Help needed with old Mac Pro!

[Dry Rot]

I am using an old desktop Mac Pro (OSX 10.7.5) and want to install more capacity as cheaply as possible. I have purchased another 2T hard drive (Seagate 2TB BarraCuda 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive ). But all four drive bays are currently full.

I think the answer is probably simple but I would like some reassurance before I do something stupid! I'm thinking I can just empty the smallest hard drive by dragging files to the next hard drive with enough space available. (That would be approximately 60G of files from a 159G capacity disk to a 2T disk with 452G available). Then I can remove the empty 159G drive and install the new 2T one. Does that make sense?

Sorry for the novice question but I'm scared of doing something wrong! Presumably, I can then use the new disc as usual. (Sounds too simple which makes me suspicious!!! Yeah, I've done a Google which got me even more confused!).

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

Depends on the arrangement of the drives within the system. If they are part of a RAID set then you’re a bit scuppered and will need to do some “rearranging” before you attempt to start pulling drives out.

I’m not in front of my Mac right now but I will have a little look later to see if I can find what you need to look for - it should all be completely doable within Disk Utility.

 

[Dry Rot]

Depends on the arrangement of the drives within the system. If they are part of a RAID set then you’re a bit scuppered and will need to do some “rearranging” before you attempt to start pulling drives out.

I’m not in front of my Mac right now but I will have a little look later to see if I can find what you need to look for - it should all be completely doable within Disk Utility.

No, no RAID here as that would be way beyond my capabilties! It is just a standard desktop Mac bought secondhand and probably one of the first Mac Pros.

I wondered if I needed to use Disk Utility? The disk I am going to pull is one I had in the old G5 and that was a straight forward swap as I had a couple of vacant bays. The Mac Pro came with only four bays initially and I was thinking of getting an external disk but this seemed a cheaper option.

Thanks for replying.

 

[Philip Watkins]

If there's no raid just crack on with drag and drop. Use disk utility to wipe the drive when your done, before you take it out unless you want to keep it as a back-up. Insert the new disk and use disk utility to format it (Mac OS Extended (Journaled)).

PS You could get a cheap external caddy to use the removed disk as an external drive.

 

[Shropshire Farmer]

Slightly off topic I’d like to wipe a Mac and start completely fresh, how’s the best way to go about it ? With everything cloud based now there’s no need for windows parallel to operate windows programs.

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

Slightly off topic I’d like to wipe a Mac and start completely fresh, how’s the best way to go about it ?

It should be pretty straightforward

1. Boot into the recovery menu and wipe the drive

2. Reinstall is Mac OS from scratch, from the recovery partition

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

If there's no raid just crack on with drag and drop. Use disk utility to wipe the drive when your done, before you take it out unless you want to keep it as a back-up. Insert the new disk and use disk utility to format it (Mac OS Extended (Journaled)).

PS You could get a cheap external caddy to use the removed disk as an external drive.

Should be easy, as you say, but OP says all 4 bays are full, so does that mean it’s got 4 hard drives in it?

As long as it’s not the drive with the system volume on it that they want to swap out, then it’s a bit more involved.

 

[Philip Watkins]

Should be easy, as you say, but OP says all 4 bays are full, so does that mean it’s got 4 hard drives in it?

As long as it’s not the drive with the system volume on it that they want to swap out, then it’s a bit more involved.

If it's the boot volume the system won't let him do it.

 

[Dry Rot]

If there's no raid just crack on with drag and drop. Use disk utility to wipe the drive when your done, before you take it out unless you want to keep it as a back-up. Insert the new disk and use disk utility to format it (Mac OS Extended (Journaled)).

PS You could get a cheap external caddy to use the removed disk as an external drive.

Thanks, that sounds brilliant! I like the idea of making the spare into an external drive. I edit videos and they certainly use up space.

 

[Dry Rot]

If it's the boot volume the system won't let him do it.

No, it won't be. I won't be touching that!

 

[Dry Rot]

Should be easy, as you say, but OP says all 4 bays are full, so does that mean it’s got 4 hard drives in it?

As long as it’s not the drive with the system volume on it that they want to swap out, then it’s a bit more involved.

Yes, four drives installed so no spare bays.

The drive I am planning to remove is one that was on an old G5 for staorage that I simply moved across. It is not the system drive.

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

Yes, four drives installed so no spare bays.

The drive I am planning to remove is one that was on an old G5 for staorage that I simply moved across. It is not the system drive.

Crack on then as @Philip Watkins has suggested.

 

[Philip Watkins]

Crack on then as @Philip Watkins has suggested.

Off topic, like your new avatar

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

Off topic, like your new avatar

Some random fella lent me it

 

[Philip Watkins]

Some random fella lent me it

Think he nicked it from somewhere on the net

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

Think he nicked it from somewhere on the net

...cripes! Do you think they'll come looking for it

 

[Av Gorritt]

When I read the heading to this post , - Old Mac Pro -- I was taken back to my mis spent youth . I used to catch the midnight train from Manchester Piccadilly to either Leicester or Loughboro , on my way back from a "48" to the remount depot at Melton Mowbray . I used to while away the waiting time in a cafe on the station approach . There used to be an old lassie there , touting for trade - class act too , £5.oo for a working lad (she said ) ! But the point was that she had on an old off white mac with side pockets , but the pockets had no linings , and so a potential customer could have a feel through the pocketless pockets , and have a free sample of the goods on offer so to speak . I had an odd sample once , but I never took it further -- Honest !

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

You certainly know how to liven up a pretty dull thread A G!

 

[Av Gorritt]

You certainly know how to liven up a pretty dull thread A G!

We can but try ! And a Merry Christmas to all our readers , There ya go , I'll be first

 

[Dry Rot]

We can but try ! And a Merry Christmas to all our readers , There ya go , I'll be first

Bah! Humbug!