Hi all. I'm going to be upgrading to a Mac Pro in the next few weeks, and I'm debating on the drive size issue. I understand that 500 GB drives aren't ideal for audio, but it seems that Apple's webstore only lists 500 & 750 gig drives for it's non-system drive options. Am I better off getting some 3rd party 320 gig SATA drives, or are the stock Apple ones stable enough?
Thanks.
Jeff
Mac Pro hard drive questions
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HCMarkus
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I'm sure the Apple-resold drives would be fine, but why pay the premium price? Check out storagereview.com for lots of good info. You have so many choices, given the MacPro's four drive slots. RAID? Raptor? Partitioning? Plan you strategies in advance, before you start installing your software, and you will be rewarded!
Don't record audio on the same drive as your OS.
Use additional drives to feed your VI's. Consider RAID array if you make heavy VI use.
Partition your boot drive so you can easily clone your "perfect" system before you experiment with updates and upgrades. Consider "free" Super Duper (preferred) or Carbon Copy Cloner as tools to make your clones. Test by booting from your cloned partition prior to overwriting your working system partition. Make use of extra boot disc capacity by setting up an additional back up partition for your audio data back up.
Consider keeping separate system partitions for different computer uses. Switch your boot partition in APPLE MENU>SYSTEM PREFERENCES>STARTUP DISC. Keep your DP partition as free from extraneous software as possible, but install Safari (to download upgrades and check UnicorNation) and Mail (for authorization purposes) . Text Edit is better than Word when you want to keep Microsoft off of your DP boot partition.
Don't record audio on the same drive as your OS.
Use additional drives to feed your VI's. Consider RAID array if you make heavy VI use.
Partition your boot drive so you can easily clone your "perfect" system before you experiment with updates and upgrades. Consider "free" Super Duper (preferred) or Carbon Copy Cloner as tools to make your clones. Test by booting from your cloned partition prior to overwriting your working system partition. Make use of extra boot disc capacity by setting up an additional back up partition for your audio data back up.
Consider keeping separate system partitions for different computer uses. Switch your boot partition in APPLE MENU>SYSTEM PREFERENCES>STARTUP DISC. Keep your DP partition as free from extraneous software as possible, but install Safari (to download upgrades and check UnicorNation) and Mail (for authorization purposes) . Text Edit is better than Word when you want to keep Microsoft off of your DP boot partition.