What I did was order a second 320gb drive (WD 16mb cache), which I will use for my main OS/Apps, then use hte stock drive for Bootcamp & partition it as well as a scratch disk. Even though the stock drive only has 8mb cache, I figure that it will still make my computer faster by using it as a scratch disk when I'm in OSX.
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What do I do with standard 320gb drive?
- Thread starter Jebaloo
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Someone fill me in on the purpose of a scratch disk, because I feel like I'm missing out here 
(Yes, my Mac Pro was a premature purchase I am hoping to "grow into"!!)
(Yes, my Mac Pro was a premature purchase I am hoping to "grow into"!!
)Depends on what you are using - I would imagine HD video editing or something along those lines would create temp files so big that program tend to save them on the hard drive. Not all programs are smart enough to use 3 GB+ of RAM
Someone fill me in on the purpose of a scratch disk, because I feel like I'm missing out here
(Yes, my Mac Pro was a premature purchase I am hoping to "grow into"!!
When you are rendering or manipulating pictures programs often create temporary files on your hard drive. By selecting a "scratch disk" for your programs, it will create its temporary files on that instead of the same drive that your OS & Apps are installed on, so it can render stuff faster.
Now with that out of the way, someone said that Photoshop CS3 can only use up to 4gb of system ram, and any more ram than that will be used as a high speed scratch disk. So if you put more memory in your computer, your hard disk scratch disk may not be used as much as you think, but programs differ on their ability to utilize all the system ram or not.
Hi - I'm just working out how to spec my system and need a little advice:
I know that getting the HDs from apple is bad value for money, but I don't know what I'll do with the shipped 320GB drive once I install the 1TB drive that I'm going to buy separately. Ideally I'd like a 1TB drive, and two smaller faster drives for scratch disk - I've not real use for the 320 GB drive.
I had previously been thinking about getting two raptor drives and setting them up as a RAID to make a super-fast scratch drive, but more recently on the forums I've been seeing a lot of comments that current 7200 rpm drives are better value, and very fast compared to the 10,000 rpm raptor drives.
What I'm trying to work out is, could I somehow use the shipped 320GB drive as a fast scratch disk in RAID with another third party drive that I buy? Would the other drive need to be the same size?
In general, if anyone could give me advice for a good value HD setup for photo/film production, that'd be very helpful.
Thanks ( I know there are a lot of threads at the moment grabbing your attention, so thanks again
i'll take it
This is precisely the problem with the crappy hard drives they put in the stock machines. Everyone takes them out. Might as well sell it without a hard drive and know a few bucks off, or better yet STOP SELLING ram and hard drives for 5 times what they are worth APPLE.
I ordered my Mac Pro from a 3rd party vendor: I specified that I wanted the original 320GB drive in Bay 1 replaced with a 500GB drive. What they actually did, at no extra cost, was leave the 320 in bay 1, and put a 500 in bay 2.
I use Adobe CS2 the most (upgrading to CS3 as soon as I can afford it), and I do some 3D work too.
Some of the programmes I use, like the 3D, expect extra data to be added (new 3D models, textures etc) directly into the programme itself, thus continually increasing its size. Would it be a good idea to devote the 320 solely to programmes and OS for me, as it would still keep growing? All together, I'm guessing it would take up about half the drive.
I use Adobe CS2 the most (upgrading to CS3 as soon as I can afford it), and I do some 3D work too.
Some of the programmes I use, like the 3D, expect extra data to be added (new 3D models, textures etc) directly into the programme itself, thus continually increasing its size. Would it be a good idea to devote the 320 solely to programmes and OS for me, as it would still keep growing? All together, I'm guessing it would take up about half the drive.
If hiking up the price for the drives/ram allows them to continue offering the core machine at such an amazing price, I say keep it up.
From what I've seen on the internet, 320GB and 500GB drives offered on the new MP are from Hitachi. I haven't seen pics for the higher capacity drives.
I plan on using the 320 for the OS and applications, and maybe my iLife and iTunes librabries (~60G).
Most of my data will be on a 2nd 500G drive. I will then use my current 500G external for Time Machine. At some point (probably when I run out of space), I'll upgrade the external to 1T.
Most of my data will be on a 2nd 500G drive. I will then use my current 500G external for Time Machine. At some point (probably when I run out of space), I'll upgrade the external to 1T.
I took mine straight out, put it in an antistatic bag, and put it away. If the Mac needs to go for repair, or when I eventually sell it, I'll put the unused drive back in.