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playby · Sep 9, 2003, 06:54 PM

I want to upgrade my 12 gigger to something more up-to-date but don't want to buy something thats too advanced for the computer.
Any advice?

b

Hydra · Sep 9, 2003, 07:03 PM

Checkout http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/ . Look under the drive compatibility db. That should help you find what you need.

-Jerry C.

The Jackalope · Sep 9, 2003, 08:57 PM

I have a 60 and a 120 gig pair of HDs, but I also have a 3rd party IDE card to run them with...

SuperM · Sep 10, 2003, 01:37 AM

Install any ATA100 or ATA133 drive upto 120GB into your B&W. The ROM won't support drives over 128GB.

Hydra · Sep 10, 2003, 02:17 AM

Originally posted by SuperM:
Install any ATA100 or ATA133 drive upto 120GB into your B&W. The ROM won't support drives over 128GB.

That is wrong in some cases. The original B&W Rev. 1 had errata in the ATA controller that would result in data corruption when adding a slave HD. Apple doesn't officially support adding a second drive in these machines for this reason. Many drives will work but I would check the xlr8 database anyway just to be sure. It is true about the 128GB recognized limit of the ROM's though.

I should have asked playby originally what revision he had to make sure. I was just on my way to bed and scanned this topic again but wanted to make sure playby didn't go off and buy a new HD without getting the whole story. I should have clarified it originally but was a little lazy. My bad.

-Jerry C.

Langdon · Sep 10, 2003, 04:32 AM

Originally posted by Hydra:
That is wrong in some cases. The original B&W Rev. 1 had errata in the ATA controller that would result in data corruption when adding a slave HD. Apple doesn't officially support adding a second drive in these machines for this reason.

Was the corruption problem limited only to a second slave drive or just any new harddrive? I was under the assumption that the problem effected any new drive, particularly new ones larger than 80 gigs, even if it was the only one in place.

suprz · Sep 10, 2003, 05:50 AM

i had a 7200rpm 40gb maxtor diamond plus in my B&W G3 rev 1 and it worked great. just be sure to get a ATA controller card if you want to put a second drive in a rev1

hart · Sep 10, 2003, 05:57 AM

xlr8yourmac has the whole story. If I remember correctly the problem is not related to specific drives. if you use a third party card as someone stated above the problem is bypassed. I'm using a 120GB drive with no problems.

I'm no technician so I also got a lot of info and handholding from the older powermac discussion at Apple where there's a specific area for B&W expansion.

SuperM · Sep 10, 2003, 07:57 AM

Originally posted by Hydra:
That is wrong in some cases. The original B&W Rev. 1 had errata in the ATA controller that would result in data corruption when adding a slave HD. Apple doesn't officially support adding a second drive in these machines for this reason. Many drives will work but I would check the xlr8 database anyway just to be sure. It is true about the 128GB recognized limit of the ROM's though.

I should have asked playby originally what revision he had to make sure. I was just on my way to bed and scanned this topic again but wanted to make sure playby didn't go off and buy a new HD without getting the whole story. I should have clarified it originally but was a little lazy. My bad.

-Jerry C.

This is correct. I apologise for my previous post for the lack of info. When I originally tried to install a 2nd drive in my B&W G3 I had no end of trouble. Drive Setup was not recognizing it. After checking out xlr8yourmac.com, I learned that there were data corruption problems experienced by owners in Rev 1 systems. I have the later IDE controller chip on my motherboard as xlr8yourmac.com explains and once I purchased an ATA100 cable (eliminates/reduces crosstalk in the cable), Drive Setup recognised the slave drive it formatted fine and have had no problems. This is the page you want:

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/G3-ZONE/y...IDE/index.html

Langdon · Sep 10, 2003, 10:49 AM

Originally posted by hart:
if you use a third party card as someone stated above the problem is bypassed. I'm using a 120GB drive with no problems.

But is that really a cost effective decision? You end up spending $80-100 dollars on a card for a machine that is only worth $200. It would almost be wiser to sell the B&W and put all the money towards a first gen G4.

Hydra · Sep 10, 2003, 11:18 AM

I'm not sure if I have jumped to a conclusion and assumed the original poster wanted to replace the original drive or add another to it. If he's replacing it, any drive with less than 128GB will be fine (greater than 128GB will be a waste). If he adds a slave to the original HD there is the corruption issue (doable but try to make sure the drive will work before buying it). It all depends on what the original poster is looking to do.

-Jerry C.

tooki · Sep 10, 2003, 01:15 PM

Unfortunately, even that seems to not be the case, as I have seen cases of a single big HD causing problems in Rev A Blue and Whites.

Frankly, I will not replace or augment the factory drive in a Rev A B&W with a modern drive, as it is too likely to result in problems. In those cases, I recommend either an external FireWire drive, or an internal drive with an ATA card.

tooki