250gb HD on a G4? D'oh...?
 

Couple of questions...

I just got a 250gb WD HD and was adding it as my 3rd HD, so I started on the second set of bays in my comp. As I connected the cable that was already running to the motherboard, I realized the slot was labeled ATA - 33. And there's an empty slot inches above it that says ATA - 66.

I was flipping through the G4 manual and sure enough, it seems that this comp only comes with two ATA 100 slots. (Am I right so far?)

1) Does the G4 even support this 250 gig HD?
2) If not, what's the largest it does?
2) If it does, how should I connect it to the motherboard? Do I need to get a PCI card so it'll can be supported up to ATA100/133? Do I daisy chain it off the slot the other two HDs are connected to?

Currently, I have the stock Apple 80 gig in the first drive bay, and above it, the WD 160gig hd connected on the second opening on that connector.

Thanks...

P.S. I will in fact be using both the 160gig and 250gig HDs for editing with FCP.

I just got a 250gb Maxtor and put it in my ATA100 controller (had to swap out the stock 80 gig, but going to copy my system over to the 100). It shows up fine, copying data right now. As for what you should do about the "situation" you have, it's a tough call. You might want to consider running your System off the 66 controller which wouldn't be tragic if you have a lot of RAM, but if you're paging out to your virtual mem a lot, then it could really slow you down.

The other option would be to get a ATA100 controller, just make sure you get cables that will reach. There's a diagram in your manual about how to install SCSI drives with a SCSI controller, the same would apply for ATA. That's your safest bet.

[edit: When I said "ATA100 controller" I meant "ATA100 controller on a PCI card"...in case that wasn't clear]

Recommendations on a PCI card?
 

Any recommendations on an PCI Card to do the trick? You tell me, but I don't think I need anything fancy - just something to run this ATA 100 drive and that's about it.

And again, if I get that ATA 100 PCI Card, my setup would probably stay:

Stock 80 Gig + 160gig on the mobo's ata 100
250 on ATA 100 PCI card

Is there any diff. at all between the mobo's 100 and the card's 100...as in, any reason to put the 250 on one or the other?

P.S. That idea to put the 80 gig system drive on the ata 66 is a pretty f'ing good idea. I may try that. Thanks.

Update...(on the 10, every hour)
 

Aaron,

Thanks so far; I moved my 80 gig system drive to the ATA-66 bus and put the 250 and the 160 in the front (?) bay - whichever bay the stock HD starts in. Didn't mess with the jumpers at all on any of them (believe they're all set to Cable Select)

Booted up normally as far as I can tell, and went to disk utility. It found my 250gb HD, I formatted. It's now there on my desktop.

Haven't really tested the system drive yet to see how much slower it'll be on the ATA 66...come to think of it, not sure if the stock 80 gig drive is ATA100 or ATA66 to start with. Anyway, we'll post as I use it more...

Still would like to know about PCI cards though. Thanks.

Are these drives showing up as the full size? After formatting what size do they show up as?

The drives show up as follows:

76.69 GB
149.05 GB
232.89 GB

That looks about right, yeah?

Re: Update...(on the 10, every hour)
 

<<<-- Originally posted by Joshua Kopple
Still would like to know about PCI cards though. Thanks. -->>>

Honestly, I've never had to buy one for a Mac, but I'm sure you can't go wrong with Sonnet hardware. Might not be the cheapest, but good quality.

http://www.sonnettech.com/product/pci_adptrs.html

Otherwise, check out OWC (www.macsales.com).

-Aaron

http://www.sonnettech.com/product/tempo_ata133.html

http://www.sonnettech.com/product/tempo_serial_ata.html

Both are good and also the second allows for the newer SATA.

Thanks Sharon. Seems like I've been hearing a lot of this Tempo card...

Btw, forgive my ignorance, but what is this new SATA drive. Been hearing mention of it a lot lately...


Joshua

SATA = serial ATA. It uses different/better wiring, which means that the interface can be faster (150MB/s versus 100MB/s) and that there are less wires (hence the connector and cables are smaller). Performance between SATA and PATA (traditional parallel ATA) are the same, but the different wire is nice. It improves airflow and allows more connectors on a motherboard.

SATA also supports some other features like hot swap.

SATA drives are just hard drives with SATA connectors. SATA drive are newer and typically better since they are newer.