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jmault · Sep 18, 2006, 09:27 PM

I only have about 25 G's left. Is it possible to put more space on your HD; like get it upgraded or modified or something of that nature?

ghporter · Sep 18, 2006, 09:30 PM

Nope. What there is when the thing is made is the most it'll ever have. You can UPGRADE to a NEW DRIVE, but that's kind of tough for some folks.

With "only about 25 G's left" how much space did the drive start out with?

cakey · Sep 18, 2006, 09:35 PM

No. You basically have 2 options:

- Get a new hard drive (larger than what you already have) to replace your current one. You will have to reinstall Mac OS and all your apps/data

- Get a new hard drive and add it as a 2nd drive. This option is easier.

Plenty of info on both options here.

Karpfish · Sep 18, 2006, 09:45 PM

buy an external HD

jmault · Sep 19, 2006, 12:28 AM

I started out with 60G, but you know it was actually somewhere around 55 by the time I got started. Will my computer get slower as the memory starts to dwindle down? Will that effect my internet speed at all? I have an external but it is only a little one; I don't know what kind to get (either brand or connection like USB/firwire) because I don't know which one is best. Since I wouldn't know how to put another HD in my Mac, are there people/stores that can do that type of thing?

brokenjago · Sep 19, 2006, 12:42 AM

It will get slower when you have less than 10% of your drive free, depending on how much RAM you have.

It may or may not affect your internet speed. It most likely will only because Safari will perform more slowly and surfing the internet will become slower.

I'm a big fan of Seagate drives. I would go with FireWire, as it's better for HDDs because it's faster.

If you wanted to put another HD in your Mac, there are indeed people who will do it for you. I can't think of anyone off the top of my head.

fdmendez · Sep 19, 2006, 02:20 AM

firewire isn't necessarily faster, it all depends on what you're moving on that wire, if it's a bunch of small files than usb 2.0 would actually be faster and it also transfers at speeds of up to 480 mbps, fire is faster for bigger files b/c it's more consistent, for an external drive, USB 2.0 is probably th best way to go

brokenjago · Sep 19, 2006, 02:34 AM

USB 2.0 is not a better way to go than FireWire for an external hard drive. FireWire has higher sustained transfer rates, and while USB 2.0 has a theoretical top speed of 480 Mbps (as opposed to FireWire's 400,) it's limited by several factors (including CPU availability,) and rarely, if ever, reaches this top speed (I've never seen it happen.)

FireWire is by far the best way to go, and I'm sure I can get quite a few people to back me up on this. (C'mon guys...

)

ghporter · Sep 19, 2006, 08:07 AM

On a Mac, firewire is better. On a PC, USB is better. It's all about the drivers; Mac drivers for firewire tend to be better than Mac USB drivers and the opposite is true for Windows drivers.

There are also a lot more "Mac-oriented" firewire drives than USB drives.

Now for the bad news: the difference between the two won't make a hill of beans unless you're transfering HUGE files a lot. Firewire's sustained transfer rates won't come into play unless your files are enormous. For all practical purposes, a good USB 2.0 external drive will work just as well, and be just as fast, as a good firewire drive.

brokenjago · Sep 19, 2006, 11:10 AM

Ah.

I stand corrected.

ghporter · Sep 19, 2006, 03:25 PM

Originally Posted by brokenjago

Ah.

I stand corrected.

That doesn't mean that a lot of people haven't had great experiences with firewire drives on their Macs and bad experiences with USB drives on their Macs. "All other things being equal" is a big disclaimer I should have put in front of my statement. Things are NEVER equal; there are a few really horrible firewire drive controller chipsets that nobody gets good performance from, and some lame USB chipsets too. For the most part, people here report better performance from firewire drives than from USB drives, but that's all subjective reporting.

JKT · Sep 19, 2006, 04:23 PM

Sorry, but Firewire is better on a Mac purely because you can boot from a Firewire drive whereas you can't from a USB drive.

romeosc · Sep 20, 2006, 10:41 AM

Originally Posted by JKT

Sorry, but Firewire is better on a Mac purely because you can boot from a Firewire drive whereas you can't from a USB drive.

All this info is relative to Mac you own! Some boot from USB some have firewire 800, etc

If you get an external drive with firewire/usb you will never be left out in cold!

SSharon · Sep 20, 2006, 12:04 PM

Originally Posted by ghporter

For the most part, people here report better performance from firewire drives than from USB drives, but that's all subjective reporting.

I have done a few tests for myself and USB was never faster. I transfered 30gb of music (the same 30gb to the same drive) via usb2 (pci card) and firewire (same pci card and onboard) and firewire was the same speed. When transfering VIDEO_TS files firewire was clearly faster.

If I am not mistaken, usb is controlled by the system's cpu whereas firewire can control itself in a manner of speaking.

The bottom line is that if you really need the speed, you probably already know what you need to buy. I got two usb2/firewire cases since I transfer files to PCs without firewire.

JKT · Sep 20, 2006, 05:08 PM

Originally Posted by romeosc

All this info is relative to Mac you own! Some boot from USB some have firewire 800, etc

I don't recall there ever being a single Mac that can boot from USB. Which model(s) can do this?

romeosc · Sep 20, 2006, 06:34 PM

Originally Posted by JKT

I don't recall there ever being a single Mac that can boot from USB. Which model(s) can do this?

Several old Beige boxes boot from usb after using firmware update! Apple never revealed this,
because some units will and some won't ...... worth a try!