2009 Mac Pro Hard Drive Help 1TB WD Caviar or RE3?

[Pumapayam]

I retired my VAIO and purchased my first Mac Pro, the two 2.26GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon "Nehalem" processor one, hence my first post on MacRumors.

I read some of the recommendations here and other sites and I am having a hard time deciding which hard drives to install in my Mac Pro.

I am on the fence on (2) Western Digital 1 TB drives. The original release prices for both seemed to be at $250.

The two choices below are:

1. Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB Bulk/OEM Hard Drive 3.5 Inch, 32 MB Cache, 7200 RPM SATA II WD1001FALS is now around $110
   
2. Western Digital RE3 Enterprise 1 TB Bulk/OEM Hard Drive 3.5 Inch, 32 MB Cache, 7200 RPM SATA II WD1002FBYS is around $160

Money is not the issue here. I want what is best for my Mac Pro, but I am not understanding what the difference is, and I have read so much tech talk online about what the RE3 is, and how it is based off the Caviar. Does the $50 price difference mean that the RE3 is better?

Please help.

Update - If you believe the Western Digital drives I mentioned above is not the way to go, I am open for other options/suggestions. Thank you.

 

[Pika]

If money is not an issue for you, then have you considered going Solid State Drives?

 

[Pumapayam]

If money is not an issue for you, then have you considered going Solid State Drives?

I would, but it is my understanding that current SSD's top out at 128GB for around $400 each, I can't justify that. Price/GB is just unreasonable and I want more than 256GB. I want (2) 1TB drives.

Price wise I was thinking that any 1TB drive ranging from $100-$300 each is fine.

 

[Pumapayam]

Monday morning bump.

I continued to read more into it, and I am under the impression that I will need to have a RAID card in order to use the RE3 drives.

Is that true?

Should I just get the Caviar instead?

 

[mcavjame]

Monday morning bump.

I continued to read more into it, and I am under the impression that I will need to have a RAID card in order to use the RE3 drives.

Is that true?

Should I just get the Caviar instead?

The enterprise drive is meant for server use.

The caviar black is a nice drive.

If I could make some suggestions:
- get a small fast drive for your OS. Something around 300 GB for the OS and apps.
- WD velociraptor is a decent price on newegg right now. $100 cheaper than anywhere else I have seen in Canada.
- get slower (cheaper) drives for your data.

My Set up:
- 300 GB velociraptor as boot drive.
- 2x1TB caviar black drives - one for Data, one as a TM drive
- 1x.5 TB caviar black FCP scatch disk
- original 300GB drive is in the second optical drive bay and is my backup OS drive.

 

[nanofrog]

Monday morning bump.

I continued to read more into it, and I am under the impression that I will need to have a RAID card in order to use the RE3 drives.

Is that true?

Should I just get the Caviar instead?

No, it isn't. Either drive would work, but the RE3's are suited for RAID, while the Black isn't.

They're similar to one another, but the differences can be seen in the spec sheets. Enterprise drives (such as the RE3) will typically have higher UBE's (Unrecoverable Bit Error = 1E15), and MTBF ratings (1.2 - 1.4 Million Hours). Most consumer drives don't (UBE = 1E14, typically no MTBF spec given). They're also designed to better handle vibrations. (Many drives placed in the same cabinet/case).

Worst case, you'd have to adjust the TLER values. WD has a utility available. I tried an RE3 (320GB version) on a board SATA port however, and it didn't have any issues.

 

[Pumapayam]

The enterprise drive is meant for server use.

The caviar black is a nice drive.

So if I wanted the RE3 version (enterprise drive), would that mean it would have a less chance of failure?

If I could make some suggestions:
- get a small fast drive for your OS. Something around 300 GB for the OS and apps.
- WD velociraptor is a decent price on newegg right now. $100 cheaper than anywhere else I have seen in Canada.
- get slower (cheaper) drives for your data.

I was planning on keeping the Apple stock drive (640GB) as my Boot/OS drive
and getting one or two WD 1TB drive for data and time machine.

My Set up:
- 300 GB velociraptor as boot drive.
- 2x1TB caviar black drives - one for Data, one as a TM drive
- 1x.5 TB caviar black FCP scatch disk
- original 300GB drive is in the second optical drive bay and is my backup OS drive.

I have read that people have a scratch disk, is that good to have as a working drive?

 

[Pumapayam]

No, it isn't. Either drive would work, but the RE3's are suited for RAID, while the Black isn't.

They're similar to one another, but the differences can be seen in the spec sheets. Enterprise drives (such as the RE3) will typically have higher UBE's (Unrecoverable Bit Error = 1E15), and MTBF ratings (1.2 - 1.4 Million Hours). Most consumer drives don't (UBE = 1E14, typically no MTBF spec given). They're also designed to better handle vibrations. (Many drives placed in the same cabinet/case).

Worst case, you'd have to adjust the TLER values. WD has a utility available. I tried an RE3 (320GB version) on a board SATA port however, and it didn't have any issues.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgGNxYBciBI

Seek to 3:48

StableTrac technology is in the RE3, is that important, and is that in the Caviar Black too?

You mentioned it handles vibrations better.

 

[nanofrog]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgGNxYBciBI

Seek to 3:48

StableTrac technology is in the RE3, is that important, and is that in the Caviar Black too?

You mentioned it handles vibrations better.

Yes, StableTrac is also on the Caviar Black. They're almost identical, as the RE3 is based on it. (Cheaper to develop a family, sharing design and components). It helps, mostly with a RAID setup, that uses multiple drives. Particularly during random access activity.

Here's WD's pages on the Caviar Black and RE3 (both 1TB models).

Specifications are located on one of the tabs.

 

[Pumapayam]

Yes, StableTrac is also on the Caviar Black. They're almost identical, as the RE3 is based on it. (Cheaper to develop a family, sharing design and components). It helps, mostly with a RAID setup, that uses multiple drives. Particularly during random access activity.

Here's WD's pages on the Caviar Black and RE3 (both 1TB models).

Specifications are located on one of the tabs.

I ordered the Caviar Blacks, 2 of them from newegg.com at $99 each after a $10 off promo code.

Thanks for the input everyone, I feel much better now about my choice.

 

[mcavjame]

I have read that people have a scratch disk, is that good to have as a working drive?

If you do video editing you cannot have enough free space. It's good to have a drive dedicated to capture so it is not competing with other actions going on in the computer.

I used to try to save as much raw footage as possible. I often have to rework video for clients a year down the road so they can add new footage or change details etc. Now I have so much video all I can keep is a compressed version of the final product.

It's actually a little disconcerting: storing video, backing up video and adding new video. I used to off load some stuff to DVD, but the shelf life is limited.