Replace the stock 320 Hard Drive?

[santabarbaramac]

Would anyone recommend replacing the stock 320 HD on a new MacPro? I have heard that the 7200 rpm isn't impressive and for a few hundred on a faster drive (10,000 rpm at least) would it improve things enough to justify? I am ordering my new machine soon and was curious.

If the answer is yes, what recommendations do you have. I would simply put the 320 in one of the bays. I am mostly concerned with operation speeds for the system, start up, programs, etc.

WD 150gb WD1500ADFD SATA150 16mb 10,000rpm (bare drive) - WD site says that you can't use it with a Mac. Is that even possible? Maybe their formatting and utilities aren't Mac and that's why they say no. But from a technology perspective SATA is SATA?

Thanks in advance.

 

[yippy]

I would disagree in two accounts.

First, the Mac Pro can hold up to 4 hard drives, so I wouldn't ever replace the drive, only add more in addition.

Second, the new high capacity 7200RPM drives are almost as fast as the 10,000RPM drives. In fact, I have heard that the 1TB drives out now can be faster than the 10,000RPM Raptors.

 

[ethernet76]

I would disagree in two accounts.

First, the Mac Pro can hold up to 4 hard drives, so I wouldn't ever replace the drive, only add more in addition.

Second, the new high capacity 7200RPM drives are almost as fast as the 10,000RPM drives. In fact, I have heard that the 1TB drives out now can be faster than the 10,000RPM Raptors.

I believe Apple uses 8MB cache drives.

I wouldn't remove it from the system nor consider it of immediate concern, but a raptor will only provide limited increases.

I'd go with a striped raid when the time came to upgrade.

 

[Mr.PS]

I believe Apple uses 8MB cache drives.

I wouldn't remove it from the system nor consider it of immediate concern, but a raptor will only provide limited increases.

I'd go with a striped raid when the time came to upgrade.

They're 16mb cache drives.

 

[ethernet76]

They're 16mb cache drives.

Not the 320 gb version. The 500, 750 and 1TB are 16mb cache.

 

[Mr.PS]

Not the 320 gb version. The 500, 750 and 1TB are 16mb cache.

weaksauce I was hoping to pair up the stock 320gb hdd with another 320gb 16mb cache drive and raid em up.

 

[ethernet76]

I'd opt for something like this in a raid setup.

There are bigger ones, but I get nervous about raid setups that are extremely large.

 

[santabarbaramac]

Extra speed worth it?

I would disagree in two accounts.

First, the Mac Pro can hold up to 4 hard drives, so I wouldn't ever replace the drive, only add more in addition.

Second, the new high capacity 7200RPM drives are almost as fast as the 10,000RPM drives. In fact, I have heard that the 1TB drives out now can be faster than the 10,000RPM Raptors.

I was going to move the 320 to one of the bays... But for the start up drive, programs, boot, etc. the 150 gb running at 10000 would logically appear to be faster. I would simply move the 320 and reinstall the OS on the 150gb. WD marketing says the guts are also server grade. Has anyone seen any tests?

 

[santabarbaramac]

I believe Apple uses 8MB cache drives.

I wouldn't remove it from the system nor consider it of immediate concern, but a raptor will only provide limited increases.

I'd go with a striped raid when the time came to upgrade.

Thanks for the thoughts. I assume that you are talking about the RAID from Disk Utility? I set one of those up for my two external 500 gb drives for my MacBook. Can you set up the software RAID as striped for the OS, programs, etc. in the internal MacPro? I don't mind spending a few hundred out of the gate on the best configuration for the box. There are so many choices it just gets a bit confusing.

 

[supercooled]

Isn't it true the Raptors perform only marginally better than a Raid1 setup with vanilla flavoured drives? I've always wanted a Raptor but the complaints about noise levels is a concern.

 

[Gunga Din]

I have had a 75GB Raptor in my PC for 4 yrs. Its the best HD i've ever used. Very stable and i've never had a computer boot faster than this , my 4th Dell.

I'll be switching to Mac in the coming weeks, the 150GB 10K RPM Raptor has already been ordered and is sitting next to me .

The Raptor will be my OS/boot drive and the stock drive i was thinking of using for Time Machine or maybe data storage. I love my Raptor in my Dell so much I couldnt think of making the switch to a Mac without another.

 

[ErikAndre]

I read in a MacWorld review that the Seagate drive slows down the system...

Quote from a Macworld Review after testing the 2.8...

However, not all the results were promising for Apple's latest pro desktop model. The eight-core 2.8GHz system lagged in some of our tests, results we attribute to its somewhat sluggish Seagate hard drive.

Is this the 320Gb hard drive or all hard drives?

 

[Gunga Din]

I read in a MacWorld review that the Seagate drive slows down the system...

Quote from a Macworld Review after testing the 2.8...



Is this the 320Gb hard drive or all hard drives?

Yes, I believe so.

Anyone know how good the 500 GB drive they are offering? Is that a WD?

 

[Trishul]

i got Samsung Spinpoint F1, and i find it just as fast as a raptor, faster even.. and a whole lot quieter!! its a LOT faster than the 7200.10 that comes with the MP, so is worth replacing, i have 2 more in a RAID 0, and i've put the 320GB drive into the 4th bay (just to be neat), and am going to use it as a scratch disk and a partition for windows when i get my 8800GT.

i'd only consider the raptor if you were doing server/database type tasks, otherwise save your money and get one of the new generation 7200rpms.

 

[MacRoom]

I Plan To Retire My 320 Before Ever Plugging In My New Mac Pro

I would disagree in two accounts.

First, the Mac Pro can hold up to 4 hard drives, so I wouldn't ever replace the drive, only add more in addition.

Second, the new high capacity 7200RPM drives are almost as fast as the 10,000RPM drives. In fact, I have heard that the 1TB drives out now can be faster than the 10,000RPM Raptors.

I will replace the drive because it is too freaking SMALL. I'll be pulling the 320 and putting it in the box for if I ever sell it - keeping it virgin for the next (if there ever is another) owner. I already bought four 1TB Seagate drives with 32MB caches @ $270 on sale at Fry's two weeks ago. I'll be installing one. Then I will do a complete reinstall from the grey install DVDs it comes with Plus iLife '08 and iWork '08. Once I get past the first longon routines I will shut down and install the other three. Then I will startup and turn them into a Raid 5 three disc array with the Raid Setup Software. I'm getting the 3.2 GHz model with the RAID card. Adding 32GB of RAM from OWC via the Barefeats link. Only $2900 extra.