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160gb drive shows 31gb on G4

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ezkirk

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 11, 2004
25
0
Hong Kong
I have a G4 533mhz and I have just bought a Seagate 160gb hard drive. When I turnedd the computer on it asked me to initialise the new drive, so I did. However it is only indicating that the drive has 31.34gb available!

Are there any 3rd party apps to initialise this drive or is it too big for my computer to handle? (I used to have an 80gb drive and it worked).
 
MacsRgr8

MacsRgr8

macrumors G3
Sep 8, 2002
8,284
1,753
The Netherlands
ezkirk said:
Are there any 3rd party apps to initialise this drive or is it too big for my computer to handle? (I used to have an 80gb drive and it worked).
Click to expand...

HD too big for you ATA-bus....

All PowerMacs before the MDD ones, can only "see" max 128 GB on their ATA-bus. (it is strange you only can use 31 GB...)

You can get a PCI ATA-133 card to which you can attach large disks.
 
Daveway

Daveway

macrumors 68040
Jul 10, 2004
3,370
1
New Orleans / Lafayette, La
ezkirk said:
I have a G4 533mhz and I have just bought a Seagate 160gb hard drive. When I turnedd the computer on it asked me to initialise the new drive, so I did. However it is only indicating that the drive has 31.34gb available!

Are there any 3rd party apps to initialise this drive or is it too big for my computer to handle? (I used to have an 80gb drive and it worked).
Click to expand...

Is this a tower you have? If not your out of luck. But, if you have a tower you need to buy a new ATA bus card.

You could always go external.
 
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ezkirk

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 11, 2004
25
0
Hong Kong
Cheers guys,

I already have a firewire 160gb external that is full!!!! i am also trying to get my SCSI scanner to work with my Adaptec 2906 and Orange Grappler+ cards but no luck... would either of those cards help; with the HD issue?
 
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ezkirk

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 11, 2004
25
0
Hong Kong
problem almost solved...

I checked the hard drive again and I had set it up as what I thought was a slave device (using two jumpers or bridges on the far right and inner right heads). After checking the documentation it stated that the HD can be reduced to 31gb by using a jumper on the far right heads. I just removed it and the Drive capacity went up to 128gb (as mentioned before the limit of this Mac). I am happy with 128gb as this 160gb HD only cost One US dollar more than a 120gb one!
 
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