What is maximum hardrive size for PowerBook G3?

B

bernie123

Registered
Hey guys,
I'm planning on replacing the original 12GB drive that came with my PowerBook G3 Series "Pismo" 500mhz (Firewire model) with something larger.

I've got my eye on a Samsung 2.5" IDE 80GB, model # MP0804H.

Is there a physical hardrive size limitation to the motherboard on this PowerBook? And if so, can someone tell me what it is?

Someone here was very helpful in pointing out that I could not format a drive larger than 128GB on my G4 Quicksilver, I'm hoping the same person gets to read this now and find an answer for the above.

many thanks,
Bernie
 
The PowerBook G3s have the same limitations as the desktop systems of the same period. You should be safe with an 80 GB drive.

If you need more internal storage, you could do what I've done with my Wallstreet... I have a 40 GB internal drive and a 20 GB drive in the expansion bay that would normally be used for the battery (plus I replaced the CD-ROM drive in the other bay with a CDRW drive).

While these parts are hard to find for Wallstreets, they are around for Pismos. In fact, you could buy an expansion bay kit and put your current 12 GB into that after you install the 80 GB.

That is the beauty of the PowerBook G3s, they provided a lot of options... far more than any other model before or since.
 
Hey thanks for you input RacerX,
Now my only concern is whether something I read about Pismos not being compatible with ATA6 drives is true or not. Apparently the G3 were only compatible with ATA5...

...would you or anyone reading this have any knowledge of this limitation?

Tx, Bernie
 
Here we are 6 days later, couldn't wait for input from anyone so I went ahead and took a gamble, bought the Samsung 2.5" IDE 80GB, model # MP0804H for my G3 PowerBook (Pismo 500mhz), and the thing went in and formatted beautifully, no problem running the ATA6 interface, although I was told the motherboard may only recognize the slower ATA5. Installed 10.3.9 no problems.
Can someone tell me how I'd go about finding out if this new ATA6 drive is spinning at it's top end of (what is it?) 100? 133? or would it be running down to the speed of the older controller at 66?

Tx, Bernie
 
I think everything takes it's cue from the speed of the logic board.

That having been said, a 66 MHz bus is still faster than the read times on either a 5400 rpm or 7200 rpm drive, and you would most likely start getting the bottleneck with a 10,000 rpm drive.

The major slow down with a 66 MHz system is actually between the memory and processor. One of the big speed jumps for the G3 systems (and the last generation of 604e systems) was getting the L2 cache off of the slower main bus. Most G3s have a dedicated cache bus running at at least half the processor speed (and in the case of the last versions of the 8600 and 9600 series, the cache had it's own dedicated 100 MHz bus to the processor).

The only possible slowdown might come if your drive has it's own very large cache (I know some desktop drives come with 8 MB of cache). But the memory and bus speed are always going to be the limiting factor on that system.


Still, mine (running with a 500 MHz G4) has been a great system. And I know of one person who was able to upgrade the video on his Wallstreet via a PCMCIA card (he is running at 10.3.9 also), so there is that too.

And I was able to find a place that does have expansion bay kits still (here).
 
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