PowerMac G3 Blue and White as a server

[iceman45575]

Hey guys,

I wanted more use out of my PowerMac G3 so I came up with the idea of using it as a file server. I am mainly worried about leaving it on 24/7 especially because it has a hard drive and I'm not sure that can even be upgraded to an SSD. Anyone do the same and do I have anything to worry about?

Thanks!

 

[RogerWilco6502]

You can indeed use an SSD in your Power Mac G3, you just need either a) a SATA card or b) one of these adapters.

A SATA card would probably be ideal for a file server given you can go over the 128GB limit for drives on the internal controller and you get potentially faster speeds. You need to be sure to get the right card though, as the Power Mac G3 doesn't support booting from most SATA cards IIRC. I have no personal experience however, as I have always used adapters, so maybe someone with more experience can fact check me.

As for the question at hand, there are many uses where mechanical hard drives are on and running 24/7, so as long as the drive is in good condition it should be fine. I'd recommend however that you always have a backup, so in the event of a failure you don't lose data.

 

[1042686]

Sil3512 Sata cards flashed with the weibetech utility are flashable in OSX & bootable in a B&W. They’re cheap, provide large drive support & no extra computer needed.

The single odd behavior is that during bootup, the card can take a sec to initialize but then spins right up & is zippy.

@eyoungren would have good feedback as his B&W currently File serves 24/7.

 

[RogerWilco6502]

Sil3512 Sata cards flashed with the weibetech utility are flashable in OSX & bootable in a B&W. They’re cheap, provide large drive support & no extra computer needed.

The single odd behavior is that during bootup, the card can take a sec to initialize but then spins right up & is zippy.

@eyoungren would have good feedback as his B&W currently File serves 24/7.

I'll have to keep these in mind if I ever upgrade from a SATA to IDE bridge (or if I decide to outfit a new acquisition with something other than a bridge)

 

[eyoungren]

Hey guys,

I wanted more use out of my PowerMac G3 so I came up with the idea of using it as a file server. I am mainly worried about leaving it on 24/7 especially because it has a hard drive and I'm not sure that can even be upgraded to an SSD. Anyone do the same and do I have anything to worry about?

Thanks!

I wouldn't worry about leaving it up. I have a single 250GB hard drive for my G3 server. That's just for the Mac itself. I'm running 10.4.11 Server.

I have a PCI SATA card in it with a conversion bracket for SATA to eSATA. That lets me attach a 2TB RAID enclosure and that's the fileserver part of the Mac. At the time I put that together the hard drives I bought for it were no older than two months. WD Reds. Haven't had a single issue with the drives.

I have a full 1GB of ram and I run it headless (no video card). Oh, and I use it for backups and iTunes sharing.

Server…

Thanks to the generosity of a forum member, I now have a 450mhz PowerMac G3 running OS X 10.4.11 Server. I have a Firewire drive dock on the way and then this Mac will be handling my Time Machine backups as well as any other server uses I can put it to. 1GB Ram, 1x40GB HD, 1x120GB HD. PS...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Hrududu]

Mechanical drives have run 24/7 for years in servers. I used a B&W as a server for a while myself and the drives were never really a concern of mine. I liked it because it had a low power draw (for a PowerMac) and ran very cool. The downside is onboard 10/100BASE Ethernet (which you can rectify with a gigabit card) and my concern over burning up the power supply which is far more difficult to replace than an ATA hard drive. Over time, I saw less value in risking the machine specific components for the novelty of using the B&W and decided to use a Core Solo Mac Mini as my iTunes 4 and FTP Server.

 

[eyoungren]

The downside is onboard 10/100BASE Ethernet (which you can rectify with a gigabit card)…

It's for this reason I installed two Gigabit Netgear NICs.

 

[Project Alice]

There is somebody who uses their B&W as a server and it is always up. http://tauceti.org/
I’m not sure if he is on these forums or not. He’s got an FTP/AFP server hosted from the G3.

This card (not my auction) is compatible with the B&W, I’ve got one in mine and I’m pretty sure Chris from the above site uses one too.

 

[iceman45575]

Thanks everyone for your replies!