My 2006 Mac Pro desktop hard drives, all 4 of them. Can I install them all into an Enclosure so that I can access them with my MacBook? Most of the data is photos and video.
If so, what do I need to know and what type of enclosure should I be looking to buy?
Many thanks!
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Earlier Mac models
if your old macPro 2006 is still working, you can already access all those files using Mac File Sharing.
Set up file sharing on Mac - Apple Support
MacPro drive bays provide a SATA interface, and any enclosure with SATA interfaces for the drives should do the job.
I use an old MacPro (BUT -- Must be running at least 10.13 High Sierra) as a Backup Server. Most Macs in the house send their Time Machine backups there automatically.
OWC/Macsales sells a 4-drive enclosure for SATA drives. I bought one and loaded it with older drives to store backups. You can organize it however you like. Mine is set up as one big logical drive implemented on several different individual drives. JBOD RAID -- "Just a Bunch of Drives" (pasted together into one).
If the drives date from 2006, I could see copying the data off of them – but you might not want to use them as data storage drives, or as your main backup drives, going forwards.
Hard drives that have been used a lot may be prone to failure. Those that have been sitting unused for a very long time may develop problems like the lubricant gumming up and keeping the drive from spinning up properly. (SSDs are not immune from long-term decay, either; leave them unpowered for years and the data might "evaporate".)
Also, there's been a bit of improvement in hard drives since 2006. You may find that you can consolidate the data from all four of those old hard drives onto a single modern hard drive (which you would then want to back up) – so that you only need a single-drive enclosure on your desk, instead of a possibly noisier four-drive one.
Just took a look at the OWC site as of December 24, 2006 (via the Wayback Machine). The front page is offering internal hard drives of up to 750 GB and FireWire storage of up to 1.5 TB (possibly in a dual-drive enclosure).
Then at the current site, where you can get desktop hard drives in sizes up to 24 TB.
Other World Computing – OWC Mercury Elite Pro
Other World Computing – OWC Mercury Elite Pro (USB 3 + eSATA + FireWire 800)
Your 2006 Mac Pro has USB 2.0 ports and FireWire 800 ports, so if you were going to transfer data by using the old Mac Pro to copy it to a new drive, the OWC drives and enclosures that have USB + FW800 might be attractive. You could plug them into the old Mac using FireWire 800, then move them to a new Mac and plug them in using USB 3.
Can I use 2006 Mac Pro hard drive with my MacBook?
