Anyone know how to install a second IDE hard drive into the G3 blue and white? I have the drive mounted but finding a cable that is long enough seems to be a problem. Anyone done this yet?

[rambo47]

Yeah, this is a big problem. There is a special bracket that allows you to mount the second drive about 1/4 inch above the first. Standard equipment on the rev.2 models. I ordered the bracket from MacMall and it's on backorder. Before doing anything to modify a B&W G3 you should take a gander at XLR8 Your Mac. They have articles and "how-to's" on just about every aspect of upgrading a Yosemite. Cool stuff for other models as well.

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"There is no spoon."
iDisk: rseijas
Homepage: homepage.mac.com/rseijas

[crayz]

Do you mean a rev 1 Blue G3(where you have to mount to the left side of the first drive?)

I have one, and what I did was simply get a longer cable. Don't remember what the exact length was, but I got it at a local computer store for about $6, and it working fine. You just need to find one where the length between the connectors for the two HDs is long, not just the length from the mobo to the HD. No need for a special bracket(although that would work too I guess).

Thanks for the info everyone. I was reading up on the URL posted above and apparently:

Rev 1 BW G3's come with two different style brackets. One is a sold long braket and wont work with the G3 Rev 2 stacking Hard Drive bracket and the other Rev 1 bracket is made up of three parts. I have the solid single Rev 1 G3 bracket so I guess getting a Rev 2 bracket is out.

Rev 1 BW G3's had some data corruption problems with different brand hard drives in either signle or dual drive configurations? Are these issues fixed with the current drivers in MacOS 9.1?

[muttfree]

Blue,
the HD corruption problem wasn't related to the OS, it was the IDE controller chip (mostly) that was at fault. This was fixed with the rev 2 B&W's. If read on further into the xlr8 pages you will find the article that describes (with pictures) the problem. The only real solution for the rev 1 units is to get a PCI IDE card and connect your 2nd drive into it.

HTH

The corruption problem is what I was afraid of. I read on those pages that if you don't use a second drive in UltraDMA xfer mode then it works fine. Later on you read that people have this problem regardless. Who knows.

I was hoping that the current drivers have worked around the corruption problem in the IDE chip of the Rev 1 G3s, maybe by disabling some feature or some such. As I read on it doesn't seem like it though. And of course so far I've found nothing in Apples tech database on this.

[Zwilnik]

Had similar problems when I added a drive to my B/W G3 Rev 1 (got one just before the Rev 2 came out... Dang!). Basically I had to stick with 5400 rpm drives (even as a single drive) and even though I could put two drives on the same bus, I would lose data when testing them on large transfers.
Generally, get as big a 5400rpm drive as you can for each bus. 1 on its own and 1 with the DVD/CD or even better, get a PCI ATA card (if you have a free slot) and put all your IDE drives on that.
Other than that issue, my G3 was one hell of a workhorse, and it's still working happily in the employ of my GF.

[rambo47]

I posted earlier that I ordered (backordered) the verticle hdd bracket at MacMall. My goof. I ordered it at Creative Computer. 800 222-2808. The Apple part# is 076-0778 and is called the "Stacked Verticle Rev.2 Hard Drive Bradket."


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"There is no spoon."
iDisk: rseijas
Homepage: homepage.mac.com/rseijas

About Adding the drive to the CDROM controler, I already have a zip drive in that location so there is no space for it. I don't think I can run the Zip drive as a secondary off the primary hard drive 'cause the cable won't reach.

In short, 'cause I have both an internal Zip and CDROM the only open IDE location is slave to the master hard drive.

I just read at xler8tyourmac.com that if you disable Ultra DMA xfers on the second drive everything okay. Any thoughts?

[muttfree]

Blue,
I think you answered your own question Since you already have the Zip & CD drives, there is no place to connect the 2nd HD except as a slave to the main drive, and therein lies the problem, with the data corruption when transferring files any bigger than a few MB, which kinda makes having a 2nd drive worthless, now doesnt it ?

And again, it has NOTHING to do with the OS or the drivers, it's the faulty controller chips that causes the corruption to occur, thats why they replaced it with the newer ones in the rev 2's. No driver patch in the world can fix it....... FIRMWARE patch...... MAYBE, but thats a completely different animal altogether.

Still your best bet is to get a PCI ATA/100 controller and ATA 100 drive (3X faster than the internal IDE channels), and be happy !

[Gregory]

Search the database of hard drive upgrades for IBM Deskstar 75GXP and B&W G3. The more current crop of Deskstar 75GXP seem fine - early (spring 2000 or before) may not have been. And, if you see a Deskstar 60GXP - due out in December 2000 but still not showing up (ATA copyright encryption protection built-into hard drives to prevent copyright material, muscis etc?? Nay, not yet (later) but that model is optimized for audio/visual has 494Mbps and 20-40 MB/sec sustained reads/writes.

Some people have had trouble even with IDE PCI, mostly it seems Beige G3 Rev A, but maybe others. Acard, Sonnet Tempo - 3.08 firmware (not 3.10 which I think was pulled).

There is always SCSI. $$$ but reliable.

Gregory

[naepstn]

I have had absolutely no problem replacing my stock 5400 rpm drive on my Rev. A B&W with a IBM 7200rpm drive. This is not a second drive, but I've never heard of any problems replacing the single drive with a new 7200 rpm one.

Also, there is currently still no ATA100 controller card on the market for the Mac. One has been promised (by OrangeMicro, I think) soon, but nothing is out there now, so don't bother trying to find one. Still, installing a Sonnet Tempo (or other) ATA/66 controller card and a fast 7200 rpm drive (or just replacing the drive with a faster one, as I did) will yield a MUCH speedier machine in the end. That was my experience (your results may vary).

Cheers!

[HalfMoth42]

Just curious... Still having no problems with the new 7200rpm drive in your Rev.1 B&W?

--brian f.

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--[ pleasant taste; some monsterism ]--

[GraphiteBoi]

I had a little trouble installing a my second hard drive on my B&W G3 450 but all is well now......I ust wish Apple would put some better quality HD's i their computers, the ones they have are too slow

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i Think, therefore iMac.