Maximum size for a HD in a eMac 700MHz?

zatrat

zatrat

Registered
What's the maximum size for a HD in a eMac 700MHz?
Can the eMac handle any size? How big can I get?

If there's anyone out there with personal experience of it... please tell me a bit about the upsides [and the downsides if there's any].
 
Largest size internal HD on your 700 MHz eMac? 128GB - largest actually available that will work for you is 120 GB.
If you need a lot of storage, then your best bet is an external FireWire drive. I have seen drives with up to 2 TB of storage, but that's with multiple drives in one case. The normal single drive cases, up to 500 GB.
 
Are you sure? I found this... so now I'm confused...???

http://www.macforumz.com/-eMac-Maximum-Hard-Drive-Size-160Gb-ftopict127746.html

I have one of the first consumer eMacs - 700Mhz, 40Gig HD, standard
CD-RW combo. A few weeks ago I upgraded it with a 250 Gig HD and a
Pioneer 107 Superdrive. The original disk was 5400rpm, the new one is
7200. The speed difference is noticable and the Pioneer superdrive is
fantastic.

Apple warns against using 7200rpm drives because of heat build-up, but
that doesn't seem to be a problem. There is a noticable flicker on the
screen when the disk starts up, such as when the system is coming out of
sleep mode. It doesn't seem to be much more than what I remember with
the old 5400rpm disk though.

One thing to what out for is the interface the disk uses. My eMac only
supports ATA-100. Most large disks available today are ATA-133, and
unless they will interface with an ATA-100 controller they can't be
used. Luckily Hitachi makes a 250Gig disk that runs on both that Fry's
had on sale a few weeks ago. Mine cost $75 new.

Overall it was a worthwhile upgrade for me.

good luck!
-bob
 
OK, the hard drive will hook up, but you'll only see about 128 GB of space. Because of the ATA-133 standard, the drives are able to be larger and of course, faster. Usually the drives are backwards compatible with previous standards, just like PC-133 memory can be backwards compatible with PC-100 and PC-66 speeds.

If you were to hook up this ATA-133 250 GB drive to your ATA-100 controller, it would function but you would only see about ~128 GB of it. There are software workarounds for this (search the forums for the links within the available threads about this) but it's always better to go the hardware route if you can since it would be more stable and faster.
 
From the original eMac developer notes:
"The Ultra DMA IDE interface, also called Ultra-DMA/66 and ATA-5, is an improved version of the EIDE interface."
48-bit addressing, or large hard drive support, is an option with the ATA-5 interface. The link to another thread that was posted here - supports the fact that a 700 MHz eMac should completely recognize a hard drive larger than 128 GB.

Install the big drive - if it formats to the full size in your eMac - that's a Good Thing™
 
The hard drive will hook up. OK. But I'll only be able to see 128 GB of space...
Does that meen I'll only be able to use that space and not the full 250 GB?

Files stored on it will they become invisible?

*(•..•)*
||||
* *
 
It's possible that your hard drive bus will work with large hard drives. According to the link that you found, someone else has reported that your 700 MHz eMac will support the large hard drive. That may be true. If you try it, you will find out for certain. If only 128 GB can be accessed, then you can't use the un-recognized space, other than through a software solution.
 
Aaaah... but then there is a solution.
So then I'll try the "bigger is better" strategy... and install the bigger one.
Tanx.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top