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Powermac G5
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A PowerMac G5 can take any sized hard drive. But the startup disc cannot be bigger than 2TB due to the limitations of the APM partition scheme which is needed to boot a PowerPC Mac. Thus, one drive must be limited to 2TB with an APM partition scheme and the other drive could be a 16TB drive and formatted with the GUID partition scheme. Don't forget you can also install a second hard drive on the PATA optical bus and use it as a startup drive and have two drives bigger than 2TB in it. Also, PowerMac G5's don't work well with SATA III drives.
Can you have two 2TB SATA hard drives in a RAID format with the Powermac G5?
How can you RAID two drives in a Powermac G5? Or should I think about this when I get it? Thanks.
Usually. In most a RAID configurations, if one drive was 1TB and the other was 2TB, the drive the OS would see would be 2TB and the extra 1TB from the 2TB drive would be unusable. But for best performance and compatibility, it's best to have two of the exact same type and model drive.
RAID 0 can be faster with quicker seek times and can present a larger disc than you have to the OS. But if one drive fails, all of the data is gone.
In a RAID 1 configuration, the overall speed is slightly slower or about the same. The OS sees only one half/disk the total RAID because the other half/disk is providing a mirror backup of the first half/disk. In most cases if one drive fails, the user puts in another drive of the same size and the system will reform the RAID onto the new drive. This is one of the best forms of a backup, if it is configured correctly.
In a RAID 1 configuration, the overall speed is slightly slower or about the same. The OS sees only one half/disk the total RAID because the other half/disk is providing a mirror backup of the first half/disk. In most cases if one drive fails, the user puts in another drive of the same size and the system will reform the RAID onto the new drive. This is one of the best forms of a backup, if it is configured correctly.
Hmmm.... what do you think I should go with in my Powermac G5 setup? What size HDD should I buy?
The optical drive is a PATA drive. It is one drive on a two drive PATA controller. You can either unplug the optical drive and put a PATA hard drive on top of it and plug in the hard drive using the optical drive's cables or get a molex power Y splitter and a two device PATA cable and plug the optical drive and the hard drive into the logicaboard while still putting the PATA hard drive on top of the optical drive.
Ahh I see, what if something goes wrong with the machine? Apple no longer supports it?
I have 3 late 2005 powermac G5 in total. My current main desktop right now is a Quad core Powermac G5. 1TB for data storage and 64GB SSD for boot drive, 14GB of RAM, original apple extreme card with bluetooth for wireless connectivity, nVidia Quadro FX4500 gfx, 23" aluminum apple cinema display, iSight, apple ultra slim wired keyboard, apple wired mighty mouse and M-Audio AV40 for my desktop speakers.
"The platform is now unsupported by Apple and any OS upgrades are a non-starter. Why put the money into something like that? Not to mention the space requirements, weight and as has been mentioned they run hot, are loud and suck energy."
What are both of your opinions/thoughts on the above?
Yes what is stated on that statement is correct. But this is what I want, what I need and what I like.
It serves me well, and I make money out of it. My work is not mission critical and not life threatening. I don't need the latest and the greatest and at the same time I help the environment by not throwing it on a landfill.
About it sucking a lot of energy, it does not suck much if the machine is sleeping. I put all of my computers to sleep if they are not used or turn them off if they will not be used for a long time.
There are always many ways to kill a cat. But to push your agenda against other people's is not right. That is called bullying.
Leopard maybe 3 generations old already but I can still find the softwares I run on still relevant on this ultra modern age.
Lastly, I am happy with my PowerPC macs, why would I need the latest and the greatest? Just to feed my ego? Just to have something to brag about? I can buy whatever apple is offering right now, but I don't have a need for it and it doesn't fit my fancy.
Yeah I know what you mean there to be quite honest; it was a good price I would say; should I post a few photos of the Powermac G5 tomorrow on the Powermac forum? And yeah I know what you mean about the latest and the greatest XD. As long as it does what you require it to do then all is well
I'm hoping this Powermac lasts me 5 or so years, something along those lines.
What PowerPC Macs do you have besides three G5s? How long have you had them for? Do you have any tips for me for software on my Powermac G5? It'd be much appreciated to be fair.
"That car is outdated and needs a little work. Plus it only takes leaded gasoline and has no seat belts. Why put money into something like that? Then you have to find a place to store it, pay taxes on it and has it been mentioned that they get horrible gas mileage, they are loud and chug gas."
I like my PowerMac G5. Just as much as I would like to have a 1950's car. So what if they thing is old and unsupported by the manufacturer. That's why these forums exists. So that the owners of these vintage machines can help one another get more life out of their beautiful, well engineered, fun machines.
Yeah I know what you mean; should I post some photographs of the machine tomorrow?
I shall do that if you want me to What PowerPC Mac should I buy next?
When does the late 2005 Powermac G5 become obsolete? What month next year?