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1TB Hard drive in an iMac G5?

O

orangejedi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 12, 2008
23
0
Hi, I recently found out that my iMac G5 (Ambient LS) can support a hard drive of up to 144 Petabytes. Wow. So I'm looking around for the biggest drive I can get my hands on.
I know that the computer uses SATA II, but I'm not sure if there are other factors such as the height of the drive or maximum interface speed?
Would a hard drive with these specs work?

1 or 1.5 Terabyte Capacity
Serial ATA 3.0Gbps Interface / SATA300
32MB Buffer Size
7200 RPM Rotation Speed
Seek Time: 8.9 ms
Data Transfer Rate: 300 MBps
Dimensions: 4in x 5.8in x 1in or 1.028in

(Here's a link to the drive:
http://www.macmall.com/macmall/shop...+Hard+Drive-Internal+Hard+Drives&dpno=7530320

If not, what should I look for?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
 
I'm in the same situation. I want to get a new internal hard drive for my iMac G5 (17" 1.8GHz, Rev. B) but I don't need it nearly as big as 1TB, maybe 250gb as I won't be using it much (I have a new aluminum iMac I'm using now, just trying to fix this G5 as the hard drive failed.)

So, are there any requirements I must look for in purchasing a new internal hdd for my G5 iMac? Are you completely sure it's SATA II? Anything else I should know?
 
orangejedi said:
Hi, I recently found out that my iMac G5 (Ambient LS) can support a hard drive of up to 144 Petabytes. Wow. So I'm looking around for the biggest drive I can get my hands on.
I know that the computer uses SATA II, but I'm not sure if there are other factors such as the height of the drive or maximum interface speed?
Would a hard drive with these specs work?

1 or 1.5 Terabyte Capacity
Serial ATA 3.0Gbps Interface / SATA300
32MB Buffer Size
7200 RPM Rotation Speed
Seek Time: 8.9 ms
Data Transfer Rate: 300 MBps
Dimensions: 4in x 5.8in x 1in or 1.028in

(Here's a link to the drive:
http://www.macmall.com/macmall/shop...+Hard+Drive-Internal+Hard+Drives&dpno=7530320

If not, what should I look for?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Click to expand...

A drive of that size (or anything smaller) will work, but imo one of the most important things to think about is the heat. A lot of iMac G5s have been fried due to heat problems... the one I use for work has a fan that blows loudly almost continuously, and it's not because of dust! Look for a quiet and cool drive if you can. Sometimes this info can be hard to find, though, because drive temps aren't listed in the specifications.

It might be best to find a model or two you like, then look them up in Google to see if some forums have details like the drive's normal operating temperature. If it's hot, avoid it.
 
I have put into my 20" ALS a 1TB hard drive

model SAMSUNG HD103UJ

I have not seen any great temp swings
 
bizzle said:
Ambient Light Sensor.

Before you drop any money into a non-iSight iMac G5, you should take off the back and see if you have any bulging capacitors on the logic board.
Click to expand...
Well I'm not too good at this stuff and I don't really know what to look at and see what's normal and what's not inside the machine but when unscrewing some screws around the hard drive one of the wires disconnected from one of the boards, so now there is some random cable on my hard drive and I have no clue what it's supposed to plug into. I'm having trouble finding videos or pics/instructions of iMac G5 17" als disassembly instructions.
Edit: Nevermind I see they're on the apple website.

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/imacG5_17inch_harddrive.pdf

It says (pg 8) "leave the cables attached to your logic board" one of them disconnected and I can't find where to plug it back in, is it possible to get plugged back in easily?
 
Lay it screen-down on a table. There are three screws on the bottom with the RAM door, unscrew and the back panel lifts off.
 
bizzle said:
Lay it screen-down on a table. There are three screws on the bottom with the RAM door, unscrew and the back panel lifts off.
Click to expand...
Yeah I knew that but I didn't know how to specifically get the HDD out safely, but I did anyways and a cable got disconnected from the logic board, but its still attached to the HDD. I have no clue where to plug it back in. I made a little video showing which cable exactly and I'll upload it to youtube now.
 
I have Seagate, WD Green and Samsung F1's in my Mac Pro, the 1TB F1's are much much cooler than the other two drives. If you need a cooler running drive, I'd opt for a Samsung.
 
Take out both RAM modules and see the connector circled below.

The plug will only fit in one way.
 

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Any 3.5" Internal SATA hard drive will work fine.

I heard someone comment about only needing 250GB. Remember, with storage space it's always better to have more than not enough! It's harder to add on later after you've transferred all your files and used up some space.

With the way prices of hard drives have dropped in the past few months, there's no reason you shouldn't get a 1TB in there. You can get a great 1TB drive for just around $100 at Newegg. GREAT deals.

The install is easy too---don't fret. If you follow the directions perfectly you won't mess anything up!
 
Okay, I searched 3.5" sata on newegg and it came with these 3 results:

1TB Samsung - $94.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152102

750GB Samsung - $79.99 (special limited-time sale)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152100

74GB Western Digital - $99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136033

They're all basically the same price (almost) but the thing that really makes me confused- why is the 74GB one so expensive? What's the best bang for the buck? Any other recommendations? Not looking to spend more than $100, preferably $30-80
 
armoguy94 said:
Okay, I searched 3.5" sata on newegg and it came with these 3 results:

1TB Samsung - $94.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152102

750GB Samsung - $79.99 (special limited-time sale)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152100

74GB Western Digital - $99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136033

They're all basically the same price (almost) but the thing that really makes me confused- why is the 74GB one so expensive? What's the best bang for the buck? Any other recommendations? Not looking to spend more than $100, preferably $30-80
Click to expand...

That drive is a 10000 RPM drive. More commonly used in servers and gaming PC's, although you could use it if you wanted to. You could get a small internal drive for your operating system and most of the applications you use, and then use an external drive for your documents and media. Raptors are sweet drives but the 300 giggers aren't cheap enough for me yet.

Most desktop PC's have 7200 RPM drives these days.

Personally I'm not a fan of Samsung drives, I like Seagates and Western Digital's. I had a pair of Samsung 160's about two years back and they were fairly slow drives.

This right here is probably one of the best 1TB drives out right now. It's $104.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136151

Here's a 750, a bit cheaper.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136150
 
Heat

geerlingguy said:
...but imo one of the most important things to think about is the heat. A lot of iMac G5s have been fried due to heat problems...
Click to expand...

Okay, so the Seagate 1.5TB Drive reportedly has an operating temperature from about 0 - 60 degrees Celsius.

Does anyone know if this is too hot for a G5?
 
Hmmmm...
iStat Pro reports my current drive (original from Apple) to be running at around 65 degrees.
...and the fan is not running on high speed or anything.
I guess if you think about it this old drive is now 4 years old... maybe new tech has brought temps down, and a hot drive today would have been a cool one four years ago (when 250GB was massive! :rolleyes:)

Or iStat could just be way off.
 
:eek::eek::eek: Petabyte!!!!! Do they even make a drive that size???? Obviously it wouldn't be available for consumer electronics but WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!! that's a lot of space! :eek:
 
Need to upgrade my iMac G5 (early 2008) to 1TB

Is there any documentation on how to replace the hard drive? I noticed Apple does not provide a proper manual just a user guide.

I noticed the you tube videos but wanted to see some documentation.

Also any suggestions on a brand of hard drive to put in for the 1TB upgrade.

it has a seagate 320GB now
 
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