[EKleiman]

Hey!
This is my first post, so first I'd like to say hi to everyone.

Here's my problem:
I'm about to buy an eMac 1.25. 40 gig isn't enough for me, so I bought a 250 gig drive. However, I'm not sure how I want to handle it. So here are my options:
1. Install the drive internally-- is this hard to do?
2. Get an enclosure for it, since it uses USB 2.0 it should run as fast as interal, right? and if i do it this way, will I be able to use it as my boot drive?

So, with this info, what's the best choice for me?

Thanks for your help in advance.

Evan

[Nerozwei]

I'd say get an enclosure. I'm not sure if you can boot off USB2 devices, but if you get an enclosure with FireWire then booting is not a problem. Actually I'd go with an enclosure that has both FireWire and USB2. With the external drive you don't void your warranty and you get a portable datastorage to boot

I think the best option for your use would be to use the eMacs internal drive for booting and small files (such as word documents, etc.). Store the larger files (video?) to the external. In addition it'd be smart to keep a backup boot partition on the external. That way you can boot of the external if something goes wrong with the internal drive. Two bootable partitions on two separate disks is better than one bootable partition on a single disk

[bborofka]

I think you'll void your warranty if you try to change the internal HD, unless you have it done by an Apple authorized tech. I'd just go external. I got a USB 2.0 enclosure from startech.com for like $60 and it works great, look up prices on mysimon.com. I haven't tried booting to it, I don't have any systems installed on it, but I was able to format HFS+ just fine, and I read/write to it perfectly. It's a nice little addition to my 12" PowerBook.

[EKleiman]

Thanks a lot guys! I decided to go with an external USB box, since I found one I liked (the metal gear box from outpost, very nice) and it only came in USB, not FW. Everything seems to be working, albeit very slowly on the G3 and iBook, but this is just for copying, things will be faster on its intended home, the eMac with USB2.0.

Thanks again!

Evan

[010111]

another more important thing to mention is that your 250GB drive when installed internally would become a 128GB drive. kinda a waste of 120GB in my opinion.

the only machines that can address 'big disks' are the mirror-door G4 / G5 / Xserves (unless something changed recently making eMac/iMac able to do it... but i highly doubt it)... other machines can only address them with a PCI card adapter or mounted externally.

i know you already decided to go external... just FYI for anyone else thinking they might try internal...

[megasad]

Originally posted by 010111:
another more important thing to mention is that your 250GB drive when installed internally would become a 128GB drive. kinda a waste of 120GB in my opinion.

the only machines that can address 'big disks' are the mirror-door G4 / G5 / Xserves (unless something changed recently making eMac/iMac able to do it... but i highly doubt it)... other machines can only address them with a PCI card adapter or mounted externally.

i know you already decided to go external... just FYI for anyone else thinking they might try internal...

Except my 1.25GHz eMac has a 160GB drive in it (149.1GB formatted). Haven't a clue how high it can go, but beyond 128GB for sure.