Creating a simple RAID in 2009 Mac Pro

I will be getting a second 1TB HDD soon and want to create a RAID set with the 1TB HDD I already have. I am confused on which choice to make - mirrored, striped, or concantinated.
Also, will making the RAID set destroy the data already stored on the 1TB HDD?

If your 2nd drive isn't the same exact model, it may not work properly, same cache, same "DNA."
And if you don't know how or what to expect, check Help in Disk Utility for one, and yes it requires destroying and then creating an array.
It can work just fine, the more practice and experience the better, obviously.
Again, what do you hope to gain or achieve? speed? redundancy? running live audio editing or a server that needs 24/7 and can't be down for the 30 minutes it takes to restore a backup? Apple mirror is also slow rebuilding and in my estimate, can be fragile. Also, people never seem to consider 3-drive mirroring which is much more secure.
There are dozens of FAQs and articles on RAID, even on using RAID with Mac OS X.
A great way to start is just with a photoshop scratch array (RAID0).

Similar Messages

2009 Mac Pro upgrade to Yosemite failed

Hi,
Seven days in and my 2009 Mac Pro is still dead. Very frustrated. It had a 4x3TB AppleRAID array in RAID1+0 giving 6TB. I initially did an upgrade to Yosemite and it got stuck at the half-way point after the restart. Yes, I did patiently wait ... but gave up after 12 hours (left it overnight). I assume the upgrade was supposed to finish sooner than that?
Found one stripe in the RAID array was 'degraded' - replaced that disk (seems they had 11000 hours on them) but it was impossible (for me) to see how to get the new disk back into the RAID scheme under Disk Utility (booted up using an upgraded MacBook). Once all the disks were removed from the array, Disk Utility gave no option to create a new RAID scheme, so I downloaded SoftRAID - yay, my RAID array was back (seems Apple gave up on their software RAID in 2009?).
However, still no joy. Created a Yosemite install USB drive - seems to run but then fails at the end ... "couldn't bless installation disk: /Volumes/Image Volume".
Okay, so downloaded the Mavericks installer and created an install USB drive - same as Yosemite ... can't bless the installation disk.
What else can I try? The Yosemite upgrade seems to have well and truly screwed my poor Mac Pro. I'd already successfully upgraded two of our four Macs successfully to Yosemite (one upgrade and one clean install) so thought it was okay.
I might try booting off one of the Macs again, with the Mac Pro in target disk mode, and try to run the installer to install Mavericks or Yosemite onto the Mac Pro's RAID array as an external disk ...
Otherwise ... ?

Booted the Mac Pro from the MacBook Air running Yosemite in target disk mode. Ran the Yosemite installer on the MBA to install on the Mac Pro's SoftRAID array "Hollie" - when the installer tells me it's going to restart I see the final logs written at 04:50 below:
Nov 1 04:45:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: @(#)PROGRAM:Install PROJECT:Install-920
Nov 1 04:45:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: @(#)PROGRAM:IA PROJECT:InstallAssistant-532
Nov 1 04:45:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Hardware: MacPro4,1 @ 2.66 GHz (x 16), 24576 MB RAM
Nov 1 04:45:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Running OS Build: Mac OS X 10.10 (14A389)
Nov 1 04:45:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Env: PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin
Nov 1 04:45:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Env: USER=brett
Nov 1 04:45:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Env: PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin
Nov 1 04:45:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Env: LOGNAME=brett
Nov 1 04:45:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Env: SSH_AUTH_SOCK=/private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.AzaK6cdqED/Listeners
Nov 1 04:45:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Env: Apple_PubSub_Socket_Render=/private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.o7DsCKSkcX/Render
Nov 1 04:45:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Env: HOME=/Users/brett
Nov 1 04:45:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Env: SHELL=/bin/bash
Nov 1 04:45:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Env: __CF_USER_TEXT_ENCODING=0x1F5:0x0:0x0
Nov 1 04:45:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Env: TMPDIR=/var/folders/r9/vckptcb10fxgj44jppfcg04h0000gn/T/
Nov 1 04:45:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Env: XPC_SERVICE_NAME=com.apple.InstallAssistant.Yosemite.158788
Nov 1 04:45:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Env: SSH_AUTH_SOCK=/private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.AzaK6cdqED/Listeners
Nov 1 04:45:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Env: Apple_PubSub_Socket_Render=/private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.o7DsCKSkcX/Render
Nov 1 04:45:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Env: XPC_FLAGS=0x0
Nov 1 04:45:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Env: LOGNAME=brett
Nov 1 04:45:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Env: USER=brett
Nov 1 04:45:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Env: HOME=/Users/brett
Nov 1 04:45:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Env: SHELL=/bin/bash
Nov 1 04:45:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Env: TMPDIR=/var/folders/r9/vckptcb10fxgj44jppfcg04h0000gn/T/
Nov 1 04:45:20 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Using distribution archive from /Users/brett/Desktop/Install OS X Yosemite.app/Contents/SharedSupport/OSInstall.mpkg
Nov 1 04:45:21 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Configuring products from SharedSupport folder
Nov 1 04:45:21 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Install is double-dmg. Not adding chunklist to download list.
Nov 1 04:45:21 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Using product <OSInstallDVDProduct> based on media at /Users/brett/Desktop/Install OS X Yosemite.app/Contents/SharedSupport at distance 5
Nov 1 04:45:21 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Using product <OSInstallESDProduct> based on distribution at /Users/brett/Desktop/Install OS X Yosemite.app/Contents/SharedSupport/OSInstall.mpkg at distance 5
Nov 1 04:45:21 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Checking Software Update catalog URL https://swscan.apple.com/content/catalogs/others/index-10.10-10.9-mountainlion-l ion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1.sucatalog
Nov 1 04:45:21 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: No available package ref for compatibility update. Ignoring.
Nov 1 04:45:21 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: No available package ref for compatibility update. Ignoring.
Nov 1 04:45:23 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Using product <OSSoftwareUpdateCatalogProduct> from product keys (null) at distance 25
Nov 1 04:45:30 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: LSExceptions [0x6300000bee40] unloaded
Nov 1 04:49:16 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: IATool launched
Nov 1 04:49:16 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Connected to IATool 26fa80
Nov 1 04:49:17 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Preventing machine sleep.
Nov 1 04:49:17 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Using product IA_PKSecureNetEnabledProduct <file:///Volumes/Hollie/OS%20X%20Install%20Data/> at distance 5
Nov 1 04:49:17 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistantTool[738]: Using existing boot files dir at /.IABootFiles
Nov 1 04:49:17 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Using mutable product path: /Volumes/Hollie/OS X Install Data
Nov 1 04:49:17 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Using boot files path: /.IABootFiles
Nov 1 04:49:17 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Retrieving 1 packages (0.000 GB)
Nov 1 04:49:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Retrieved package com.apple.pkg.CompatibilityUpdate (http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/14/57/031-11010/vhdn34frx9suyfcrslj0xyx n3t0dafhkn8/OSX_10_10_IncompatibleAppList.pkg)
Nov 1 04:49:19 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Verifying InstallMacOSX.pkg/InstallESD.dmg
Nov 1 04:49:33 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Finished operation queue
Nov 1 04:50:10 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistantTool[738]: Failed to set prev-lang:kbd
Nov 1 04:50:10 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistantTool[738]: hdiejectd already disabled.
Nov 1 04:50:12 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistantTool[738]: Failed to prep /Volumes/OS X Install ESD for brtool
Nov 1 04:50:12 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistantTool[738]: Failed to prep /Volumes/OS X Base System for brtool
Nov 1 04:50:13 192-168-1-11.tpgi.com.au InstallAssistant[721]: Failed to write mutable product url to NVRAM

2009 mac pro can't install any new os's - tried multiple drives

Ok guys here's where i'm at.
I was running a 2009 mac pro with 10.6.8
I downloaded and ran mavericks but after it restarted it just hung on the no entry sign over night.
So i did a restore and that worked.
I repaired permissions, and tried via a usb thumb drive no luck.
I restarted using my partners osx 10.6 mbp dvd and erased my mac pro drive and reformatted making sure it was guid partitioned and journaled etc.
Still no luck.
Even stranger when i try to install from external usb drive the installer doesnt see the hdd but if i use the dvd it says it cannot install but does see the hdd and lets me do a restore.
So at this point im sure some of you will be saying the hdd is dead.
But on each restore it was fine.
AND
so then i bought a samsung evo 840 and stuck that in using an icey box and just thought i'd install mavericks then copy over some files etc from my back up.
BUT i get the same issue. The usb installer cannot see the new ssd, but if boot from the dvd i can see it and restore the time machine backup to it.
Any suggestions at all?
Thanks

I know there have been some similar reports or stories about installing OS X.
At one time 2009 4,1 had trouble with Mountain Lion also.
Some models had trouble due to a user installed Apple wifi / bluetooth module.
Sometimes NVRAM is to blame and an SMC Reset AND zap PRAM/NVRAM (from cold boots).
This is a good tutorial, updated, while there are various other How To's around since Lion that are all basic same steps.
How to make your own bootable OS X 10.9 Mavericks USB install drive
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/10/how-to-make-your-own-bootable-os-x-10-9-mav ericks-usb-install-drive/
it’s possible to create a local USB installer for Mavericks. The bad news is that it wasn’t as simple as it was before—Apple has changed the way the installer works, and making an install disk manually is more difficult than it used to be. Before we get started, here’s what you’ll need:
An 8GB or larger USB flash drive, or an 8GB or larger partition on some other kind of external drive
The OS X 10.9 Mavericks installer from the Mac App Store in your Applications folder. The installer will delete itself when you install the operating system, but it can be re-downloaded if necessary.
The latest beta of the Lion Diskmaker app, available here (as of this writing, version 3 beta 3 is the most recent). This app is free to download, but the creator accepts donations if you want to support his efforts.
An administrator account on the Mac you're using to create the disk.
The easy way
Lion Diskmaker remains the easiest, most user-friendly way to get this done.

How to install Snow Leopard on a 2009 Mac Pro which has Mountain Lion?

The 2009 Mac Pro that I just bought has Mountain Lion. For many reasons, I do not want to have Mountain Lion on my machine. I have been using Snow Leopard for years and I like it fine. I have my Snow Leopard install DVDs. I cannot get this machine to accept Snow Leopard, which must be just another undesirable aspect of Mountain Lion, bacause this machine must have shipped with some variant of Leopard/ Snow Leopard to begin with. Here's what happens when I put the Snow Leopard Install DVD in the Superdrive:
1) First, I held down the "C" key at startup to start from a disc. It showed me a window which said "Mac OS X can't be installed on this computer".
2) Then I started it with Mountain Lion and then put in the Snow Leopard DVD. Got a window which said "The disc you inserted was not readable by this computer". It also had 3 buttons to choose from: "Initialize", "Ignore" and "Eject". So I clicked on "Initialize" and Disc Utility opened on the First Aid page. I assume I'm supposed to erase the startup disc, but I thought maybe I should ask the experts here before I do that.
This machine has two 2TB HDDs that the previous owner has configured as a level 1 RAID. If I am to erase the startup disc do I erase both drives of the RAID set? If I'm not supposed to erase the startup drive, what do I need to do to get back to Snow Leopard? Thanks and thanks again!

The built-in checks will keep you from clobbering 10.8 Mountain Lion by Installing Snow Leopard over it (literally, 10.6 Snow Leopard Installer will see a later version in place, and knows it cannot install over a later version). So it says "Mac OS X cannot be installed on this computer..." and leaves off "... "in its current state."
You will need to Install on a 10.6 Snow Leopard-erased drive. Mac OS X Erase function proceeds to install a Partition scheme and a default Volume after erasing, because a truly blank drive is useless for most Users.
When you boot to the Installer DVD, you are running off the DVD, so all Hard Drives are available to be erased if that is your choice. All data on them will be discarded. If you erase one drive in a mirrored RAID set, normally the other drive would survive and the set would be degraded. But a new version of RAID was introduced right AFTER 10.6, and it is likely that 10.6 cannot read that RAID at all under any circumstances.

2009 Mac Pro upgrading graphics card to GTX 680 mac. What is the best version of AE and PP and OSX to have?

Hello,
I have a 2009 Mac Pro 4.1
Mac OSX version 10.6.8
Processor - 2 x 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Memory - 24GB
Graphics Card - ATI Radeon HD 4870
I use After Effects and Premiere Pro daily for my work. I am not too technically minded. I want to update and improve my machine as much as possible and am thinking of buying an SSD drive to replace my current start up disk. I also am thinking about getting the GTX 680 mac version graphics card. I have read many online discussions regarding OpenCL and CUDA, many discussions with mixed feelings about the improvements the 680 gives an older Mac Pro - some people say it is amazing others say the improvements seem minimal or worse.
What I want to know is if I purchase the SSD and 680 graphics card what is the optimal OSX - 10.8 or 10.9? and what is the optimal versions of AE and PP to have - CS6 or CC? Also what settings and what additional drivers would I need to consider?
I contacted an independent authorised mac reseller and he thought it was a bad idea to put a new graphics card and get the latest OSX in an old machine and tried to sell me a used 2010 Mac Pro, but I think it would be more cost effective to get the SSD and 680 instead, it's just I read the occasional horror story on a forum and I worry about making the wrong choice, I rely on my Mac Pro to make a living!
Thanks in advance

Thank you for the valuable information Eric, I think I will go with the 680 but I understand that it wont be fully utilised on my old Mac Pro.
Perhaps I will replace my startup/applications hard drive with a 480GB SSD. My other 3 bays are full with 3 x 2TB Hard drives that have media on them so I have no spare room for a dedicated SSD drive for AE cache. But could I put a 250GB SSD into one of the PCI-E slots using something like - SSD SuperSpeed Upgrade Kit for Apple Mac Pro 2008 2009 2010 2012 | eBay
Would this be my best solution? Is it a relatively simple installation, does anyone have any experience of a similar setup?
cc_merchant, thank you for the reply, I am aware you have to pay monthly payments for CC, that is no problem.

My Early 2009 Mac Pro won't restart after installing Mavericks

I have installed Mavericks on my Early 2009 Mac Pro and all seemed to install just fine but when I restart the Mac then it won't get past a grey screen with Apple logo. It seems that it does get reasonabley far into the startup, it gets passed the grey screen with cricling progress thingmy under the Apple logo, then it flashes very quickly and after that it is a grey screen with the Apple logo and no further.
I did try installing Mavericks when it first came out and I had this problem so I just abandoned and reinstalled Mountain Lion from my Time Machine backup. However I thought that with Mavericks now at 9.1, maybe it would work okay this time but no change. However this time I do want to get it working because the lastest Final Cut Pro X requires Mavericks and I do a lot of video editing.
Here are the things I've tried which have made no difference:
Removed all peripherals, so that now nothing is plugged in except the original Apple Keyboard, my Apple trackpad and my Eizo monitor.
I tried starting it in Safe Boot mode but this made no difference.
I started it up in Recovery mode and it will start in Recovery mode. While in Recovery mode I checked the startup hard drive with Disk Utility, the drive is fine, as and I repaired disk permisions which made no difference.
I zapped the PRAM.
I connected it to my MacBook Pro in Target Disk mode and used ProSoft's Drive Genius 3 to check over the startup hard drive again and check disk permissions and all is well.
It still will not startup
I would be most grateful if someone could assist.

Take each of these steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.
Step 1
The first step in dealing with a boot failure is to secure your data. If you want to preserve the contents of the startup drive, and you don't already have at least one current backup, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data that has changed since your last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
a. Boot into the Recovery partition, or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) When the OS X Utilities screen appears, launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
b. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
c. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.
Step 2
Sometimes a boot failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 3
If you use a wireless keyboard, trackpad, or mouse, replace or recharge the batteries. The battery level shown in the Bluetooth menu item may not be accurate.
Step 4
If there's a built-in optical drive, a disc may be stuck in it. Follow these instructions to eject it.
Step 5
Press and hold the power button until the power shuts off. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to boot, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can boot now, one of the devices you disconnected, or a combination of them, is causing the problem. Finding out which one is a process of elimination.
If you've booted from an external storage device, make sure that your internal boot volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
Step 6
Boot in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Post for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
When you boot in safe mode, it's normal to see a dark gray progress bar on a light gray background. If the progress bar gets stuck for more than a few minutes, or if the system shuts down automatically while the progress bar is displayed, your boot volume is corrupt and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to Step 6.
If you can boot and log in now, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) Check that you have at least 9 GB of available space, as shown in the window. If you don't, copy as many files as necessary to another volume (not another folder on the same volume) and delete the originals. Deletion isn't complete until you empty the Trash again. Do this until the available space is more than 9 GB. Then reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
If the boot process hangs again, the problem is likely caused by a third-party system modification that you installed. Post for further instructions.
Step 7
Launch Disk Utility in Recovery mode (see Step 1.) Select your startup volume, then run Repair Disk. If any problems are found, repeat until clear. If Disk Utility reports that the volume can't be repaired, the drive has malfunctioned and should be replaced. You might choose to tolerate one such malfunction in the life of the drive. In that case, erase the volume and restore from a backup. If the same thing ever happens again, replace the drive immediately.
This is one of the rare situations in which you should also run Repair Permissions, ignoring the false warnings it may produce. Look for the line "Permissions repair complete" at the end of the output. Then reboot as usual.
Step 8
Reinstall the OS. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
Step 9
Repeat Step 6, but this time erase the boot volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically reboot into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer your data from a Time Machine or other backup.
Step 10
This step applies only to older Macs (not current models) that have a logic-board ("PRAM") battery. Both desktop and portable Macs used to have such a battery. The logic-board battery, if there is one, is separate from the main battery of a portable. A dead logic-board battery can cause a boot failure. Typically the failure will be preceded by loss of the settings for the startup disk and system clock. See the user manual for replacement instructions. You may have to take the machine to a service provider to have the battery replaced.
Step 11
If you get this far, you're probably dealing with a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.

MA849Z/B RAID card and Mac Pro 4,1 octocore

Hello,
is the Apple RAID card ref. MA849Z/B compatible with a Mac Pro octocore 4,1 (using Xeon 5500 if I am right) ref. MB535LL/A?

Hi-
The blue, Mac Pro RAID Card (MA849Z/B), is compatible with Mac Pro 3,1 and earlier.
The 2009 Mac Pro 4,1 uses the black, MB845Z/A card:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3514

Speeding up an early 2009 Mac Pro

This is not a question - it is an answer.
Starting configuration: Dual quad core 2.26GHz early 2009 Mac Pro (4,1) already expanded to 12 GB RAM; 175GB SSD, 1TB RAID 0 internal HD configuration, 2 1TB external d2 Quadra HDs (1 for cloned backup, the other for Time machine) connected via FW 800. A Superdrive, and an LG Blu-Ray burner, both internal.
My uses: Frequent business use of Microsoft Office and Acrobat Pro; occasional use of Adobe Photoshop Elements, frequent internet access via Safari and Mail; much use of iTunes and iPhoto, some Aperture, and occasional creation and burning of movies and slide shows to DVD and Blu-Ray with iDVD, Final Cut Express, Toast Titanium.
Problem: Extremely slow from power on to the first open program with a usable menu (usually 2-1/2 minutes). Extremely slow changing from one menu item to the next and very slow opening files. Glacial at performing those operations if a backup was ongoing.
Earlier efforts: Followed conventional wisdom for speed by adding 6 GB of RAM, bringing it to 12 GB (though my RAM usage rarely exceeded 3 GB). Added a small SSD containing only the OS and all applications; mapped the home folder to the internal 1 TB RAID 0 comprising 2 540GB 7200 rpm SATA 2 drives (but - having to access the internal RAID for all data files made the addition of the small SSD a futile exercise). The external drives are also 7200 rpm.
Here is what worked!! I replaced the 175GB SSD with a 1 TB Samsung EVO 840 SSD ($565) and re-mapped the home folder back to the SSD; added a Newer Tech MaxPower eSATA PCIe card ($87); connected the two external 1TB drives via eSATA rather than FW 800, which tripled their speed. My OS, applications and data files are around 600 GB, so the 1 TB SSD was large enough to handle everything, while the 175 GB drive wasn’t.
While the EVO 840 SSD and the eSATA card are SATA 3 rated (6Gb/s), the internal bus of the early Mac Pro is SATA 2 (3Gb/s), which is the maximum at which the system will operate. In addition, the internal and external hard drives drives themselves are also SATA 2 (the Superdrive and Blu-Ray burner are SATA 1, but slow nothing down when not being used; and SATA 1 is plenty fast for burners limited to 16X anyway).
The result: It now takes 60 to 61 seconds from power on until Safari opens with a useable menu (including the 5 seconds or so to select the user and log in), a speedup of 90 seconds. In more stark terms, from power on to the log-in screen appears under the old setup was 46 seconds, and with the new, 41 seconds (system and RAM checks take roughly the same amount of time regardless of the drive used); but once the user is selected and the access code is entered, the new setup takes 14 to 15 seconds vice 1 minute 45 seconds! Even better, moving from one menu item to the next in an open application is immediate. Files open quickly. And, there is NO detectable slowdown while any of the frequent backups are ongoing. Performance is now very fast, again.
My Mac Pro cost $3400 when new, and has of course been improved. A used 2012 Mac Pro 6 core with 3.33 GHz chipset would have run $2800 or more, and provided slightly higher GeekBench scores operating single-core, but slower multi-core speeds than I already have. A 3.33GHz 12 core machine refurbished by Apple would have run $5400, and provided 1/3 faster single core speeds, and the multi-core speeds would have been twice as fast, according to GeekBench. The new late 2013 4-core Mac Pro, while beautiful, would have run $4200 delivered (my upper limit), and would have required more investment to put the Superdrive and Blu-Ray burner into enclosures. Here is what amazed me: While its single-core speed would have been 78% faster, its multi-core GeekBench score was slower than my current machine! I guess those extra 4 cores make a difference.
The GeekBench scores heavily weigh processor-intensive functions, such as video compositing and editing, or working with large photo and graphic files. Those are not my primary uses, and spending money for significant performance gains in those areas made no sense for my use. But the $650 I spent for the 1TB SSD and eSATA PCIe card completely solved the slowdown I was experiencing. For my uses, that $650 was a much wiser investment than any of the other options. It gave me speed where I needed it, and not where it would have done little for me.

True but I catch all the Mail, Cache, /SyncServices and /Application Support - and for some reason the /Preferences folder is getting hit a lot.
The reason I use CCleaner is just to wipe clean all the brower type caches in one fell swoop. They get large and unwildly and harder to manage. Easy and faster to just download. Use to use a RAMDisk for the "web.cache" file or folders at one time to speed up system and surfing.
The entire ~/Library is 3GB for me
So even if it was 10GB it would still be fine and make sense to include the "home user account" ~/Library (you can of course include more)
Only saying to locate my 700GB of documents, media files and libraries "elsewhere" - pefect for a 2TB hdd. Or a pair of 10K WD VR 1TB drives though even they are limited if using SATA2 AND you have the system on same bus you start to hit the 700MB/sec that Mac Pro controller can handle.
So the ideal would have high access and to allow concurrent searches and IO in memory first, in cache memory buffers to drive controller and drives, and then use an SSD, before getting to the actual slower hdd. The choise of hdd also matters. Some 500GB drives are more like 85MB/sec at best vs 145MB for a single 2TB Seagate Constellation ($200) or WD Black. And no need to take up two drive bays.
Back to case in point, if you want to put the entire user account on its own SSD, fine but its cost for what performance is not what I would do. Even a small 128GB or spend another $70 for 250GB SSD instead, and leave all the user home account's media files on a slow 7.2K drive. Some 7.2k drives can do much much better on SATA3 / 6G. The 1TB 10K WD VR gets writes as well as reads in the 180-200MB/sec. which is about as good as it gets outside of SSD on a SATA2 bus and is only $200 (4-8X the storage of the SSDs I was talking about).

Early 2009 Mac Pro FireWirenot working with Hitachi/SimpleTech DuoPro drive

So I've got an early 2009 Mac Pro that is loaded with Bootcamp and Vista64. I am looking for an external raid option that works for Windows and didn't have any luck with any eSata PCIe card so I thought I would just use a firewire device. So I picked up a 2TB Duo Pro drive by SimpleTech.
My firewire ports work fine with other devices, but not with this drive and not with either operating system. It works fine though USB, but just doesn't do anything with either firewire 400 or 800.
Any thoughts?

I have an early 2008 iMac and I have the exact same drive by Simpletech, 2TB Duo Pro. It does work on FW800 but connects at 400 UNLESS you power the drive on and plug it in while OS X is up and running, then the connection will be 800. Anyhow, I would make sure you have a good FW cable and also try the FW400 cable that came with it. I bought a FW800 cable and it worked fine so unless the Mac Pro and iMac use different FW hardware, I think it IS compatible.

What USB 3.0 card should I get for early 2009 Mac Pro so I can connect the Drobo 5D? They say get CalDigit or Sonnet. Anyone have preference or experience with reliability. Trying to find which is better.

What USB 3.0 card should I get for early 2009 Mac Pro so I can connect the Drobo 5D? They say get CalDigit or Sonnet. Anyone have preference or experience with reliability with this. I am running Lion and Trying to find which is better as I know from experience not all cards are created equal. Thanks in advance for your help!

yakov536 wrote:
High Point RocketU Quad USB 3.0 for Mac is working great for me. Had an issue with CD/DVD Drive which was resolved with most current driver downloaded from the support site.
Running Moutain Lion on Early 2009, mirroring two Seagate Go Flex 2TB USB 3.0 Drives. Installed in Slot 4.
Using it primarily with VMWare Fusion for Virtual Drives. Windows, Unbuntu and other OS running really well.
HPT Support was responsive and very helpfull using the WEB Portal under the product page.
I have some comments and a suggestion:
Have you tried your setup with a SD/CF combo card reader (like the Lexar or Kingston FCR-H63)? Does the card appear on the desktop when first plugged in?
Did you need to fool around with any kind of power issues in installing this card in the x4 PCIe slot of the MacPro?
Suggestion. Have you tried one of the fixed in this article to cure the BT issues in MacPro 3,1?
Good luck.
Henry

2009 Mac Pro will not boot up under Windows

I have an Early 2009 Mac Pro system (Mac Pro 4,1) and I've had this system for 3 years already and have been working under OS X with this system ever since I purchased it.
However, when I tried to boot off my Windows disk, something very interesting happens. The Mac Pro WILL NOT boot up off the Windows disk or a known working Windows partition if two monitors are connected. Upon holding down the option key and selecting the Windows partition, I will get a black screen on one monitor (the one connected via Mini Displayport) and the other screen receives no signal and will enter standby and the system is halted. It does not respond to keystrokes, there is no hard drive activity, no measured power increase on the UPS, no apparent network activity, nothing. The only way to exit this scenario (from what I can tell) is to power off the machine, disconnect the display on DVI, power on the machine again, select the Windows partition wait for the system to reach the login window and reconnect the DVI monitor (at which time Windows recognizes it immediately and the system works fine again).
My question to the community is, does anybody know why this is happening and is there a known fix for this? Quite frankly, having to disconnect a monitor just to restart is very tedious and frustrating.
I have two Samsung P2350 monitors attached to an ATI Radeon HD 4870 (512MB, from Apple). One is monitor is connected via directly DVI and the other is using a Mini Displayport to DVI adapter. Both monitors work fine under OS X with no issue. At first, I thought that this may be a driver issue on the Windows side and after installing all the latest updates and drivers the issue is still apparent. From what I can tell, this doesn't seem like a software issue but rather a firmware or EFI issue as this happens before Windows even loads.
If anyone knows of a fix or what to do in this situation, or if you are also having this issue, I would love to hear your input!
Thank you!
For the record, I am running all the latest software builds on the OS X side (10.7.4, not that it would really matter at this point). I have also disconnected all unnecessary equipment in a trial and error scenario but the results are still the same.
The system passes all ASD testing.
The full specification of the computer and all connected equipment are as follows:
2009 Mac Pro (4,1) 8-Core
2x Intel Xeon Nehalem 2.66GHz Quad-Core CPUs
16GB DDR3 ECC 1066MHz RAM (Apple Branded)
Two OWC 120GB SSDs (One for OS X, the other for Windows 7 x64) - These are in place of my optical drives.
4x 2TB WD Black Hard drives for storage.
Two Samsung P2350 Monitors connected via DVI. (One using a Mini Displayport to DVI adapter).

In Windows I am using the latest (12.4) Catalyst Software Suite, 64 bit of course, downloaded directly from AMD's site after installing the drivers from Boot Camp.
As for installing Windows I used an original (not burned) installation media (Disk is in a pristine condition). And yes, Windows is fine, the problem just seems to be getting the system to boot up Windows with that second monitor. However if the "problem monitor" is disconnected the system boots fine 100% of the time and connecting it later after booting the system will still operate properly.
For the sake of arguement I swapped monitor cables and connected the "second" monitor to the mini displayport adapter to verify that it wasn't a cabling issue and I'm still yielding the same issues.
As for GPU testing, I've played games (Crysis, Grand Theft Auto IV, Battlefield 3, etc.) and I've had no issues with the card or stability.
You would think that Apple would try to find a fix for this, especially considering the caliber of this machine.

2009 Mac Pro 2.66 Xeon Quad Core or 2013 Mac Mini 2.66 Quad Core i7 ?

2009 Mac Pro 2.66 Xeon Quad Core or 2013 Mac Mini Server 2.66 Quad Core i7 ? I have a choice between these two for running Final Cut Pro X. Price is nearly the same.
The Mac Pro has a ePCI 512 display adapter, 16 GB RAM, more hard drive expansion and faster 1tb 7200 rpm conventional hard drive. FW 800.
The Mini Server has two 1 tb 5400 rpm conventional drives, 16 GB RAM and an integrated display adapter. Has thunderbolt and FW 800.
My primary concern is the performance of the processors. Does anyone happen to know how they compare in video editing?

This may give you some ideas.
There are some folks on this forum who report very saticfactory results editing on Minis.
Perhaps they will chime in with first hand experience (which I can't give).
Russ

I want to Connect my Mac Mini as a Slave to a Mac pro Server while at the same time using the Mac mini's thunderbolt ports peripherals ( ie monitor, Sound Card, Hard drives) Creating a poor man's new mac Pro. Can this be Done?

I want to Connect my Mac Mini as a Slave to a Mac pro Server while at the same time using the Mac mini's thunderbolt ports peripherals ( ie monitor, Sound Card, Hard drives) Creating a poor man's new mac Pro. Can this be Done?

Well, I really would love the new unreleased mac pro however , I'm not sure of the expected cost , Everyone speculates from $3,000 to $8,000, in which I may have to wait a while to purchase.
To the point .... I want fully functional thunderbolt ports to be on the current mac pro's .... wonder if anyone had workarounds yet?... or could I chain the the current mac pro to a mac mini to make that happen?

TS3048 My early 2009 Mac Pro does not connect via bluetooth to my sound bar or bluetooth mini speakers. Both my wireless keyboard and mouse have no problems connecting. What do I need to do to connect to external bluetooth devices?

My early 2009 Mac Pro does not connect via bluetooth to my sound bar or bluetooth mini speakers. Both my wireless keyboard and mouse have no problems connecting. What do I need to do to connect to external bluetooth devices?

I would always have a wired keyboard and mouse on hand (need not be expensive ... any cheap wired devices will work). "Emergency recovery" procedures can activate features in random order, so the opportunity to select a recovery partition may pass before the wireless devices are recognized.
That will let you select the "turn on Bluetooth" icon.

I am having a problem with very slow start up after expanding RAM on my 2009 Mac Pro.

I am having a problem with very slow start up after expanding RAM on my 2009 Mac Pro (8 Core 2.93GHz). When I run the Mac Pro with 2 x 2Gb RAM it takes 4 seconds before the gray screen, chime and spinning wheel appear.However when I expand the RAM to 20GB the grey screen and chimes appear after a long 20+ second black screen.
The RAM modules are paored 2 x 4GB Crucial CT51272BA1339.M18FMR and 6 x 2GB SAMSUNG M391B5673FH0-CH9, all DDR3 ECC.
Reading articles on the internet, I thought it may be damaged RAM modules, but I have completed memtest and all are okay. I have tried changing the pairs around and if I use any paired 2 modules the Mac Pro starts normally, only when I try running more than 2 modules the delayed start up happens. (black screen 20 Seconds)
I also have tried PRAM and SMU resets after changing the RAM setups, and the issues always occurs when I have more than 2 modules. As you can see I have 6 SAMSUNG modules and even with identical modules the issue happens, when increasing the RAM to more than 2 modules.
The Mac Pro runs fine after the start up screen and can see all the modules, but has anyone else come across this issue, or have any ideas as to why my Mac Pro is taking 20 seconds to start up with 20 GB RAM?

Hi there. Thanks for your comments.
I have tried all the different combinations of RAM setup, and as stated in my initial topic, the Mac Pro boot up time only slows when I have more that 2 modules. Where I place these does not seem to make a difference.
I have taken the Mac Pro to an Apple Reseller technician yesterday and they where not able to find any RAM errors. Apparently the boot up time is within Apple's acceptable parameters for this set up.
Could anyone that is running a Mac Pro 2009 with more that 4 modules of RAM, please let me know if the boot up time is normal. ( the time it takes from pressing the power button to seeing the gray screen around 16 - 20 seconds)
Or is anyone else having the same issues?
thanks for your responce

Creating a simple RAID in 2009 Mac Pro

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