Can I use up to a 2 TB internal Hard drive?

[SDDP]

I already have a few 500 and 750 gig internal drives, but I have one more internal hd bay left and need more space. There up to 1 TB, 2 TB, and yes even a 2.5 TB internal drives. Does anyone know if going past 1TB internal would work well for large 5.1 sessions?

I think I read somewhere that if you go larger than a 1TB, being that there are more plates it actually lowers the over all seek/read times and can be counterproductive?
I know the new 2TB have a 64 buffer/cache (hoping that might make up or help?)

Any input would be great as I'll need one soon.

[Tweakhead]

just to confuse you further...
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Hitachi/0F12450/

[JFreak]

They're not adding plates or rw-heads, they're making the same plates denser (meaning the same plate holds more data). That also makes it faster, but none of that matters -- as long as WAV file can only be 4GB max.

Sure, you can have more files if you have more terabytes, but in case you wanted to record a longer continuous session, you're still out of luck. Don't know what you want to achieve by installing a larger storage, but just something to think about.

I'm currently happy with a stock 640GB system drive, a 10krpm 74GB work drive, and then I have backup storage that is always sufficient for my needs for the coming six months.

[SDDP]

Originally Posted by JFreak

They're not adding plates or rw-heads, they're making the same plates denser (meaning the same plate holds more data). That also makes it faster, but none of that matters -- as long as WAV file can only be 4GB max.

Sure, you can have more files if you have more terabytes, but in case you wanted to record a longer continuous session, you're still out of luck. Don't know what you want to achieve by installing a larger storage, but just something to think about.

I'm currently happy with a stock 640GB system drive, a 10krpm 74GB work drive, and then I have backup storage that is always sufficient for my needs for the coming six months.

Thanks.. I don't use it at all for long continous sessions, recording is either VO, Foley, and adr and those are small files. So that's not a concern. It's the OMF are huge and with all the audio in a 5.1 can get huge. And rather have more room than I need with out ever worrying about space and 2TB would suffice. So basically the new internal Western Digital sata's at 2TB with 64 mb buffers would run just as smoothly as a 750gb?

[Mystere1]

I just reworked my Nethalem and replaced all the internal drives with the new 2TB digital caviar blacks. I also put an OWC SSD in the lower optical bay for the OS and everything is working great, better than ever actually.

[SDDP]

Originally Posted by Mystere1

I just reworked my Nethalem and replaced all the internal drives with the new 2TB digital caviar blacks. I also put an OWC SSD in the lower optical bay for the OS and everything is working great, better than ever actually.

Is that the one with the 6Gb/s and 64 mb cache?
I checked with apple tech support and they mentioned the 2008 Mac Pro 8 core won't work with the 6Gb/s, only the 3 Gb/s.
I was also under the impression that above 1TB it wouldn't work smoothly on the 2008 models.
Correct me if I am wrong though. I'd rather go for more, since I try to stay below %70 full.

Thanks for any info.

[brianjanthony]

I have a 2008 Harpertown Mac Pro. My internals drives are all 2TB, with the record drive being a 2TB Caviar Black. I run at like 60-70% full with no probs. I have a 2TB nightly backup mirror as well. I've had no disk related issues running the drives for over a year in this configuration. And I beat them mercilessly 7 days a week. I'm running large rock sessions, lots of VIs, 50-90 tracks. Its much better than my old system of daisy chaining drives together. YMMV.
brian

[SDDP]

Good to know. Thanks

Is it the 3 Gb/s or the 6 Gb/s?
And does maxing out with 4 hard drives cause the mac to get louder?

[brianjanthony]

hmmm no idea if its 3g or 6g. I upgraded all to SATA 2, which I think is 3. and the transfer time between drives really picked up (copying files and such).

I've not had any drive hiccups. I'm not doing VE pro or big orchestral bits. But I do a large amount of DKFH drums, Kontakt drums, strings, rhodes, pianos and many many many tracks of audio on many ummm... creative..... clients. No issues with performance. And the drives are getting about 12-14 session hours per day at least 5 days a week.

The 3g Sata 2 drives work just fine for me in the 2008 Macpro tower.

As far as volume? Well I know its sacrilege to say it, but that volume is the least of my worries. Heaters, fans, yapping clients, and my Magma are all louder than the Mac. So how loud the drives are in comparison are irrelevant to me.

And [insert Spinal Tap accent here]... Wouldn't a louder Mac be what you want? I mean really, a louder Mac means we have to turn it up louder to mix... giving us a louder mix... what we've always wanted all along... Louder is ALWAYS better [/accent]

Seriously though, over any other drives, I don't think the noise would be much of a factor. As far as heat, the Caviars seem to run cooler than my old Hitachi 2tb models.

[SDDP]

WOW, great write up!

From this link on page two, do know which of the 2 TB it was?:

http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/librar...879-701276.pdf