Use Original MacPro as external hard drive enclosure (Target Disk Mode)

[heywoodja]

OK so I was a little bummed when I found out my trusted Mac Pro could not use Lion 10.8. I have been thinking of getting a new MacPro but since they are really ***** expensive, I am considering going with an iMac 27". In my current MacPro I have all the bays filled with 1 TB to 3TB drives. One drive is dedicated to Music files, another for ripped Movies and another for my extensive porn collection (pictures and video) and another drive for regular family photos and so forth. So anyway, what I am thinking is, could I just always use the MacPro in Target Disk mode? I have used it before when transferring files and recovering from a disk crash. Would the Mac Pro go to sleep when the iMac goes to sleep? I know this tower is basically a big heater when running during normal use and is a huge energy hog. Is there anybody out there that has done/currently set up this way? And before you say buy some enclosures I will say the multi drive enclosures are $500-$600 and even single ones can be a pretty penny also and times that by 4. If I can keep using what I have but in a different way that would be great. Thanks for your input

 

[Lord Adama]

You could just enable sharing and upgrade your router to a gigabit router if thats an option. You might notice a bit of a speed increase with that over using target disk mode. If you do go with the iMac wait till they refresh it should be happening before November hopefully. I also am a bit bummed I have a Mac Pro (1,1) that I have upgraded over the years with an ssd, a 5770, and 9 gig of ram. They are workhorses I wish they would just come out with the 64 bit efi but, there is pretty much no chance of that.

 

[Boomhowler]

4 drives, one enclosure, <$200:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MEQX2KIT0GBR/

You could try to sell the mac pro if you are not going to utilize the performance of the cpu etc. Of course, if you keep it you can have it as an external "video encoding" machine or something similar (handbrake controlled with command line if you have some basic knowledge with ssh can get you a long way so you can keep that iMac from working so much ).

 

[theSeb]

4 drives, one enclosure, <$200:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MEQX2KIT0GBR/

You could try to sell the mac pro if you are not going to utilize the performance of the cpu etc. Of course, if you keep it you can have it as an external "video encoding" machine or something similar (handbrake controlled with command line if you have some basic knowledge with ssh can get you a long way so you can keep that iMac from working so much ).

Or just use the built-in screen sharing.

 

[paulrbeers]

As previously stated....

If all you are only going to use it as directly attached storage, then you would be better off selling it and using the money towards an external 4-5 bay enclosure. You could get a USB3.0 enclosure and when the update the iMacs you will be set (and in the mean time could use it on your Mac Pro just at 2.0 speeds). Frankly the amount of energy the Mac Pro will consume will probably offset any cost of the external bay over time. Keeping it around for handbrake/encoding usage would only make sense if you do a lot of encoding. If you don't, then it still wouldn't make a lot of sense to keep it around just for that purpose. Just my .02 worth.