Need advice, one hard drive, or two, inside Mac Pro

I have several Mac Pro towers, (not the Mac Pro cylinder).
My practice going back for many years is to store everything on my primary (boot) drive in Bay 1.   I then will use hard drives in some or all of Bays, 2-4 for backup purposes.   The idea being that I would have a backup of everything on one drive.
I saw a training video the other day where the instructor said that only the OS and your other programs should go on the boot drive.   He said that your data should go on a 2nd drive in Bays 2-4.
I do see some logic in having your data on a separate drive. However, doesn't that double the backup requirements ?   I like to back up my programs because with the trend of software being downloaded it is usually not possible to purchase older versions of software so I keep them myself.
I appreciate suggestions.

Can it be that no one here runs Photoshop and/or other Adobe applications ?
< kind of a rant > The advice from that "instructor"/DESTRUCTOR described in the OP is totally wrong for someone like me who has been using Photoshop very intensively in excess of 60 hours per week, as well as Adobe Illustrator, InDesign and Acrobat Pro for over 10 years.
For one thing, Adobe applications really, REALLY want to reside on your boot volume, where your OS resides. Adobe updaters and installers also look for your Applications folder on your root level or they just won't find them.
Then you really need a physically separate, dedicated hard drive for Photoshop's scratch. The scratch exceeds 250 GB at times when stitching large panoramas, and in one rare occasion I saw it exceed 800 GB.
Nothing affects speed more than insufficient RAM, and insufficient available contiguous scratch space.
To have your backups in an an internal drive won't do you any good if your motherboard or your CPU fails. A bootable, external backup volume you can boot a second machine with is essential, in my experience.
I wouldn't presume to be in a position to advise anyone else, but for me the advice doled out in this thread is way off what I need or what I would heed.
I tend to immediately put on the brakes as soon as I read someone asking "what's the best way…[to do anything]" as that usually translates to "I'm a clueless rank beginner and I have no clue as to how this program works". < /rant >
Personally, I stay away from that kind of question at the Adobe forums, and I know quite a few really experienced users who do the same.
Anyway, my apologies for interrupting. Please carry on.

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REAL hard drive space on early mac pros??

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 ?

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

Mac Pro tower can support drives up to 4TB is size.
If running 10.8.4, 10.8.5 or 10.9.0, there is a bug in Disk Utility that precludes proper erasing of drives over 2.2TB as Internal drives

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.

Need advice on hard drive set up for a Mac Pro

Just changed over to a Mac and would like some advice on hard drive setup. Have a Mac Pro 2.8 with the 320 gig hard drive.
I plan to run Windows with MS Flight Simulator and Office 2007 through VMware Fusion/Boot Camp.
Will be transferring camcorder video to edit and make DVDs. Lots of music, podcasts, photos, and short videos will be stored.
I'm planning to buy additional hard drives.
Any suggestions on how many/what size hard drives to get.
What should the stock 320 hard drive be used for?
Where would I put the Windows stuff? What format/partion size?
Where should the backup go?
I've seen many positive comments on Western Digital Caviar Black drives, would that be a good choice?

Welcome to Discussions!
Here's my (current) setup.
4 x WD640AAKS. As Hatter says, brilliant drives. Whisper quiet and very fast. Plus extremesly good-priced.
Drives 1 and 2:
Raid0 boot volume. Also set as Photoshop scratch. I ran lots of tests on different setups and this is faster than having a separate scratch drive, almost the same as having a separate internal raid0 for scratch. But I felt I couldn't motivate that use of harddrive bays for the little extra it offered in speed.
Drive 3: User account on first partition and a second, 23GB partition for Windows XP.
Drive 4: Time Machine, which only backs up the User account partition.
I clone the startup drive to an external regularly. In fact I have three bootable clones, one OS X with latest updates, one with OS X with latest updates and my applications, and one of the boot volume before any major updates - overkill perhaps... I use the 320GB OEM drive in an FW800 enclosure for this.
/p

Seagate Backup Plus Slim External USB 3 Hard Drive Not Working with Mac Pro

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
I have ruled out an issues with the drives, as I have tested all of them on a variety of systems and OS's, including Power Mac, Mac Book Pro, PC, OS 10.7, 10.8, 10.9 as well as on Windows. I have tried formatting in every file system including Mac OS Extended, Mac OS Extended (Journaled), NTFS and exFAT. ALL other systems have no issues with the drives. Apple has replaced my Mac Pro with a brand new one and the drives still behave the same way. Furthermore, I have tested the drives on three other Mac Pro's at work and they all reject the drives. So, on their own, there is nothing wrong with the Mac Pro, or the drives. However, the configuration of them together is wreaking havoc.
I have contacted Seagate, and this was their response:
The most recent version of the Backup Plus drives use the USB Attached SCSI (UAS) standard to increase transfer rates. It's possible that the drivers being used currently on your Mac Pro are having issues using this feature with the standard USB 3.0 drivers installed. I would recommend contacting Apple to check for any driver updates or see if they any suggestions for issues involving drives using UAS.
I have also started a case with Apple Support (Case # 755934373) and am waiting to hear back regarding Seagate's response. I've spent DAYS trying to troubleshoot this and am now at a complete loss. If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears (or eyes in this case).
Thanks!

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

Can I use one hard drive for two computers? Newbie here.

Newbie here.
I currently use Time Machine for my iMac (Intel)
I've been using my Macbook Pro (Intel) a lot lately and would like to back it up from time to time as well.
Can I simply attach the external hard drive to my Macbook Pro and set up Time Machine?
Can use the external hard drive for both machines?
Will Time Machine recognized that my Macbook Pro is a separate computer and set up a separate folder on the external hard drive automatically?
Thanks

Hi,
you can use the drive for as many Macs as you like, just make sure it's big enough. Time Machine will create separate folders for your Macs and will "know" which one you're using.
Björn

Hard Drive not recognised inside MacBook Pro, however works in enclosure...

And my question is... WHY?!
Basically, my Macbook Pro took a bit of a knock on the hard drive side. Coincidentally, as it was on at the time, (Whoops!), it stopped responding and the colour wheel of death was apparent. I restarted with option held pressed down, so that I can see if the Hard Disk is still being read/recognised. After doing this a couple of times, I noticed that the Hard Disk was becoming intermittent in its ability to being read. I have also used Disk Utility and Disk Warrior and have been getting the same symptoms. I diagnosed, (more of an assumption than anything), that the Hard Disk is broken and I need another one. No biggy! I have a Time Machine drive, which had just that moment finished backing-up! =) Nice!
Anyway, I got a new hard drive (Toshiba 250 GB MK2552GSX Model no.), put it in my Macbook Pro and it, again, is intermittent, therefore fully disproving my theory that it was the Hard Disk itself. (Seeing as it can be read easily in the enclosure.)
Possibly the connector/the logic board it connects to?? I don't know, there's something broken inside my laptop, but just in case somebody out there has a solution, I'd be VERY grateful as it's my laptop I use for my university studies.
Thanks!

Does your old drive work in your external enclosure?
The reason I ask is because I've had this problem, but it happened after I replaced the Hard Drive in my Early 08 MBP (MacBook Pro 4,1). Turns out, the i/o cable, where it attaches to the logic board, gets worn/brittle from heat and very easy to damage. The repair at the genius bar ran about $20 for the cable, but I had a generous genius who waived the standard labor fee after I gave him my sad story, so your milage may vary.
I should also note that the Hard Drive on that generation of MacBook Pro is not considered user upgradable, and your swap will negate your Apple Care, if you have it, until all the damaged components are replaced.
Best of luck.

MacBook Pro: Swapping Hard Drives Between Two Identical Macs?

I have two Macbook Pro notebooks. They are both the June 11th 2012 models both with cd/dvd drives. They both have Mavericks installed on both.
I want to give my 15 inch to my son who has the 13 inch. They 13 will be mine and the 15 his.
Can i just swap his 750HD from the 13 and put it into the 15? Can i also remove my 250 Samsung pro SSD from my 15 and put it in his 13?
What are some ways i can go about this that are easy?
Thanks in advance,
PS: Like i said they both run mavericks and they are the same generation MBP from June 2012 release from Apple. Except one is a 2.5 i5 13 inch and the other is a 15 inch 2.3 Quad i7.
We pretty much just want to trade laptops and swap the hard drives easy.
Thanks again.

nn007400,
are each of your laptops associated with your respective Apple IDs? If so, then that might be a fly in the ointment when it comes to updating apps purchased through the Mac App Store, if the tie-in involves your MacBook Pros’ serial numbers as well as your Apple IDs. (I don’t know whether that’s the case or not.)
The disks can certainly be exchanged physically between the two portables — you could try it for a while, and if you encounter a problem, you can exchange them back and consider alternative (but unfortunately less convenient) approaches.

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.

HELP! Hard drive removed from old Mac Pro won't work as external in USB enclosure...

Hi guys,
I guess we've all been in this position at some point with our music technology, but today it is my turn to panic!
I have sold my Mac Pro (2010) and moved over to an iMac, now that they have great performance and internal SSD, etc.
Before selling the Mac Pro, I removed the internal HDs I was using for audio, instruments, backup, etc...
I have now installed the audio HD into an external USB3 enclosure, which I had assumed would mean I could access my audio work (pretty much all of it over the last 4 years) and move tracks over to the iMac or a new external HD as necessary.
Unfortunately when I switch the enclosure on, I get the message "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer"... pretty much what I would expect if it were a new drive, but not what I was expecting given this drive was fine in my Mac Pro, and was obviously Mac formatted.
So I'm in a bit of a panic! I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to how I can solve the issue - obviously without initialising the drive (which is the only option the warning message gives me!).
I do have a friend who has a Mac Pro, so I have the option of taking the drive over to him and pulling the audio off onto a standard external drive... but if there is another way to solve the problem I would be pretty happy!
Thanks in advance for any advice or info you can offer!
Cheers,
Mike

yeloop,
Well that depends...
In the past I have managed to restore/repair drives with DW that nothing else would recognize let alone fix... so it's one of the 'tools' that I keep in my 'repair bag' and the few times i have needed it, it has paid for itself over and over again.
However, the fact you can mount the drive with your MBP but cannot with your iMac, is a little strange and points to something else that maybe is not related to a physical issue with the drive but something else going on with either the enclosure you used or even your iMac and it's USB3 ports. If it wasn't for the fact you can mount it on your MBP I would have said disk corruption but I don't think that is the problem now....
Got anything else you can plug into those USB3 ports on your iMac.. like another USB2 drive that you know is fine, just to test the ports themselves?

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!

Upgrade Change Replace Master / Slave Hard Drive for new on Mac Pro

I've searched these threads and google and can't seem to locate how to properly swap out the Master Drive. I'm not sure that this is the correct terminology, but I have a new 2TB drive that I want to replace with the old 250gig drive that has my OSX / Final Cut Pro etc. installed on. Do I copy everything over to another drive, install new one and dump everything back on? Do I reformat? I have the latest OSX.
Do I have to reinstall my programs like Photoshop / Final Cut 7 etc?
Thanks.

Install the new drive then clone the old drive to the new one using the Restore option of Disk Utility.
You do need to partition and reformat the new drive first.
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. If you need to reformat your startup volume, then you must boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Clone using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (journaled, if available) and click on the Erase button. This step can be skipped if the destination has already been freshly erased.
4. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
5. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the new drive.
Source means the old drive.

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.

Hard Drive Carrier old & new Mac Pro

hi!
i'm asking me if the hd carriers from the "old" mac pro fits in the early 08 one's?
thx alot

Be aware the Transintl sleds do not come with anti-vibration grommets which are a standard component of the Apple sleds. - When I received my sleds from Transintl I thought the grommets were omitted by mistake and sent an email stating such. Here is Transintl's response:
"No we are not shipping Pro Sleds with any spacers. In my opinion
these rubber spacers are not needed just because of the fact that no
other computer manufacture uses such grommets including Apple
in there machines to mount hard disk drives including previous
models of Mc Pro."
Message was edited by: chainsaw

Need advice, one hard drive, or two, inside Mac Pro

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