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Don't worry about that 2T limitation. Just install a 6T HDD in one of the internal bay and you are good to go.

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I would in all honesty get a decent NAS (QNap, Synology, etc) and use this as my archive. I would also, as a photographer myself, start purging some of your photos. 6TB of photo's, seriously? If these are for clients then archive the ones that aren't active projects, a NAS will be perfect for this. I would also use a blu-ray, for example, as a backup of each customer archive. It takes up physical space, but if you really need to keep them this is a cheap way of doing it. NAS device have redundancy in the disks, but this shouldn't be considered a backup.

You also wouldn't be so limited by the number of drive bays. Most NAS boxes range from simple 2-bay devices through to the 36-bay devices that the higher-end Synologies have. At least at the consumer end anyway, once you start getting into the professional NAS market that's a whole different league, and different price.
 
Using a NAS is wise advice. I'd just add that a system that offers the ability to dynamically expand the array is an extremely useful feature that you should look for. This will help future-proof your array.
 
No issue at all. All holes at the standard place, and perfectly fit for the cMP.


For what it's worth - I have a Mid 2010 MP 2.93 12 core. I run a 1Gb Accelsior as boot drive, and use 4 x 8Tb HDD's (in 2 x 16Tb arrays) in the 4 Drive Bays. You do need to change the sleds as the holes are different. I am not sure about the 5Tb and 6Tb HDD's but the 8's definitely have different mount points. That is pretty much as much internal storage as you can get, unless you want to replace DVD Drive(s) - that would give you another 2 potential 8Tb options - giving a net total of 48Tb without any clutter on the desk. To the OP, forget about Thunderbolt - there is no chip support for this on the motherboard and it cannot be added.
Also, to all those who knock OWC, I have been making use of Larry's services for about 25 years and have always found him to run an honest and reliable business. I am sure you can save a few pennies sometimes by shopping around, but shipping (generally free at OWC) more than compensates for the difference. Warranty claims, technical advice and support has always been exemplary.
 
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Also, to all those who knock OWC, I have been making use of Larry's services for about 25 years and have always found him to run an honest and reliable business. I am sure you can save a few pennies sometimes by shopping around, but shipping (generally free at OWC) more than compensates for the difference. Warranty claims, technical advice and support has always been exemplary.

Nope -

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/owc-ssd-upgrade-2012-macbook-air-buyer-beware.1459847/

See my Post #203 Here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...macbook-air-retina-macbook-pro.1729071/page-9

And there are more Horror Stories. Glad you like them, but I'm sure your day will come!

Lou
 
I have a late 2012 Mac Pro (the rectangle one not the round one) and installed an extra 6 TB when I bought it thinking that it would last me for life......anyway I guess not as I only have 600 MB spare space so I need to/want to buy more storage (I am a photographer)
I have been looking at the "PROMISE Pegasus2 R6 12TB (6 x 2TB) Thunderbolt 2 RAID System" for my Mac Pro but just noticed that my Mac Pro does not have a thunder bolt connection............... Can someone please recommend a ~12 TB external memory that will work with my Mac Pro.
I am not a IT guy so want something that is plug and play

Any help would be much appreciated

I use a Mobius 5 bay JBOD/RAID enclosure, with 5x6TB that's 30TB. The box costs about $230. Pretty decent right? However, the USB 3.0 connection isn't reliable. The thing auto ejects frequently and Oyen Digital hasn't fixed it yet. Firewire 800 is reliable IF you don't use the other FW800 port on your Mac Pro while the Mobius is in use. It also has eSATA. So, I have an Apollo interface. If it is turned on while the Mobius is, it usually auto ejects after awhile. But if the Apollo is plugged in but off, the Mobius works like it should and the speed is pretty good actually.
 
the 6tb wd red drives dont allow the top 2 screw of the mac pro sled to fully screw in so it misses the connector sometimes.
I was able to install 6TB HGST Deskstar NAS drives in my 5,1. I avoided doing so for so long because I heard about the screws, but when I tried it it worked exactly like the 4TBs and I was scratching my head.
 
sled 1 has a problem connecting because the drive is large and is laying on the fan plastic and with the top 2 screw not screwing in all the way the drive doesn't hit the connector without doing some trickery..may put stress on the connector. in 2-4 it slides in but feels a little weird. hard to explain but youll see if you try it out yourself.
 
May be there are few different size of the 6T WD Red. But my 6T HDD looks like is the same size as the 4T, can install into Bay 1 without any problem (from the photo in post #26, their thickness seems exactly the same). I think all 4 sleds are the same, and I didn't follow the original order to use them now. In fact, I never think about there is a possibility that the HDD will be too large to fit inside the bay.
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For what it's worth - I have a Mid 2010 MP 2.93 12 core. I run a 1Gb Accelsior as boot drive, and use 4 x 8Tb HDD's (in 2 x 16Tb arrays) in the 4 Drive Bays. You do need to change the sleds as the holes are different. I am not sure about the 5Tb and 6Tb HDD's but the 8's definitely have different mount points. That is pretty much as much internal storage as you can get, unless you want to replace DVD Drive(s) - that would give you another 2 potential 8Tb options - giving a net total of 48Tb without any clutter on the desk. To the OP, forget about Thunderbolt - there is no chip support for this on the motherboard and it cannot be added.
Also, to all those who knock OWC, I have been making use of Larry's services for about 25 years and have always found him to run an honest and reliable business. I am sure you can save a few pennies sometimes by shopping around, but shipping (generally free at OWC) more than compensates for the difference. Warranty claims, technical advice and support has always been exemplary.


OWC have burned me twice over the last 20 years. And FYI, the best place for price/service is B&H...bar none.
 
For what it's worth - I have a Mid 2010 MP 2.93 12 core. I run a 1Gb Accelsior as boot drive, and use 4 x 8Tb HDD's (in 2 x 16Tb arrays) in the 4 Drive Bays. You do need to change the sleds as the holes are different. I am not sure about the 5Tb and 6Tb HDD's but the 8's definitely have different mount points. That is pretty much as much internal storage as you can get, unless you want to replace DVD Drive(s) - that would give you another 2 potential 8Tb options - giving a net total of 48Tb without any clutter on the desk. To the OP, forget about Thunderbolt - there is no chip support for this on the motherboard and it cannot be added.
Also, to all those who knock OWC, I have been making use of Larry's services for about 25 years and have always found him to run an honest and reliable business. I am sure you can save a few pennies sometimes by shopping around, but shipping (generally free at OWC) more than compensates for the difference. Warranty claims, technical advice and support has always been exemplary.
Wow, that's some storage room. However for those tempted, be aware that today's 8TB drives are meant for cold storage as they have overlapping tracks, meaning that for each write they have to read and rewrite the adjacent data, thus they have lower write performance than 6TB and lower drives.
 
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