Mac Pro RAID card drive compatibility

[KevinPlusPlus]

Hi all, this is my first post. I'm in the Mac Pro waiting club and have a question while I plan how I'm going to equip my future MP.

On the Apple site, it says about the RAID card in the FAQ, "Only Apple drives are supported with the Mac Pro RAID Card and the Xserve RAID Card."

Apple doesn't make drives, so I'm not sure what this means. Can the SATA drives they ship in the MP really be any different than standard SATA drives? Does anyone have any experience with the card that can support or refute Apple's statement?

(I have a pair of Seagate 320GB drives that I'd like to use, that's why I ask.)

Thanks in advance!

 

[betelgeuse1]

I would guess what Apple means is that they will only provide technical support on RAID-related issues if you are using drives you bought from Apple. Like you said, Apple doesn't make drives, and I don't think the RAID card would have any way of knowing that the drives were or were not Apple-supplied. Having said that, in many cases Apple's OEM drives have Apple-specific firmware, and I suppose it would be possible (although unlikely) that the RAID card would verify that before mounting the drive...

At any rate, there is a good chance that if you call AppleCare for support on the RAID card, they would ask if you were using any 3rd party drives on it, in the same way that they ask if you have any 3rd party memory installed when you have logic board issues. Not sure what they would do in that case.

 

[Mackilroy]

I believe they mean drives they ship with the machine.

And don't you mean 320 gigabyte drives? A 320 Mb drive is rather small.

 

[KevinPlusPlus]

Yes, of course I mean 320GB, thanks for pointing out that typo! I have edited my post to say 320GB instead of 320MB.

So, you both interpret "support" to mean "Apple will provide technical support for" not "works with this hardware." I guess I had never thought of that way.

If anyone actually has one of these cards, I'd still feel better knowing for sure before spending so much on this admittedly overpriced RAID card. (I've read the threads on alternatives, so I know they exist.)

Thanks again!