Partition.
Then go about installing all your apps first, then create a same named user as the old one (different password is fine) if you didn't use the same name as before, and then connect the external drive and transfer your contents of your User file folders (Music, Pictures, Movies etc) into their same name folders on the new setup, don't change anything, just select all and drag and drop, replace. By using the same user name, it preserves your itunes playlists and other data that depends upon correct user pathnames to the secondary files. If you start moving things around you'll lose the pathnames to your secondary files (songs). If your permissions are off, Finder: Get Info to set all (including down inside folders) to your new username.
If Internet Recovery doesn't work, option boot from the external drive and download Carbon Copy Cloner (free to use, donations accepted) and learn how to clone both your Lion Recovery Partition and OS X Lion Partition back onto your internal drive.
http://www.bombich.com/
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718
If by some chance you don't have a fast, relaible Internet connection your going to have ot take your machine to someplace that does, or have Apple fix the mess they caused by not supplying boot disks.
You can opt to buy the $69 Lion USB thumb drive, you can option boot off of that and perform the same functions above onto a external drive to boot from and recover your files.

Adjusting size and resolution question!

I'm trying to adjust size/resolution of a collage that I created so that it will look good when printed on a 20 X 30 canvas. How do I know the proper size and resolution to change it to?

We don't even know what program you are referring to, so it will be impossible to advise. In any case, usage questions are best asked in the product specific forums.
Mylenium

Questions regarding Hard Drive and RAM upgrade

I just purchased a Macbook white (Late 2006 model) for my son off ebay. I know next to nothing about hard drives and RAM.
I only paid $400 for this thing so I'm willing to put some extra cash into it.
What is the maximum hard drive I can put in this thing? Also, does the size of the hard drive depend on the amount of RAM I can put in it?
Like I said, I dont know very much about this stuff at all. Could someone please give me specific examples of the size hard drive & RAM I can put in.
Thank you.

Replacing the Hard Drive and RAM is very easy. Apple has a PDF file with instructions for replacing a hard drive and RAM. You'll need a #0 phillips screwdriver for the "L" bracket and a Torx 6 driver for the caddy screws.
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/MacBook13inch_HardDriveDIY.pdf
http://manuals.info.apple.com/enUS/MacBook_13inch_MemoryDIY.pdf

Image size and resolution question.

Is an image at W 48.667 x H 32.444 inches at 72 res the same as an image that I could convert in photoshop to 300 res and then the with "Resample Image" clicked off would be W 11.68 x H 7.78 at 300 res for printing purposes? I'm asking this questions because after exporting 200 images from Lightroom 1.4, putting them into an wedding album I realized the images were not at 300 res but the first size listed above. I'm trying not to have to rebatch and have to put them back into the album. I sent the question to NAPP and got this back"
"If you do the math you'll see that the answer is "no."
48x72=3456 pixels; 32x72=2304 pixels
11.68x300=3504 pixels; 7.78x300=2334 pixels."
I did the math and it comes up to 5760 vs 5830. Pretty darn close. So would an image printed out with both settings print the about the same quality or am I missing something?
Thanks
Bob

Bob's question is a common one. And one of the first that most of us struggled to understand. Let's see if I can shed some light to help clarify the matter.
o The image starts out with a given number of pixels from the camera, scanner, or whatever was its source. The resolution only matters when it comes time to print the image.
72 dpi was once a common resolution for displaying on a computer monitor. Today 90 dpi is more common monitor resolution.
o Let's assume that the image is 3504 x 2336 pixels (which I got from his size @ 72 dpi).
o In "image size", if you do _not_ have 'resample image' checked, all you are doing is _rescaling the image. The image resolution is whatever you enter ...
For example, if you enter 360 dpi -- the native printing resolution of many Epson printers -- you get a print size of 9.733 x 6.489 inches
o Let's say you want to print this image at 360 dpi in portrait on 13 x 19 inch paper with a one inch border on the sides. That would make the short dimension of the image 11 inches and the long would work out to 16.5.
To do that you need to _resample_ the image to change the size. More pixels will be made. The resolution stays at 360 dpi. So check the 'resample image' box.
After resampling to get the print size and resolution you want, the pixel dimension goes to 5960 x 3960 (from 3504 x 2336). Those new pixels came at a price, but that is a matter for another thread and a lot of personal bias.
Hope that helped.
P.S. The answer to your question, Bob, is yes. With resample off in PhotoShop, your original images should have gone to 11.68 x 7.787 inches @300 dpi.
In looking at the rest of your original post, it seems that the export didn't work the way that you wanted. Do I read right that the images turned out to be 11.68 x 7.787 @ 72 dpi? Can't help with that as I don't do Lightroom.

Folder with Question Mark and a useless disk stuck in my disk drive!

Hello,
earlier on today my computer crashed. I have read on a couple of posts that I should try to boot the computer from the install disk. Cool. The only problem is that when my computer crashed I had a CD in the disk drive. When I try to start the computer up I see a question mark and folder, but will not respond to any commands like "eject" or even holding the mouse button.
What do I do? I'm in Korea and going back to Canada in two weeks, but I need my computer!

Hi,
The Question Mark folder implies that your MacBook can't find a System Folder to boot from. It doesn't mean the drive is bad.
Are you holding down the C key while booting? Make sure the MacBook is shut down. Now, press the power button, hold down the C key and insert the restore disk all at the same time. Keep holding down the C key until you see the Apple logo on the screen, then let go. You should see an Installer window, select English. DO not proceed with any installation.. do this. From the Menu Bar, click Utilities/Startup Disk. When that window opens, select MacintoshHD 10.x.x and click the Restart button. That will boot your Mac back up from the hard disk, not the restore disk. If this works, don't forget to eject your restore disk and store it in a safe place.
More help for the question mark: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1440
Carolyn
Message was edited by: Carolyn Samit

Thunar dont show (and dont mount) removable devices and ntfs drives

hi.this my first topic
im using arch+openbox+thunar
and thunar dont show (and dont mount) removable devices and ntfs drives
more info:
i'v installed :
gvfs , gvfs-smb , gvfs-afp , thunar-volman , polkit , gnome-polkit , ntfs-3g
thunar-volman output for CD/DVD:
thunar-volman: Could not detect the volume corresponding to the device.
thunar-volman output for USB:
thunar-volman: Unsupported USB device type.
thunar-volman: Unsupported USB device type.
thunar-volman: Unknown block device type.
thunar-volman: Could not detect the volume corresponding to the device
~/.xinitrc:
openbox-session
~/.config/openbox/autostart:
thunar --daemon &
sleep 1 && /usr/lib/polkit-gnome/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1 &
tint2 &
sh ~/.fehbg &
conky &
pstree output:
[hamon@dhcppc0 ~]$ pstree
systemd─┬─agetty
├─at-spi-bus-laun─┬─dbus-daemon
│ └─3*[{at-spi-bus-laun}]
├─at-spi2-registr───{at-spi2-registr}
├─conky───3*[{conky}]
├─2*[dbus-daemon]
├─dbus-launch
├─dhcpcd
├─polkitd───5*[{polkitd}]
├─sh───polkit-gnome-au───{polkit-gnome-au}
├─slim─┬─X
│ └─bash───openbox───opera───3*[{opera}]
├─systemd───(sd-pam)
├─systemd-journal
├─systemd-logind
├─systemd-udevd
├─terminator─┬─bash───pstree
│ ├─gnome-pty-helpe
│ └─{terminator}
├─tint2
└─xfconfd
please help me
Last edited by hamon (2013-11-05 09:17:21)

Please use code tags. If you don't know how to do this, click the 'BBCode' link on the bottom of the page for instructions (there are all kinds of neat formatting tricks included as well).

PCIe eSATA controller and drive case

Can someone recommend the best external backup to purchase? I don't quite understand the difference between a regular external hard drive, like something that WD makes, versus an PCIe eSATA controller and drive case. What is all of that? Do I really need such a thing, and is it better?
Thanks.

Can someone recommend the best external backup to purchase? I don't quite understand the difference between a regular external hard drive, like something that WD makes, versus an PCIe eSATA controller and drive case. What is all of that? Do I really need such a thing, and is it better?
Dear kpdesigns,
No one knows what you need or want but you. I can provide some ideas of various external storage options that are available for the Mac Pro. The various storage protocols differ in performance, expansion and reliability characteristics.
1. USB - external USB drives are cheap and readily available. They work good for backing up small amounts of data (10-50GB). The performance of a USB drive on a Mac Pro is limited to approximately 17-18MB/sec. This translates into long backup periods when trying to copy 100GB of data to a USB device. FireWire 400, 800 and eSATA enclosures are all faster.
2. FireWire 400 - external FW400 drives are little more expensive than USB 2.0 enclosures but they provide approximately 32-38MB/sec transfer rates which is almost twice as fast as USB 2.0 on a Mac Pro. FW400 provides adequate speed for most backup situations where less than 100GB of data is in play.
3. FireWire 800 - external FW800 drives can provide 52-60MB/sec. transfer speeds. This method works well as a backup drive for a Mac Pro as the FW800 ports are built in. It also works well as a boot drive if necessary. However, when using more than one FW800 drive, speeds can be lower and many users end up resorting to PCIe expansion cards when adding more than three FW800 drives. FW800 does not provide the RAID performance that external SATA solutions can provide.
4. eSATA - external SATA hard drives can provide 57-70MB/sec. This is the fastest method for adding external storage to a Mac Pro. In addition to the Mac Pro SATA 4-bay tray system, there are also two more SATA ports on the Mac Pro motherboard (just under the front fan assembly). These ports are marked as "ODD SATA" on the motherboard. Users can install SATA cables on these ports and run them out of the back of the Mac Pro to SATA->eSATA converters like the Addonics model AASA2SAP15C. OWC also sells a kit that accomplishes this.
Ecternal 2-Port PCIe Cards
The next level of external SATA on the Mac Pro is a two port card that utilizes the SiI-3132 chip. These PCIe cards provide great individual and dual SATA hard drive performance but are limited to approx. 125MB/sec when used with a SATA PM multi-drive setup in a RAID configuration. Examples of cards in this category include:
Addonics PCIe 2-Port model ADSA3GPX1-2EM ($39.99)
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/addonics/adsa3gpx1-2em/
FirmTek SeriTek/2SE2-E ($99.95)
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/firmtek/2se2e/
External 4-Port PCIe eSATA Cards
The next step up of SATA controllers for the Mac Pro includes 4-port external eSATA cards that provide very good RAID performance and support port multiplier (SATA PM) and direct connect enclosures. These cards can support up to 20 hard drives using 4 SATA PM 5-bay enclosures and can provide 200-700MB/sec performance in RAID 0 configurations with 5-20 hard drives. Examples of Mac Pro host adapters that fall into this category include:
Addonics ADSA3GPX8-4EM ($199)
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/addonics/adsa3gpx8-4em/
DAT Optic eSATA_PCIe8 ($189)
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/datoptic/pcie8/
NORCO-4629 ($189.99)
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/norco/4629/
RocketRAID 2314 ($200)
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/highpoint/2314/
Sonnet Tempo E4P ($299
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/sonnet/mac-pro/
SATA PCIe RAID Controllers
The next step up for Mac Pro SATA host adapters is high performance RAID 5 and RAID 6 controllers that provide redundancy. Performance for this group using 8 drives in a RAID 5 configuration is 420MB/sec on average. Using RAID 6 performance is 350-380MB/sec on average. Mac Pro host adapters that fall into this category include:
Apple RAID 5 internal 4-port card ($999)
HighPoint RocketRAID 2322 RAID 5 Controller ($299)
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/enhance/e8/
Areca ARC-1221x RAID 6 SATA Controller ($680)
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/areca/1221x/
RAID 6 SAS Controllers
The next upgrade for external Mac Pro SATA/SAS hard drive users is the new SAS RAID 6 controllers. These cards provide 8-12 ports that work with either SATA hard drives or SAS drives. They also have the capability to support up to 128 devices using SAS Expanders. This new category of external storage provides almost unlimited expansion capability with a single Mac Pro PCIe host adapter. An example of this category is the bootable Areca ARC-1680x SAS RAID 6 SATA Controller ($845). AMUG is currently reviewing this card and the review should be available soon.
As you can see the Mac Pro supports a wide range of external storage options. Users simply need to decide how much storage they need and what performance level they desire. Typically, as the volume of data being maniplulated grows higher the need for higher performance also grows higher. Users working with uncompressed HD video will find large high performance RAID systems provide a great platform for video editing.
Have fun!

IMac intel core, 10.6.8 - isn't mounting my partioned iomega drive. How do i get it to mount and stay mounted?

iMac intel core, 10.6.8 - isn't mounting my partitioned iomega drive. It was mounting one of the partitions, but not the other one for a while. Then they both stopped showing up. I can not select the drive in Time Machine. I verified and repaired the iMac hard drive with Disk Utility. Then tried to verify and repair iomega drive in Disk Utility. It appears briefly but then disappears. One partition might be bad, what do i do? Then name of the partition changed to something like disk1:3 when it was called MAC. I want to see what's on it and ideally continue to use it as our backup in Time Machine. How do I get it to mount and stay mounted?

The usage figure reported by the activity monitor is likely to include only the core progam, the APIs that are being called and space for variables. FCP moves huge amounts of data around the system but, in general, I would imagine these are handled by the OS so would not (except maybe momentarily) be included in the acitivity monitor total.
If you have very little memory and it "runs out" so to speak, the OS will start swapping files on and off the disc which will slow the system down to a crawl if you have a standard hard drive. So with 16GB you have loads of room for the data transfers to take place quickly and efficiently. So, I would say you had not wasted your money! A very wise investment.

Macbook Pro exterior and scratches? Case questions too.

My parents have a white Macbook and they got the invisible shield as well as the Incase notebook sleeve to keep it in good condition. While I think the invisible shield looks fine on the Macbook it isn't cheap for the full shield and it is annoying to apply the larger pieces. For the plastic case on the regular Macbook the shield seemed necessary because of how easily it scratches.
So I just ordered a MBP for myself and I was wondering how easily does the metal exterior scratch? I am very careful about how I handle my electronics but I don't want to be worrying about scratching my MBP as I use it.
Then I have two ideas for cases/protection options:
- Incase notebook sleeve & Invisible Shield
- Booq Vyper M2
Opinions are appreciated!

Well, let me tell you. I have a PBG4 I bought over 4 years ago, which I carry around all day and take it to all the classes I teach. The aluminum exterior on that computer is virtually identical in size and shape compared with the MBP of today and I assume the alloy is of similar hardness and brushed finish.
The only markings from wear are the shinyness on the palm rest area, the keys, trackpad and trackpad button. On top there are a few almost invisible marks when I've accidentally dropped the power plug or a USB plug on top. On the sides, there are a few scratches around the connectors due to haste and there's a mysterious and somewhat deep 1/8" gash next to the latch release on the front that I have no clue how it got there. All in all, the blemishes are quite minor and you would be hard pressed to guess that it is a hard working portable going into its fifth year of service. I just purchased one of the new MBP's that just came out and I'm confident that with similar care it will also be good looking after 4-5 years, so don't worry too much.
One thing, though, do protect the display from scratches. Since all displays accumulate dust and all sort of dirt, clean it only when absolutely necessary and using only a large microfiber wipe, like the Scotch Brite's from 3M, lightly moistened with clean water and immediately dried with a dry wipe. 4 years of my PBG4, 3 years of my TiPB and 3 years of my clamshell iBook, all with intact displays, are living proof that this works.

Case Questions - Size and Drive Mounting

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