Setting up a new Mac Pro

[PALitig8r]

I've got an exsiting iMac G5 and expecting a new Mac Pro today (mostly for photo editing and some video work). I have 3 drives to install in addition to the 500GB boot drive. Does anyone have a suggested best practice for setting it up? Here's my expected work flow to get it up and running:

1. Sync all data on existing G5 using .MAC sync / update Aperture Vault (external drive) and backup all documents / misc. data to external drive

2. Unpack Mac Pro and add three hard drives

3. Power up Mac Pro with wired keyboard and mouse

4. Create striped RAID0 using 2 of the 320GB drives (for applications and Aperture library) using Disk Utility

5. Install applications (Aperture, Office, etc.) from CDs

6. Run software update (hopefully this will download the UB version of Aperture)

7. Log-in and sync with .MAC to get all mail settings, address book, iCal, etc.

8. Import Vault from external drive and rebuild Aperture database

9. Copy documents and misc. data from external drive

Anything I'm missing? I haven't using the Sync function before so curious if this will work for this function.

 

[kered22]

One thing you may want to do first is startup the MacPro when you get it, be sure everything is running okay and went through the shipping process okay.

Other than that looks good, let us know how it goes.

 

[PALitig8r]

That makes sense. I'm always an optimist in thinking everything will go smoothly, but firing it up out the box probably makes sense to troubleshoot a problem post hard-drive install.

Also forgot about the iTunes transfer. I'm presuming that if I copy the full Itunes Music folder structure to an external drive and then import them in the Mac Pro, all will be right with the world.

 

[CTSxViper]

That makes sense. I'm always an optimist in thinking everything will go smoothly, but firing it up out the box probably makes sense to troubleshoot a problem post hard-drive install.

Also forgot about the iTunes transfer. I'm presuming that if I copy the full Itunes Music folder structure to an external drive and then import them in the Mac Pro, all will be right with the world.

Yes, let us know.. Take some pics too if you can.. Very nice setup..

 

[PALitig8r]

Will do.

 

[icon57]

3 drives in a raid0 array will be faster than 2.
when the mac pro we ordered gets here on wed, we have 3 wd 320's that will will stripe for a tb of storage (well almost)

 

[PALitig8r]

I suppose I could then use the 500GB boot drive to back up my critical data (Aperture library vault and miscellaneous files). I was thinking that I'd save one for Boot Camp/Windows and Leopard Time Machine when it comes out later.

Will I see a noticable speed increase using 3 instead of 2?

 

[PALitig8r]

For those interested in the continuing trials and tribulations of a relative newbie's experience setting up a Mac Pro, here's the first day report. As indicated by the shipping notice, Fed Ex delivered the Mac Pro to my office around 1:00pm yesterday. Painful to look at that beautiful box knowing I still have a bunch of things to get done before I can get it home and play.

Didn't have as much time as I'd hoped by the time I got home, but I did get everything unpacked and, as suggested, plugged it in to see it fire up before loading the extra hard disks. I was horrified to see the 30" monitor that's been sitting patiently on my desk for 2 weeks waiting for the MacPro to arrive remain completely blank. Power light on, start-up sound coming from MacPro, no picture and very loud fan. Something was clearly wrong as I did not expect the X1900XT to be so loud and all connections looked to be correct (DVI 1 for the 30").

Resisting the urge the scream/cry/throw something, I powered down, yanked the MacPro plug, and took the side cover off to check seating of internal boards. The memory boards were well seated, but the X1900XT was loose. Pressing down evenly into the slot gave a satisfying click. I put it back together, reconnected power, and voila: beautiful 30" startup screen came to life.

After a bit of hyperventilating, I powered down again, and installed the hard drives. Absolutely amazing engineering. My teenagers were even impressed by the beautiful screws that come on the drive housing. It was 5 mins to mount and insert the 3 320GB drives. After getting through the initial screens, disk utility came up indicating that the drives could not be read. For whatever reason, it would not allow me to drag the drives into a RAID. After a bit of futzing about, I closed Disk Utility and then re-ran it. Sure enough, it then let me configure my 1TB (or close to it) RAID 0 using the 3 new drives. Everything ran incredibly fast. The slowest bit has been moving the damn mouse around that huge screen. I must say, I'm not a big Mighty Mouse fan. I use an Intuous tablet that has a perfectly functional 2 button mouse anyway so this was just to get things set up.

It found my wireless network immediately, and I started the process of loading apps from original CDs (which, of course, required lots of download updates). Aperture loaded up fine, and I tried to fire it up while I was updating the Vault on my iMac to prepare for transfer. Aperture does not, however, allow you to run simultaneously on two computers attached to the same network. Anyway, finished the Vault update, closed Aperture on the iMac and it opened just fine on the MacPro.

I used iSync to get Address Book, Calendar, keychains, bookmarks, email config, etc. over and that worked like a charm. I also use Firefox and Foxmarks to get all those bookmarks (great way to keep bookmarks synced between my PC at work and my home Mac computers).

I started the restore from Vault process (65GB library) which looked to take awhile. Coming back to it in the morning, I found the message that it had been successful, but reopening Aperture showed no library. I noticed the default setting was to sleep the whole computer after 15 mins of inactivity. Perhaps that was the problem. Anyway, I reset the energy saver settings not to power down at all, and then started the restore process again. We'll see if that does the trick when I get home tonight.

Haven't really put it through the paces, but I'm really impressed by the quality of the MacPro. Aside from the couple of glitches, it is an amazing piece of hardware. The fit and finish, and speed are amazing. Tonight, I'll try to finish the Aperture library restore, load up iTunes, add the Intuos and miscellaneous apps., and see how fast it goes.