velociraptor in a mac pro (plus upgrade option advice)

[sochet]

Hi guys,


Ok so It's about that time where I need to upgrade my mac pro (2008 model)

My question is specifically hard drives. I'm thinking about getting a WD velociraptor (150 gig) to use as an os an app drive. Then the 320 gig hd that came with the mac pro would become a audio scratch drive and then a standard seagate hd to hold movies, documents etc.


Are the velociraptors still worth getting over say a Samsung F1? (specifically this:http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168123 My only concern about the Samsung is I've seen quite a few reviews about reliability issues.

In an ideal world I'd go for an SSD but I want to wait for them to come down in price more first.

Also Will the velociraptor fit inside the Mac pro sled? I'm looking at the HLFS version http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149434

Would there be others you'd recommend?

Also I have quite a lot of plugins (100+) that would take a long time to re-install (not to mention all the apps too) So I'm looking to streamline the process for an install of Snow leopard. My plan is to install Snow leopard fresh onto the new HD then either:

A. Use super duper to clone the applications and system user files over.
B. Use time machine to copy the info to the other drive
C. Use migration assistant when booting off the SL drive for the first time.

Out of those three which one would you go for?

I know this is a fairly meaty post so thanks for your advice and reading!

 

[alphaod]

I'm running VelociRaptors at the moment and not only are they fast, they are almost silent. I highly recommend these. I can't say anything about the Samsung drives, but again these WDs are amazing.

 

[sochet]

I'm running VelociRaptors at the moment and not only are they fast, they are almost silent. I highly recommend these. I can't say anything about the Samsung drives, but again these WDs are amazing.

Awesome. Did they fit into the drive sleds fine? you didn't have to mod the heat sink?

 

[nanofrog]

Hi guys,


Ok so It's about that time where I need to upgrade my mac pro (2008 model)

My question is specifically hard drives. I'm thinking about getting a WD velociraptor (150 gig) to use as an os an app drive. Then the 320 gig hd that came with the mac pro would become a audio scratch drive and then a standard seagate hd to hold movies, documents etc.


Are the velociraptors still worth getting over say a Samsung F1? (specifically this:http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168123 My only concern about the Samsung is I've seen quite a few reviews about reliability issues.

In an ideal world I'd go for an SSD but I want to wait for them to come down in price more first.

Also Will the velociraptor fit inside the Mac pro sled? I'm looking at the HLFS version http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149434

Would there be others you'd recommend?

Also I have quite a lot of plugins (100+) that would take a long time to re-install (not to mention all the apps too) So I'm looking to streamline the process for an install of Snow leopard. My plan is to install Snow leopard fresh onto the new HD then either:

A. Use super duper to clone the applications and system user files over.
B. Use time machine to copy the info to the other drive
C. Use migration assistant when booting off the SL drive for the first time.

Out of those three which one would you go for?

I know this is a fairly meaty post so thanks for your advice and reading!

I have a 300GB Velociraptor, and am quite happy with it. The version you linked would fit, as that frame is backplane compliant.

However, given the advancements in platter density, you can get extremely similar performance out of 7200rpm disks with 500GB platters. Ideally, it would be a 1TB or larger. Keep the data on the outermost tracks, and you'd stay in the best performance zone of any mechanical drive.

If you really want to push performance on a budget, you might want to take a serious look at RAID0. For the cost of a pair (min) drives, you'd get improved random access and sequential throughputs for the cost of drives. (Software RAID via OS X, so no additional hardware required).

 

[alphaod]

Awesome. Did they fit into the drive sleds fine? you didn't have to mod the heat sink?

Yes it fits in fine. Just make sure you buy the backplane ready version and then it is plug and play.

 

[pprior]

Yes it fits in fine. Just make sure you buy the backplane ready version and then it is plug and play.

Agree. I have one and it just slides right in. Get the backplane version.

It's super quiet.

SSD will be next however...