Getting the most out of a new internal hard drive

Hi everyone. Many apologies if this has been answered before, but I couldn't find the info. I have a PowerMac G4 400Mhz machine with its original 10Gb hard drive. Last year, I installed a second hard drive, a 300 Gb Seagate Barracuda SATA drive, and a Seritek controller for the new drive.
When I installed the Seagate drive, I just put it in the bay on top of the 10 Gb drive. I moved all my data over to the Seagate drive, and use it as the startup drive now. I don't use the old 10 Gb drive anymore, but it's still installed in its original position.
Now I'm starting to wonder if I did everything right. My questions are: Does it slow the machine down to have that old drive still installed? And was it OK to leave it in its original position, or should I have installed the Seagate drive there instead? Lastly, when I designated the Seagate drive as the startup drive, I did so through System Preferences. Is that all there was to it, or was there some physical setting on the drives or their connections that I need to fiddle with to let the computer know what was what?
I haven't had any problems starting up with, or accessing the new drive, but sometimes when I try to do some simple operation, there's a momentary delay and I hear a low-level, high-pitched whine from the computer as if it's accessing a different drive or something. (Sorry, I'm not too technical.) Thanks!
G4 Sawtooth Mac OS X (10.3.9) Giga 1.12 Ghz Accelerator, 1.2 Gb RAM

1.) It slows that machine down just a bit because you have to devices now on the same channel. It's not really a big deal.
2.) If you mean position by actual physical position, also not a big deal. The positioning really doesn't matter, just put it wherever it's easily accessible in the designated slots.
3.) To set the Segate as the startup drive, all you had to do was designate it in system preferences. The physical connections you mention are to set which drive is Master and Slave. If your Mac boots fine off the segate then you've already configured it correctly.
4.) Sometimes that noise you hear is just OS X accessing the other 10gb drive. Maybe some of your programs just try to detect directories and your old drive will show up as a valid one.
Hope that answers everything.
Cheers

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I'm relatively new to Mac and want to try and get the most out of the new MacBook Air.
My wife and I have been sharing the same Apple ID. We both have iPhones - she has a 5 and I've got a 4S.
We only have one copy of iTunes and we have been sharing the account. (She doesn't really use the computer for anything beyond writing the odd weekend assignment.)
Would I be better off setting her up with her own and making her as a separate user on the computer? Would this require much work?
In recent times with updates, we have a few problems with the duplication of texts and that sort of thing. Both of our texts are stored on the computer and that sort of thing. Also, sometimes texts I send her are sent through to me from her, if that makes any sense.
Anyway, I don't really want to overly complicate matters when it comes to accounts etc, but I wanted to know if a fresh Apple ID would be the best thing or even a new user?
Any tips etc would be greatly appreciated
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I have this question too (0) Reply

Your question is almost too much a personal one, begging the question "do we (husband and wife) feel comfy sharing one account on the Mac"   maybe thats why nobody answered you.
It doesnt complicate anything, but it adds steps for switching accounts on the Mac/ purchases etc. of course
since your question is mostly personal, ..I wont answer THAT part of it, but creating a new account is easy.....messing with switching back and forth is also a personal preference 'issue' as well.   I prefer to keep things simple, but...........you and yours, I dont know.......
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11468

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Hi. I'm new :D
I recently bought a Mega 651 to make a bit of a media project
[that I don't really need since my internet PC is already next to the TV and stereo]
and now I am looking at how to get the most out of it.
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Are there other motherboards that can be fitted into this box?
Would the boards of other Mega PCs fit? Are they available for sales?
Power Supply Unit
Something is making noise, even when I remove the hard drive.
The PSU in my box is a FSP250-60MS, max 250 W.
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I believe the key word here is "Girder". I've briefly encountered this program before - a program to read the signal of a remote, and assign actions. If I remember correctly, it is not freeware? Is it so, that the remote can be used with Girder? Will Girder read another remote on the same sensor? Are there alternatives to Girder?
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From what I've read, this display is no fun what so ever. Or? Anyone done anything neat with it?
TV/Video
I have a ATI all in wonder lying around somewhere, TV tuner and video out. Are you people all using the default TV software or are there alternatives worth playing with?
Radio Software
Anyone using something other than the default MSI software?
Media Center Software
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Please do!
It's okay if you point me to another thread that already describes something like this, as long as you leave a hint at what you're finding interesting in the other thread. And you only have to answer the questions you want to
Let the ideas flow.
.t

here are a few replies to your queries about the Mega 651:
Motherboard:
this is a custom built board designed for the mega 651. you might find that the boards in other megas MIGHT work, but they are not available for sale
in any case, i think the 865 and 180 would be different anyway as they use a different LCD display and i imagine the connector might be slightly different
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System fans:
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forget about it - msi won't release any SDKs for this and probably never will
TV / Video:
you can use any tv card and its software that you are happy with - there is no specific reason to use an MSI card
media center software:
the intervideo software provided with the mega 180 and 865 also works with the 651 (if you can get hold of it anywhere). however it is a load of rubbish, and if you do need anything like that, then media portal is going to be your best bet
find out more at http://mediaportal.sourceforge.net
the trick with these mega pcs is not to expect too much from them!! they are a nice idea, but i think they were rushed to the market too soon in order to steal a march on their other SFF rivals - the next generation of mega PC will hopefully address all the issues we've experienced and make them proper HTPCs!!
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Your question is almost too much a personal one, begging the question "do we (husband and wife) feel comfy sharing one account on the Mac" maybe thats why nobody answered you.
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(If I have helped you in any way to say "Thank You" please click on the star next to the message. Thank You)
If I have solved your Issue please click the "Mark as accepted solution" button.

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I want to install a new internal hard drive for my Macbook (13in, Late 2009) and restore to factory settings. However, I want to keep my Mac OS X Snow Leopard., which I downloaded from the app store. How can I restore computer with the updated OS?

What I did on our two computers was partition the hard drive so that both Snow Leopard and Mountain Lion can be used on the computers. This allowed me to be able to retain/use older applications and games on the Snow Leopard partition. This will allow you to do a clean install of Mountain Lion on the newly created partition. The Mountain Lion installer has a button that allows you to select another drive so you don't install it over Snow Leopard. I cleverly name one partition Snow Leopard and the other one Mountain Lion so I wouldn't confuse the two (I never claimed to be smart).
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Good afternoon.
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1. Is a hybrid solid state drive going to need some kind of special formatting after I put it into the macbook so that I can put the operating system on it?
2. Is a "normal" platter hard drive more reliable than a hybrid solid state drive?
3. Is there any additional driver or special software that I have to install for a hybrid solid state drive?
4. Currently there is no personal data stored on the computer. Can I just put the new hard drive in, and then insert the snow leopard install cd?
5. If I install snow leopard, can I just go to the App store and get the free upgrade to Mavericks?
6. If I want to do the "Data Doubler" option in the future and add a normal Solid State drive into my computer, will it have trouble interacting with the 1 tb hybrid solid state drive?
I would love to get some recommendations about the smartest option to upgrade my hard drive with something that will be fast (I edit lots of photos) and large (1 tb) that isn't going to cost too much. I don't know much about the different brands or options (and there are so many listed in tons of online reviews), that I got really overwhelmed and confused by the info out there.
I would really appreciate any help and advice. I've never switched out a hard drive before.
PLEASE HELP !!! Thanks!
Here is the "About this Mac" Info:
Macbook Pro 15-in Mid 2012
Model Identifier: MacBookPro9,1
Processor: 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory: 4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Software: OS x 10.8.5
Storage (Hard drive): APPLE HDD ST500LM012 Media, Rotational, SATA, GPT (GUID Partition Table)

1. Is a hybrid solid state drive going to need some kind of special formatting after I put it into the macbook so that I can put the operating system on it?
The boot drive, regardless of what it is, needs to be formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). This is standard with OS X.
2. Is a "normal" platter hard drive more reliable than a hybrid solid state drive?
There are arguments pro and con. Bottom line, SSD's and hybrid drives are still quite expensive per GB than standard hard drives. If you have the bucks and are a speed demon, go ahead.   I have better use for my money.   Standard hard drives are mechanical and may wear out over time. But even though SSDs are not mechancial, they can still go bad and ultimately they even have a limit to their write capacity. The jury is still out on this debate.
3. Is there any additional driver or special software that I have to install for a hybrid solid state drive?
No
4. Currently there is no personal data stored on the computer. Can I just put the new hard drive in, and then insert the snow leopard install cd?
You can physically put the hard drive in but probably not install Snow Leopard on this MBP.
The mid-2012 MacBookPro9,1 models came with Lion 10.7.3 (11D2097) preinstalled.   It is very unlikely you would be able to install Snow Leopard on it. Historically you cannot install a version of OS X that is earlier than the version that came with your Mac (even if you replace the hard drive).
5. If I install snow leopard, can I just go to the App store and get the free upgrade to Mavericks?
Not via Snow Leopard on this MBP. See my response to #4.
6. If I want to do the "Data Doubler" option in the future and add a normal Solid State drive into my computer, will it have trouble interacting with the 1 tb hybrid solid state drive?
No. They are completely independent of each other; they are just independent storage units (drives) and their RAM does not interact.

Getting the most out of a new internal hard drive

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