2nd Hardrive for a Mac Pro..suggestions

[mixerguy]

In my opinion, the easiest, best and fastest internal drive on a Mac Pro would be SATA

I have had good luck with Seagate 7200 RPM SATA

great warranty too with Seagate

be sure you get the latest (and fastest) SATA spec - as the Mac Pro can use it
best of luck

MixerGuy

[theblotted]

yeah, SATA would be the easiest. fastest SATA is 10k rpm WD Raptor. more size, more expensive.

for ultimate performance: fastest internal HD would be SCSI. 15k rpm Seagate Cheetah. again, more size, more expensive; but more expensive than SATA in general.

MacPro's internal HD bays only accomodate SATA, so in order to use SCSI HD you gotta utilize the optical drive bay. you can try a metal brace for optical to HD (5" to 3.5"); but due to the 15k vibration, there'll be a loud annoying hum. instead try suspending the SCSI.

read more here: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=250944

[foldback]

Sata is the ONLY choice for mounting to one of the sleds in a MacPro. The computer comes with the sleds, all you need is a drive, no extra cables, connectors or anything else.

WD Raptors spin fast, transfer data fast and die fast (from heat). If you don't need the performance of a Raptor don't get one. You could exceed the throughput of a Raptor by plugging in a pair of 7200RPM drives (using 2 of the provided sleds) and setting them up as a soft raid. The Mac Disk Utility can do this for you, check the online doc files.

If you don't need RAID don't do it. Setting up a two disk RAID also doubles your chance of data loss due to hard drive failure.

If a standard 7200 RPM drive can't meet your throughput needs you could add another drive and manually split up where your data resides on two drives. Just having your OS on one drive and your data on a second drive will provide you with A LOT of throughput and none of the hassles of RAID.

I've used Western Digital, Maxtor and Seagate drives for years. Seagate is now the parent company of Maxtor. I've never had a problem with Maxtor. I've had a few Seagates fail. I've had a lot of problems and failures with WD but that was mostly on Windows PC's and I have not had any of those in the shop in over four years.

OWC in Chicago is a big Mac supplier. I've received good support from them and they have low prices. Here's a link:

http://eshop.macsales.com/

Best of luck to you.

[numrologst]

Originally Posted by foldback

If you don't need RAID don't do it. Setting up a two disk RAID also doubles your chance of data loss due to hard drive failure.

Not true with a raid 1 or raid 5 you have redundancy. Meaning if one drive fails, the other drive will have the same data, and can rebuild itself upon changing the drive out. With a raid 5 though, you need at least 3 drives... You can do a raid 1 with 2 drives.

In my opinion the raptors are solid and very nice... i have a raid 5 with 8 raptors...I get extremely nice track counts with this setup... And i have yet to have one drive fail...Albeit, I do have them cooled properly.

I would get a raptor and an external enclosure and do the connection via e-sata

[zak7]

Thanks guys!

Ok! but really what is the simplest- easiest and more stable wya that also give me track count and stability?

I saw many engineers even using an external WD 7200rpm drive.

My idea is to mix and dont have problems.

[theblotted]

Originally Posted by zak7

Thanks guys!

Ok! but really what is the simplest- easiest and more stable wya that also give me track count and stability?

I saw many engineers even using an external WD 7200rpm drive.

My idea is to mix and dont have problems.

definitely internal SATA for MP.

external drives applies more for laptops.

[AMIEL]

Originally Posted by theblotted

definitely internal SATA for MP.

external drives applies more for laptops.

I think I understand what Zak said: I also saw engineers mixing a projects from an external HD because I guess where lazy to copy the session in the Internal HD.

and I guess if worked good that way ...would be more than fine an internal SATA 7200rpm right? is what I use..no problem ... But I also would prefer 10.000 rpm but somebody said they burn easy because of heat???

Any others using an internal 10000 RPM (raptor) ?? any advise , experiences or problem??

[mixerguy]

i kep all my mix projects on the second internal SATA in my G5

7200 RPM SATA Seagate

i have never had a problem with getting data off the drive - even running 50 continuous audio tracks, 24 bit, 48k

awesome, really, when you think about it

i have never felt the need to go to 10k drives.... much more costly, more heat, more noise.... and as the platters are smaller on a 10k drive ....... perhaps the drive may actually have to go further to get the data. ... for real.

i dont RAID - but use a good backup program all the time - many times each day - to backup everything to an external FW drive. Of course - always keep EVERYTHING in at least 2 places!



MixerGuy

[mixerguy]

Originally Posted by theblotted

definitely internal SATA for MP.

external drives applies more for laptops.

thumbsup

[Buddhaman]

running 2 raptors raid 0 in my mac pro for 2 months with no problems....

Buddhaman

[JohnRodd]

i agree - sata internal as a second drive would be best

[numrologst]

E-SATA is just as good...And it's the only multiple sata drive option you have on a macbook..

I'd skip the internal drive all together and get an e-sata/raid card for your macbook and do a radi 5 with raptors... This way you have redundancy.

As I said, I run 8 raptors and I haven't had one die yet. They are rock solid in my opinion

[AMIEL]

Yeah SATA!

[Nu-tra]

Sata for sure... I went and got me a 4 bank raid because I'm tracking at a higher sample rate. Kanotechologies.com awesome people and prces over there.