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Adding Hard Drives

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oldmanflabby

macrumors newbie
Original poster
hi, i wanted to add (not replace) a 1TB hard drive to my computer as the one i am using is constantly full and is a family computer. i am using a Power Mac G5, with these specs:

Model Name: Power Mac G5
Model Identifier: PowerMac7,3
Processor Name: PowerPC G5 (2.2)
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Number Of CPUs: 2
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 1 GB
Bus Speed: 1 GHz
Boot ROM Version: 5.1.8f7
Serial Number: CK425JC4QPM

an apple webpage (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1305?viewlocale=en_UK) specified measurements and hard drive types, but i can find no mention of those measurements on any hard drive shop webpages i find, including amazon. so my questions are:

1. can i use just about any SATA hard drive?/ are they more or less standardized in terms of size?
2. is there a problem with buying a preowned one, because they are very expensive otherwise?

thanks a lot, and please bear in mind i have very little knowledge of macs.🙂
 
thanks, will do, but looking at reviews for a hitachi 1tb hard drive, most people talk about formatting it. they are all using it for their PCs, so can anybody redirect me to some simple instructions for formatting drives for my mac? would i need to do this before or after i install it, would i need any special programs, and does a mac even need it formatted?

the page can be found here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hitachi-Hdt...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1243429232&sr=8-1
 
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There are two standardized sizes of internal SATA drives that ALL drives fall into. 2.5" (Laptop) and 3.5" (Desktop). ANY 3.5" desktop drive will work.

I would not buy used because you risk 2 things. First, being used it now has a higher chance of failure/will fail sooner as some of its lifetime is used up and second, you probably won't get that factory warranty with it or it won't be as long. Factory warranties will replace it if the drive fails anytime within 3 or 5 years depending on the drive model.

Your budget must be different than mine, but the $75-100 for a new drive does not seem steap to me.
 
yeah, thanks, i was looking at what apple would charge me if i bought it from them (which is more like £130, or for americans $250)

so i have decided to buy a new, 1tb one, but i am still quite confused as to formatting.
 
so guys i have a problem again - i bought that 1TB hard drive and installed it just fine (minus the guide screws, which were not included). but when i log on i realize it is not a 'serial' drive, that my other internal hard drive and this one are two separate entities. is there any way i can merge them to fully use them in tandem? the old hard drive was 150GB, so should i just move everything onto the new, 1TB, one?

thanks, Oldmanflabby😕

p.s. i'm formatting with one partition and in the Mac OS x (journaled) format
 
Wow, you ARE confused..........

The "serial" in SATA has nothing to do with making/using 2 drives as 1 😱 it just means that the drive can transfer data in both directions simultaneously......

Your "merging" is actually called RAID, whereby you use both disks as one to improve performance, data integrity or both depending on the configuration..... BUT the catch is that in order to avoid losing significant amount of space, both drives in the array should be the same size or at least close......because the combined size of the array will be equal to the smallest of the 2 (or more) disks 😱 And FYI, setting up a RAID can be done either in software (thru disk utility in OS X, free but less reliable) or thru a hardware controller card and another 1TB drive (much better but more $$)

so yea, just move everything over to the new 1TB drive, use the old one as a storage for important (or not so important) stuff, and be happy 😛
 
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