Suggestions for adding HD to G4 MDD?

[Kirkman]

Hi all,

I have a PowerMac G4 MDD with two internal HDs. One of them appears to be going bad. It is making a loud clicking noise that it didn't use to make, and Disk Utility reports an unrepairable error. I can still read and write data off of it, but I have had occasional freeze-ups and my gut tells me the drive will soon be dead.

Anyway, I am thinking now might be the time to replace these 100 GB drives with two new 500 GB drives. I have never bought replacement HDs before, so I am wondering what specs to look for in a drive.

I am seeing some drives feature an 8 MB cache and others with 16 MB. Does this cache provide any significant difference in speed?

Which brands work best for Macs? I see Western Digital, Hitachi, and Seagate as options. Anybody prefer one of these manufacturers (or someone else) based on prior experience?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

--Josh

 

[MacUser2525]

Hi all,

I have a PowerMac G4 MDD with two internal HDs. One of them appears to be going bad. It is making a loud clicking noise that it didn't use to make, and Disk Utility reports an unrepairable error. I can still read and write data off of it, but I have had occasional freeze-ups and my gut tells me the drive will soon be dead.

That clicking is never a good sign really I would say your right there if I was you and there is any important data on it I would back it up ASAP.

Anyway, I am thinking now might be the time to replace these 100 GB drives with two new 500 GB drives. I have never bought replacement HDs before, so I am wondering what specs to look for in a drive.

I am seeing some drives feature an 8 MB cache and others with 16 MB. Does this cache provide any significant difference in speed?

The cache size can be important it allows more data to be stored before having to write to the disk platters which speeds it up during large transfers smaller ones not so important.

Which brands work best for Macs? I see Western Digital, Hitachi, and Seagate as options. Anybody prefer one of these manufacturers (or someone else) based on prior experience?

They are pretty much all the same go for the one with the longest warranty. One thing you going to want to check for is when connecting up the HD that you put it on the ATA/100 cable to get it working at its fastest speed. I was going to suggest was going to http://everymac.com to look up your model to make sure that it will see more than the 128gb limit some of these models can have but it looks like all the MDD models have the 100 controller like my FW800 model does so I think your safe there on the capacity limit problem I recently put a 500gb in there without any trouble.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

--Josh

Your welcome.

 

[G5power]

I had a dual 867 MDD and did not have any issues using 250 GB drives.

If memory serves me correctly one was a Maxtor and the other a Seagate.

I really liked being able to install 3 hard drives in the MDD.

 

[Consultant]

It's easy, should take few minutes on your first try. There are trays on the bottom that comes off with 1 screw. Attach harddrive (4 screws on the bottom), attach power cable and IDE cable.

Just read reviews on the harddrives. Don't buy any that has low reviews. You should buy something with 5 year warranty.

You need older IDE (EIDE, PATA) drives, NOT SATA drives unless you buy a SATA PCI card.
On IDE drives you need to set the drive jumpers to the correct Master or Slave.

Certain older computers cannot access more than 128gb on a harddrive. In that case you need: Intech SpeedTools ATA Hi-Capacity Driver

I have 6 harddrives in my Dual 800 (I have a SATA card, and removed the optical drive).