New Mac Pro, too many drives, drive configuration?

[nemloc]

Hi all,
New convert from the PC world here with a question about drive setups. I'm getting a Mac Pro (2x 2.8 base w/8800GT) and would like some advice about drive setups.

Background:
At my disposal I have 2 new Seagate 7200.11 (340AS) 1tb drives, 2 Seagate 7200.10(?) 750gb drives, 1 'random' 500gb drive, and the slow internal 320gb WD drive that will come with the Mac Pro. All of these are sata and the 750s and 500 are in a Windows Home Server being used as a fileserver at this point and as a laptop backup. I'm also picking up a Timecapsule with either a 500 or 1tb drive as I don't have an N router so the combo makes sense. I also have a couple of My Book Pros (500gb USB2/FW400 external).

Intended usage for the MP is photo editing (10k+) and light HD content editing although I've got a backlog of content to import and process.

Question:
What is the optimal drive setup here and how do I go about re-imaging the Mac Pro boot drive if needed?

I was originally thinking of leaving the 320gb as the boot drive, putting 1tb as a secondary and the rest of the internals into the home server with the externals as possible attach to the timecapsule.
Now I'm thinking of removing the 320gb and just sticking with both new 1tb drives in the MP, getting the 1tb capsule with one of the my books attached to it, and then putting the 320gb pull out into the homeserver as additional random storage.

Thoughts?

 

[pastrychef]

Do you have any other computers that will need access to the Windows Home Server? If not, why don't you just put all the large drives in the Mac Pro?

To get them working, just put in the system restore disc that comes with the Mac Pro and install Mac OS X. Use Disk Utility to initialize them.

 

[nemloc]

Do you have any other computers that will need access to the Windows Home Server? If not, why don't you just put all the large drives in the Mac Pro?

Yes, I still have a laptop and a media center PC that both need the backup and fileserver functionality. Somewhere around 1tb on there seems to work.

To get them working, just put in the system restore disc that comes with the Mac Pro and install Mac OS X. Use Disk Utility to initialize them.

Is there any downside to not using the drive that the OS came on? is there anything that's on it that won't be on the discs that come with the machine?

 

[Mackilroy]

None at all. I have OS X installed on a 750GB drive which replaced the initial 250GB drive that my Mac Pro came with.

As for your second question, only what you don't install on the second drive that was on the first.

 

[pastrychef]

Yes, I still have a laptop and a media center PC that both need the backup and fileserver functionality. Somewhere around 1tb on there seems to work.

In that case, why not leave the 500GB and the 320GB in the Windows Home Server and everything else in the Mac Pro? (I'm biased. )

Is there any downside to not using the drive that the OS came on? is there anything that's on it that won't be on the discs that come with the machine?

No, there are no downsides. You will be able to choose which included apps to re-install or leave out during the install process.