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Mac Pro HDD size limit

Megabyte

Megabyte

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 27, 2006
12
0
Cape Town
I'm considering a MAC Pro , I have a question on the HDD size limitation. Is it merely because current drives max out at 1TB and hence 4x1TB is the limit, or is there some other s/w h/w firmware restriction that would prevent 2TB , 4TB etc etc disks being installed when they become available as they inevitably will do given time.

Thanks.
 
Megabyte said:
I'm considering a MAC Pro , I have a question on the HDD size limitation. Is it merely because current drives max out at 1TB and hence 4x1TB is the limit, or is there some other s/w h/w firmware restriction that would prevent 2TB , 4TB etc etc disks being installed when they become available as they inevitably will do given time.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

If and when 2 or 4tb drives become available then no doubt Apple will sort the Mac Pro to be compatible, imagine the back up nightmares :eek:

is 4tb not enough storage ?? ;)
 
Mr.Noisy said:
is 4tb not enough storage ?? ;)
Click to expand...

No. It isn't. Once you have a Raid 1 array running you end up with a lot less "usable" storage. And the only practical "inexpensive" backup option is another raid array in an external SATA box...

Once the disk manufactures get a move on and introduce new drives in the 1.5 to 2 TB range I know I'll be in the market for a few of them.
 
http://www.apple.com/macpro/design.html
"Slide-in storage.

The Mac Pro comes with four 3.5-inch internal hard drive bays for an enormous amount of internal storage — up to 4TB. These bays are direct-attach and cable free, so it’s easy to add or remove drives. Just attach the drive carrier to either a Serial ATA 3Gb/s or Serial Attached SCSI 3Gb/s drive, and slide the drive into place. There are no connectors or cables to contend with. Lock the drives with the side door latch, and you’re done."
Click to expand...

So there must be a limit?
 
Make no mistake

There is a hard limit on MacPro INTERNAL Storage.
Mac Pro including Original up to Mac Pro (Early 2008) = 4TB
Mac Pro (Early 2009) and 8 Core = 8TG
If you go over these limits the system will not boot.
Trust me I have tried it!
There is a reason they state limits in the specs.
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP11
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP506

:eek:

__________________
MacPro (2008) 32GB, 4TB; MacBook Pro 17; MacBook Air; Mac Mini Server; iPhone 3Gs, iPhone 3G, iPhone
1st Mac - Original Macintosh
 
awolfend said:
There is a hard limit on MacPro INTERNAL Storage.
Mac Pro including Original up to Mac Pro (Early 2008) = 4TB
Mac Pro (Early 2009) and 8 Core = 8TG
If you go over these limits the system will not boot.
Trust me I have tried it!
There is a reason they state limits in the specs.
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP11
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP506

:eek:
Click to expand...
This is why people are moving from Apple to IBM or HP workstations in the masses. I can count over ten friends who work in video post production and audio who have moved from Mac to PC.

Apple just cant make a decent workstation any more, 2009 Mac Pro has problems with RAID, Firewire and PCI, 2007 Mac Pro will not accept newer video cards.

At least the audio causing CPUs to get hot seems to be fixed.
 
awolfend said:
Mac Pro including Original up to Mac Pro (Early 2008) = 4TB
Mac Pro (Early 2009) and 8 Core = 8TG
If you go over these limits the system will not boot.
Trust me I have tried it!
There is a reason they state limits in the specs.
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP11
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP506
Click to expand...

Actually, I don't trust you.
Even the G5 can take 4TB internal!
There are various statements of people around the Apple support forums that have 8TB or even more of internal storage INSIDE the 2008 Mac Pro.

And the limits they state rely on the current maximum drive capacity. They also stated that the current gen Quad Pro can only use 8GB of memory.
 
awolfend said:
There is a hard limit on MacPro INTERNAL Storage.
Mac Pro including Original up to Mac Pro (Early 2008) = 4TB
Mac Pro (Early 2009) and 8 Core = 8TG
If you go over these limits the system will not boot.
Trust me I have tried it!
There is a reason they state limits in the specs.
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP11
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP506
Click to expand...
Those links lead to two year old spec docs that haven't been updated to reflect what the machine capacity is now. Those specs where based on max hard drives sizes offered by Apple at that time.

I have 8TB in mine now. A Buddy has 12TB using both the optical bays for hard drives. Not a problem at all
 
And nothing like a (4x3TB)=12TB internal RAID. :D


MacPro 2008 3.1 | 14GB Ram | Quadro 4000 | MC6.0 | OS 10.6.8 | MOTU HDX-SDI | ATTO R644| LaCie 324
 
A bit off topic: to get a RAID 1 working, do the HDs have to be the exact same model from the same vendor?
 
Diwali said:
A bit off topic: to get a RAID 1 working, do the HDs have to be the exact same model from the same vendor?
Click to expand...

No, but your RAID 1 will be limited to the size of the smallest.

OS6-OSX said:
And nothing like a (4x3TB)=12TB internal RAID. :D
Click to expand...
Except maybe for the 4x4TB=16GB internal RAID.
 
Last edited:
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