HDs for new Macs

HKC

Logician
I am not really interested in computers although I have worked with them for ages. Every years or so I am forced by development to upgrade my system so I have to find out what to get.
I am definately going to buy one of the new MacPros. I wonder if there are certain internal HDs that should be avoided, or something that I should go for maybe.
I will probably buy two additional ones. I have many, many samples and will probably get more over the years so at least for that one I may just as well get a 2TB. The recording drive doesn't need to be that big since I backup to an external drive and DVDs quite often. On the other hand it seems that there's not much financial point in buying smaller drives anyway.
Also, with 64 bit catching up, doesn't it make the most sense to get 4GB ram blocks despite the added cost. I am tempted to put 16GBs right away but would like to keep the opportunity open to expand that to a full 32GBs since I on occation do use large samples and packages.
What to do, what to do.....
 
Hmm I have already discovered a problem I think. The new graphic card takes up the double slot so I will have a problem getting a UAD2, Powercore and the also double Raydat fitted. Of course I could just drill a whole in it to get the cables into the Raydat add on.
Too bad.....
 
I am definately going to buy one of the new MacPros. I wonder if there are certain internal HDs that should be avoided, or something that I should go for maybe.
I will probably buy two additional ones. I have many, many samples and will probably get more over the years so at least for that one I may just as well get a 2TB.


A good rule of thumb IMO is to always buy two drives of a given size, one for use, the other as its backup. If you want to be really extra careful, make sure that they are different brands, so, if there happens to be a problem with one (remember the notorious IBM "death star" series years ago?) the chances of both going bad at once are reduced. Of course, with a Mac Pro that means buying up to seven (!) extra drives ...

The recording drive doesn't need to be that big since I backup to an external drive and DVDs quite often. On the other hand it seems that there's not much financial point in buying smaller drives anyway.

Personally, for data drives I wouldn't look at anything less than 1 TB now - especially if you use a lot of sample libraries or do video work. System drives could be smaller, unless you want to set up one or more decent sized bootcamp partitions, or more than one OSX partition for testing or other purposes, but as you say, what is the point?

Also, with 64 bit catching up, doesn't it make the most sense to get 4GB ram blocks despite the added cost. I am tempted to put 16GBs right away but would like to keep the opportunity open to expand that to a full 32GBs since I on occation do use large samples and packages.
What to do, what to do.....

It has always been wise to plan for as much RAM as you can possibly afford - even if not at the time of purchasing the Mac. In three or six months time you may want to add some more. Even running 32 bit, it is very comfortable to leave many Apps open at the same time. I sometimes wonder, after mixing a fairly large logic project, that I had Safari, Mail, MIO Console, EuCon, Photoshop, WB, STP and probably a few other Apps runnig at the same time.

kind regards

Mark
 
Hmm I have already discovered a problem I think. The new graphic card takes up the double slot so I will have a problem getting a UAD2, Powercore and the also double Raydat fitted. Of course I could just drill a whole in it to get the cables into the Raydat add on.
Too bad.....

Yes, I still wish there was more space for expansion in the Mac Pros. In fairness, they have improved on that since the G5 by leaving enough room for a double thickness graphic card without sacrificing one precious PCIe slot.

How did you manage with your G5? Bacl then, I moved from a poco PCI to FW ...

kind regards

Mark
 
I didn't manage with the G5, I only used 16 I/O and left the add on in it's box. This time around I think that I will upgrade to 96 KHz which means that I will have to have access to all 32 I/O. The graphic card in the G5 didn't fill a double slot so the new situation is exactly as it was in the G5. The only solution I can see is to drill a whole in the back of the MacPro to get the lightpipes into the add on card.

I have external HDs for all my drives so all I'm really shopping for is 2 HDs. I remember the Deathstars very well, I had one which died but I did foresee it so no data loss here.
I notice that the ones that Apple sell have this "3GBs" in their specs (like Serial ATA 3Gb/s) while the ones I have found is "6GBs". Is this an issue or will it work as long as it is SATA.

Finally, with RAM, I notice that for a limited additional cost I can have the machine delivered (I could with the previous model, that is) 4x2 GBs of RAM and since the cost of 4x2GBs of Kingston is like half of 2x4Gbs it makes sense to just get 4x2GBs additional RAM right now and then in the case I should ever need more I can pretty much change this without it really costing much. This is of course because this way I can actually use the RAM that the machine comes with while the other way around I would have to buy 4x4GBs to get 16 GBs which is quite expensive. I assume that the rule not to mix RAM sizes will also go with the new machines since they are pretty much the same as the old ones except for the processors.

Thanks for the input so far
 
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