Putting new hard drive in old G4?

[likegluelikecrew]

I just got a 002 and now I'm looking around for an internal or external hard drive for it. I have a 4 or 5 year old G4 Dual processor 450 mhz with a 30 gig hd. I heard through the grapevine that you can't put a 250 gig internal hard drive in the older G4's, and that the most you can put in is like 120 and it has to be of a special type. Anybody know anything about this? Also, if I get an external hd, will I have the same problem. Lastly, can anybody recommend a particular brand or size for a hard drive to run a 002 on? Thanks, take care...

[sphonemus]

I would get an external firewire drive of moderate size. 250 gig drives scare me. When it dies, you'll be out of a lot of data, and if you're backing up to another medium, you don't need 250 gigs. I'm more comfortable with multiple smaller drives. You might be able to find better places but the place i default to when i need drives and such is macsales.com. I would also recommend getting processor upgrades. I just got a 1.4gHz replacement for my 400mHz processor and I love all the new power!

[maccool]

yup, pre-MDD G4's can only see a maximum of 128GB (or 137.5GB, depending on what kind of GB's you count with, base2 or base10) for any drive on the ATA bus. Intech's HiCap Driver is a software workaround if you use OSX 10.2 or later. Firewire drives don't suffer from this limit. My suggestion is to go Serial ATA. FirmTek's SeriTek/1S2 SATA host card has 2 independent SATA channels, and no drive size limit. Put OS and ProTools on one SATA drive, media on the other, and backup to external Firewire drive. The SeriTek is $66, and your choice of drives from 80GB/$100 to 250GB/$260. You can find all this stuff here.

Hope this helps.

[likegluelikecrew]

Hmmm, I've investigated it a little bit, seems I can get a LaCie 250 gig external drive for $249, with an Oxford 911 chip and 7200 rpm. Is it worth it paying the extra bucks to go the internal route with the SATA card? Exactly how much faster would it be and are there other reasons to stick with the internal drive solution? Thanks, take care...

[cleft]

I agree that a 250GB can be a bit overkill unless you have another large drive to backup to. I have 2, 80GB drives in my Dual-450 (one for OS/ProTools and one for audio). For $250, you could get both an internal and an external drive if you shop around a bit. As far as SATA, the only real benefit I'd see is that you could later transfer that drive to a G5. I very much doubt you'll see a speed improvement... at least a noticeable one. Remember, your still limited to a 66MHz bus.

[where02190]

The 30gb drive is more than ample for a system drive, that holds OS and applications only. I'd recommend installing a SECOND internal HDD, my preference being an IBM/Hitachi 8mb cache drive, 120gb. (under $100 from www.pricewatch.com. Apple has instructions for installing a second drive on their website, just click on this link.

I'd also recommend getting a FW drive of the same size for redundant backup. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. If the basket breakes(fails) you're screwed.

Here, we have 3 copies of everything at all times. The general rule is nothing is backed up til it's backed up twice.

I'd also recommend a reinitialization of your system drive if you've been recording to it, or have never reinitialized it. Backup all data first, the boot from disc and use the apple disc utility. This will defrag the drive, and give you a clean isntall of your OS and all apps. It's a bit time consuming but worth it, your mac will run at peak efficiency.

[likegluelikecrew]

Thanks so much for the advice! I just wanted to double check with you before I picked this internal drive up... even though it's Hitachi/IBM, it will work with a Mac G4 right? I know, it may be a stupid question, but I just want to make sure I'm getting the right thing. I found it on pricewatch.com for $84, here's the link...
http://nt-micro.com/ntik/details.asp?item=ht120h8mb
Is this the exact product you were referring to? Let me know and I'll pick it up today. Once again, thanks so much for all the help, this board rules...

[where02190]

Yes that drive will work well. You'll need screws to mount it in the bracket, but you can get them at any hardware store.

[likegluelikecrew]

Hey thanks, I really appreciate all the help, I'll order that today. Can't wait to get this 002 going, take care!