Large Drive Support & Clamshells

[drewdle]

So, I know that Clamshells do not have large drive support built in, but my question is of another nature.

I can get a brand new OEM 160Gb Western Digital drive for about the same price, maybe less, than what I'd pay for an 80Gb through OWC. Naturally, I'd like one, but I wanted to know if there are any caveats to using a larger drive than is supported. I know I can only format and use the first 128Gb, but does the drive being bigger pose problems, with lost data for instance? I need the drive to be reliable as it will be used for school.

Anyone have any experience in this regard?

 

[Hrududu]

I've been using larger than usable drives in older G3 and G4 Powermacs for years without any problems. You should be fine using one in your clamshell.

 

[666sheep]

There is nice OF hack working with Cubes and Sawtooths (for sure). Never tried it with G3 but it might work.

http://nanchatte.wordpress.com/2008/04/27/128gb-large-hdd-lba48-support-on-the-g4-cube-with-leopard/

There are also third party drivers such as http://www.speedtools.com/ATA6.html and Overdrive (driver made by Leopard Assistant creators - can't find sources now, but it could be still available somewhere).

 

[4JNA]

as Hru said, i've been doing that same thing (160gb/250gb, only 128gb usable) for years with g3 powermac and imac systems with no problems or data loss. never tried on the laptop systems, but should be the same.

i still think you should go for an ssd disk, something like THIS which would really speed the old thing up!

EDIT: if you don't have anything like that available for local shipping, let me know. i have lots of fond memories of Nanaimo, as i lived up island for several years in port hardy. can't count the times that i fell asleep in the ferry line after getting down island too late... pm me if you want help getting it. best of luck.

 

[drewdle]

Thanks everyone!

After some blood was spilt and sweat was had (and thankfully no tears were cried), the machine is back together with the drive installed. I sliced my index finger open on the underside of the top case when I was pulling on it, two nice big 3/4" gashes. Also, one of the three philips screws that hold the top case on underneath the keyboard was stripped, and through a combination of insanity and ingenuity (and a lack of a dremel tool) I hacked away at the plastic until I was able to free the case from the screw, and then removed the top case. So now, if you lift the keyboard out, there's a nice battle wound where the right hand screw is supposed to be. So the machine and I both walked away from it all worse for wear.

The upside? I put everything back together right the first time! Nothing missing, everything works. And the HD is awesome! It's almost silent (which is in stark contrast to the other drive, which as it turns out, has something rattling inside of it), and the speed increase is noticeable. Cold boot time in the 20-25 second range, which is in fact faster than the iMac.

Was totally worth the blood, pain, and damage inflicted. 🙂 I'll post a pic of the damaged screw if you like. I was lucky I didn't crack the top case while I was at it.