It is Possible? Firewire HD as an internal?

[the Natetrix]

We have these Western Digital 400 Firewire Drives in our graphics lab and one of them we found out works but wont mount do to an issue in the firewire chip within the casing, the drive for as much as I can tell is fine. Is there anyway that I could take out the Hard Drive in the firewire and install it as an internal secondary drive in one of the computers?

We are running g4 733 1.25gb with 1mb L3 cache
its a 30 gig drive

any clues?

 

[Sun Baked]

Should be a standard ATA drive inside the case, so it should work fine inside a PowerMac.

As long as you double check the jumper settings before installing it.

 

[the Natetrix]

Also...

When I tried to install the once external drive into the second ATA slot when I turned on the computer it would launch the white apple screen, spin and then freeze totally. Shouldn't it at least boot up the original drive even if it cant read the second one?

The problem goes away if the second drive is uninstalled

PS - we are using Panther 10.3.2

 

[stoid]

If both drives have the jumpers set to the Master setting, (or Main, or whatever) the computer bus system is probably getting a signal that keeps it from choosing which drive is the prime drive, and therefore not starting.

edit: 1000th post [cue balloons and confetti!]

 

[the Natetrix]

what are jumpers, where can I locate them and how would I go about switching them to master or slave?

 

[stoid]

There should be a set of like 5 or 6 little white switches (like really old school computer switches that you'd find on the back of the old bitmap printers!) and I don't know what the exact configuration is. They are probably on the back of the drive next to the connector. There is little I can do since I don't have my tower in front of me (at home, and I'm at college). I'd do some quick searching on Google, might be different for different make drives anyway.

 

[alset]

The drive will have a pin-out sticker for the jumpers, usually on the top of the disk. This is a diagram showing you how the jumpers should be ordered to set drive modes. Find "slave" and match the jumpers to the illustration. Depending on your machine, you may be able to set the disk to "cable select," which will tell the Mac to decide based on position in the bus. Sorry to say that I don't know for your model, so slave is your safest bet.

Find some needle nose pliers for the jumpers. They're a pain to remove with your fingers. Also, don't lose any extras that you end up taking off the disk. You might want to change the disk mode again.

Dan

 

[the Natetrix]

Worked perfectly, thanks a lot guys

 

[KC9AIC]

I had the same problem with the HD on a 7200/90. I took out the HD (filled with important data), put it into a bay of a heavily upgraded 8500 (I took out the internal Jaz drive in the process), and booted the computer. I was extremely sad when it didn't work. Now I know all I needed to do was move over the shorting bar and make it a slave... Well, now I know, and I have another spare hard drive to try it with.

 

[MacRAND]

External HD removed from case to install internally

Originally posted by the Natetrix
what are jumpers, where can I locate them and how would I go about switching them to master or slave?

I know that you have solved your Installation problem already, congratulations, but I wanted to add something to this thread by way of information for solving future drive problems.

When a Hard Drive is removed from a FireWire case (LaCie, QPS, Fantom, MacMall, etc.) which is not the same "brand" as the HD itself (Western Digital, IBM, Hitachi, Seagate, etc.) you will most likely NOT be provided with an Operations Manual or Installation Directions for the drive itself.

The easiest solution and source of information and HELP! is to go to the website of the drive's OEM and download a PDF file of that model's Manual. In it should be verbal descriptions and diagrams showing the proper "switch" position, or "Jumper" order that will make the drive either a Master or Slave.
In addition, you will find Contact information and usually an 800 number to reach that manufacturer's Customer or Technical Service department. In particular, I have found Western Digital representatives to be very knowledgable, patient, and down right helpful during installation of their products, which is probably true of most major HD manufacturers because none of them want you to return their product to the store because it won't work.
BOTTOM LINE: Help is available if you know where to look and ask for it. Can't find the manufacturer's websiste? Use Sherlock, Watson or Google to find it.