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ajprice · Mar 9, 2008, 09:50 AM

My original plan was to use my old G4 as a server, with a sata card and big drive in it as a time machine and itunes drive. That idea is out of the window now because I've hooked up the G4 this weekend and its dead.

My current setup is a Macbook with 120GB drive, and an external 120GB drive that came out of my G4 when it got 'retired' a year ago, in a Lindy 'Mac mini' type drive case (its an IDE drive). I'm holding my iTunes library an other stuff on the external 120GB, the MacBook has Leopard, and Boot Camp with XP on it. I also now have a 60GB hard drive and 16x DVD-R drive from my G4, and I have an Xbox 360 set up with the Macbook (using the same Dell screen).

We've already got a BT Hub as a wireless router and internet connection, so I don't need or want a Time Capsule, and honestly I don't want to spend as much as what a TC costs.

So whats the best way to do it.. just buy a big ass hard drive? Or is there a good and not too expensive way to do a bit more than this and have a proper server setup for backup and media?

As an aside with the 16x DVD-R from my G4, is there such a thing as an enclosure that can take a DVD-R and a hard drive in one box? The 16x is a faster drive than my Macbook for writing. And if I put the 60 or 12GB HD in a USB casing and loaded it with a few tunes and videos, would it play nice with my XBox 360?

I had it all planned out to use the G4, but now I'm a bit stumped!

SpaceMonkey · Mar 9, 2008, 11:46 AM

I don't mean to question your diagnostic skills, but, if your G4 tower has been sitting unplugged and dormant for a while, is it possible that you need to reset the PMU/replace the PRAM battery? Especially if it was working fine before you retired it.

ajprice · Mar 9, 2008, 12:21 PM

Already replaced the battery on the mobo, still no go. Stripped it out of everything but 1 stick of ram, no go, tried it out with other stick of ram in place, nothing. The case fan twitches and the red light on the motherboard flashes, and thats it. I've also tried the reset button next to the battery, and that also did nothing. Its dead.

Oh and it was dormant and plugged in all the time, just never switched on.

mduell · 01:15 PM

The problem with any non-TC NAS is that it's unsupported for TM; yes, you can make it work with other NAS, but it's a hassle.

You can get a USB+ethernet enclosure for about $45 (IDE or SATA), but as long as you're doing that you may as well pick up 500GB for $100 (again, IDE or SATA). Both your MacBook and X360 will be able to access it over the network.

Guy Kuo · Mar 9, 2008, 01:13 PM

Pity about the G4. That would have been a nice solution for you. I use an old G4 (Digital Audio) to serve 6 TB of media as NFS shares. 5 internal ATA drives (4 on an IDE controller) are in the case. The remainder of my drives are connected much as you planned in an 8 bay SATA CFI Terratower port multiplier enclosure (CFI CFI-B8283ERSS 8BAY SATAII/eSATA RAID ENCLOSURE W/PCI-E HOST SILVER) which keeps the SATA drives well cooled. The CFI case came with a PCI-E RAID card, but I had to get a separate PCI-x RAiD card due to the old G4 lacking PCI-Express slots (((*) EZQuest eSATA PCI-X Card 4-Port/4-Channel -... (A59944) at OWC)

ajprice · Mar 10, 2008, 11:35 AM

Yep its a shame, as far as hard drives go there are a few offers around at the moment for 500GB external drives for £70-75, one is a Seagate FreeAgent drive.

adamcr · 05:45 PM

I'd advise against any NAS box that requires you to install software on the client in order to access it -- NetGear make a similar product called the TS-101 and it's a pain to deal with.

Instead, you could go for one of the many NAS boxes that lets you build a shared iTunes library -- look for DAAP support. I use a QNAP TS-109 and have Time Machine backing up to it across the wireless network from three Macs at home (using unsupported hacks).

BTW, Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK is offering the FreeAgent and others for £65 (inc VAT).

ajprice · Apr 4, 2008, 08:49 AM

Plan A is hopefully back on, a mate had a look at the G4 and the PSU was fritzed. I've ordered an ATX adapter cable to fit an ATX PSU into the G4, and hopefully get it running again. I'll keep you posted. AS PSU's go, the G4's was 340W, which is a fairly low powered one in PC land. As I'll be fitting a SATA card and drive(s), will a 340W-ish PSU still be ok or should I play safe and get a higher powered one? There seem to be a few 'quiet' or 'silent' PSU's are these going to be really quiet, or not much different in noise to the G4 PSU?