[caleach]

I ordered my G4/450 from Apple with the optional 20 gig SCSI HD and now want to add a second drive. I decided to go with a Western Digital 100 gig from Fry's since they were on sale. The actual installation process seems pretty simple until when you read the book and it says NOT to use the IDE cable that came with the drive, but rather use one supplied by Apple. Well, since the computer didn't come with an IDE drive I was forced to try and buy one. Good Luck, I called the Apple store at Valley Fair and they said that they don't sell anything like that and that I would have to try Fry's. Fry's has no idea what I'm talking about since they say that all IDE cables are the same, assuming the same number of pins. I also told the tech at Fry's that before I noticed the wording about not using the included IDE cable I had, infact, installed the drive but that upon entering the formatting phase of the operation I saw that the computer only recognized 31 gigs out of the 100. The Fry's guys then said that I needed an IDE controller card.

I guess the questions are:
1- can I install an IDE drive in this box that currently has a SCSI?
2- Do I need an IDE controller card?

I'm very frustrated at both the lack of support from Apple on this type of thing and the lack of knowlege on the part of the employees at Fry's.

Please help.

[Todd Corzett]

You should be able to... I was able to with my B&W450. The SCSI should be run off a separate PCI card. The optical drive (CDROM, etc) is ATAPI (or IDE). If you don't have a zip drive you could install the HD in that slot and hook it into the IDE that runs the CDRom. There is also a second IDE channel on the main board. Find the cable that runs from the CDROM to the motherboard and look for a similar slot/connector on the motherboard. You might need to buy a power splitter too. Hope this helps a little.

-Todd...

[Camelot]

You don't need an IDE controller. Don't listen to anyone from Fry's - they know less than a dead maggot.

Depending on your Mac version, all you do need is an ATA/66 cable and you need to connect to the second IDE connector on the motherboard, not to the same IDE line that the CD/DVD is connected to.

The DVD-ROM sits on a ATA-33/cable bus which is why you only see
30GB.

ATA/66 cables have 80 conductors with 40-pin connectors (the other 40 conductors act as a shield between the data lines to support the higher frequency signals). If you use a ATA/33 cable (like the CD/DVD cable), the drive will operate in ATA/33 mode.

[nana4]

Originally posted by Camelot:
The DVD-ROM sits on a ATA-33/cable bus which is why you only see
30GB.

What has running on an ATA/33 channel got to do with the computer only seeing 30GB? Check to see that the drive is not jumpered for 32GB operation. Don't those old Macs have one good IDE controller and then a second ultrashitty one for Zip drive use?