S-ATA or S-ATA II???

[silverlight68]

Hi everybody,

I'm new here... I 'm a photographer and after limping along with a pc/XP since the last several years, I got fed up and finally ordered a Mac Pro- 8 core. I chose for this model because of the high volume of digital images that I need to process on a daily basis.

I also need a lot of disk space, but didn't quite see the point in paying so much more for hard disks at the Apple store. I see at a local computer supplies dealer that Seagate has an internal SATA hard drive of 1 terabyte (HD Barracuda 7200, 32 mb). Is this supported in the Mac Pro and does this series have a good reputation?

And does it make a difference if I buy a S-ATA or a S-ATA II type hard disk?

Any comments would be greatly appreciated!!!!!!!!

Thanks kindly in advance!

 

[iBookG4user]

Any hard drive that has a SATA connection will work in the Mac Pro. The main difference between SATA and SATA II is that SATA II is double the speed of regular SATA. And it would be wiser to get 2 750GB hard drives rather than a 1TB hard drive. As the price of 2 750GB hard drives is not much more than a 1TB hard drive and you get 1.5 times the storage.

 

[silverlight68]

Hi again,

Thank-you for the info... I'll keep that in mind next week when I go to pick up my display when it arrives.

Can you offer any advice concerning memory? Apple says/ warns that you should use only 'their' memory because it's specially made to dissipate heat at a fast enough rate to avoid the fans running faster or even system shut down....

Makes it awfully expensive... I bought my system with 4 gig already in it.... but I think I should probably have at least 8 in there...

Any suggestions?

 

[pengu]

also note that in most cases, the transfer rate from the disk cache to the disk heads/platters is much slower than the interface (SATA) speed.

also, make sure you have an adequate backup strategy for all that data. i just had a drive less than 12 months old fail, and it's a real pain.

 

[iBookG4user]

Hi again,

Thank-you for the info... I'll keep that in mind next week when I go to pick up my display when it arrives.

Can you offer any advice concerning memory? Apple says/ warns that you should use only 'their' memory because it's specially made to dissipate heat at a fast enough rate to avoid the fans running faster or even system shut down....

Makes it awfully expensive... I bought my system with 4 gig already in it.... but I think I should probably have at least 8 in there...

Any suggestions?

OWC RAM is highly recommended. They are a lot cheaper than what Apple charges for their RAM, while still being good quality.

 

[silverlight68]

Then it seems that it's better to go with S-ATA II, then at least that way you should have the fastest possible data transfer rate, right? Even if it's not as fast as it's rated... do I understand this correctly?

 

[iBookG4user]

Then it seems that it's better to go with S-ATA II, then at least that way you should have the fastest possible data transfer rate, right? Even if it's not as fast as it's rated... do I understand this correctly?

Yeah, SATA II is better than SATA, you'd be best getting a SATA II drive even though the drives aren't fast enough to use the interface to its fullest yet.