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Hard Drive Question

R

Rokeneer

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 27, 2011
119
0
I have a first generation Mac Pro that uses 3Gb/s hard drives. I am looking to add three drives so I'm using all four slots.

My question is... Can I use the 6Gb/s hard drive with my 3Gb/s computer?
I would think I can, but would not be able to run at the drive's full capacity (6Gb/s), but rather the capacity of the computer (3Gb/s). Am I right on my theory? Any help welcomed and appreciated
 
Yes you can but they will run at 3GB/s speed, so you'll be paying more for the 6GB/s drives that will only run at half the speed. Better to spend the money on 3GB/s drives.
 
ashman70 said:
Yes you can but they will run at 3GB/s speed, so you'll be paying more for the 6GB/s drives that will only run at half the speed. Better to spend the money on 3GB/s drives.
Click to expand...

The 6Gb/s are actually the cheapest that OWC stocks. haha
 
Then buy them somewhere else that sells 3GB/s drives. Are you talking about SSD's?
 
As per the speed issue, it will depend on the drive and what you're using it for.

For example, mechanical disks can't saturate 3.0Gb/s at all, so it's not an issue (3.0Gb/s tops out at ~ 275MB/s, and 7200rpm mechanical hasn't even reached 150MB/s yet).

In the case of SSD's, some can exceed 3.0Gb/s in terms of sustained transfers (large files), but none can do that for random access, which is what an OS/applications disk relies on. So if it will be for an OS/applications drive, even though it may be rated at 6.0Gb/s, it's not going to saturate 3.0Gb/s (SSD's haven't even broken the 100MB/s mark for random access yet).
 
OK Thanks! I am talking SATA, not SSD

Ill see if i can find cheaper 3Gb/s drives, but I'm happy with the service OWC gives me.

On a side note, I lost one of my hard drive sleds.... :eek: Anybody know where I can find one?
 
Another question about it. I ordered three drives from OWC the other day, which will give me a total of 5.5 TB of storage space. I was poking around today on everymac and noticed that, according to Apple, my first generation Mac Pro will only support 2 TB of storage.:eek:

Did i just waste my money, or will it be able to support the full 5.5 TB?
 
I need to know what program would be good for copying a dying disk's contents to a new one. Is there any specific program, or will a mirrored (I believe) RAID 1 work?
 
There are two programs you can use and they are both free.

Carbon copy cloner or Super Duper, just Google them.

Both programs will clone one disk to another.
 
Buy the cheapest you trust, 6G or 3G, you don't gain anything or loose anything with HDD's. Only matters with SSD's right now.
 
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