Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Mac Pro Hard Drives - 3 choices

pianodude123

pianodude123

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 1, 2005
698
0
in the internet
Okay, I just need a bit of help here. I am eventually going to want to make a raid1 or raid0 array of hard drives to make either 1.0tb or 1.5 tb

Currently, I am deciding between these three drives:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10005580&prodlist=dealnews

http://www.frys.com/product/4697788

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=101259&prodlist=dealnews

I am looking for the best balance between reliability, speed, and price. The seagate has a 5 year warranty, but i've heard bad things about seagate. Are all these SATA drives RAID compatible in my mac pro?
 
Go with No. 1, the WD 750GB Caviar. It's one the quietest fastest drives out there. Buy it retail so you get the warranty.
 
pianodude123 said:
What do you mean about the warranty? Doesn't it come with a 3 year even OEM?
Click to expand...

No, all you get is a bare drive in an anti-static bag. I have an OEM drive. It's the equivalent of buying grey market camera gear. You don't get any warranty card or any instructions on how to register your drive or request repair services. I purchased an OEM drive because I figured if the drive failed, I'd have to purchase a new one anyway, given how long it'd take to receive a replacement from the manufacturer.
 
OEM drives are definitely covered by warranty. There are no registration cards, 'cause you don't need them. When the drive fails, you give them the serial number on the drive and they look up when it was manufactured. If it's within the time limit of the warranty, they replace the drive.
 
maybe this has nothing to do with the topic buy when you order a mac pro you have like 5 choices of hard drives a 1 tb at 7200 then 750 gb at 7200 and then 320 and 500 gb but then there is one that is 15000 rpm. which is only 300 gb but is that ludicrously fast or is it just me cause i looked at what you guys where looking at and all said pretty much 7200 rpm.
 
I personally would go with the seagate because I did have issues with a couple WD drives awhile back. Since I switched to Seagate it has been great but this is just my opinion based on personal experience. 5 year warranty is always nice :)
 
If you care about noise levels, get one of the SE Caviars or even consider one of the new Samsung F1 drives. They are very quiet (I just installed 2 of them) and they have a 32MB cache.
 
I just got the stock Mac Pro today. The stock HD was a 320G WD Caviar. Took this out and set up 3 x WD 500G Caviar as a 1.3TB software RAID0.

I don't have any benches, but it is noticeably faster than the stock drive. And while it is noisier, it is still what I would call "quiet" i.e. it hasn't become a wind tunnel or anything.

It helps (noise wise) to put the drives in the bays nearest the back of the case. Apple ship with the drive closest to the front.
 
aLoC said:
I just got the stock Mac Pro today. The stock HD was a 320G WD Caviar. Took this out and set up 3 x WD 500G Caviar as a 1.3TB software RAID0.

I don't have any benches, but it is noticeably faster than the stock drive. And while it is noisier, it is still what I would call "quiet" i.e. it hasn't become a wind tunnel or anything.

It helps (noise wise) to put the drives in the bays nearest the back of the case. Apple ship with the drive closest to the front.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, I'm also considering putting (3) 320GB drives together in software RAID0 and wondered how much improvement in speed I would notice. Where do you notice the improvement most?
 
davidwsica said:
Thanks for the info, I'm also considering putting (3) 320GB drives together in software RAID0 and wondered how much improvement in speed I would notice. Where do you notice the improvement most?
Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity, what do you guys do that requires a 3 drive Raid 0 array? I understand the performance benefit, but you have to be really pushing it to need that much speed at the sacrifice of reliability.
 
amik said:
Just out of curiosity, what do you guys do that requires a 3 drive Raid 0 array? I understand the performance benefit, but you have to be really pushing it to need that much speed at the sacrifice of reliability.
Click to expand...

Actually, I just have two 320GB drives laying around so thought I might use them with the stock 320GB to optimize performance. Then I thought I'd stick my 1TB drive in the 4th slot which I will nightly clone the RAID array to for backup.
 
amik said:
Just out of curiosity, what do you guys do that requires a 3 drive Raid 0 array? I understand the performance benefit, but you have to be really pushing it to need that much speed at the sacrifice of reliability.
Click to expand...

ya seriously with a tb you could launch the nasa space shuttle. imagine 4 tb. you computer would be way better than nasa's
 
Coming from a pc background.,, Installing another hard drive is it the same as installing on a window based machine? Do you need to anything from within the MAC to see the new hard drive?

I am going to order the mac pro with the basic drive becuase I have two 500gb hitachi drives currently. Just want to make sure how to install them.

Thanks
 
davidwsica said:
Thanks for the info, I'm also considering putting (3) 320GB drives together in software RAID0 and wondered how much improvement in speed I would notice. Where do you notice the improvement most?
Click to expand...

I first noticed it when installing OS X. Then after that, restoring my home folder from external FW800 disk used to take about 17min (with 1 disk), now takes 4-5 min.
 
aLOC

Quote:
Originally Posted by rhett7660
Do you need to anything from within the MAC to see the new hard drive?

Yes. Once the drives are installed you need to run the program Disk Utility to set them up.
Click to expand...

Are we talking the disk utility that comes from the manufacture or one that is within the mac os? Pardon the basic questions. I am very very new to this.

Thanks
 
rhett7660 said:
aLOC

Are we talking the disk utility that comes from the manufacture or one that is within the mac os? Pardon the basic questions. I am very very new to this.

Thanks
Click to expand...

The one that comes with Mac OS, in the Applications/Utilities folder.

The steps are:
1. Install the disk in the Mac
2. Open Disk Utility
3. Select the disk in the left hand column
4. Click the Erase tab, type in a name, and click the Erase button. Leave the format as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)"

The disk is now ready for use - it's icon will be on the desktop.

Note: At step 3, be careful to select the right disk. You can tell from the manufacturer's name or by looking at the Bay at the bottom of the screen. It will say, e.g. "Bay 4"
 
yeroen said:
No, all you get is a bare drive in an anti-static bag. I have an OEM drive. It's the equivalent of buying grey market camera gear. You don't get any warranty card or any instructions on how to register your drive or request repair services. I purchased an OEM drive because I figured if the drive failed, I'd have to purchase a new one anyway, given how long it'd take to receive a replacement from the manufacturer.
Click to expand...

i have only ever bought oem drives in my whole life, all you need is a proof of purcahse and you have full warranty. and ive only ever needed to warranty one drive (seagate), and it was my own fault it failed.

paying for a retail box you are going to throw out anyways is a huge waste of money.

500GB HDD should only be $89
750GB HDD should be $200 MAX (should be $180 actaully)
1TB should only be $250 MAX

dont pay rediculous prices for HW, your just throwing your money away, these are all 7200RPM 32MB cache drives, not 16MB or 8MB
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back