it appears that the hard drive in my power pc g4 is slowly dying. what kind/type do i replace it with?
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what kind of hard drive for my powerpc G4?
- Thread starter boynigel
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76ShovelHead
macrumors 6502a
What kind of PPC G4 do you have?
Is it a tower? IMHO, it no longer makes economic sense to buy what are now known as PATA drives. Depending on your actual storage needs, the cost per unit of storage in a new SATA drive compared to a PATA drive could more than offset the cost of a new SATA controller card and give you much better performance.
Further, a new SATA drive can later be used in a G5 or Intel Mac more easily than an IDE.
Even an SATA drive combined with a generic interface adapter like this one will likely give you much better performance than an IDE and still give you the flexibility of later using the drive to its fullest potential in a new Mac or Linux PC (or even Windows PC if anyone is still into to that sort of crap).
Is it a tower? IMHO, it no longer makes economic sense to buy what are now known as PATA drives. Depending on your actual storage needs, the cost per unit of storage in a new SATA drive compared to a PATA drive could more than offset the cost of a new SATA controller card and give you much better performance.
Further, a new SATA drive can later be used in a G5 or Intel Mac more easily than an IDE.
Even an SATA drive combined with a generic interface adapter like this one will likely give you much better performance than an IDE and still give you the flexibility of later using the drive to its fullest potential in a new Mac or Linux PC (or even Windows PC if anyone is still into to that sort of crap).
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is there any reason why this hard drive wouldn't work with my power pc g4?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...de_hard_drive_internal-_-22-144-396-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...de_hard_drive_internal-_-22-144-396-_-Product
lewis82
macrumors 68000
the drive would work but if it is a 2001 quicksilver or older it will only see 128gb, however if it is a 2002 quicksilver or mdd it will see all the drive
If you must ignore my absolutely outstanding advice and go with an IDE, then, yes, that's a pretty good one. However, for $15 more you can get a 500 GB with double the cache. Trust me, the 16MB cache is worth the extra $15 even if you don't need the extra space.
I actually own this exact model. It's the last IDE that I ever purchased. It's solid and dependable. Regardless of the interface, Western Digital drives are generally very well-respected among Mac users. Good performance. Good quality.
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while i'm sure your advice IS good, i'm just trying to go as cheap as possible. i use this computer strictly for surfing the web, and nothing more. if it were for my main computer that i use for music, i'd be all over "the latest and greatest" that's available. but if it's truly only another 15 bucks, then i'll check it out. i think in your previous post you mentioned that i'd need an adapter of some sort. i'll have to check that post and see how much $$ that ads on.
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Not for the last drive that I linked to. It has the same interface as the one you're using. The one you pointed out should work fine for your needs, though.
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Giuly
macrumors 68040
PowerPC G4? What's that suppose to mean? iMac G4? Mac Mini G4? PowerMac G4?
PowerPC is the name of the processor.
Regardless of which PowerMac G4 you have, you need an adapter for SATA drives.
Now, if you have this one (Graphite PCI-Graphics, AGP-Graphics, Gigabit-Ethernet, Digital Audio, or Quicksilver with GeForce 2 MX graphics):
Get a 160GB drive, because it can't handle anything beyond 128GB. You can only use 128GB of it, the other 32GB are unusable.
If you have however this one (Quicksilver 2002, 2002ED) WITHOUT Geforce 2 MX graphics
or this one (Mirrored Door Drives (MDD))
OR want to spend additional $63 on the PCI-SATA-Card rather then $15 for the adapter:
Get a 1TB hard drive, or even 1.5-2TB if you want to spend more money. The slower spinning eco-drives are fine for a PowerMac G4, and cheaper.
You may want some Anti-Vibrations screws, too. In my PowerMac, the noisiest part is the hard drive.
PowerPC is the name of the processor.
Regardless of which PowerMac G4 you have, you need an adapter for SATA drives.
Now, if you have this one (Graphite PCI-Graphics, AGP-Graphics, Gigabit-Ethernet, Digital Audio, or Quicksilver with GeForce 2 MX graphics):
Get a 160GB drive, because it can't handle anything beyond 128GB. You can only use 128GB of it, the other 32GB are unusable.
If you have however this one (Quicksilver 2002, 2002ED) WITHOUT Geforce 2 MX graphics
or this one (Mirrored Door Drives (MDD))
OR want to spend additional $63 on the PCI-SATA-Card rather then $15 for the adapter:
Get a 1TB hard drive, or even 1.5-2TB if you want to spend more money. The slower spinning eco-drives are fine for a PowerMac G4, and cheaper.
You may want some Anti-Vibrations screws, too. In my PowerMac, the noisiest part is the hard drive.
PowerPC G4? What's that suppose to mean? iMac G4? Mac Mini G4? PowerMac G4?
PowerPC is the name of the processor.
Regardless of which PowerMac G4 you have, you need an adapter for SATA drives.
Now, if you have this one (Graphite PCI-Graphics, AGP-Graphics, Gigabit-Ethernet, Digital Audio, or Quicksilver with GeForce 2 MX graphics):
Get a 160GB drive, because it can't handle anything beyond 128GB. You can only use 128GB of it, the other 32GB are unusable.
If you have however this one (Quicksilver 2002, 2002ED) WITHOUT Geforce 2 MX graphics
or this one (Mirrored Door Drives (MDD))
OR want to spend additional $63 on the PCI-SATA-Card rather then $15 for the adapter:
Get a 1TB hard drive, or even 1.5-2TB if you want to spend more money. The slower spinning eco-drives are fine for a PowerMac G4, and cheaper.
You may want some Anti-Vibrations screws, too. In my PowerMac, the noisiest part is the hard drive.
mine is the bottom pic, 3rd one down. the one w/the mirrored door
what kind of hard drive for my powerpc G4?
Hi,
Just so I'm very clear Guily I currently have the MDD powerPC G4 and I want to get a 2TB hard drive. I think the Western Digital WD Caviar Green 2.0TB SATA 64MB Cache Internal HDD Hard Drive is the one I want. I am assuming that I need to purchase a Serial ATA/150 Dual Channel Mac PCI Controller before I can do that. Is that correct?
Hi,
Just so I'm very clear Guily I currently have the MDD powerPC G4 and I want to get a 2TB hard drive. I think the Western Digital WD Caviar Green 2.0TB SATA 64MB Cache Internal HDD Hard Drive is the one I want. I am assuming that I need to purchase a Serial ATA/150 Dual Channel Mac PCI Controller before I can do that. Is that correct?
PowerMac G4 HD upgrade
I have a PowerMac G4 MDD 1.25 Ghz, 2 Gig RAM and I'm trying to upgrade the original 80 Gig with the WD 320 mentioned above. I've tried two of these drives and have experienced the same problem with each. After boot up when I have the 320 drive in the system as a slave (cable select in the second connector) the system will hang after anywhere from a couple of minutes to 15-20 minutes. I've been trying to clone the 80 Gig to the 320 and I've tried SuperDuper and CCC but neither will complete before the system hangs. I can even boot the system up and let it sit and it'll eventually hang. When I remove the 320 I have no problems. Anyone experience this or have any idea what's happening?
TIA,
Michael Wagner
🙁
I have a PowerMac G4 MDD 1.25 Ghz, 2 Gig RAM and I'm trying to upgrade the original 80 Gig with the WD 320 mentioned above. I've tried two of these drives and have experienced the same problem with each. After boot up when I have the 320 drive in the system as a slave (cable select in the second connector) the system will hang after anywhere from a couple of minutes to 15-20 minutes. I've been trying to clone the 80 Gig to the 320 and I've tried SuperDuper and CCC but neither will complete before the system hangs. I can even boot the system up and let it sit and it'll eventually hang. When I remove the 320 I have no problems. Anyone experience this or have any idea what's happening?
TIA,
Michael Wagner
🙁