Hi I have just aquired a Mac Pro 2006, Dual Xeon 266, 3Gb RAM 360GB HD, I have tried to add another 2TB HD but for some reason it is not identified properly and will not erase

Do you still have OSX 10.4.1?

That may be the problem. The original Mac pro can go as high as 10.6.8.

I also added a 2Tb HD, which 10.4.1 the current OS on the machine, does not recognize properly.

10.4.1 is almost new enough to do what you desire, but not quite. Use Software Update for Free Update your software to at least 10.4.4 or later. (preferably the latest available, which is probably 10.4.10).

Once you are running 10.4.4 or later, deliberately choose GUID partition table and the drive should initialize correctly.

It would be prudent to UpGrade to 10.6, available on DVD for only about US$20 from the Apple online store. You get a more modern version of the Safari browser, and MUCH better protection from malware. 10.6.8 is also the "gateway" needed to get the Mac App Store to install downloadable software andf later Upgrades.

Sure it isnt 10.4.11 istead? No Mac Pro shipped with or works with less than OEM 10.4.6-1/2 a custom build and generally people have used 10.4.11 if they never upgraded, or 10.4.10 in some cases even.

You have a good memory for this, the hatter:

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Mac OS X versions (builds) for computers

But that also means my other advice above was junk. It should initialize that drive just fine, BUT:

A drive that cannot tell Disk Utility BOTH:

• Its Make&Model

• a reasonable non-zero Size/Capacity

... cannot be erased, initialized or repaired by any software. If it is correctly cabled, it has died.

... 'cause I am sitting in front of one of the early Aug 2006 models? and every two weeks up until 10.4.7 dropped in software update.... not really hard to remember.

10.4.6 did get a new DVD retail and cganges in GPT and Disk Utility along the way, big impact on RAID part too - hard to shuffle around and some redoings.

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3GB RAM - head over to Amazon and pick up $25-50 worth 2 x 2GB or 4 x 2GB and pull the two or more 512MB FB-DIMMs.

Take a look physically inspect the GPU.

An SSD $100-160 (128 - 250GB) will go a long way in 1000%+ improvement in performance.

10.6.3 DVD from Apple $20 to be supported OS and eligible for 10.7.5, the highest OS it can go officially.

JackTar,

Have same machine you have. Am running Lion OSX 10.7.5.

At suggestion of Grant and Hatter (thanks!), I upped my ram to 8GB and installed a pair of 120 GB SSDs, one for "Home" folder and one for "Boot" folder. Also running a 500 GB HD. Also installed ATI Radeon HD 5770 Graphics card, and am running three 23" Apple cinema Displays.

Am not a power user and do not do any video, heavy rendering, or serious music mixing. But it is zippy enough for everything else I do. These upgrades allowed me to plan on using this machine for another 2-3 years, probably more. Money well spent!

OWC sells adapters that let you use 2.5" drives in the Mac Pro drive carriers.

I'd start with RAM and get everything working well before worrying about SSDs.

I acquired a first-gen Mac Pro recently also, on eBay. I often see auctions for RAM for 2006 models. RAM for the early Mac Pros is fairly expensive if you get it new.

I've got four drives in mine, running Tiger through Lion. A couple were transferred from my now retired G5. (This required cloning the drives onto a backup, reformatting them GUID in the Mac Pro and cloning back the systems onto the reformatted drives.) This is a "Wayback Machine" so no need for the speed bump of SSD.

The only snag so far is that I can't use a CalDigit USB 3/eSATA card in this one, as long as I want to have Tiger installed and usable: it causes a kernel panic. There are drivers for 10.5 and up for the first version of this card. The currently shipping v2 card requires 10.8.2 and up.

not sure why you use ebay.... Amazon has Samsung EVO SSD 250GB $140 / 500GB $250 which are great candidates.

All you may need for a OS only boot drive SSD is 128GB $85 though.

Throw in $13 adapter from Amazon also "Icy Dock" and FBDIMMs

I found four OWC-brand 2GB DIMMs for my 2006 MP on eBay, for $80 total. Used RAM is a bit of a gamble, and you have to be careful about the seller, checking feedback, etc., but these have been just fine and it was much cheaper than buying them new: I wouldn't have bothered to add more RAM at "new" prices.

... and yet new full warranty on Amazon for a 8GB set (4 x 2GB) is only $50 you realized I'm sure now.

I had no idea about the cheap RAM on Amazon, but I'm not sure I would have bought it there. I only checked prices at OWC: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/53FB2MPK08GB/ which is obviously a lot more than the Atech RAM on Amazon. Has anyone here used Atech memory?

OWC FBDIMMs have not been steller at all times and the Amazon is top tier - very reliable and respectable. Easy to find or I'll provide link.

Is Atech Amazon's own label?