[Doug in LA]

Hello friends, long time lurker, first post...

Last fall, Seagate announced these drives:
Seagate Technology - Cheetah� 15K.6 Hard Drives
and just today I noticed the specific model numbers for each iteration down towards the bottom; I suspect this means they are finally imminently available. I've been waiting to upgrade my Mac/drive system for just this day. I'll want to put one of those 450GB SAS drives into bay 2 of a new Mac Pro. My questions are:
What is the normal lag time between the release announcement (w/model #'s) and their actual availability?
Is it relatively easy to install on my own (I don't recall seeing online instructions but then since I haven't had in hand I haven't searched Apple support)? Would I be better off having a third party retailer build to order?
Will the drive as shipped from Seagate (or a retailer) need any specific care/jumpers/etc.?
Is there a vendor who's superior in customer service?

I'd like to thank you all in closing; you don't know it but you sometimes help the unseen.

Doug

[mduell]

Just so we're all on the same page, I want to make sure you are aware that installing SAS drives in the Mac Pro requires the $800 Apple RAID card and you cannot have any SATA drives installed.

Originally Posted by Doug in LA 

What is the normal lag time between the release announcement (w/model #'s) and their actual availability?

Hours to months. Keep banging the usual sources (Google Shopping, etc) to see when they show up.

Originally Posted by Doug in LA 

Is it relatively easy to install on my own (I don't recall seeing online instructions but then since I haven't had in hand I haven't searched Apple support)? Would I be better off having a third party retailer build to order?

Yes, it's easy to install. Pull out of the extra drive trays and shove it in.

Originally Posted by Doug in LA 

Will the drive as shipped from Seagate (or a retailer) need any specific care/jumpers/etc.?

No.

Originally Posted by Doug in LA 

Is there a vendor who's superior in customer service?

Newegg

[MacMovieMaker]

Originally Posted by mduell 

Just so we're all on the same page, I want to make sure you are aware that installing SAS drives in the Mac Pro requires the $800 Apple RAID card and you cannot have any SATA drives installed.

Only partly correct. You need some kind of SAS host adapter, of which the Apple RAID card is one example (and the only one sold by Apple), and you CAN have SATA drives installed. While it is not "officially" supported to mix SATA and SAS drives with the Apple RAID card, I've been running such a setup for months with no problems. I believe the reason it's not officially supported is because it is not possible (or at least not a good idea) to have SAS and SATA drives as part of the same RAID volume.

Originally Posted by Doug in LA 

Is there a vendor who's superior in customer service?

I prefer ZipZoomFly, besides which AFAIK NewEgg doesn't carry Seagate SAS drives.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by MacMovieMaker 

Only partly correct. You need some kind of SAS host adapter, of which the Apple RAID card is one example (and the only one sold by Apple), and you CAN have SATA drives installed. While it is not "officially" supported to mix SATA and SAS drives with the Apple RAID card, I've been running such a setup for months with no problems. I believe the reason it's not officially supported is because it is not possible (or at least not a good idea) to have SAS and SATA drives as part of the same RAID volume.

Are there any other SAS host adapters that work with the Mac Pro's drive bays under OS X?
Good to know the SAS/SATA mixing limitation is suggested, not absolute.

Originally Posted by MacMovieMaker 

I prefer ZipZoomFly, besides which AFAIK NewEgg doesn't carry SAS drives.

Newegg does carry SAS, in fact I linked to the 15k SAS page in my post.

[MacMovieMaker]

Originally Posted by mduell 

Are there any other SAS host adapters that work with the Mac Pro's drive bays under OS X?

Depends on what you mean by "work". Last time I checked the Apple RAID card was the only option that let you boot off the drives on the card, but I don't know if that's still the case. The Mac Pro uses the SFF 8087 connector for the 4 drive bays, so it's more a question of physical cable length than anything else as to whether or not cards like the ATTO ExpressSAS H308 or R348 will work easily, though worst case you'll have to buy an extender cable.

Some people have installed a SAS host adapter in their Mac Pro, connected the drive bay cable to the SAS card, then connected a SFF 8087 to 4xSATA cable to the motherboard and connected either an external eSATA drive to boot off of or put a SATA drive in the second optical bay and connected that up.

Personally, I want a SAS drive for my boot drive if nowhere else, which is why I got the Apple card.

Originally Posted by mduell 

Newegg does carry SAS, in fact I linked to the 15k SAS page in my post.

So they do. But they don't list any Seagate SAS drives, which is what I was thinking of.

[MacMovieMaker]

I had a surprisingly productive chat with someone in Presales support at Seagate about the availability of the Cheetah 15k.6. As anyone who cares has noticed, actual shipment of the Cheetah 15k.6 has been delayed relative to the expectations set by the March 4 press release.

1. Seagate considers the drive an OEM product and does not plan to distribute it through retail channels. We didn't get into it, but I expect any place that's not currently carrying the Cheetah 15K.5 won't be carrying the 15K.6 later.
2. Despite the press release, it's not yet shipping even to OEMs.

The rep told me Seagate expects to get Cheetah 15k.6 drives to OEMs by the end of April 2008, but warned that there can be a substantial delay between the time an OEM gets a drive and the time it offers it for sale as they go through and configure the new item into their system. So Dell might get them first but still might not be the first to offer them for sale.

Widespread shipping of the Cheetah 15k.6 isn't expected until June-July 2008. I don't know where ZipZoomFly fits into this schedule. I hope it's early, because the 300GB 15K.5 is currently $700 from Dell and $475 from ZipZoomFly, so you can guess where I want to buy from.