Mac Hardware, G4/400 AGP with large hard drives?

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Mac Hardware >> G4/400 AGP with large hard drives?

by George Nospam » Sat, 01 Oct 2005 10:13:52 GMT

Greetings!

I have a G4/400 AGP Mac which has been retired from active use. I'd like
to set it up at home to run headless and control storage for my media
files using Timbuktu. I would like to move some 250 GB hard drives into
this machine, but it is my understanding that it cannot recognize
anything over 120 GB. So I have several questions:

1) Is this true?
2) If it is true, can I partition a 250 GB drive so that each partition
is less than 120 GB and use all parts of it?
3) If not, can I use a 250 GB drive in an external Firewire box and
expect the G4/AGP machine to recognize it? I have a 2-bay external
Firewire box containing a pair of 250 GB drives, but I haven't tried
them with this old a Mac. It works fine with a Quicksilver G4/867, but
that machine recognizes larger drives.

Thanks in advance for any informed responses!

George
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Mac Hardware >> G4/400 AGP with large hard drives?

by Greg Buchner » Sat, 01 Oct 2005 11:23:38 GMT


In article < XXXX@XXXXX.COM >,



Yes. Sort of...


It's not that simple. The ATA controller in the G4 only recognizes so
many blocks (2^28 total) on the hard drive. Physical blocks independent
of the partitioning. However, there is an OS X software solution that
will work with larger drives. You can't boot off of the larger drive,
but with this software solution, you could then partition and use the
larger drive.

< http://www.speedtools.com/ATA6.shtml> ;

Or you can get a PCI card that addresses this, or...


Yes, the limit only applies to the internal ATA controller. If you have
a firewire box that already does large hard drives, that capability
won't go away. At least in OS X...don't know about OS 9.

Greg B.

--
Actual e-mail address is gbuchner and I'm located at mn.rr.com
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Mac Hardware >> G4/400 AGP with large hard drives?

by andekl_no » Sat, 01 Oct 2005 18:03:45 GMT


Note that it comes without warranties, and it could. break down in the
next system update. Is it worth the (admittedly remote) risk ?


That's the way I'd recommend if you can spare $100 - more specifically
an ATA/133 card, e.g. from Acard. Apart from supplying a faster ATA
interface, those cards also usually support 4 hard drives. And Macs from
7200 to G5.

--
I recommend Macs to my friends, and Windows machines
to those whom I don't mind billing by the hour
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Mac Hardware >> G4/400 AGP with large hard drives?

by Greg Buchner » Sat, 01 Oct 2005 21:34:45 GMT

In article <1h3r4pq.22viro1435xelN% XXXX@XXXXX.COM >,




Yes, it'd good to mention that, and I should have thought of it. Also,
if something does go wrong with the drive(s), repairing them can be more
difficult with that high capacity driver installed unless you're booting
from a smaller driver and just using the larger drive for storage.

Greg B.

--
Actual e-mail address is gbuchner and I'm located at mn.rr.com
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Mac Hardware >> G4/400 AGP with large hard drives?

by George Nospam » Sun, 02 Oct 2005 00:25:16 GMT

In article < XXXX@XXXXX.COM >,



Thanks, Greg, for the pointer to this utility, and to Andras for the
caveat. I will probably check out this utility, but I don't want to
spring for a $100 ATA card; I can get an excellent two-bay FW 400 case
for $55 or so. That's slower, but still fast enough. I have two FW PCI
cards to put in this machine, providing 6 additional external ports,
plus a USB 2.0 card with 4 ports, so I have plenty of external
connectivity. I may just use 120s inside the machine (I have several of
those lying around) and put the 250s in the boxes. At the very least
I'll use a 120 as the boot drive and maybe experiment with a partitioned
250 as the second or third (in zip bay) internal drive.

Thanks again!

George
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Mac Hardware >> G4/400 AGP with large hard drives?

by Greg Buchner » Sun, 02 Oct 2005 05:10:54 GMT

In article < XXXX@XXXXX.COM >,



The partitioning will only work if you have that Hi-Cap driver
installed. Then you don't really need to partition unless you'll have a
need to access the drives when that driver isn't installed.

Partitioning will not work to get you past the the block limit of the
ATA controller. Note that the controller is the limiting factor and it
doesn't understand partitioning. It only understands number of blocks
on the drive. Partitioning is a function of the OS and can't get past
the limits of the ATA controller.

You can experiment, but I'll tell you now, those 250GB drives will end
up showing only 128GB.

You're best bet is the external firewire boxes. Put in three 120GB
drives internally and do want you want with the externals.

Greg B.

--
Actual e-mail address is gbuchner and I'm located at mn.rr.com
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----------

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Kernel version:
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-- 
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