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Buying External Drive for Mac Pro

T

thriii

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 14, 2007
366
0
I bought my Mac Pro in 2007 and I'm thinking about purchasing this external here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00829THH8/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Its USB3.0 and I'm pretty sure my mac doesnt support it, but I want to buy a drive thats up to date with the connectors/hardware coming out so I would like to stay with the USB3.0.

I also have a Macbook Air that also doesn't have USB3.0 but would like it to work there also if possible.

Here are the accessories for the drive: http://www.seagate.com/external-hard-drives/portable-hard-drives/standard/backup-plus/

Is the Upgrade Cable what I would need? Or is there a better route to go?
 
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thriii said:
I bought my Mac Pro in 2007 and I'm thinking about purchasing this external here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00829THH8/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Its USB3.0 and I'm pretty sure my mac doesnt support it, but I want to buy a drive thats up to date with the connectors/hardware coming out so I would like to stay with the USB3.0.

I also have a Macbook Air that also doesn't have USB3.0 but would like it to work there also if possible.

Here are the accessories for the drive: http://www.seagate.com/external-hard-drives/portable-hard-drives/standard/backup-plus/

Is the Upgrade Cable what I would need? Or is there a better route to go?
Click to expand...

Let's start at the beginning:

Have you filled all six of your internal SATA II ports?
A number of people don't realize that there are 2 unused SATA II ports on the logic board. Get a Y power adapter & you can slide 2 HDs underneath your optical drive (I did this with 2 SSD HD.)

What are you going to use your external HD for?
If it is for a backup, then any 5400rpm HD would do. If it is for regular use, and you have filled all six HD bays, then look to a faster HD, preferably with a Firewire connection. You could also add a USB 3 or SATA III board to give yourself external connections.

As a further note, $100 is a lot of money for a 1TB drive. Not to mention all of the problems that Seagate has had with their HDs.
 
Last edited:
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ssgbryan said:
Let's start at the beginning:

Have you filled all six of your internal SATA II ports?
A number of people don't realize that there are 2 unused SATA II ports on the logic board. Get a Y power adapter & you can slide 2 HDs underneath your optical drive (I did this with 2 SSD HD.)

What are you going to use your external HD for?
If it is for a backup, then any 5400rpm HD would do. If it is for regular use, and you have filled all six HD bays, then look to a faster HD, preferably with a Firewire connection. You could also add a USB 3 or SATA III board to give yourself external connections.

As a further note, $100 is a lot of money for a 1TB drive. Not to mention all of the problems that Seagate has had with their HDs.
Click to expand...

looking for a portable 1TB HD so not really looking for anything internal since ill be using it with my macbook air also. and I'll be using it to store movies mostly
 
thriii said:
I bought my Mac Pro in 2007 and I'm thinking about purchasing this external here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00829THH8/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Its USB3.0 and I'm pretty sure my mac doesnt support it, but I want to buy a drive thats up to date with the connectors/hardware coming out so I would like to stay with the USB3.0.

I also have a Macbook Air that also doesn't have USB3.0 but would like it to work there also if possible.

Here are the accessories for the drive: http://www.seagate.com/external-hard-drives/portable-hard-drives/standard/backup-plus/

Is the Upgrade Cable what I would need? Or is there a better route to go?
Click to expand...
3.0 is backwards compatible with 2.0 so no adaptor is needed. it will just run at 2.0 speeds
 
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Keep in mind that if you want to take advantage of USB 3 speeds with your mac pro, you can always pick up a USB 3 PCI card for not very much money. Your Macbook air, unfortunately, is doomed because the logic board does not support USB 3. It looks like this drive also allows you to use it with FireWire 800, which is much faster than USB 2, so if you want faster speeds with your mac pro but don't want to shell out the cash for a USB 3 card, this is a good option. Although installing the card now will allow you to use more faster, cheaper drives down the road.
 
Sadly, That's not true

Your statement "you can always pick up a USB 3 PCI card for not very much money" is erroneous or my search methodology has yielded incorrect results.

I've been searching for a USB 3 solution ever since I bought my Mac Pro (mid 2010) without success. I purchased a Highpoint RocketU Quad USB 3.0 for Mac and their driver crashed under Lion.

On October 26, I had two cases open with them, and their response to 10.8 support was:

"Dear Customer,
We found there is compatibility issue with OSX 10.8. The bug report has been submitted to Apple design team and wait for Apple's response. Hence, we have no driver update post for OSX 10.8."

I understand LaCie has a usb3 card that works — but only with their hardware.

At this point, after spending FAR too much time searching; I am forced to accept that there is NO card that will plug into my Mac Pro and offer an open USB3 solution.

If you know differently, please supply a link.
 
I think....

you have to choose wether you buy the upgrade cable USB 2.0/3.0 and the FireWire 800 version. The latter is marginally cheaper, but speedier. But the USB 2.0 version maybe can be useful in another circunstances/hardware.

FireWire externals can be pretty expensive. But I would recommend you a Western Digital drive. I am more confident in WD than Seagate, just personal experience.:):apple:
 
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