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Maximum HDD replacement size for G4 15” 1.0/1.25GHz PowerBook?

W

waiting

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 29, 2007
39
0
Hi. I’m asking questions on behalf of a friend in another state, so I can’t visually verify anything discussed here. I guess my question is:

What is the largest possible HDD that a 15” 1.0/1.25GHz G4 Powerbook can support?

Background:
Years ago, my friend received a used 15” PB G4. (We think it's one of the 15" Macs listed here: <http://support.apple.com/kb/sp91>) I don’t think she has the start-up discs, and the family friend who sold it to her (long since gone) replaced the stock HDD and loaded it with OS X 10.5.8, which she says is what it’s running now.

But 10.5.8 on her G4 doesn’t show the size of the current/replacement HDD. (Both System Report and doing “Command + I” on the hard drive turn up some message that doesn’t give a figure in GBs.)

She needs to make a complete back-up of her Mac before it dies (she feels soon), but she’s short on money and can’t afford to overspend on an external HDD that’s too big for this one job. (It’s why she’s still using a computer this old, that she got as a used gift to begin with.)

How big could the replacement drive in her Mac be?
 
Those PowerBooks were PATA, so if you're going with a HDD, I believe the largest drive made was a 320GB WD Scorpio Blue, model WD3200BEVE. It was a good, reliable drive too, so worth getting if you can find one.

PowerBooks had 48-bit addressing starting with the DVI model TiBooks, so there's no need to worry about the 128GB limit unless you're intending to boot a machine into Mac OS 9 (which can't boot off a partition larger than 200GB). The only size limit is how big did manufacturers make 2.5" PATA drives.

OWC's Mercury Legacy Pro PATA SSDs go up to 480GB and work beautifully with older Macs, but they're pretty spendy.
 
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Is a 500GB external OK then?

Frost7 said:
Those PowerBooks were PATA, so if you're going with a HDD, I believe the largest drive made was a 320GB WD Scorpio Blue, model WD3200BEVE.
Click to expand...
Thank you for responding. Do I understand you correctly, that (based on what I've told you here) it's unlikely that her current hard drive is larger than 320GB?

If that's the case, could she buy a 500GB external/portable HD to create a one-time complete back-up via Time Machine? Or do you foresee a problem with that?
 
waiting said:
Thank you for responding. Do I understand you correctly, that (based on what I've told you here) it's unlikely that her current hard drive is larger than 320GB?

If that's the case, could she buy a 500GB external/portable HD to create a one-time complete back-up via Time Machine? Or do you foresee a problem with that?
Click to expand...

Yes, a 500GB should be more than enough, specially if the hard drive inside the PowerBook is the original. In that case, the biggest stock hard drive inside a PowerBook was 120GB.
 
MysticCow said:
Before anything else, download Mactracker on the PowerBook in question. Yes the hard drive is dying, but this step is important: http://mactracker.ca/archive.html You need to know which beast you're working with and if any tricks need to be done with the hard drive.

It will be able to identify the computer. From here go to http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/ and pick the hard drive you want that will match.
Click to expand...
Thank you for replying. I apologize: I don't think I described the situation clearly.

She's looking only to preserve her files, externally, perhaps to be transferred to a new computer someday. At this point, she's resigned that her current G4 is too old, so she's not looking to replace the internal HDD--only to migrate the data off of her PB.

I appreciate your directions on how to do so, though, since you've given her a new option to consider, and having options is always good.
 
If you do "command+I" do you wait a bit? sometimes, if the HDD is very full, it takes some time, till it shows the GB.

Is she ever to get a new PowerPC-Mac (not an Intel)? Then you might want to consider making an exact copy to the external drive. She will be able to boot via Firewire from this drive. I do not know how experienced you are with simple Mac tasks, so I like to remind you, that the external drive has to be formatted HFS+ choosing "Apple Partition Map" from the disk utilities.

Has anyone experiences, if it is better to use Time Machine or Super Duper for emergency backups? Super Duper will check every file before copying (but eventually stop if it finds something it can't repair and wants you to repair first via disk utility).
Wonder what is the best, if it is already dying you might not want to first try to repair the volumes file structure etc.. Also, you might want to first copy the personal files manually and then start backup of the whole system.

Btw, a smaller drive is not always the cheaper one...

Sorry for being this long winded and giving so little information...
 
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waiting said:
Thank you for replying. I apologize: I don't think I described the situation clearly.

She's looking only to preserve her files, externally, perhaps to be transferred to a new computer someday. At this point, she's resigned that her current G4 is too old, so she's not looking to replace the internal HDD--only to migrate the data off of her PB.

I appreciate your directions on how to do so, though, since you've given her a new option to consider, and having options is always good.
Click to expand...

Well if she is wanting to get rid of it, I know of a poor, starving teacher (ME) that enjoys any donation given. Unfortunately, I am not a tax write-off. However, my classroom will love you in addition to me loving you.

If she is going to another Mac, transferring the files is ridiculously easy. The fastest way is to start up the G4 in Target Disk Mode (press T while starting up or select it in the Startup Disk preference). Then connect it with a Firewire cable to the other Mac.

Mac #2 will recognize the G4 as a Firewire disk. From there it's a matter of shuttling files at Firewire speed.
 
waiting said:
Thank you for responding. Do I understand you correctly, that (based on what I've told you here) it's unlikely that her current hard drive is larger than 320GB?

If that's the case, could she buy a 500GB external/portable HD to create a one-time complete back-up via Time Machine? Or do you foresee a problem with that?
Click to expand...
Oh, I misunderstood, I thought you were looking for info on replacing the internal drive.

IIRC that model PowerBook didn't have anything larger than 80GB stock, so almost any external currently on the market will have more than enough space for a backup.
 
MysticCow said:
Well if she is wanting to get rid of it, I know of a poor, starving teacher (ME) that enjoys any donation given. Unfortunately, I am not a tax write-off. However, my classroom will love you in addition to me loving you.

If she is going to another Mac, transferring the files is ridiculously easy. The fastest way is to start up the G4 in Target Disk Mode (press T while starting up or select it in the Startup Disk preference). Then connect it with a Firewire cable to the other Mac.

Mac #2 will recognize the G4 as a Firewire disk. From there it's a matter of shuttling files at Firewire speed.
Click to expand...
He said, she doesn't have the money for a new Mac and wants to save the data for the far future,... but that came to mind, too. She could also use "migration assistant", when she has the new Mac, though I, too, prefer migrating the files manually each after one another. She can still do that, when the files are saved to an external HFS+ formatted drive.
 
Cox Orange said:
He said, she doesn't have the money for a new Mac and wants to save the data for the far future,... but that came to mind, too. She could also use "migration assistant", when she has the new Mac, though I, too, prefer migrating the files manually each after one another. She can still do that, when the files are saved to an external HFS+ formatted drive.
Click to expand...

Used Macs are where it's at. I'm typing this on a used Core i5 mini with the discrete graphics card. They can be super cheap.
 
"HFS+" = "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)"?

Thank you for your advice, everyone, as I've learned more about both the situation and other possible solutions.

I have a new question, though, and just want to confirm:
"HFS+" is the same thing as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)", right?

(I've reformatted externals in the past with Disk Utility in 10.5, 10.6, and 10.7, but don't recall "HFS+" as one of the options.)

At this point, we'll buy a 1TB USB external HD, just to create a full back-up--something she doesn't have at this point. If, however, her G4 PB should last until she does get a new Mac (which won't be anytime soon), we'll attempt to migrate her data directly using the advice we got here, either file-by-file or with the Migration Assistant.

Thanks again, everyone. I am still checking this thread, in case anyone has any new recommendations or warnings.
 
waiting said:
Thank you for your advice, everyone, as I've learned more about both the situation and other possible solutions.

I have a new question, though, and just want to confirm:
"HFS+" is the same thing as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)", right?

(I've reformatted externals in the past with Disk Utility in 10.5, 10.6, and 10.7, but don't recall "HFS+" as one of the options.)

At this point, we'll buy a 1TB USB external HD, just to create a full back-up--something she doesn't have at this point. If, however, her G4 PB should last until she does get a new Mac (which won't be anytime soon), we'll attempt to migrate her data directly using the advice we got here, either file-by-file or with the Migration Assistant.

Thanks again, everyone. I am still checking this thread, in case anyone has any new recommendations or warnings.
Click to expand...

I will recommend a FW external drive it is a Powerbook. The USB ports of the Powerbooks are power limited in that it cannot even spin up my WD passport external drives.
 
Nameci said:
I will recommend a FW external drive it is a Powerbook. The USB ports of the Powerbooks are power limited in that it cannot even spin up my WD passport external drives.
Click to expand...
I didn't know that. Finding an external with FW is harder (most portable HDs now seem to be USB 3.0), but I'm glad that you told me about this. Thank you.
 
Look around and compare:
a) a 3,5" Drive + seperate enclosure, were you can put the drive in by yourself
b) a 3,5" Drive already coming built in an enclosure.
c) compare F400 to FW800 prices, the PowerBook should also have the FW800, which will be even faster.

(Not that it sounded like that, but if she plans to get a new Intel-Mac built from 2013 onward in several years, some do not have FW anymore, they have USB3 and thunderbolt, so be sure when you by a drive, that you do not get one of those were the enclosure's interface is "glued" to the drive in it. So you have the ability to swap it in the future).

Oh, and yes, HFS+ is Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
 
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