internal hard drive for G3
- Thread starter papa56k
- Start date
ElDiabloConCaca
U.S.D.A. Prime
I recommend the Western Digital 120GB "Special Edition" 8MB cache hard drive, available for around $100.
I would recommend a Western Digital hard drive over a Maxtor anyday, but that's just a personal preference.
Your machine will not support hard drives larger than 137GB, so anything up to that is fine. You can add support for larger hard drives by installing an ATA PCI expansion card, available for about $100 (here's one: http://www.sonnettech.com/product/tempo_ata133.html). I believe that the specific card linked there isn't fully compatible with Tiger yet, but there should be a fix out shortly. The throughput of your hard drives will increase greatly with a card like that, since the ATA bus on the motherboard is a lowly 33MHz (while that card is 133MHz).
On a side note, I have a card very similar to that one (it's a Sonnet Tempo ATA/100 instead of a 133) and it functions flawlessly with Tiger.
I would recommend a Western Digital hard drive over a Maxtor anyday, but that's just a personal preference.
Your machine will not support hard drives larger than 137GB, so anything up to that is fine. You can add support for larger hard drives by installing an ATA PCI expansion card, available for about $100 (here's one: http://www.sonnettech.com/product/tempo_ata133.html). I believe that the specific card linked there isn't fully compatible with Tiger yet, but there should be a fix out shortly. The throughput of your hard drives will increase greatly with a card like that, since the ATA bus on the motherboard is a lowly 33MHz (while that card is 133MHz).
On a side note, I have a card very similar to that one (it's a Sonnet Tempo ATA/100 instead of a 133) and it functions flawlessly with Tiger.
I have a 120GB (8mb cache) Seagate drive in the old Beige G3 desktop, works great. Picked it up at Best Buy about a year and half ago for around $90 after a rebate.
Definitely stay away from Maxtor...WD is ok, but I personally won't put anything but a Segate drive in my machines anymore. They're the only drives I haven't had multiple problems with. I have had WDs that have worked alright for me though. If I was forced to choose something other than Segate, it would be WD.
Tiger Direct:
WD 120GB 8mb = $89.99
Segate 120GB 8mb = $89.99 (Same as the one I have, only doesn't come in the fancy 4-color printed box and saves you $10.)
Definitely stay away from Maxtor...WD is ok, but I personally won't put anything but a Segate drive in my machines anymore. They're the only drives I haven't had multiple problems with. I have had WDs that have worked alright for me though. If I was forced to choose something other than Segate, it would be WD.
Tiger Direct:
WD 120GB 8mb = $89.99
Segate 120GB 8mb = $89.99 (Same as the one I have, only doesn't come in the fancy 4-color printed box and saves you $10.)
vaughntreco
Registered
Here's a related, but different question: I have a beige Power Macintosh G3/266 w/ 4GB hard drive. A friend just gave me a WD Protege EIDE 40GB drive and I connetced it to the hard drive cable in my PM, but it doesn't show up when I turn on my Mac. Can my G3/266 recognize two hard drives?
ElDiabloConCaca
U.S.D.A. Prime
I do not think so, unless you replace the CD/DVD drive with a hard drive. Then again, I'm not sure.
One thing I am sure of is that your beige G3 machine is subject to the "8GB limit," meaning that in order for your computer to recognize the drive as a valid startup disk, you must install OS X on the very first 8GB of the drive. Using Disk Utility or Drive Setup, simply make sure that the top-most partition is less than 8GB, and you should be able to install OS X on there.
One thing I am sure of is that your beige G3 machine is subject to the "8GB limit," meaning that in order for your computer to recognize the drive as a valid startup disk, you must install OS X on the very first 8GB of the drive. Using Disk Utility or Drive Setup, simply make sure that the top-most partition is less than 8GB, and you should be able to install OS X on there.
Beige machines with the revision A ROM can't use a slave HD, however revision B and beyond models can. You probably have a revision A model...I think only a few 266s were Bs, while most 300s and 333s were B and C revisions.
Options:
More info: http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/G3-ZONE/IDE/
Options:
- Replace the current drive with the one you have, then format & partition (less than 8gb for 1st partition if using OS X).
- Replace the ROM with a newer version (Rev B or Rev C, probably cheaper than a new IDE controller card).
- Add a new IDE controller (PCI card).
- Use the SCSI controller with a small SCSI drive for the main (boot) drive, then install the 40GB one as a file drive in place of the original drive.
More info: http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/G3-ZONE/IDE/