Installing an Ultra Ata/100 in Mac 10.2.8

A

alex2911

Registered
Hi,

I need some help installing a new 300GB harddrive. I just bought it but now reading the manual of my mac I am not sure wether it is compatible with my computer.

My operating system is Mac 10.2.8 and in the G4 users manual it says that for an Ata disk drive the drives has to be 3.9inch wide and 5.7 depth.

The Ata/100 I bought is actually a 3.5inch drive and I don't know wether I will be able to install it or if it will not work.

Any one who can help.... would be great.

Thanks.

Alexandra
 
Yes, it will work. Pretty much all 3.5" disk drives are the same, standard size. It should fit without any problem.

If your G4 computer is an older model (any G4 model that is NOT a mirrored drive door model) then you will also need an ATA PCI controller card to use the full 300GB of the hard drive, since your computer would not support 48-bit LBA (required for the computer to "see" and utilize anything beyond 128GB). I recommend the Sonnet Tempo ATA/133 card:

http://sonnettech.com/product/tempo_ata133.html
 
Hi ElDiabolo,

That was quick. Thanks so much. I have been looking at my Mac system information and it's Boot Room info is 4.4.8f2 . It is a Power Mac G4 (version 3.30). Is the 4.4.8f2 the same as 48-bit LBA?

I have partitioned my hard drive as well. Will this make any difference to the installation?

I will probably ask you another question tomorrow when I will be trying to install the whole HD.

Thanks again for such a fast response!

Alexandra
 
If your PowerMac has two optical doors in the middle-front of it that are shined like mirrors, then you're good to go.

If it does not, then you will need to purchase an ATA PCI card like the one I linked to above to use the full 300GB. No amount of partitioning will help: ie, you cannot create two 128GB partitions. Your computer will simply "see" the hard drive as a 128GB hard drive instead of a 300GB hard drive. You will be limited to 128GB total, partitions or not, without an ATA PCI card.
 
Hi,

I have just opened my mac. I could find one piece that looks like a mirror but it's only one with two 'doors' with holes on the side.

Think this might be what you are indicating?
It is actually closer to the back of the mac.

Alexandra
 
Ohh thank you.
My mac is the first one Eric. Which would mean the hard drive will work?
And where do i find the info for the ATA PCI card? Is it important?


Alexandra
 
If your Mac is the first one that eric linked to, then simply install the drive and away you go -- no need for an ATA PCI card.
 
Great. Thanks Mr Diablo. I will try it tomorrow. If I have some additional questions I will ask for your help again.

Good night.

alexandra
 
Hi El Diablo,

I have now managed to install the second hard drive and set it as a slave although in my mac manual it said one should set it in cable mode.

This however didn't work. And now it is set as a slave.

I could find the harddrive as a host in Network-Servers-host86-141....
The drive has 1KB and I have no idea whether this is the same as 300 gigabate?

Any suggestions would be great. On the drive now I have all the programs I use on my master hard drive. However I am not sure whether I can delete programs on the slave and still use the programs?
I primarily need it to edit film and store images.

Thanks.

Alexandra
 
Both hard drives, like eric said, NEED to be jumpered as "cable select" -- make sure that this is the way you have the drives jumpered.

It doesn't matter in what order the drives are connected to the ATA cable -- there is no performance gain from having one in a certain position over another, and the whole "master-slave" thing makes no difference either (master does not go faster than slave -- they could have easily called them "x" and "y" or "a" and "b" or "1" and "2" -- it's just a way to differentiate between devices).

Short answer: jumper both drives as cable select, and connect them up. Should be good-to-go.
 
Hi,

They are both in cable select mode now and I have installed them in the rear bay with the original drive at the back.

Can I move the hard drive somewhere else or do I have to leave it in Network-Servers?

As well can I delete the programs that were saved on it from the 'master' drive and still use it to save edits etc?

Thanks so much for your help!!

Alexandra
 
Hi

I hope you will be able to help me again after I have already placed so many questions.

It is regarding the second hard drive.
I saved all my files on the second drive and now as soon as I delete the files on my master drive, set in the cable mode as the other one, the files on the new drives are deleted as well.
Furthermore if I try to save a file on the second, new drive it is automatically saved on my original drive. The original is partitioned into a drive with all my 'programs' and another one for documents.
The file I am saving on the new second drive is also saved on my drive with the 'programs'. Any suggestions how I can avoid this. It does not make sense as I will soon got not enough space on the original drive when saving big files onto the new one.

Would the problem be solved if I set the original drive as the 'master' one.

I hope this does not sound too confusing...

Thanks.
Alexandra
 
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