2 x 500 Gb new HDD's in G5?!? - Please do help!

[Amphibian]

Today I purchased two new Samsung Spinpoint F1 500 Gb disks for my G5 2 x 1.8. I have a few questions before I go about trying to install them:

1. I'm planning on taking the current 160 Gb out and replacing it with these two. What's the best procedure to do this - concidering that I want to transfer all my files to one of them before I eventually take the 160 Gb out?

2. The current disc is in the master slot (#1). Can I install one of them, partition it, then drag all my files over on one partition and also install Leopard on another partition. Leaving me with two OS' on separate discs. Then take the 160 out and install the second one to use for storage of audio?

2.2. Can I then change slots - shifting the first installed 500 Gb disc, with the newly installed OS, to the #1 slot and installing the new one in the #2 slot? Does this make any sense?

3. What about the jumper settings? What do I do?

4. How many partitions do I divide the discs in and how large do they need to be for a good working, safe and versatile system?

Thank you so much in advance!!! Much obliged!!! // Ian

 

[toolbox]

My replies are in bold

Today I purchased two new Samsung Spinpoint F1 500 Gb disks for my G5 2 x 1.8. I have a few questions before I go about trying to install them:

1. I'm planning on taking the current 160 Gb out and replacing it with these two. What's the best procedure to do this - concidering that I want to transfer all my files to one of them before I eventually take the 160 Gb out?

Ok Put one of the drives in, boot the system up with the old drive, use carbon cloner to clone the contents of the 160gb drive across to the new 500 gb. Then remove the old 160 make sure it boots


2. The current disc is in the master slot (#1). Can I install one of them, partition it, then drag all my files over on one partition and also install Leopard on another partition. Leaving me with two OS' on separate discs. Then take the 160 out and install the second one to use for storage of audio?

The power mac that you have only has two slots to install hdds, Yes you can do this. Just boot off the leopard install disk, partition the 500gb as many times as you want, then install. Copy things over from the 160


2.2. Can I then change slots - shifting the first installed 500 Gb disc, with the newly installed OS, to the #1 slot and installing the new one in the #2 slot? Does this make any sense?

yes this is possible

3. What about the jumper settings? What do I do?

There are no jumpers that are needed to differentiate between master / slave. The only jumpers your probably going to need to set are the ones that change the hdd transfer rate from 3 gbs to 1.5 gbs. because thats macs are not sata 2

4. How many partitions do I divide the discs in and how large do they need to be for a good working, safe and versatile system?

Personally, i don't partition drives. I read somewhere that partitioning drives can slow the access times down. That may have been completely false how ever i have always stuck to that practice. But what you could do, partition the drive to say 120 gb, then the rest for data eg music, videos etc.

Thank you so much in advance!!! Much obliged!!! // Ian

 

[Amphibian]

Can you explain what exactly I need to do to get these drives working in the 1.5 Gb/s transfer rate? Some reviews I've read about these discs, prior to purchase, stated that it's basically a plug and play drive - even in the G5's.

Also, in the manual (link below) it reads that in case it doesn't work one should switch the drive to SATA1.5Gb/s speed with a software which is provided via www.samsunghdd.com.when connecting cables. However, that particular app is .EXE (i.e Windows)... :-(

http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/c...419200104171_3.5_Install_Gudie_Eng_200704.pdf

Does anyone use these discs in their G5? Should I send the drives back or is it fully possible to successfully install them on a G5?!? What do I need to do?


I have the - HD502IJ - drive...

 

[sickmacdoc]

***I started this response and got called away and saw upon returning that toolbox had given you some good pointers, but decided to finish this off and post it to you anyways in case there were any additional points/details that you might find helpful.
---------------------------------
Ok well what you want to do is very "doable" without too much strain, so will answer by number.....

1. I think the simplest way to do this is to combine this thought with your second question- install one of the new 500s in the second slot and go ahead and format it and assign an "APM" partition scheme. The "APM" scheme is important since your G5 is a PowerPC based Mac which requires an "APM" scheme to be able to boot from the drive. Intel based Macs require that it have a "GUID" scheme for comparison and your new drives will likely have an "MBR" (a PC partition map) scheme on them when get them.

After you have successfully partitioned (if you want multiple partitions on it- see answer to #4) and formatted it as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) then just make life simple and use either Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper and "clone" your boot drive to it and all will be identical on the new drive.

2. Keep in mind that there is no "Master" slot on a G5. Drives installed in either slot will work the same- you can boot from either position. So see #1 for the answer of having two OSs on two disks. Once cloned, your first new 500 will be ready to boot from-- so you can shut down, remove the old 160, install the second 500 and then boot from the first new 500. Then use Disk Utility to erase/partition the second 500 as you did with the first new 500.

2.2 Yes, the drives can be swapped in the slots with no problems at all.

3. G5s use "SATA" drives (which I hope you got as opposed to the older style "IDE/PATA" using in many older Macs). SATA drives do not have jumper settings like IDE drives do, so nothing to worry about there. OK, to be more correct, some SATA II drives (which are capable of operating at 3.0Gbits/s) do have a jumper which for some will need to be set to limit the drive to SATA speed (1.5Gbits/s) which the G5's internal bus works at. Many of the newer SATA II drives will automatically work fine with the SATA speed though, so you probably will not have to set that jumper at all. Just check the docs that come with your drive. There is always a chance that the drives you got are not SATA II anyway (they might be SATA- just check the specs) so they would be no issue at all right out of the box.

4. There is no "need" to partition at all if you do not choose to- that is simply a matter of your intended use. One can make a case for partitioning but it usually would be more helpful on drives larger than the 500s you have. For example if you had a 1Tb drive, setting up your boot drive as two partitions (boot partition and a data partition for example) can make managing and restoring boot drive backups easier and quicker if needed. I have 4x1Tb in my Mac Pro for instance and only partitioned the one used to boot as a 250Gb partition for the boot drive and a 750Gb data partition. There really is no one "correct" answer when it comes to this question really.

Hope some of this helps, and feel free to post additional questions should they arise!

 

[sickmacdoc]

Can you explain what exactly I need to do to get these drives working in the 1.5 Gb/s transfer rate? Some reviews I've read about these discs, prior to purchase, stated that it's basically a plug and play drive - even in the G5's.
<clip>
Does anyone use these discs in their G5? Should I send the drives back or is it fully possible to successfully install them on a G5?!? What do I need to do?

I have the - HD502IJ - drive...

I took a quick look around and found several sources that say that the Samsungs (which I love BTW, as all 4 1Tb drives I have are Samsungs F1s- ) are not an issue with G5s, so I would not be concerned about that. Like I mentioned in my first post, most SATA II drives automatically adjust to SATA speed controllers fine, and it appears that the Samsung is no different so will be fine.

Just for reference, one source for the info is an Apple Discussion Board thread which you can read here.

 

[Amphibian]

Thank you sooo much!!! I am only half way through the installing, but one of the new HDD's is now installed. I installed the APM and formated it to MAC OS Extended, Journaled. And it seems to be working. I mean, if it's working it's working, right? If it wouldn't have been working (i.e., if there had been a conflict between the disc's transfer rate and the computer's) I wouldn't have been able to format, partition and drag files to it, right?

I also installed a new DL burner, and that seems to be working too... It struck me how easy installing new hardware were on these G5:s. It was almost as easy as putting toast into a toaster!

Thank you once again!

 

[sickmacdoc]

Thank you sooo much!!! I am only half way through the installing, but one of the new HDD's is now installed. I installed the APM and formated it to MAC OS Extended, Journaled. And it seems to be working. I mean, if it's working it's working, right? If it wouldn't have been working (i.e., if there had been a conflict between the disc's transfer rate and the computer's) I wouldn't have been able to format, partition and drag files to it, right?

I also installed a new DL burner, and that seems to be working too... It struck me how easy installing new hardware were on these G5:s. It was almost as easy as putting toast into a toaster!

Thank you once again!

Yes, you are right- if the SATA speed setting was not working right you would not have been successful in preparing the disk for use, so all is well.

Glad it worked out as expected for you. Enjoy the extra space!

 

[Amphibian]

Follow up question:

Is it normal for the Spinpoint discs to make ultra-short bleeping/clicking noise? I don't know where this sound is coming from but once in a while there's a tiny bleep/click, coming either from the new HDD or the mother board.

Is this a matter of concern?

I read somewhere that these noises can be a part of a "power management system"... If I try accessing a file on the non-system HDD, after a bleep has been heard, I find that it is sleeping. But I'm not sure really what this could be...