Maximum Hard Drive Size for Mac Pro OS X 10.6.4

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Level 1

10 points

Maximum Hard Drive Size for Mac Pro OS X 10.6.4

I would like to install a backup drive in my Mac Pro. What is the largest drive I can install?
A 1.0T would work but a 2.0T would be better.
When I bought my Mac Pro in Oct 2008 it stated I could have up to 4.0T of drive space. Does that mean I am limited to 1.0T drives? I have since upgraded to Snow Leopard OS X 10.6.4. Will it recognize 2.0T drives?
The new drive will be used for backup only. Any recommendations?

Mac Pro Dual Quad Core, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Aug 2, 2010 12:23 PM

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Answer 1

direwolf8

Level 4

1,280 points

Aug 2, 2010 12:27 PM in response to JoLite

You can use 2 TB drives with that computer. Apple only specs what's available as OEM options at the time and 2 TB drives weren't available when that computer came out. But they'll work fine.

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Answer 2

JoLite Author

Level 1

10 points

Aug 2, 2010 9:26 PM in response to JoLite

Thanks

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Answer 3

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Aug 3, 2010 6:15 AM in response to JoLite

A quick look for reviews shows the WD 2TB Black Caviar on numerous sites last October. And before that they had RE3 and RE4 and Green variety.

Latest review of all the 1TB drive offerings.
http://techreport.com/articles.x/19330

Newegg offering Western Digital's 2TB Caviar Green hard drive for a juicy $99.99 with free shipping.
http://techreport.com/discussions.x/19373

And Seagate hopes to be the first with 3TB later this year.
They already have one in USB2 case now.
http://techreport.com/discussions.x/19177

Best bet, check AccelerateYourMac web site drive upgrade database, check vendor for drives and their own knowledge base too.

WD: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/productcatalog.asp

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Answer 4

trilobyte

Level 3

545 points

Aug 3, 2010 8:25 AM in response to The hatter

What they said, you can put in 2TB drives if you like. Later this year, 3TB drives are expected to start shipping, which you should be able to use as well.

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Answer 5

JoLite Author

Level 1

10 points

Aug 3, 2010 5:28 PM in response to trilobyte

Thanks for the info.
One more question. I recently replaced my main system drive and reinstalled everything from scratch.
I named my main system drive "System Drive" instead of "Macintosh HD"
Does that matter? I haven't noticed nay real problems but there have been a few quirky behaviors.
If it needs to be "Macintosh HD" can I just use Apple's Disk Utility to simply change the name? Or will that cause problems too?
Just curious.

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Answer 6

JoLite Author

Level 1

10 points

Aug 3, 2010 5:30 PM in response to JoLite

Nope Can't rename it without deleting everything on it.
Did I do something stupid?

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Answer 7

Aug 3, 2010 6:20 PM in response to JoLite

Be careful though when you buy a 2TB HD.
I have an early 2008 MacPro and I have been upgrading all my HD's to 1TB
Then I decided to buy a 2TB SATA Seagate to replace one of the 1TB, and... it doesn't work because the power supply pins are not the same.
I've been looking hi and lo for a 2TB drive that has the 4-big pin power supply, but they don't seem to exist.
The ones I saw so far are Seagate and Western Digital, and the both have different power supply pins which means you can't just slide it in the HD drive slot... or am I missing something?

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Answer 8

Aug 3, 2010 6:55 PM in response to straycatcn

I really feel silly, because I realize the MacPro doesn't use those power pins.

So yes, you can change to a 2TB drive. I just did so on my old MacPro

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Answer 9

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Aug 4, 2010 1:23 AM in response to JoLite

Just use the Finder to rename volumes.

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Answer 10

JoLite Author

Level 1

10 points

Aug 4, 2010 5:28 AM in response to The hatter

Thanks, I stumbled onto that option last night. Duh..

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Answer 11

Aug 12, 2010 9:48 PM in response to The hatter

I was thinking of changing my original 250G Primary drive on my Mac Pro to a new 1TB drive. Are there any disadvantages or problems with swapping out the Primary drive with a 1TB Hitachi from OWC? Is there any reason to just keep the original drive where it is? I am planning to upgrade to Snow Leopard from Tiger with a clean install but want a larger Primary drive.
Thanks,
Neil

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Answer 12

ccs93

Level 1

25 points

Aug 15, 2010 12:50 PM in response to Neil Infinite

Neil,
No problems. I did exactly that with my G5 dual 2.0GHz & everything has worked fine.
It's an easy upgrade.
Best of luck to you.

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