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MikeD · Jul 4, 2003, 12:42 AM

Western Digital 200GB SE/ caviar?

I curently have the "stock" 120 gb drive in there now. But want to add some more storage space in this dual 1.25gb MDD mac. Will I have any problems with this?

Thanks,
Mike

BrettOZ · Jul 4, 2003, 12:58 AM

Should have no problems. Whack it in the rear drive bay bracket (ATA100) and make sure you have it set to Cable Select.

businezguy · Jul 4, 2003, 01:10 AM

I did a lot of searching for this awhile ago. The MMDs have no limit for hard drive size. Don't worry about it.

MikeD · Jul 4, 2003, 01:16 AM

Phew! I was worried there for a second because I did searches too but I kept getting conflicting answers. Some said there was a 137gb limit etc etc.

Is installation in there a breeze? Hope it's easier than that powersupply fix! That took about an hour and a half for me!

Is there detailed HD installation instructions out there?

Thanks for everyone help too!
Mike

BrettOZ · Jul 4, 2003, 01:28 AM

Here is the manual for the Duals - but it is the same layout for all MDD G4s (I think) - there is a chapter in here that talks about adding drives. Did it last night (Just bought a G4 Dual) - no more than 5 minute job.. enjoy.

http://manuals.info.apple.com/Apple_...acG4DualSU.PDF

MikeD · Jul 4, 2003, 01:46 AM

oh thanks so much! You don't know how horrid it is trying to search for this info on apple's site. I tried "install hard drive" and "MDD" and I got things for OS 8 and powermac models from way back when!

BrettOZ · Jul 4, 2003, 07:15 AM

Yeah some things are not too easy to find on there!

derekn · Jul 4, 2003, 02:14 PM

Originally posted by MikeD:
Western Digital 200GB SE/ caviar?

I curently have the "stock" 120 gb drive in there now. But want to add some more storage space in this dual 1.25gb MDD mac. Will I have any problems with this?

Thanks,
Mike

One thing you may want to do is instead of putting that drive on the ATA/100 bus, put it on the front ATA/66 bus instead.

When both drives are on the 100 bus, they can both use the full bandwidth one at a time so the speed will be a bit slow. Using the 66 and 100 busses will even things out and you should get better speeds overall.

The Placid Casual · Jul 4, 2003, 05:53 PM

I agree, use the ATA/66 bus. I asked Apple about it once and they said this was their recommended setup.

Oh, and the installation is simple, should only take about 5 mins or so. The MDD case is a dream when it comes to HD installation...

MikeD · Jul 5, 2003, 02:29 PM

Will the ATA|66 be able to recognize the 200gb and make use of it's speed?

kkant · Jul 5, 2003, 02:33 PM

Originally posted by MikeD:
Will the ATA|66 be able to recognize the 200gb and make use of it's speed?

Yes. ATA/66 is faster than any single hard disk (probably even faster than 10,000 RPM disks). The limiting factor is the disk platters themselves.

Lateralus · Jul 5, 2003, 02:38 PM

If you're going to put the 200GB on the ATA/66 bus, you're going to have to partition it.

kkant · Jul 5, 2003, 03:11 PM

Originally posted by PowerMacMan:
If you're going to put the 200GB on the ATA/66 bus, you're going to have to partition it.

Good point, I forgot about that. If the drive is >128 gigs, put it on the ATA/100 bus.

MikeD · Jul 5, 2003, 03:46 PM

Okay but the other poster (derekn) said that having two drives in the ata|100 drive bay may slow things down. But is that slow down negligible? I mean, I'm using this drive to be my scratch disk for FCP and would that slowdown hurt anything?

Mike

kkant · Jul 5, 2003, 04:11 PM

Originally posted by MikeD:
Okay but the other poster (derekn) said that having two drives in the ata|100 drive bay may slow things down. But is that slow down negligible? I mean, I'm using this drive to be my scratch disk for FCP and would that slowdown hurt anything?

I don't think so. As I said, you are limited by the platters, not the interface. The platters give you maybe 30-35 megs/sec max. ATA/100 can easliy deal with two drives. There might be some latency issues, but I doubt it. Just stick the drive on the ATA/100 bus.

Westfoto · Jul 5, 2003, 05:19 PM

Originally posted by BrettOZ:
Here is the manual for the Duals - but it is the same layout for all MDD G4s (I think) - there is a chapter in here that talks about adding drives. Did it last night (Just bought a G4 Dual) - no more than 5 minute job.. enjoy.

http://manuals.info.apple.com/Apple_...acG4DualSU.PDF

Is there a spot to find the manual to the G4, Digital Audio model ? It would be so much better that all of these little pdfs

Thanks,
West

Eriamjh · Jul 5, 2003, 07:04 PM

UH, ATA66 cannot recognize over 127GB, no matter how you partition it.

If you want the full 200GB, put it on the ATA100 bus. If you're worried about the "slowdown" associated with both HDs on the same bus, can't you move the original boot drive to the ATA66 bus? Eventually, you may fill every bus with a drive so what's the big deal about what bus they are on?

BrettOZ · Jul 5, 2003, 09:04 PM

Originally posted by Westfoto:
Is there a spot to find the manual to the G4, Digital Audio model ? It would be so much better that all of these little pdfs

Thanks,
West

G4 Manuals can be found here:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=50018

Westfoto · Jul 6, 2003, 04:17 PM

Originally posted by BrettOZ:
G4 Manuals can be found here:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=50018

Thanks for the link

West

pdovinh · Jul 7, 2003, 03:48 AM

Originally posted by Eriamjh:
UH, ATA66 cannot recognize over 127GB, no matter how you partition it.

If you want the full 200GB, put it on the ATA100 bus. If you're worried about the "slowdown" associated with both HDs on the same bus, can't you move the original boot drive to the ATA66 bus? Eventually, you may fill every bus with a drive so what's the big deal about what bus they are on?

Correction Eriamjh,

Apple did some kind of voodoo and YES you can have 200GB on ATA66 bus and it will see about 180 something after formatted.

pd

MikeD · Jul 9, 2003, 04:22 PM

Well, just got the drive in today and I was able to install it on the ata|100 carrier with my boot drive. 186GB for me!!! Whoo hoo! Now to get my rebate!!!

Thanks everyone for your help!!