[elucid]

got a quicksilver 933 and i'm going to purchase new hd.
it's between maxtor and western digital, one is 133 ata the other 100
what does ata mean to me?
both are 8mb cache
should i use the new drive with bigger cache as my system boot?
partition advice?
10.2 how big?
9.2 most size i need?
should applications get their own partition?
how about pc emulator?
any suggestions or references would be much appreciated.
i'm trying to learn

[bradoesch]

Originally posted by elucid:
got a quicksilver 933 and i'm going to purchase new hd.
it's between maxtor and western digital, one is 133 ata the other 100
what does ata mean to me?
both are 8mb cache
should i use the new drive with bigger cache as my system boot?
partition advice?
10.2 how big?
9.2 most size i need?
should applications get their own partition?
how about pc emulator?
any suggestions or references would be much appreciated.
i'm trying to learn

Hi elucid,

There's no difference between 133 and 100 for what you'll be using it for. Don't worry about that. The Quicksilver's can't even take advantage of ATA 133 either I think.
ATA is the way the drive connects and communcates with your Mac. Macs used to use SCSI. ATA is a lot cheaper, and you get the most bang for your buck with it compared to SCSI.
I'd recommend using your new drive as the boot drive. It'll probably be faster than your stock one, and quite a few people have noticed a big difference with that 8 MB cache.
I partioned my 120 GB drive with 10 GB for OS 9 and the rest for OS X. I have a separate drive for video. Applications are fine being on the same partition as their operating system. It'll be much easier leaving them where they are because that's where installers and software update expects to find them.
A PC emulation won't need it's own partition.

Brad

[elucid]

does ata (60, 100, 133) refer to the system bus speed?

[derekn]

Originally posted by elucid:
does ata (60, 100, 133) refer to the system bus speed?

Those are the speeds that the drive is theoretically capable of running. ATA/66 is 66 MB a second, 100, 100 MB, 133, 133 MB etc.

[elucid]

thanxs for the responses, i'm still a little unsure.

i've found out the system bus speed is how fast the processor communicates with the memory. i don't know now if i my machine is a "quicksilver", i bought it almost a year ago, is power mac g4/933mhz with 133mz bus speed, fastest on the platform at that time. is it a coincidence that ata and bus speeds categorically match?
sorry to bother, it's just confusing to pick between the drives, and it basically comes down to speed (ata 100 vs 133) vs warranty. to confuse me more, when i read reviews of both drives, people compare the two saying the western digital (with ata100 interface) is faster? how might i decide? or figure out for sure the rating on my machine?

[bradoesch]

Originally posted by elucid:
thanxs for the responses, i'm still a little unsure.

i've found out the system bus speed is how fast the processor communicates with the memory. i don't know now if i my machine is a "quicksilver", i bought it almost a year ago, is power mac g4/933mhz with 133mz bus speed, fastest on the platform at that time. is it a coincidence that ata and bus speeds categorically match?
sorry to bother, it's just confusing to pick between the drives, and it basically comes down to speed (ata 100 vs 133) vs warranty. to confuse me more, when i read reviews of both drives, people compare the two saying the western digital (with ata100 interface) is faster? how might i decide? or figure out for sure the rating on my machine?

Don't worry, you're not a bother at all. Feel free to post your questions and ideas.

Yes, it's just a coincidence that your bus speed and ATA 133 are both 133.
I'll try to explain the ATAxxx a bit more. ATA 133 means that the hardware controlling the hard drive can move data at a maximum speed of 133 MB/s. This also follows with ATA100, ATA66, etc. You might have found those drives advertised as "133 MB/s" or something similar. They aren't being totally honest here, because the hard drive will never come remotely close to transferring 133 MB/s from drive to computer. Never. The Western Digital Special Edition drive I talked about earlier does around 20 MB/s read and write. I guess what I'm trying to say is don't worry about the difference between 100 and 133. Both will be compatible with your computer.


Brad