BEST WAY to MAX out G4 Mac Mini

[TyleRomeo]

I'm looking of really maxing out my mac mini G4 1.42. I already have 1GB of ram inside and a 750GB external attached. I'm looking for the largest and fastest internal 2.5 drive to put inside. As far as I can see 5400 and 160GB is as large as they come in PATA fashion. (I know about the 7200RPM 100GB drives but I need over 100GB of storage on the boot drive, the 750GB external is maxed out with media)

Does anyone know of a larger PATA 2.5 inch drive for a mac mini or if anyone has used a SATA to PATA bridge inside to use the larger and faster 2.5 inch SATA drives inside a G4 Mini?

 

[zap2]

Kind of sounds like you need a Mac better then the Mac Mini


I know thats not what your looking to here, but its the truth sorry.

 

[livingfortoday]

Well, I'd try overclocking it, but thats not for everyone, and involves some soldering. I got the gf's 1.25Ghz Mini to 1.5 easily, though. You can go higher, if you want.

As far as I can see, there's only one drive bigger than 160GB that's 2.5", and it's SATA. So I'd go with the 160GB if I were you.

 

[ChrisA]

Does anyone know of a larger PATA 2.5 inch drive for a mac mini or if anyone has used a SATA to PATA bridge inside to use the larger and faster 2.5 inch SATA drives inside a G4 Mini?

Must the data really be on the boot drive? Can't you use a symbolic link (AKA "alias")?

 

[TyleRomeo]

Must the data really be on the boot drive? Can't you use a symbolic link (AKA "alias")?

Yes i need the storage space and although buying a new mac might be an option for some I want to keep this mac mini going strong and i have PPC software that will not play nice on an intel mac mini.

So has anyone increased their boot drive to more that 160GB?

 

[livingfortoday]

Yes i need the storage space and although buying a new mac might be an option for some I want to keep this mac mini going strong and i have PPC software that will not play nice on an intel mac mini.

So has anyone increased their boot drive to more that 160GB?

Why not just get another 750GB drive in a Ministack or the like? Its be much more cost-effective, and considering you don't have any choices above 160GB internally, probably the best way to go if you really want the added space.

 

[aquajet]

Toshiba makes a 200gb laptop drive, but I believe it's SATA only. So 160gb is as big as you'll get in a G4 mini.

You should reconsider your plans. You're not going to get what you want out of this machine at this point.

 

[TyleRomeo]

Why not just get another 750GB drive in a Ministack or the like? Its be much more cost-effective, and considering you don't have any choices above 160GB internally, probably the best way to go if you really want the added space.

I only want an internal option. I want to know if anyone has figured a way out to put more than 160GB inside a G4 Mac Mini, if there is room for a SATA bridge then the problem would be solved.

 

[livingfortoday]

I only want an internal option. I want to know if anyone has figured a way out to put more than 160GB inside a G4 Mac Mini, if there is room for a SATA bridge then the problem would be solved.

Even if it were possible, and with the space limitations I doubt it is - isn't that a bit excessive for an extra 40GB? If 160GB ain't cutting it, you either need an external solution, or to go a different route with your computer altogether (ie - replacing it)

 

[aquajet]

Using an external option has other benefits. For example, theoretically you could maximize your hard drive performance by keeping your boot and home folder/application volumes on separate busses. Something to consider along with livingfortoday's point that you'd get more for your money.

 

[TyleRomeo]

Using an external option has other benefits. For example, theoretically you could maximize your hard drive performance by keeping your boot and home folder/application volumes on separate busses. Something to consider along with livingfortoday's point that you'd get more for your money.

Guys I understand all those reasons. But there is something thats great about having all that storage inside the mac mini. Sure I could get a 2TB RAID for the mac mini but that isn't the point. I want it internal, there will come a day when the mac mini will be put to other uses, like inside the car as a itunes stereo, im not going to bring my RAID inside my car so I'd like for it to be all inside the mini. Also if there is a SATA bridge out there, I could get a hard drive that is faster than the 49MBps that an external firewire drive will give me. This is how to MAX out your mac mini for years to come and that is getting every extra GB inside that i can.

 

[livingfortoday]

Guys I understand all those reasons. But there is something thats great about having all that storage inside the mac mini. Sure I could get a 2TB RAID for the mac mini but that isn't the point. I want it internal, there will come a day when the mac mini will be put to other uses, like inside the car as a itunes stereo, im not going to bring my RAID inside my car so I'd like for it to be all inside the mini. Also if there is a SATA bridge out there, I could get a hard drive that is faster than the 49MBps that an external firewire drive will give me. This is how to MAX out your mac mini for years to come and that is getting every extra GB inside that i can.

Yes, but even a SATA bridge will be constrained by the IDE speeds it has to convert to, plus the 200GB drives that are out there are only 4200rpm right now. If you really need that stuff in it, just wait a year or two for it to be more commonplace. Or sell it, get an Intel Mini, and get some added RAM with your SATA drive.

 

[TyleRomeo]

Yes, but even a SATA bridge will be constrained by the IDE speeds it has to convert to, plus the 200GB drives that are out there are only 4200rpm right now. If you really need that stuff in it, just wait a year or two for it to be more commonplace. Or sell it, get an Intel Mini, and get some added RAM with your SATA drive.

Yes PATA IDE speeds are 100MBps, which no single PATA or SATA drive can touch yet. Hitachi has a 200GB 2.5 inch 7200 RPM hard drive out right now. Other companies are launching 250GB and even 300GB 2.5 inch drives later this year. I don't want to sell the mini, I get very fond of an Apple computer and can't part with it.

 

[aquajet]

The only SATA bridges I'm aware of aren't designed for laptop drives.

I suppose you could wait awhile and see what other offerings will become available in the future. Surely larger PATA 2.5" hard drives will come around eventually...🙂

 

[localoid]

For now, even the best are relatively s-l-o-w and horribly expensive, but 2.5" Flash SSDs that can act as drop-in replacements for magnetic hard drives will become more common, cheaper and faster in the not to distant future. They'll be just too perfect for small blade servers... 😉

 

[timswim78]

Before spending money on a bigger internal drive, I'd consider getting another external drive (preferably firewire), and boot from that.

You'll get a lot more storage for your money, and you mini will run faster.

 

[TyleRomeo]

For now, even the best are relatively s-l-o-w and horribly expensive, but 2.5" Flash SSDs that can act as drop-in replacements for magnetic hard drives will become more common, cheaper and faster in the not to distant future. They'll be just too perfect for small blade servers... 😉

Yes the flash SSD drive option is also out there. At least for now they are offered in PATA versions but I fear that soon they will only go to to SATA since SATA offers 3x the bandwidth. And these 32GB flash drives are already reaching 60+MBps read and writes. So by the time the price is reasonable it won't be a viable option and since a mini isn't going anywhere I don't really need the benefit of less heat, durability and better battery life.

 

[TyleRomeo]

The only SATA bridges I'm aware of aren't designed for laptop drives.

I suppose you could wait awhile and see what other offerings will become available in the future. Surely larger PATA 2.5" hard drives will come around eventually...🙂

Sadly it seems that way, i've found a few out there but they all seem to be 3.5 inch PATA to SATA bridges, nothing for 2.5 inch drives. If one was made I wonder if it would even fit inside the tight area of the mac mini anyway. I'm crossing my fingers that larger PATA drives are coming but it sure seems like they are being replaced by SATA drives only.

Look at the 3.5 inch market, Seagate's 750GB is the largest PATA drive out there, the original Hitachi 1TB was going to be PATA but now it's only in the SATA interface. Seagates own 1TB is only going to come in SATA as well. I can understand that in the 3.5 inch market since these drives are reading and writing in the 85MBps range. Almost filling up Ultra ATA-100 bus.

But on the 2.5 inch market it's a different story, the Hitachi 160GB 5400RPM PATA 2.5 inch drive reads/writes at around 45MBps. So there is plenty of room in on the Ultra ATA-100 bus. But all the current drives are no longer coming in PATA form, which is bad for all G4 mini owners, G4 powerbook owners, G4 ibooks, and even Apple TV. I hope I am wrong and just being paranoid here and larger and faster PATA drives are coming soon.