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Mr Ti · Mar 3, 2004, 04:03 PM

Please help,

I have a Power Mac G4 400 AGP running 9.2.1

I have Maxtor Hard Drive IDE 80GB UMDA 133 7200RPM

When initialised it only shows 31.47GB and not the 70ish it should

I have installed Firmware update 4.2.8 but still no joy.

I have checked the drive with Norton, Diskwarrior, and Apples disk tools, no errors appear on the drive.

Is this a firmware issue?

Thanks in advance

Immortal K-Mart Employee · Mar 3, 2004, 04:20 PM

that is normal from anything from floppies to zips to hard drives.

rjenkinson · Mar 3, 2004, 04:31 PM

Originally posted by Immortal K-Mart Employee:
that is normal from anything from floppies to zips to hard drives.

no, it's not. he has an 80 GB drive that only formats to 31.47 GB.

-r.

-Q- · Mar 3, 2004, 04:38 PM

According to the specs at EveryMac, the bus was Ultra ATA 33 (later updated to 66). Does that limit the size of the HDD that can be used?

Cadaver · Mar 3, 2004, 04:45 PM

Originally posted by -Q-:
According to the specs at EveryMac, the bus was Ultra ATA 33 (later updated to 66). Does that limit the size of the HDD that can be used?

Yes, but that limit is hard drives greater than 130-something GB.

Mr Ti - check the docs that came with the HD. I bet there's a jumper you need to reposition to make the drive format to full capacity.

rjenkinson · Mar 3, 2004, 05:13 PM

here's a link to a PDF about maxtor hard drives and jumpers. might help.

-r.

Mr Ti · Mar 3, 2004, 05:24 PM

Thanks for the responses, I'll check the jumpers as per pdf and let you know how I get on.

wapangy · Mar 3, 2004, 05:50 PM

Yeah if you put the jumper on the wrong end, its "alternate" capacity which cuts it in half.

Miniryu · Jan 2, 2005, 03:56 PM

I've been doing my research for well over an hour now, and I haven't been able to find information specific enough to help me. I just bought a 160 gig ATA/100 Hitachi drive for an incredible price. I was planning to put it into my PM G5, but then I discovered that I need a Serial ATA drive for that. So I figured I could just drop it into my PM G4 and use it as a storage machine (I usually keep both running in my dorm room at the same time). I am not sure exactly which PM G4, but it is certainly a model earlier than Quicksilver.

Anyway, when I try to initialize the Hitachi drive Disk Utility will only recognize 128 gigs, regardless of how I partition it. Is there a cheap card I can buy or an OS upgrade (currently I only have OS 9 installed) that will allow me to use those last 30 gigs? Is there a Serial to Parallel converter I could buy for my G5?

P · Jan 2, 2005, 04:31 PM

Originally posted by Miniryu:
I've been doing my research for well over an hour now, and I haven't been able to find information specific enough to help me. I just bought a 160 gig ATA/100 Hitachi drive for an incredible price. I was planning to put it into my PM G5, but then I discovered that I need a Serial ATA drive for that. So I figured I could just drop it into my PM G4 and use it as a storage machine (I usually keep both running in my dorm room at the same time). I am not sure exactly which PM G4, but it is certainly a model earlier than Quicksilver.

Anyway, when I try to initialize the Hitachi drive Disk Utility will only recognize 128 gigs, regardless of how I partition it. Is there a cheap card I can buy or an OS upgrade (currently I only have OS 9 installed) that will allow me to use those last 30 gigs? Is there a Serial to Parallel converter I could buy for my G5?

OK, let's list the options:

* There is a third-party driver, but it's sort of a hack. You can get it here:

http://www.speedtools.com/ATA6.shtml

It does however require Mac OS X.

* Any ATA card that claims to support ATA/133 and your version of Mac OS will work.

* There are SATA-to-ATA converters. It seems like it's the easiest solution from where I'm sitting.

Miniryu · Jan 2, 2005, 08:44 PM

Originally posted by P:
OK, let's list the options:

* There is a third-party driver, but it's sort of a hack. You can get it here:

http://www.speedtools.com/ATA6.shtml

It does however require Mac OS X.

* Any ATA card that claims to support ATA/133 and your version of Mac OS will work.

* There are SATA-to-ATA converters. It seems like it's the easiest solution from where I'm sitting.

The SATA-to-ATA converter sounds like what i was looking for, but I did a little digging on Apple's site and this is what I found: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86416
I wonder how much truth there is to their claim, or are they just trying to keep people from using lower quality products with their hardware. Personally, I don't care about bus speed or HD efficiency- this drive is purely for mass storage (and possibly my iTunes collection). I don't plan to launch any applications from there.

The speedtools application sounds alright- I have my old copy of Jaguar, it wouldn't be any trouble to install it. $25 extra dollars for 30 gigs of space is a fair trade- but I am going to shop around for a cheapter ATA card. Thankx a ton for your help.

Cadaver · Jan 2, 2005, 10:03 PM

Originally posted by Miniryu:
The SATA-to-ATA converter sounds like what i was looking for, but I did a little digging on Apple's site and this is what I found: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86416
I wonder how much truth there is to their claim, or are they just trying to keep people from using lower quality products with their hardware.

Mostly true, except for this:
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/tempo_bridge.html
I think it will interest you.

Luca Rescigno · Jan 2, 2005, 11:00 PM

You're forgetting the easiest way to connect an IDE hard drive to a PowerMac G5! Just pick up a Firewire or, if you really want to go cheap, a USB 2.0 external case. You can get them at NewEgg for $30-$40. Then just plug it in and BAM! you're set.

Another possibility is somehow using the G5's build in IDE bus. It does have one you know - the optical drive uses plain old IDE. Maybe if you could get a dual-device cable instead of using Apple's provided cable you'd be able to hook it up. But I don't know... I don't think it would be worth the hassle and clutter you'd cause inside the case, and the IDE bus is probably only ATA/33 because optical drives need very little bandwidth. That's not quite enough for a hard drive, especially when it's sharing that bandwidth with another device.

Miniryu · Jan 3, 2005, 12:33 AM

Originally posted by Luca Rescigno:
You're forgetting the easiest way to connect an IDE hard drive to a PowerMac G5! Just pick up a Firewire or, if you really want to go cheap, a USB 2.0 external case. You can get them at NewEgg for $30-$40. Then just plug it in and BAM! you're set.

I love your sig! The external case is a good idea, especially when considering the benifits of portability between my two machines (I think I saw a $15 dollar one in the Mac section at our local CompUSA). On the other hand, I worry about the safety of the drive- I live in a dorm room and my G5 casing has seen its fair share of bumps and scratches. A stand alone drive case isn't as durable, I imagine. Plus, it is damn cool to have multiple drives mounted up inside your tower, it makes me feel powerfull

. There is just something satisfying about booting up your machine and seeing two HD icons chilling on your desktop.

Miniryu · Jan 7, 2005, 05:41 PM

Originally posted by Miniryu:
I love your sig! The external case is a good idea, especially when considering the benifits of portability between my two machines (I think I saw a $15 dollar one in the Mac section at our local CompUSA). On the other hand, I worry about the safety of the drive- I live in a dorm room and my G5 casing has seen its fair share of bumps and scratches. A stand alone drive case isn't as durable, I imagine. Plus, it is damn cool to have multiple drives mounted up inside your tower, it makes me feel powerfull . There is just something satisfying about booting up your machine and seeing two HD icons chilling on your desktop.

Update: the $15 external case was for the 2.5 inch notebook drives. i was bummed. an external case for a full sized hard drive will cost closer to $75 or more. Poop.

wowok1234 · Jan 7, 2005, 06:44 PM

Originally posted by Miniryu:
Update: the $15 external case was for the 2.5 inch notebook drives. i was bummed. an external case for a full sized hard drive will cost closer to $75 or more. Poop.

Compusa this week has a 3.5in Firewire/USB 2.0 case for 35 dollars.

http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...103&pfp=SEARCH

Luca Rescigno · Jan 7, 2005, 07:12 PM

Or this one:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...146-608&depa=0

Miniryu · Jan 8, 2005, 05:03 PM

Sweeet! You guys have made my week! This is awesome!

Mac Write · Jan 9, 2005, 04:15 PM

The reason all drives by default only show 30GB is stupid Windows. Windows used to only be able to see 32GB so drive manufactures set the jumper to limit the drive to 32GB. I had this bug when I first upgraded my HD in my Beige from 6GB to 60GB. Took a week to figure out.