Keeping my 2008 Mac Pro alive (HD and fans?)

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Level 1

74 points

Keeping my 2008 Mac Pro alive (HD and fans?)

Howdy. I have a Mac Pro from 2008 that is currently working great, but I fear the HD and at least one fan is failing. The HD sounds like it's spinning up/down too frequently and once in a while I hear... clicks. I also hear a constant whining sound that increases and decreases with consistency -- the only thing I can think of is that it's one of the ,amy fans starting to go. the computer is nowhere near time to be replaced. So I have a few questions.

HARD DRIVE:

I want to swap out the hard drive BEFORE it fails. I want to get an SD drive (256GB I think) AND a replacement internal HD for documents (1-2TB).

What should I look for when shopping new egg or other places to make sure I get something compatible with my 2008 Mac Pro?
What's the best process I would use to get everything off my internal drive on to the new drives? I do use use Time Machine to back up to an external drive. I wouldn't mind if I have to first moving everything to the ssd and then selectively move documents off the ssd and on to the new HD. Would I somehow just restore the Time Machine backup to the new ssd drive? How?
Once I have the new drives in place, can I still use Time Mahine to back up both the ssd and the new HD? Or does each one needs its own drive to back up to?

FANS:

I should probably first determining if my fan hunch if correct. I don't see any fluctuations in fan RPMs using iStat. Is it OK to use my finger or a pencil to stop each of the fans for a few seconds to see if the whining stops? Or will that burn out the motor? If it does wind up being one of the fans, are those easy to find replacements? I'd rather replace that, too, before it fails so that nothing fries in the computer if it does fail.

Thanks so much!

Mac Pro (8 cores/16GB RAM), MacBook, MacBook Pro, iMac, iPhone, Mac OS X (10.4)

Posted on Dec 19, 2012 11:04 AM

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Answer 1

RatVega™

Level 4

2,005 points

Dec 19, 2012 1:05 PM in response to Rothgarr

Nothing you're asking for here is difficult.

I have a 2008 as well and am planning for a SSD in the near future. I rather like the SATA2 units OWC is offering. You can use either SATA 2 or SATA3 and it's possible to upgrade your system to benefit from the SATA3 units that are being offered, but it's quite expensive because you need a bootable SATA3 board (about $1000) so I'll take advantage of the lower cost SATA 2.

So far as the replacement hard drives go, any SATA drive will work, with the best values being the multi-terabyte drives. Drive speed is also a cost issue and if you require very high performance then you want 7200 RPM minimum. But the new "intellient power" models perform very nicely for "normal" usage. Sources I use include Amazon.com, transintl.com, OWC, and NewEgg.

I had a couple of fan failures on my PowerMac G-5s and found good replacements on Amazon for reasonable prices. They're virtually all sold as "PC fans" so you need to make sure they're the correct spec. (It's not hard.)

Stopping a fan momentarily won't harm a healthy one, but use a pencil eraser unless you're a machanic or a masochist... LOL.

Good luck

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Answer 2

Dec 19, 2012 6:48 PM in response to Rothgarr

If you get a new 1-2TB drive, you can make a straight replica (clone) of your old drive using Disk Utility or SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner.

Consider making your new SSD a Boot Drive, with only System, Library, Preferences, and the Hidden unix files including Paging/swap. Move users off to the 1-2TB drive with recipes like these:

How to Move the Home Folder in OS X - and Why - Chris Pirillo

http://www.jcsenterprises.com/Japamacs_Page/Blog/00E03B83-1ADA-406E-A940-396D39F 598EA.html

PS: You tag line says you are running Mac OS X 10.4. That is not likley.

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Answer 3

Rothgarr Author

Level 1

74 points

Dec 20, 2012 11:57 AM in response to Rothgarr

Thank so much for the suggestions.

Thinking more on this... I don't believe I need a lot of storage space. I currently have a 500GB drive and I'm barely using half of it, and I'm sure I could make it even leaner.

So I'm thinking of going with just a single 512GB SSD all by itself. Any reason NOT to? I'd still back it up with Time Machine.

EDIT: Also updated my sig... I have 10.6.8

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Answer 4

RatVega™

Level 4

2,005 points

Dec 20, 2012 12:29 PM in response to Rothgarr

No reason at all... it'll allow you to keep more user data on the system drive.

I'm just freaky on the subject because I'm seriously into video, so I'm always looking for more storage.

You can clone your system drive to the SSD and away you go!

Enjoy...

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Answer 5

Rothgarr Author

Level 1

74 points

Dec 20, 2012 1:04 PM in response to Rothgarr

That's awesome! So it sounds like I:

- pick up a 512GB SATA 2 SSD drive,

- shut down and pop-it into the Mac,

- format it (if it needs to be),

- clone my current internal HD drive using Disk Utility,

- tell the Mac to use the SSD as a start-up disk,

- then shut down once again to pull out the old HD.

Profit?

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Answer 6

RatVega™

Level 4

2,005 points

Dec 20, 2012 1:08 PM in response to Rothgarr

Pull it out or just reformat it as a data drive.

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Answer 7

Dec 20, 2012 7:55 PM in response to Rothgarr

pop-it into the Mac

SSDs are almost all 2.5" form factor drives.

Mac Pro standard sleds are 3.5" form factor sleds.

Many users are happy with products like the Icy Dock to straighten out the discrepancy. OWC (macsales.com) has additional solutions, and if you are handy, there is a one 3mm screw solution as well.

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Answer 8

Xenic

Level 1

11 points

Jan 1, 2013 11:39 PM in response to Rothgarr

OCZ Vertex 4 (what I'm leaning to) is said to have a 3.5 sled kit included. My added question to this thread is about SATA, SATAII, SATAIII. My old beast (twin G5 2GHz A1047/M9032LL/A/PowerMac7,2 2003) has run flawlessly and still does when asked. Will SDD SATA compatibilty be mine, or is my G5 too old for current SATA connection without adding a card. I've used SATAII HDDs in it with no problem.

Thoughts?

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Answer 9

Jan 2, 2013 7:28 AM in response to Xenic

Xenic-

is said to have a 3.5 sled kit included

I do not know about the G5, but in the MacPro, any sled mount/adapter MUST maintain the drive flush with the left side of the sled (as inserted into the machine). Most "universal" adapters do not do that, and are therefore unusable. The Icy Dock centers the drive, but includes an offset cable-board to maintain the flush left clearance required.

SATA III has not been an issue because the drives are all designed to negotiate down to SATA II or whatever the computer Bus can handle.

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