Replacing stock drive in MP08 before 1st boot

[BigAlMAC]

Those who have received the MacPro 08's, are you switching out the stock drives & putting in better drives (or bigger less expensive drives-compared to apple)?

Are you switching them out before your 1st power up & install the OS via the dvd?

If so what combo or suggestions for the drives?

thx

[Eidorian]

Always do one power up to check if your computer is DOA. You don't even have to fill out the OS X registration and setup.

[Jupeman]

Perhaps I wasn't so smart, but I opened up my machine and swapped out the stock drive, put in 5 new ones, added ram, and connected a second ipass cable before ever powering it up...

[Pili]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; PalmSource/Palm-D052; Blazer/4.5) 16;320x320)

I stuck in a raptor and installed os x from the disk before starting it up the first time.

[bilbo--baggins]

Guilty too. I never used the stock drive. Booted from the DVD, formatted/partitioned the drive, installed Leopard etc. There is a lot of sense in booting from the stock drive first though - just power down when it gets to the welcome screen.

[Wild-Bill]

Definitely good sense to boot from the stock HDD first to check for functionality.

Also good sense to yank the stock drive outta there as soon as possible. The stock 320's are slow and only have an 8 meg cache. Apple's way of cutting corners to make margin.

[teleromeo]

what's wrong with the stock drive ?

[bigbird]

Originally Posted by teleromeo

what's wrong with the stock drive ?

Read Wild-Bill's post. I'll add that the stock 320GB is also noisy.

[Brianna]

I powered it up to see if it was working. I actually configured it. Then I opened it up and added a drive to slot 2, used Carbon Copy Cloner and cloned drive one to drive two. Removed the first drive, put the clone in drive space one, and then added three more drives. THe original 320GB drive is sitting on my desk in front of me.

[MikeL]

Originally Posted by bigbird

Read Wild-Bill's post. I'll add that the stock 320GB is also noisy.

Mine wasn't noisy.

It's not a bad drive, and meets many people's needs. It is what it is. I'd rather have Apple put in an inexpensive drive than something nicer that might not be what I want. That'd just be more money for something I replace anyway.

There's really no need to start up off the stock drive, unless you've got the wireless keyboard/mouse. It's helpful to boot off the drive in that case.

[Celeron]

I removed my boot drive and installed new RAM before the first boot up. No problems here. Did the same on my Macbook and my Mac Mini.

[bilbo--baggins]

Originally Posted by teleromeo

what's wrong with the stock drive ?

I moved two 1 TB drives from my G5, bought a third 1TB drive, and had a spare 500GB that I'd used previously in my G5, so no room for the stock drive.

[TheFuel]

I booted up went through the entire configuration process then made a disk image of the boot drive to an external before testing 54 configurations.

10.5.1 * (2/8/12 gig ram) * (320/150 Raptor/RAID-0 2x150 Raptor gig HDs)
10.5.2 * (2/8/12 gig ram) * (320/150 Raptor/RAID-0 2x150 Raptor gig HDs)

Ran XBench 3 times for each configuration saving the results. I've been meaning to post the test results. I must say this is infinitely easier to do with Apple than any other platform I've tested.

[Mr.PS]

Originally Posted by Wild-Bill

Definitely good sense to boot from the stock HDD first to check for functionality.

Also good sense to yank the stock drive outta there as soon as possible. The stock 320's are slow and only have an 8 meg cache. Apple's way of cutting corners to make margin.

Not only that, they're horribly noisy.

[Killerbob]

I upgraded to the Apple 500GB HD, and will run it with 2 Samsung F1s (750GB) in Raid0, plus a 200GB HD for my Vista stuff.

Should I go through the whole setup on the std. 500GB HD, and then carbon clone it to the Raid0 array, or start from fresh onto the Raid0?

And, please do not preach to me the dangers of Raid0! I am TimeMachining it all to a 1TB TC.

[benlangdon]

Originally Posted by bilbo--baggins

I moved two 1 TB drives from my G5, bought a third 1TB drive, and had a spare 500GB that I'd used previously in my G5, so no room for the stock drive.

jesus christ.
what the heck do you need 3.5 tb for.

and anyone got any articles on raid. i just got a 500 gb and a 120 gb external and have no clue what to do with the 120 gb.

[bigbossbmb]

Originally Posted by benlangdon

have no clue what to do with the 120 gb.

Time Machine?

I've got almost 3TB in my Mac Pro. I do video and graphics work. It's not always about filling the drives, but having enough space so the drives don't slow down when you have your data on them.

[benlangdon]

Originally Posted by bigbossbmb

Time Machine?

I've got almost 3TB in my Mac Pro. I do video and graphics work. It's not always about filling the drives, but having enough space so the drives don't slow down when you have your data on them.

no on the 500 i have 4 partitions
160 time machine (my mbp hdd is 160)
then 120 in fat32 for music
then 100 for files
then what ever was left is open right now but i plan on booting windows from there.

then on the 120 i have 3 partitions
i have a back up of my music
then 2 partitions of 7-10 gb for leopard boot disc and tiger boot disc

ya also i wish i could afford some nicer stuff. but i just quit my job to tutor math and its volunteer work so no pay. and i have currently 60 bucks in my bank account.
i was just going over this with my parents and if i do all there chores they would give me a little more cash to spend but it went

[bilbo--baggins]

Originally Posted by benlangdon

jesus christ.
what the heck do you need 3.5 tb for.

1TB Startup drive includes 400GB and growing iTunes library (CD's in Apple Lossless, and DVD's in H.264), applications inc Logic Studio
1TB Photo library about 500GB (too much to fit on a 500GB drive)
1TB Time Machine backup of the first 1TB drive
500GB - partitioned for Windows XP and a Mac OS scratch disk

[Killerbob]

bilbo--baggins,

I hear you. I have a PC, on which I initially had 600GB (200GB and 400GB HDs). Then I added a NAS, which originally had 4x200GB, but I soon upgraded to 4x400GB (1100GB usable space). Now I am getting my MP fitted with 2x750GB (Raid0), 500GB, and 200GB HDs, and still all my data is on the NAS. In addition I will have a 1TB Time Capsule.

It is easy though: OS takes space, and with all the utilities etc. you've soon used 100GB. Then there are all the programs, and if you do full installs, with Adobe Master Collection, MSO, Hallmark, Corel, and various other >5GB installs, soon you're using 500GB just for applications. Then there are games, actuially let's not even talk games, but basically you're soon using 1TB just for OS, utilities, and applications.

Then of course you need a sizable scratch drive, user folders, and if you plan to run Vista through Fusion, you need an additional HD, or partition (that's 200GB just added). Finally you want to run Time Machine (which is best done on a Time Capsule anyway, but still).

And, I haven't even started talking data...

[benlangdon]

Originally Posted by bilbo--baggins

1TB Startup drive includes 400GB and growing iTunes library (CD's in Apple Lossless, and DVD's in H.264), applications inc Logic Studio
1TB Photo library about 500GB (too much to fit on a 500GB drive)
1TB Time Machine backup of the first 1TB drive
500GB - partitioned for Windows XP and a Mac OS scratch disk

Originally Posted by Killerbob

bilbo--baggins,

I hear you. I have a PC, on which I initially had 600GB (200GB and 400GB HDs). Then I added a NAS, which originally had 4x200GB, but I soon upgraded to 4x400GB (1100GB usable space). Now I am getting my MP fitted with 2x750GB (Raid0), 500GB, and 200GB HDs, and still all my data is on the NAS. In addition I will have a 1TB Time Capsule.

It is easy though: OS takes space, and with all the utilities etc. you've soon used 100GB. Then there are all the programs, and if you do full installs, with Adobe Master Collection, MSO, Hallmark, Corel, and various other >5GB installs, soon you're using 500GB just for applications. Then there are games, actuially let's not even talk games, but basically you're soon using 1TB just for OS, utilities, and applications.

Then of course you need a sizable scratch drive, user folders, and if you plan to run Vista through Fusion, you need an additional HD, or partition (that's 200GB just added). Finally you want to run Time Machine (which is best done on a Time Capsule anyway, but still).

And, I haven't even started talking data...

wow. im jealous.
and i thought my 40gb of music was alot. its all been riped though and downloaded so its not the best quality. if i actually had that many real cd's i would no not even have a computer. **** like 500 cds is close to 7 grand.

hook me up with some music

[Killerbob]

I am a former DJ, and ripped all my 2'700 CDs to MP3, all in 320Kbps (today I would use FLAC), and that's easily 250GB. Then you have pictures (with RAW format, or even JPEG from a 8 MP camera), and they are 3-15MB a piece, and if you have a digital VC the recordings are 1GB/30 minutes (even at normal settings).

So data easily gets you into TB territory. And, if you have some 1080p AVIs, they're 4GB/hour. Perhaps some IMGs of DVDs?

And, BTW - www.giganews.com

[benlangdon]

Originally Posted by Killerbob

I am a former DJ, and ripped all my 2'700 CDs to MP3, all in 320Kbps (today I would use FLAC), and that's easily 250GB. Then you have pictures (with RAW format, or even JPEG from a 8 MP camera), and they are 3-15MB a piece, and if you have a digital VC the recordings are 1GB/30 minutes (even at normal settings).

So data easily gets you into TB territory. And, if you have some 1080p AVIs, they're 4GB/hour. Perhaps some IMGs of DVDs?

And, BTW - www.giganews.com

i just remembered some of that. isnt 1080 hd film like a gig a minute? can not find it were i got that from so...

[Firefly2002]

Jesus. And I'm perfectly happy with the 260 GB total I have on my mac over three drives. 60 GB on this laptop is a real pain, though.

400 GB of iTunes? I have 2.2 GB of music. That's nuts.

How is the 320 GB drive slow? Define "slow." Like, 2x slower than a 1 TB drive, or just like 25%?

Btw, cache size makes very little difference real world.. the diff between 2MB and 32MB probably isn't even noticeable, much less 8 and 32. It's largely a marketing gimmick.

[benlangdon]

Originally Posted by Firefly2002

Jesus. And I'm perfectly happy with the 260 GB total I have on my mac over three drives. 60 GB on this laptop is a real pain, though.

400 GB of iTunes? I have 2.2 GB of music. That's nuts.

How is the 320 GB drive slow? Define "slow." Like, 2x slower than a 1 TB drive, or just like 25%?

Btw, cache size makes very little difference real world.. the diff between 2MB and 32MB probably isn't even noticeable, much less 8 and 32. It's largely a marketing gimmick.

wait so what is a good cache size.

o ya 40 gb of itunes.
im guessing you buy all your music or have no money