HD or SSD for swapping data between new iMac and Mac Pro

[Chris L]

I just got the new 21 inch iMac ( top model and added 16gb ram ) and want to try to work on jobs by swapping from my 2010 Mac Pro ( at my studio ) and my iMac ( at my house ). I want to keep my ACTIVE JOBS on a HD or SSD and bring it from one location to another. My question resolves around the available ports for each computer; the mac pro has firewire 800, usb 2, firewire 400. The new imac has USB 3 and Thunderbolt. Can anyone recommend a HD / SSD that will work between these two computers?  And do I need some sort of port adaptor? I am not that tech savvy so please forgive me if there is an obvious answer here, and if there is a solution please explain it in simple terms. Thanks in advance.

[Jeremy Roussak]

I just got the new 21 inch iMac ( top model and added 16gb ram ) and want to try to work on jobs by swapping from my 2010 Mac Pro ( at my studio ) and my iMac ( at my house ). I want to keep my ACTIVE JOBS on a HD or SSD and bring it from one location to another. My question resolves around the available ports for each computer; the mac pro has firewire 800, usb 2, firewire 400. The new imac has USB 3 and Thunderbolt. Can anyone recommend a HD / SSD that will work between these two computers?  And do I need some sort of port adaptor? I am not that tech savvy so please forgive me if there is an obvious answer here, and if there is a solution please explain it in simple terms. Thanks in advance.

Most, if not all, USB3 devices will work when connected through USB2; they'll just be (a lot) slower.

Apple sell a Thunderbolt to Firewire adaptor: it's £25 in the UK. I suspect a FW800 drive and an adaptor would be your best bet.

Jeremy

[BJL]

One option is the Seagate Backup Plus product line, either the portable or desktop versions. They come with USB3, but if USB2 speeds on the Mac Pro get you down, you can buy a $25 adaptor for FireWire 800. Seagate also promises a Thunderbolt adaptor for thr portable versions, but I do not see it for sale yet.

P. S. It is usually best to skip the special "Mac OS versions": just reformat the "regular PC" version.

[Wayne Fox]

Sort of a similar issue, I work on a new Powerbook at my store, but I have a decked out MacPro at home.   I purchased a couple of Seagate backup plus USB 3 external drives, and a USB 3 card for my MacPro.  USB 3 is much faster than firewire 800.

I also bought the Seagate Thunderbolt adaptor for the drives, but there isn't much speed advantage over USB 3 when running a single drive.  Since there isn't a thunderbolt card for the tower, USB 3 seems the best way to go right now.

[David S]

Sort of a similar issue, I work on a new Powerbook at my store, but I have a decked out MacPro at home.   I purchased a couple of Seagate backup plus USB 3 external drives, and a USB 3 card for my MacPro.  USB 3 is much faster than firewire 800.

I also bought the Seagate Thunderbolt adaptor for the drives, but there isn't much speed advantage over USB 3 when running a single drive.  Since there isn't a thunderbolt card for the tower, USB 3 seems the best way to go right now.

I also bought an USB 3 card for my Mac Pro and was amazed at the speed improvement of some drives and I also have two Magnum flash drives that are fast enought to use for serious backup. I did some 'casual' tests of them on USB 2 and USB 3 and got over a 75% speed improvement!

Dave S

[Chris L]

Sort of a similar issue, I work on a new Powerbook at my store, but I have a decked out MacPro at home.   I purchased a couple of Seagate backup plus USB 3 external drives, and a USB 3 card for my MacPro.  USB 3 is much faster than firewire 800.

I also bought the Seagate Thunderbolt adaptor for the drives, but there isn't much speed advantage over USB 3 when running a single drive.  Since there isn't a thunderbolt card for the tower, USB 3 seems the best way to go right now.

Thanks for this. How difficult was it to install that to the Mac Pro? 

[Wayne Fox]

Thanks for this. How difficult was it to install that to the Mac Pro? 

Pretty simple install.  Shut down, lay in on the side and remove the side (pop open the lever on the back and its out) open the side, undo the bar that holds all the cards in place, remove a cover for an empty slot, pop in the card.  Put the bar back on, put the cover back on, and restart. No tools necessary.

 Depending on the card you may have to install a driver.  I bought the version that has 2 eSATA ports and 2 USB ports, I have to 9TB raids I bought from OWC connected via eSata.  So one card takes care of everything.

[Graham Clark]

All of the recommendations are good here, however a SATA to USB3 adapter might be the easiest, lowest cost solution - $19.99. You can leave the 3.5" SATA drive in the aluminum sled, eject it in disk utility and then connect it to your iMac - done! Here's an example of one.

Graham