Advice on hard drives for a dual 2.5 G5. External/Internal, USB/Firewire ?

Hey guys-
I'm using my G5 as my main computer in a home based recording studio and I'm running out of drive space. I currently have the 2 internal drives: MAIN 160 GB (13GB available) & 300 GB (9 GB available) and one USB external 500 GB with 12GB
available. I know I'm dangerously low on all of them so my question is: what would be the best way to add more space? I'm really concerned on how fast my programs can access the data since I run a lot of instruments and audio samples.
Should I:
Buy one large internal drive (1.5TB) and use it as my main drive with the others as back-ups? If so which ones do you recommend?
Buy an external drive (1.5tb) in either Firewire or USB? I know Firewire is faster but does it matter when it comes to most applications?
Also, if I go with one large HD either way, would I lose any advantages over say several smaller ones?
Finally, how is the best way to replace your main drive with a larger one without having to re-install everything all over again?
Thanks SO much for the help:)

Hi-
The best thing that you could do for performance AND space, would be to replace both internal hard drives.
Install a WD6400AAKS 640GB as boot drive, and have one of the fastest, cool and quiet, 7200 RPM all around performing drives to run system and apps.
Install a WD1001FALS 1TB Black as the second data/scratch drive for loads of space, high performance and reliability.
Then, to back it all up, add at least another 1TB firewire drive.
USB isn't as reliable of an interface as firewire, nor is it as fast (overall).
Stick with firewire.
To keep from reinstalling everything, take out the 300GB drive, and install the 640GB (or whatever new boot) drive.
Use Disk Utility to format the new hard drive.
After formatting, use SuperDuper! to clone the 160GB drive to the new drive.
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
Once the cloning is complete, open System Preferences/Startup Disk, select the new drive as startup drive, and reboot.
After checking the clone for proper operation (all applications open, Mail works, etc.) remove the 160GB drive and install the new drive in it's slot.
Install the 1TB drive (or whatever) in slot 2, format it, and you are all done.

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External Hard Drive for my G4?

Hi --
I'm looking for an external hard drive for my Dual 450 MHz PowerPC G4 but I'm not sure about a couple of things: My machine's older (built in 2001 or so), running OS 10.4.6. Here are a couple more details:
Machine model: PowerMac 3,3
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (2.9)
L2 Cache per CPU: 1 MB
Memory: 384 MB
Bus Speed: 100 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 3.3.1f1
(For what its worth - serial number SBO322XKJ3C)
I'd like to buy a LaCie "Rugged All-Terrain Hard Drive" (80GB, 5400 rpm) but don't know if my machine has FireWire 800, FireWire 400, or USB 2.0 connectivity.
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

Hi, Laura -
Welcome to Apple's Discussions.
Your G4 dual 450MHz Mac is a Gigabit Ethernet model. There is a bunch of info about it available on this page at apple-history.com.
Re your specific questions -
Firewire - the built-in firewire on that model is FW400.
USB - the built-in USB on that model is USB 1.1.
Many, if not most, USB 2.0 devices are backward compatible with USB 1.1, but will operate at USB 1.1 speed.
You can add a PCI card to get USB 2.0; not sure if such a card is available for FW800.
Even with an added USB 2.0 card, USB 2.0 would be usable only when booted to OSX; OS 9 does not support USB 2.0.
According to the info you provided, "Boot ROM Version: 3.3.1f1" indicates the firmware on that machine is 3.3.1. It would be a good idea to update it at some point; the current version for that model is v. 4.2.8. You can download the 4.2.8 firmware updater from this page -
Article #120068 - G4 Firmware Update 4.2.8
Note - in order to install that firmware update, the machine must be booted to OS 9 from a writeable local drive (this usually means the internal hard drive), and the firmware updater must be run from the same drive.
You may also find that increasing the installed RAM will increase the machine's response and smooth it a bit. According to the info you provided, it has 384MB RAM in it now. That model has a max capacity of 2.0GB RAM, more than four times what is now in it. If it were my machine, I'd add at least one 512MB module (that's the largest module it can use).

Is it possible to use aMacBoock Pro as a hard drive for my iMac?

Is it possible to use aMacBoock Pro as a hard drive for my iMac?

Yes, if both machines have FireWire ports (400 or 800, they're both OK):
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
Probably (maybe?), if both machines have Thunderbolt ports and you have a Thunderbolt cable:
http://www.cultofmac.com/thunderbolt-target-disk-mode-requires-apples-special-ca ble-tip/103270
If the same port isn't available on both machines, I don't think so.

Need advice on purchasing an external hard drive for video editing

Hi,
I looking for advice on which external hard drive to get. The main purpose for the hard drive will be storing video files on for use with Final Cut Pro. I have the 12 inch powerbook G4 so I plan to use the FireWire (400) port to connect the drive. I'm interested in getting comment from others who use their external hard drives for video editing.
Thanks!

Firstly your decision to use FireWire is a good one, as not only will it free up the USB it performs much better on sustained transfers.
That said you're still limited by the FireWire interface, so opt for a drive with a big cache (16MB would be good) and fast spindle speed (7200rpm+).
Some of the newer enclosures are compatible with SATA drives. While these are easier to install and theoretically will perform better, I'm not sure that the performance would justify the extra cost.
Matt

Need advice on hard drive set up for a Mac Pro

Just changed over to a Mac and would like some advice on hard drive setup. Have a Mac Pro 2.8 with the 320 gig hard drive.
I plan to run Windows with MS Flight Simulator and Office 2007 through VMware Fusion/Boot Camp.
Will be transferring camcorder video to edit and make DVDs. Lots of music, podcasts, photos, and short videos will be stored.
I'm planning to buy additional hard drives.
Any suggestions on how many/what size hard drives to get.
What should the stock 320 hard drive be used for?
Where would I put the Windows stuff? What format/partion size?
Where should the backup go?
I've seen many positive comments on Western Digital Caviar Black drives, would that be a good choice?

Welcome to Discussions!
Here's my (current) setup.
4 x WD640AAKS. As Hatter says, brilliant drives. Whisper quiet and very fast. Plus extremesly good-priced.
Drives 1 and 2:
Raid0 boot volume. Also set as Photoshop scratch. I ran lots of tests on different setups and this is faster than having a separate scratch drive, almost the same as having a separate internal raid0 for scratch. But I felt I couldn't motivate that use of harddrive bays for the little extra it offered in speed.
Drive 3: User account on first partition and a second, 23GB partition for Windows XP.
Drive 4: Time Machine, which only backs up the User account partition.
I clone the startup drive to an external regularly. In fact I have three bootable clones, one OS X with latest updates, one with OS X with latest updates and my applications, and one of the boot volume before any major updates - overkill perhaps... I use the 320GB OEM drive in an FW800 enclosure for this.
/p

Advice on external hard drives for Macbook pro

I am looking to buy an external hard drive for my macbook pro urgently.
I was intending to purchase a time capsule but am really concerned with the reliability concerns of the time capsules where they stop working after 6 months to 18 months as posted on various forums.
I was considering purchasing a western digital external hard drive but they also receive a lot of negative feedback.
I have never used firewire previously but am interested in getting feedback as to how useful forum readers find this feature.
In terms of size am looking for 1TB approx.
Thanks in advance for your assistance as i need to purchase one immediately and i do not have time to research fully. Make, model number and approximate cost would be very helpful as well as where i could purchase hard drive in london. I am more concerned with quality rather than cost.

Opinions vary and people have different experiences ...
I'd recommend the LaCie 1TB Quadra drive at £134 it has eSATA, USB2 and FW400 and FW800 Interfaces (it comes with all four cables) and I've found them reliable and rugged.
http://www.lacie.com/uk/products/product.htm?pid=11158
http://www.lacie.com/uk/wheretobuy/index.htm

Choosing an external hard drive for back up

This is more for general advice than a specific question. Right now I have my hard drive partitioned and use the second as a backup with Time Machine. It will work for most situations but not all, such as a home fire or break-in (all my photos and music, lost forever!).
What I want to do is buy an external hard drive for backup and keep it at work. I would then bring it home every few weeks to update, but otherwise not store it in the same place as my computer. That way I would never lose more than a few weeks worth of stuff. So, a few questions, the nature of which will let you know how much of a novice I am at this.
1) Right now, Time Machine automatically updates once per hour. When I am using the external drive will I be able to set Time Machine up to only update my back up files when I connect the external drive. Is this difficult.
2) Any suggestions on what kind of external hard drive I should buy, or what features I should look for would be appreciated. I live in a remote area, so something I can get from futureshop.ca would be preferable.
3) My hard drive is about 280 GB. What size should I buy.
Advice on any of the above would be appreciated. Also feel free to toss in anything else you think I should know or consider.
Rgds
PF

Snowfog wrote:
This is more for general advice than a specific question. Right now I have my hard drive partitioned and use the second as a backup with Time Machine. It will work for most situations but not all, such as a home fire or break-in (all my photos and music, lost forever!).
What I want to do is buy an external hard drive for backup and keep it at work. I would then bring it home every few weeks to update, but otherwise not store it in the same place as my computer. That way I would never lose more than a few weeks worth of stuff. So, a few questions, the nature of which will let you know how much of a novice I am at this.
1) Right now, Time Machine automatically updates once per hour. When I am using the external drive will I be able to set Time Machine up to only update my back up files when I connect the external drive.
This is what I am currently doing among 3 different backup disks (1 Time Capsule, a WD500GB, and a Lacie 160GB). You won't have to "set" anything up other than attach the new drive and select it in the TM prefs. Then when your done, reselect your normal TM disk.
2) Any suggestions on what kind of external hard drive I should buy, or what features I should look for would be appreciated. I live in a remote area, so something I can get from futureshop.ca would be preferable.
Most any drive will do, as you partition it correctly to begin with.
*_How Should a Time Machine Hard Disk be Prepared?_*
For Time Machine to work properly, the hard disk must be formatted “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” and its’ Partition Scheme should be either GUID or Apple Partition Map.
Time Machine is incompatible with disks partitioned as Master Boot Record (MBR). Unfortunately, this describes nearly every hard drive you can buy because MBR is a Windows partition scheme. (Naturally, this DOES NOT apply to Apples’ Time Capsule.)
For some, Time Machine begins to perform as expected with a new external hard disk. But then the initial full backup or subsequent incremental backups fail. The user only later discovers the hard disk was still partitioned as Master Boot Record (MBR).
One article on Time Machine made this observation: “Virtually everybody will have to open Disk Utility and repartition the disk as APM or GUID. It doesn't really matter which one because the Time Machine disk will not be bootable anyway. APM allows a disk to boot a PowerPC, GUID allows the disk to boot an Intel processor but both are easily digestible by Time Machine on either kind of processor.” [http://www.girr.org/mac_stuff/backups.html]
It’s been recommended by many here that your reserve +at least+ double the size of your primary hard disk, that way Time Machine backups have room to grow as the size of your data grows. Additionally, the more space you give Time Machine the more history it can preserve. The less space you reserve for Time Machine the sooner older backups & deleted items will disappear.
One poster recommended this regarding multiple partitions: “If you do create multiple partitions (half and half would be a good place to start), make sure you use the first partition for Time Machine, and the second for your own stuff (the first one will be on top in the graphical representation shown in Disk Utility; you'll understand when you see the partition tab). This way, you can expand the Time Machine volume at any later time by deleting the second partition. Disk Utility allows this dynamic re-sizing of volumes, but volumes can only be expanded toward the end of the drive, when a volume that comes after is deleted to create the room.” [http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1712437&tstart=0]
Procedure
Connect the hard disk you wish to use for Time Machine backups.
Launch Disk Utility.
It will appear twice in the pane on the left. (Make sure you recognize that it is different from the 2 icons that represent your Macs' internal drive.) The upper entry represent the device as a whole, including the controller inside. The lower entry represents the hard disk contained within the device.
Click on the upper icon of the external hard disk.
Select the "Partition" tab.
For "Volume Scheme" choose "1 partition". (Choose 2 partitions if you intend on storing other data on the disk besides your Time Machine backups. Ensure that the two partitions have different names.)
Name the disk.
Format should be "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)".
Click "Options".
Select either GUID or Apple Partition Map. (See above for significance)
Click "OK".
Click "Apply". Then click “Partition”.
Once the external hard disk is repartitioned, select it again in Time Machine preferences and use it for your backups. If you chose to create 2 partitions, then select the first partition for Time Machine backups, and the second for additional files/folders.
3) My hard drive is about 280 GB. What size should I buy.
Any TM backup drive should be +at least+ twice as large as your Macs internal hard disk.
Let us know if this resolves your issue.
Cheers!

How can I use an external hard drive for capturing? I don't have enough mem

I'm new at this...I have a Powerbook G4 and not nearly enough memory for capturing a full size video. Is there some way to send it to an external hard drive- for capturing, then burn it in my laptop? Would that external hard drive have to have IDVD loaded on it?

Hi artdrake
Just to add to the already good advice posted above.
Another possible approach which works for me, assuming the ext. FireWire HD is large and fast enough (I recommend at least 120GB and 7200rpm) is to format the the ext. HD as stated above (journaled) and then clone your existing startup volume (using Carbon Copy Cloner) to the ext. Hard Drive. This will circumvent installing a fresh OS as well as all the iLife apps to the ext. device. You will simply make an exact copy of your laptops HD to the ext. volume. It takes me all of 30-40 mins. on my G4 system to do this procedure whereas installing everything from scratch may take several hours.
Click Here for example/s:
Once this is completed and assuming the ext. drive is connected securely via Firewire, Restart the computer while holding down the option key. Select the ext. FW HD. Once your G4 laptop is booted to external drive, use it as you would the primary drive. The only difference is that you now have plenty of room to capture to or to burn a DVD. This saves you from consuming much needed HD space on the G4 laptop plus it also serves as a fully operative backup hard drive for your G4.
Hope this suggestion works as well for you as it does for me. Feel free to post back with additional questions/concerns.
(3) G4 PM's/(3) S-Drives/Sony TRV900/Nikons/6FWHD's/PS7/iLife06/FCPHD/DVDSP/etc. Mac OS X (10.4.8) My ichatav AIM account is: SDMacuser1 (Please use Text chat prior to video)

I want to use my 1TB Seagate Hard drive for time machine and transferring files from Mac to PC.

For about a year I've been using my 1TB external hard drive for only time machine. To be honest, it wasn't until today that I tried to connect my hard drive to a PC and realize it isn't compatible. I read about partitioning the hard drive so that it can work both for time machine and transferring files between pc and mac. I'm not what you would call tech savvy, so I was wondering if I can get some advice on how to do this.
Thanks in advance.

To do it, you have to partition the hard disk, so you will have one partition for Time Machine and another one to store files and use them in a PC and Mac. To create the partition, follow these steps > http://pondini.org/OSX/DU3.html
In order to read and write in the external disk on the PC, you have to select "MS-DOS (FAT)" as "Format". If you choose any other option, the PC won't be able to read your external disk. Apart from that, note that you can't use files bigger than 4 GB with FAT. If you want to use the external disk with files bigger than 4 GB, you have to format your new partition in exFAT, and you have to do it on a PC

In need of a new hard drive for my old G5 computer

Hello there, I'm not as savvy as you are with computers but I am in need of a new hard drive for my old G5 computer that my husband uses. His crashed. If you did it all over again would you buy the same new hard drive? If so, where did you buy it? I don't even know where to start and was SO happy to find this recent post on installing new drives into the G5. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you!
<Title Edited by Host>

I actually just ran across this hard drive oddity for the first time myself just yesterday. It seems that some older Macs may not be able to use the newest SATA interfaces on some hard drives.
I an attempt to not get overly technical, SATA is the current interface type on computer hard drives. You can get some additional information from Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA. There are currently three revisions, SATA-1 (the oldest), SATA-2 (the current version), & SATA-3 (the latest and greatest).
So what happened was that my G5 could not use the SATA-3 drive I purchased because the computer could not support the SATA-3 standard. It was possible to "slow down" one of the other test SATA-3 drives to make it work like a SATA-2 and so it may be possible to do the same to other hard drives.
To answer your question, I would NOT purchase the saem hard drive for my Mac as it does not work for this older Mac.
My suggestion, if you can find one purchase the same hard drive that was in the computer. That way you know it is compatible. If you would like to upgrade, you will have to do some looking. Although I cannot recommend a specific drive, my two favorite companies are Seagate, www.seagate.com and Western Digitial, www.wdc.com. You most likely have a 3.5" drive, if you have a desktop, 2.5" for a laptop. WD has the Cavier line and Seagate has either Barrcuda or Momentus. What you are looking for is capacity.
So, both Seagate and Western Digital are good. You need a 3.5" drive for a desktop or 2.5" drive for a laptop. Stick with a SATA-2 drive also known as a SATA 3Gb/s drive for compatibility. Get a drive that is 7200 RPM or higher. Finally purchase the largest capacity at you can afford. Amazon is a good general place to been looking.
KWCitizen_Apple

Internal hard drive for use as scratch disk

Am running OS 10.4.11 on a dual core 2.3 Ghz PowerPC G5. Want to install a 2nd internal hard drive for use as a scratch disk w/ FCP and for my media files, etc. Given that I can only accomodate an SATA I drive w/ 150 Gbps transfer rate what might some decent choices be for a 500 Gb to 1 TB drive suited for video (and a PowerPC G5)? I'll also be adding an external drive for backup if anyone has any suggestions.

Thanks for the recommendations. I had been looking at the Hitachi CinemaStar series but you have to reset the drive to SATA 1 for use w/ a G5 PowerMac. Resetting the drive, according to Hitachi, can only be done on a PC which I don't have access to. And I think that holds true for all their drives that are not strictly SATA 1.

Using External Hard Drive For Time Machine

Hi. I will be buying a new iMac and plan to use an external hard drive by Lacie for Time Machine backups. I haven't used an external hard drive for this purpose before -- previously I've always used Apple's Time Capsule. So, I don't know if I can leave the Lacie hard drive unejected and powered on even when I've shut the computer down. The Time Capsule never needs ejecting from the desktop and is always on, but I'm not sure if the same can be done with an external hard drive when using it for time machine backups.
So, I just need to know if, when using an external hard drive such as a Lacie for Time Machine backups, I can 1. leave it unejected even when I shut down the computer? and 2. Can I also leave the hard drive powered on even when I shut the computer down? It would be good if I could do this because then it would just always be on and ready for hourly time machine backups without my having to remember to turn it on and the eject it when it's finished for the day.
I'd appreciate any advice or information.
Thanks in advance.
John

pulp3au wrote:
1. leave it unejected even when I shut down the computer?
What are you referring with "unejected"? You should know that LaCie drives have got three modes: "On" (permanently turned on), "Auto" (when you turn off your computer, your external disk turns off or you unmount it) and "Off". Choose the one you want.
pulp3au wrote:
2. Can I also leave the hard drive powered on even when I shut the computer down? It would be good if I could do this because then it would just always be on and ready for hourly time machine backups without my having to remember to turn it on and the eject it when it's finished for the day.
Of course. You can leave the external disk turned on when your Mac is turned off without any problem. In "Auto" mode you won't have to do anything in order to turn it on again

External hard drive for video editing

I am looking for a reliable and fast external hard drive, which I can store my projects in and work off of. I use Final Cut Pro. PowerBook G4 17"
I don't know if my mac has the eSATA or FW 800.
Here are what I’ve been looking at so far:
500GB OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro 'Quad Interface' 7200RPM 16MB Cache Solution with eSATA/FW800/FW400/USB2. Intech HD Speedtools, Prosoft Data Backup, and connecting cables for eSATA/FW800/FW400/USB2 Included. 2 year OWC Solution Warranty. (OWCMEAQ7500GB16) $217.99
1.0TB OWC Mercury Elite-AL PRO 800 RAID Dual SATA Drive 7200RPM FireWire 800/400+USB2.0 Oxford 924 Storage Solution w/32MB Data Buffer(16MB per HD). All Cables Included, Prosoft Data Backup 3, NovaBACKUP, and Intech Speed Tools Included. 2yr Warranty. (OWCME8SRS10TB32) $359.99
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEAQ7500GB16/
G-Tech G-DRIVE 500GB FW400/USB 2.0 Hard Drive $249.95
Two year Warranty with USB 2.0 cable and Manual on CD-ROM
Should I get the ones including the eSATA? Would this help with the rendering or playback issues? (Considering I might have to get a eSATA-to-SATA bracket/cable-adapter, since I can’t see any eSATA on my laptop.)
The OWCs are cheaper than G-Technology and offer backup software. what would I lose if I go with OWC? or if u have better suggestions?
Is there any auto back up program for mac?
I am also having difficulty rendering my files specially the ones with more than 2 layers of images. I thought it might have been because of the USB connection. Beside upgrading the connection with the new hard drive is there any other way to enhance the working quality? or do I need any thing else?
This is what I have on my PowerBook:
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (1.2)
CPU Speed: 1.67 GHz
Bus Speed: 167 MHz
I included a lot of Qs but Your answers to them is truly appreciated.

Any of the drives you mentioned would be fine but since your 17" PB has a FW800 port, I'd go for drives that support FW800. G-Tech also has them, but as you said they are higher priced.
The ProSoft backup software that comes with the OWC drives is very nice but it really provides more convenience than anything else. You can always backup your files manually without any special software (using the Finder to copy files/folders from one drive to another ... or you can even set up Automator actions to do backups). Anyway, the ProSoft backup software is only ~$40, so you're not out much if you have to buy it separately.
There are other good backup programs out there, SuperDuper and Retrospect come to mind; Lacie includes SilverKeeper and/or Retrospect Express with their drives. And Leopard (OSX 10.5) includes Time Machine, which is an auto backup capability. Requires its own hard drive for backup, by the way.
As for eSATA, you would have to get an eSATA card for the PC Card/Cardbus slot in your PB. eSATA is even faster than FW800 but I think in the case of a G4 PB it's probably overkill.
You mentioned problems rendering files ... if you are currently using a USB external hard drive, that is most certainly the problem. USB 2.0 can't keep up with the demands of video and your PB only has the slower USB 1.1.

How do I format a new external Hard drive for Mac?

Simple question I know for many of you out there but I could do with some advice as I have never done this before. I would like to buy a new external hard drive to store my music and photos on. I will get one with firewire and usb2 connectivity.Could someone walk me through the steps needed to format and prepare a hard drive for use with my Macbook (if it is not already Mac formatted). Will any brand of hard drive work with Mac or are some better than others?

In addition to what Templeto Peck said, make sure that you select the formating to be OSX Extended.
As far as the best esternal drive, type into the "Search Discussion" box: Best external hard drive. This will bring you to several previouslly posted threads that discuss quite thoroughly your question. The following is extracted from one thread:
The best drives are those that use the Oxford 911 chipset. I like the Mercury Elite Pro drives from OWC, but there are plenty of others that use the same chipset.

Hard drives for logic, what to look for?

Hi peeps, I'm looking at getting a new internal hard drive for my Mac Pro exclusively for my Logic 9 projects
obviously speed will be a factor in how many audio tracks I can use etc, but what other features are beneficial to logic? cache size etc
more importantly are there any drives out there that just don't play nice with logic, which are the ones to avoid at all costs?,
any positive recommendations of specific drives that are known to work well with DAWs?
any advice would be great
thanks, Robert

I've been using a 250GB Maxtor sense 2004. No problems with it. Gonna get a 1TB soon. Probably will be another Maxtor. Your milage may vary

Advice on hard drives for a dual 2.5 G5. External/Internal, USB/Firewire ?

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