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External HD for G3 from 1999

S

StefaanF

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 1, 2011
18
0
Hi, I'm still using my old G3 with protools to record vocals.
While moving the scart entry of the G3 for the external HD came loose, and the mac won't recognize the HD anymore. It's really the old scart-scart system, as used in DVD players etc.
However, I think I need an external HD since the G3 only has 192 MB of internal memory.
The mac also has a firewire entry. Is there an external HD still available with a firewire output? It would best be a universal HD, without installation disk, since the disk drive doesn't work anymore...
USB is not an option since it's USB 1.1 (extremely slow).
I know, you'll probably say I should buy a new mac with protools, but it's really too expensive since I only need it to record vocals for demo's.
And I've always been very happy with this one.
So: is there an external universal HD with firewire that will work on a G3?
Thanks in advance,
Stef
 
thanks!
I'm a musician only and started using computers cause I was obliged to...
So here's some more questions:
What is the actual capacity of my G3 HDD?
Where can I buy this FW HDD? In any computer store? Or do I need a Mac store?
Thanks for your help.
 
StefaanF said:
thanks!
I'm a musician only and started using computers cause I was obliged to...
So here's some more questions:
What is the actual capacity of my G3 HDD?
Where can I buy this FW HDD? In any computer store? Or do I need a Mac store?
Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...

Personally I would've recommended installing a USB 2.0 PCI card into your G3 (about $10) and using a standard USB 2 HDD. (Lots more choice), but any FireWire HDD (And Many actually still offer FireWire 400 as a connection offer) will work. Your G3s internal hard disk size is measure by selecting the drive on your desktop and selecting Get Info (Cmd + I).
 
Thanks for the help.

I've got two more questions:

Can I buy a FW HDD in any computerstore or only in mac stores?
And: I've got 2,88GB left on my Mac HD . Do I actually need an external HDD?
I only use it for recording vocals with protools.

Thanks for your help,

Stef
 
It depends on how big the files are that you work with, which you would have to find out... unless there are some folks here that do the same thing and might know!
 
StefaanF said:
Thanks for the help.

I've got two more questions:

Can I buy a FW HDD in any computerstore or only in mac stores?
And: I've got 2,88GB left on my Mac HD . Do I actually need an external HDD?
I only use it for recording vocals with protools.

Thanks for your help,

Stef
Click to expand...

Personally I suspect that you'll be fine for a little while but an external hard drive would be good in the long run, bit depends which version of Pro Tools you are using.
 
Thanks for all the help so far!
The protools I'm working on is 5.0.1 (so one of the first versions).
I've found this extrenal HDD: LaCie Rugged Hard Disk, with both 400 & 800 FireWire (my protools has a 400).
Now I wonder if this HDD will be fast enough to drive a protools session on.
I mean, will it respond fast enough when using the punch-in record function?
My formal external HDD was a ATTO VLD.
Thanks again, I all owe you one.
Stef
 
Plenty of FireWire hard drives available for the Mac. In fact most, including myself prefer FireWire hard drives due to speed, compared to USB, even 2.0. They are available at an Apple Store for sure, and so will electronics stores..as long as they sell Apple stuff.

Lacie Rugged drives I can definitely recommend.

I wouldn't say "still have FireWire" as FireWire is still included on new Macs to this day and looks like it'll be around for many years to come.
 
Lacie Rugged drives are very good and will work perfectly for you, my only word of warning is that they aren't as rugged as you would think, I took one to school and destroyed the controller board (but i am in Year 9 at school, so i spent alot of time *trying* to brake it :) ), but if you aren't going to be throwing it around it will be perfect
 
max¥¥ said:
Lacie Rugged drives are very good and will work perfectly for you, my only word of warning is that they aren't as rugged as you would think, I took one to school and destroyed the controller board (but i am in Year 9 at school, so i spent alot of time *trying* to brake it :) ), but if you aren't going to be throwing it around it will be perfect
Click to expand...

It will be fine for recording in a Studio, Although given the OP is using ProTools 5, I cant see it being a problem quite so instantly (I have ProTools 5 on my G4/Dual 867, under OS 9, and each session file for me is only about 60-70MB, but it might be prudent to get one for backup and eventual expansion anyway), but it will still work superbly :)
 
Phoning to several computerstores didn't quite give me a clear answer to this following question: which FW cable do I need to connect the G3 with the Lacie rugged HD (400/800)?
Thanks for saving my professional future:)
Stefaan
 
If you don't remember what the G3 was like, I attached a pic of the FW outputs. Thanks for your time.
 

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Those are 6-pin Firewire 400 ports. Here is a link to a 6-pin to 4-pin cable just for reference to show you what different Firewire 400 connectors can look like:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/1394A46164/

You don't want to buy the cable linked above, you want a 6-pin to 6-pin cable if you are using a LaCie Rugged Hard Disk. I believe those smaller, 4-pin FW400 connectors are used mostly on camera's.

The current version of the LaCie Rugged Hard Disk has both FW400 and FW800 connectors. You'll just need a 6-pin to 6-pin FW400 cable and you're all set.

OWC is one place that sells them, here is a link.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the reply!
I've received this disturbing mail from a guy working at a mac store saying buying this HD won't help since protools won't have access to the HD via FireWire. Is this true???
Thanks in advance for saying no...
 
StefaanF said:
Thanks for the reply!
I've received this disturbing mail from a guy working at a mac store saying buying this HD won't help since protools won't have access to the HD via FireWire. Is this true???
Thanks in advance for saying no...
Click to expand...

While ProTools might not let you stick projects you are currently working on on there (I will try in a few minutes using ProTools 5 under OS 9 on my old recording Mac, I think it will work, but we'll see), it will let you move all your old saved projects off onto it at the least, and when you want to go back to them you just move them back to your internal drive while you work on them, and then move them back again once your done :)
 
Okay, so I just checked under ProTools 5.0.1, and for me I can move my project files, audio inserts, audio files etc across to a FireWire HDD and they work absolutely fine for editing, recording, playback and general messing, so it should work fine for you :) and the person who emailed you is incorrect.
 
Thanks for the good news, Chris.
I'm waiting for the postman to deliver my Lacie and I'll keep you posted.
Have a nice day,
Stefaan
 
Hi, I've finally received my LaCie. Unfortionatelly my G3 doesn't recognize it! I connected the FW ports with eachother and nothing happened. I tried the same in my Macbook Pro and that worked well. What does that mean? I tried both FW ports in the G3, I never used them before so it would be strange they would be damaged.
Thanks for any help again...

Stefano Desperado
 
StefaanF said:
Hi, I've finally received my LaCie. Unfortionatelly my G3 doesn't recognize it! I connected the FW ports with eachother and nothing happened. I tried the same in my Macbook Pro and that worked well. What does that mean? I tried both FW ports in the G3, I never used them before so it would be strange they would be damaged.
Thanks for any help again...

Stefano Desperado
Click to expand...

You need to check the formatting of the drive in Disk Utility under Mac OS X (In Utilities) - It might be formatted as NTFS or FAT32, both of which in my experience Mac OS Classic doesnt particularly like. I recommend reformatting it (once you have removed any data on the drive you want to keep) as Mac OS X Extended, then Mac OS Classic should recognise it.
 
Hi Chris, you mean checking the formatting of the drive on my Macbook Pro? My G3 shows no sign at all of the LaCie HD.

Thanks
 
StefaanF said:
Hi Chris, it was formatted Mac OS extended. What now?
Click to expand...

Odd, because thats exactly what the drive I tested with my Mac OS 9 install used. What exact version of Mac OS are you actually running on your G3? (I conducted all my testing under 9.2.2, but I know that drive shows up in everything 9.0 and newer, I dont have a FireWire equipped Mac that can run 8.x however it *should* just work. Have you tried both FireWire ports, and also tried leaving the drive in during a restart?, and also, is it detected in Apple System Profiler? (Should be in the Apple Menu)
 
Hi Chris, yes I've tried all of that.
In system profile it says: FireWire 2.2.2 fw609e,10483 & sbp609e,104d8
My mac is Mac OS N1-9.0
It's very frustrating I can't even try if it runs protools...
 
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