Putting my PC Harddrive in Macpro as slave?

[digiegg]

I just got my Mac Pro! Haha... I'm really happy.
I'm currently installing all the programs I need on the XP64bit version I installed.
I was wondering, can I just take out the harddrive(Windows xp installed) from my PC and stick it in MacPro without formatting it? I just want to keep all the data files that are in that harddrive so I don't have to transfer all those files into the macpro one.

If I do put the harddrive in, will it try to start up from my PC harddrive windows xp? Or will it just ignore it and notice it as slave?

 

[ethernet76]

I just got my Mac Pro! Haha... I'm really happy.
I'm currently installing all the programs I need on the XP64bit version I installed.
I was wondering, can I just take out the harddrive(Windows xp installed) from my PC and stick it in MacPro without formatting it? I just want to keep all the data files that are in that harddrive so I don't have to transfer all those files into the macpro one.

If I do put the harddrive in, will it try to start up from my PC harddrive windows xp? Or will it just ignore it and notice it as slave?

It will most likely ignore it as a start up volume. Windows uses MBR and OS X uses something different. As for being able to use it as a drive, if it's NTFS you'll be able to read the content, but not be able to write to the drive.

 

[digiegg]

ugh so I can't delete/add files into the pc harddrive?

 

[tuartboy]

ugh so I can't delete/add files into the pc harddrive?

From Windows XP64 or OS X?

 

[digiegg]

From the Windows XP 64bit in Mac Pro.

 

[Kosh66]

It has to be a SATA or SATA II HD and if memory serves, there is no slave or master for SATA or SATA II HDs. Is this a PATA HD? A PATA HD won't work in a Mac Pro, except maybe in the other optical bay (optical drive on the Mac Pro are Parallel ATA).

 

[tuartboy]

It has to be a SATA or SATA II HD and if memory serves, there is no slave or master for SATA or SATA II HDs. Is this a PATA HD? A PATA HD won't work in a Mac Pro, except maybe in the other optical bay (optical drive on the Mac Pro are Parallel ATA).

Yes, it will work in the 2nd optical bay. Just make sure that both PATA drives are on CS (Cable Select). The DVD drive from apple should already be on CS, but just make sure.

Windows *should* be able to read it fine. I wouldn't see why not, but I don't really know. OS X might complain about it being an unmountable drive when you boot into OS X. I have seen that happen before.

 

[slughead]

OK here's what I think (I'm assuming you're running it as an IDE drive)
1. You probably can't boot off it straight away because of strange things you have to do to get windows hard drives to boot on a mac.
2. If you run the bootcamp utility on the hard drive it'll probably be bootable from the IDE bus.
3. Even if you do get it to boot, if you're a windows user, you should know by now that you shouldn't boot off a windows installation that was not installed on the same type of machine because it'll cause INSANE driver problems. Yeah, I wouldn't try it. Whenever you swap Mobos in XP, you should reinstall.
4. The hard drive will mount in both Windows and OS X. In windows, it'll behave like a regular drive and you can read and write to it. In OS X, all NTFS volumes are READ ONLY. Fat-32 is r/w.
5. To choose your startup volume on boot, hold down the 'option' key while starting up and a boot menu will display

 

[digiegg]

hey guys. thanks for helping out. I'm having trouble understanding some things though.
All my HD from the PC are ATA, not SATA. Also, they're all NTFS, not FAT.
Now you guys said I can hook it up with the optical drive. Where is the optical drive?

 

[Kosh66]

Now you guys said I can hook it up with the optical drive. Where is the optical drive?

When you open the Mac Pro door the optical drive is in the top front part of the Mac Pro. An optical drive is already in the top optical drive bay, but the bottom bay is empty (unless you ordered a Mac Pro with 2 optical drives).

Here's a manual on how you get the optical drive bays out.... http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/MacPro_OpticalDrive_DIY.pdf

 

[Dark Dragoon]

If you get the Mac Pro with only one optical drive then there will be a spare power and PATA connection.

They are located in the top left corner of the Mac Pro. Behind the optical drive slots which you can see on the front of the machine.

Here's a picture, the bit I've highlighted in red is where the optical drive(s) are, the section pulls out. If you want to put a hard drive in there, you'll need a 5.25" to 3.5" converter to be able to screw the hard drive in place.