Buy new Mac Pro: with or without HDD from Apple?

[/\/\]

Hello,

if I would buy a new Mac Pro, should I buy the Mac with all 4 HD-Drives from Apple? Or should I buy the Mac with only 1 HDD an buy 4 drives (from Hitachi... or so) and install these 4 drives instead of the 1 from Apple?

I asked my local Apple-Store (Gravis) and they said that the HDD in the Mac Pro is from Samsung?! Can anybody confirm this?

Thanks!


Marcus

 

[Spikeanator6982]

Buying from someone other then Apple will save you money. And I believe Apple has a few different brands they use for HDs.

 

[Umbongo]

I wasn't aware that Apple were using samsung drives, they may be though. It's best to buy the drives elsewhere. The 250GB and 500GB drives only have 8mb of cache (as opposed to 16mb), and the latest hard drives for all sizes can be had for far less money. You also get to choose your drives based on how well they perform rather than whatever Apple give you.

 

[Mr.Noisy]

I wasn't aware that Apple were using samsung drives, they may be though. It's best to buy the drives elsewhere. The 250GB and 500GB drives only have 8mb of cache (as opposed to 16mb), and the latest hard drives for all sizes can be had for far less money. You also get to choose your drives based on how well they perform rather than whatever Apple give you.

I'll second the saving in money, i think i paid £76 about $154-155 us for a WD 500gb HD, saving twice what the extra is on apples site, shop around for the drives any good seagate, samsung westerndigital SATA II drives will be ok, and set it through system preferences so they don't sleep when not in use creating silent running, you will get a lot of great advice here but the end decision will down to you, good luck

 

[jabrowntx]

The 250Gig drive that came with my Mac Pro is a Western Digital -- with only 8Meg of cache. I bought two Seagate Barracuda 400 gig drives with 16Meg cache to install when I purchased the Mac. The Seagates are noticeably faster. I would recommend not only saving money but also getting drives with more cache.

 

[MacsAttack]

Hello,

if I would buy a new Mac Pro, should I buy the Mac with all 4 HD-Drives from Apple? Or should I buy the Mac with only 1 HDD an buy 4 drives (from Hitachi... or so) and install these 4 drives instead of the 1 from Apple?

I asked my local Apple-Store (Gravis) and they said that the HDD in the Mac Pro is from Samsung?! Can anybody confirm this?

Thanks!


Marcus

I've seen drives from Hitachi, WD, and Segate in Mac Pros. Mine was a Hitachi.

I've since "retired" the drive and replaced it with three Hitachi 750GB drives that I sourced elsewhere (good drives so far - probably throw in a fourth one to use as a TimeMachine store for Leopard). Apple tend to overcharge for hard disks "a little bit", so you are far better going somewhere else. I just keep the old drive around in case I need to stick it in should it be necessary to send the macine in for repair.

 

[Mr.Noisy]

The 250Gig drive that came with my Mac Pro is a Western Digital -- with only 8Meg of cache. I bought two Seagate Barracuda 400 gig drives with 16Meg cache to install when I purchased the Mac. The Seagates are noticeably faster. I would recommend not only saving money but also getting drives with more cache.

the 250gb drive that came in my MP was 16meg cache, i thinks it depends where the beastie is assembled mine was in cork in may 2007.

 

[/\/\]

Thank you..

Thanks to all of you!!!

I think i will buy the Mac only with 1 drive and will install 4 drives manually. It should work with the RAID-Card. (I want Hardware-RAID, maybe the new Mac has "RAID on Board")

I am planning to buy a new Mac Pro. It will be my first Mac! So I am a Mac-Noob.

But the MacRumors-Buyer's Guide is very helpful.

I am currently waiting for the new Mac Pro-Update.

By the way, is it useful to buy the RAMs from Apple or add these manually. I want 4 GB in my Mac Pro (4 x 1GB or 2 x 2GB). I think the 2 x 2GB it the better way.

Thanks a lot!!!

Marcus


P.S. Sorry for the Newbie-Questions

 

[Spikeanator6982]

By the way, is it useful to buy the RAMs from Apple or add these manually. I want 4 GB in my Mac Pro (4 x 1GB or 2 x 2GB). I think the 2 x 2GB it the better way.

Thanks a lot!!!

Marcus


P.S. Sorry for the Newbie-Questions

you will again save money by buying the ram from other places such as OWC, crucial, etc

 

[synth3tik]

I would only buy the system drive from Apple. Even then I swapped it out for a pair of RAIDed 10K Raptors. and 2 500G Seagates. You can get a 500G hard drive somewhere else for less then half the price.

 

[DonMega]

I would only buy the system drive from Apple. Even then I swapped it out for a pair of RAIDed 10K Raptors. and 2 500G Seagates. You can get a 500G hard drive somewhere else for less then half the price.

That's a nice setup. I did the same but bought 2 500GB WD Enterprise drives instead of the Seagates.

 

[illegalprelude]

im in the same boat as you and here is what I would / I will be doing.

The main drive, ill upgrade from 250 to 500 because 250GB is too small.

The other 3 drives though, ill be getting from Newegg and their going to be WD HDD.

Same with ram, ill go with the 1GB but get 3GB on my own to have 2 Gigaaaaabytes.

Make sure you also do some hw on your ram because its not just DDR2 PC5300, its different so make sure you do some hw.

 

[Cuyahoga]

ill go with the 1GB but get 3GB on my own to have 2 Gigaaaaabytes.

Since I like you so much, I'm willing to sell you 8GB of RAM. If you think 2GB is great...just wait till you've tried 6.

 

[shayesky]

take that POS back and get the 2.66. 2.0 is a freaking waste of money.