Maximum internal HDD space on Dual G5 (late 2004)?

I currently have a stock 80 GB and a user-installed 300 GB. I do a lot of video. So I plan to move the 80's contents to the 300, and the 300's contents to a new 750 (Fry's has them on sale this weekend). But I got spooked when I googled for PowerMac G5 tech specs and found one page stating that the maximum internal HDD space was 500 GB between devices. However, no size limit is listed on the Late 2004 PowerMac's tech specs page at http://support.apple.com/specs/powermac/PowerMac_G5_Late2004.html .
So, can I go ahead and get the 750, for a total drive space of 1050 GB?
Thanks in advance.
--Chris

Hello! OWC lists drives up to 1 T for your machine. There have been some problems with some G5's so if you want to look at an individual drive check the XLR8 drive compatibility database. Tom

Similar Messages

Dual G5 late 2004. Some problems with fan and freeze and now can't start

I just purchased a late 2004 Dual 2.5 Gig, with PCI-x and 1 gig ethernet. 1 Gig of what I presume to be factory ram and blue toothe. Connected to a new 23" Apple display.
The problems I have been having pale to where I stand now. I am stuck and can't move forward. At this point, the computer is off. When I try to turn it on, it does little to nothing and gradually the fan speed increases until the computer sounds like it wants to take off. The screen either stays dark, or sometimes I see the ? briefly, and then the grey screen with logo and that is where it stops. Currently I can't get past a lot of fan noise??
Can I get this thing started?? I have tried both starting from CD and hard drive. No luck.
This whole mess started yesterday and has continually gotten worse. Those details I can get into if needed, but for now, what can I do to see the screen and start over.
I just bought the machine, and I was doing a clean install that was acting funny. Hard drive sleep mode would cause the machine to not wake up. Specifically it was the monitor that would not wake up. The keyboard and the computer would still respond when I adjusted the volume. The screen was black.
I narrowed the problem to drive sleep, or monitor sleep by using the energy saver preferences. Just the monitor sleeping wasn't the probem. The computer would wake up. But if the hard drive went to sleep, then I could never get the screen back and the computer acted dormant. The only thing I could get was the volume sound from the computer and lights on the keyboard.
I ran Techtool Pro 4.1.2 ( i think ) and it reported possibe problems on the hard drive with the volume. I made the changes hoping that would fix the problem? No.
I decided to flush it all and start over with the install cd, make sure firmware was good, reformat the drive, and then install the System. But instead, I got caught is this loop of death that I can't get out of.
It had a kernal panic the first day I turned it on, but that was the last one. (dark screen with white message) The computer ran rather sluggish at times. I was shocked at times. Very slow finder response.
So? Suggestions? I have searched Apple support and tried anything I can think of. This is my first G5, but I have had some exposure to OSX beginning around 10.2. I am at my wits end and would greatly appreciate some input. For now I have to get some sleep.
Is my battery bad? It just won't start?
Thank you for any help you can provide, or links to articles!!

Hi Lawson, and a Warm Welcome to the Power Mac G5 Forum!
You could try a PMU/SMU reset
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300341
Use the second procedure if you have a button as shown in the photo - use the first method if you don't. You may not have to remove the intake fan assembly to get at the button. Observe static precautions and make sure to press the button once only.
Then try to start up on the CD/DVD.
If it fires up ok you could then proceed with the 10.4 install as before, and then combo update to 10.4.8
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx1048comboupdateppc.html
I would connect only a display, wired keyboard and mouse to start with - and disable any of the sleep, etc. Options in Energy Saver.
You may wish to use the Disk Utility on the 10.4 retail disc(under Utilities in the menu) to Erase and zero(select Security Options) the drive before the install.
The kernel panic and other problems could have been caused by a corrupted system on the boot drive, or by hardware problems, such as RAM, video card, battery, etc. Some of the hardware stuff is linked-to further down the post here
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3084827&#3084827
However, try the PMU/SMU reset and erase/install first, and post again with details if you still have problems.

Dual Internal HDD in MacBook Pro? How? Which Models?

Alright well it's official; my logic board failed on my 2011 MBP, and now I need to replace it. I have been trying to research the mythical dual internal hard drive setup in the MacBook Pros but haven't found any specifics on which models can and which models can't.
The cheapest avenue which I can take is to simply adopt my older sister's laptop, but I wanted to figure out whether or not it's dual internal HDD capable.
Here are the specfications on that laptop:
And if this laptop is capable, can it handle 16GB RAM? I've heard conflicting anwers in regards to that, half stating that 16GB is possible but that Apple refuses to acknowledge the fact, and the other half stating to heed Apple's warning that 8GB is the max.
The second (much more expensive) route is that if laptop is indeed incapable, as I fear it might be, which models should I look at? Was this just a thing of the past that is no longer possible?
Thanks, and I appologize if this is a "dumb question"

PocketFool wrote:
So the 2012 MBP is capable of supporting a 2nd internal HDD? Can you link to the OWC website that you mentioned?
http://eshop.macsales.com/search/data+doubler
The MBP *can* accept the 16GB RAM but does this void any warranty since Apple technically says that you shouldn't/can't run that much?
Only on the RAM itself, not the rest of the MBP. The RAM vendor guarantee will cover that.
However installing the data doubler will void the Apple warranty.
Ciao.
Re: RAM: It is not that Apple prohibits the installation of 16 GB RAM, it is a case where they simply have not tested 16 GB of installed RAM.
Message was edited by: OGELTHORPE

I backup to an external hdd with Time Machine, when it ran out of space it did not delete old backups, now my internal hdd says its full when before it had heaps of space. I have searched for extra files but cant find any. Can anyone help, please.

I backup to an external hdd with Time Machine, when it ran out of space it did not delete old backups, now my internal hdd says its full when before it had heaps of space. I have searched for extra files but cant find any. Can anyone help, please.

First, empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. Then reboot. That will temporarily free up some space.
To locate large files, you can use Spotlight as described here. That method may not find large folders that contain a lot of small files.
You can also use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) to explore your volume and find out what's taking up the space. You can delete files with it, but don't do that unless you're sure that you know what you're deleting and that all data is safely backed up. That means you have multiple backups, not just one.
Proceed further only if the problem hasn't been solved.
ODS can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To see everything, you have to run it as root.
Back up all data now.
Install ODS in the Applications folder as usual.
Triple-click the line of text below to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C):sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything while running ODS as root. If something needs to be deleted, make sure you know what it is and how it got there, and then delete it by other, safer, means.
When you're done with ODS, quit it and also quit Terminal.

IBook Dual USB (16 VRAM) not recognizing internal HDD, maybe not entire ATA

I've got a VERY old iBook (2001 dual USB I think, 'machine model' is 'PoweBook4.3'), which seemingly isn't recognizing it's own ATA bus.. Just this afternoon, I managed to connect it via Firewire target and back up the HDD (nothing important really), but now it won't even see it's own HDD, I can't boot from the internal CD/DVD drive (using the Tiger install DVD) using the 'C' key, but I can boot from an external Firewire DVD drive. But then the installer won't see the internal HDD, nor will Disk Utility see it. If I do 'ls /dev/d*', I get the following devices:
disk0 disk0s1 disk0s2 disk0s3
disk1
disk2
disk3
disk0 is the install DVD (on /Volumes). disk1 is on /private/var/tmp, which contains a bunch of Mount[0-9]{0-2] entries, a mds and a zBooterMnt directory. disk3 is on /private/var/run, which has a bunch of 'UNIX-looking' stuff 9syslog,syslog.pid,lookup.pid,installer.
I'm suspecting that either the battery that maintains the PRAM and/or NVRAM (shouldn't that not NEED a battery, being NV?) is hosed, or the NVRAM itself is, or something else entirely like the ATA bus, Power Manager chip, etc. The other day, sometimes it would recognize the HDD as a boot volume, sometimes not. If I reset the NVRAM (using openfirmware: reset-nvram), and then reset the Power Manager, that seemed to correct things..
BTW, this is my notorious 'machine from ****' - it has been repaired on AppleCare 7 or 8 times I think (logic board replaced multiple times, including that flaw in the video circuitry, replaced some other boards, etc, etc) - Apple has spent more than the combined cost of the machine and the Applecare on it. I'd like to use it as an MP3 server (and Newton development platform, which really does do better under OS9..), but if it won't even recognize it's own HDD..
Any ideas, or anybody want to buy it for parts (what parts still work that is - mind you, the display cable is a bit flaky TOO!)?
Jim

Yeah, it is indeed a DVD ROM drive.
I did manage to get it to recognize the disk (don't know how though) - by opening the **** thing up (completely), disconnection the ATAPI cable from the TravelStar drive and motherboard, and then reseating everything and closing the book back up (without the EMI shield (the one that is over the main board that the Airport card sits on (there is no Airport Card there) - I hope that doesn't double as a heat sink..
I also recoved the "U bar" around the screen hinges, and cut a bit away from the bottom housing plastic, so the two sets of video cables (and backlight/LCD power) are just exposed now, and not crimped through that piece of metal, which was causing problems - blacklight blinking out) That doesns't seem to cause any problems, UNLESS that bar is a heat sink. (didn't ever feel particularly hot, but I know there's a heat pipe (I think it's a heat pipe) that runs up to that grill below the screen hinge opening).
The one thing I do notice is that the metal area right under where the Airport card would go, and just to the left of the RAM SODIMM is VERY hot (almost burns skin on 10s contact. Is that normal? Since it's normally right below the card, I'd think heat should be piped away somehow, and I'm wondering if the EMI shield usually conducts the heat somewhere else. I still have the shield so I can reinstall it if necessary. The fan is not running continuously either. I'm thinking maybe the shield conducts heat from where it's source over to the heat piipe that runs up to the hinge-grill and the fan?
I also managed to break the audio connector on the main board in the process (opps!), but what the **** if it has no internal audio - it was crappy anyway!

How to Install Windows OS on a two partitioned internal HDD?

Hi
I have a late 2011 macbook pro 8,2 (MD318HN/A). A month ago, I installed Windows 7 using Bootcamp. For that I made a partition of 50 GB on my internal 500 GB HDD. After sometime in need of space, i formatted that 50 GB partition using Disk Utility in Mac OS Ext. (J).
Till this everything was fine.
Now I want to install Windows 8 Release Preview :
And now to install Windows 8 Release Preview, when i go to Bootcamp, it shows me an error that windows can be installed on a single partition HDD.
Trying format the internal HDD in one partition:
So i tried format the HDD of my MBP. In Lion Disk Recovery Mode (Cmd+R) using the Disk utility I tried to format the HDD but it gives me an error "Couldn't unmount the disk". I tried many a time but failed then re-installed the Mac OS X Lion from internet. Now that 50GB partition is showing in finder but still the error from Bootcamp exists when tried to install WIN 8.
So tell me what to do?
I have nothing in MBP to backup etc. So tell me any solution. I have arount 4-5Mbps download speed too.
Thank you.

Download MiniTool Partition Wizard. The boot disk is free, and it contains all you need to delete all partitions on your drive. This same problem happened to me when I was tinkering with installing Windows 8 using EFI boot (incidentally, DON'T - Apple's EFI implementation is, to date, not compatible since it's partially proprietary).
The download link is: http://www.partitionwizard.com/partition-wizard-bootable-cd.html
You'll need a USB mouse, since the trackpad mouse wont work with this partiticular image, but it's the easiest tool to use from a user experience point of view, which is why I'm recommending it.
After you delete all partitions using this tool (and press apply) you can go ahead and restore OSX by any means you wish (internet recovery, dvd install etc.)

How can I partition internal HDD after installing Windows 7 Professional via Boot Camp 4.0?

I recently purchased MacBook Pro 13" (Late 2011) model with OS X v10.7.2 Lion installed. I've upgraded to OS X v10.7.3 Lion and updated all other software.
I require Windows 7 for some Windows based softwares that do not support Mac OS X. Therefore, used Boot Camp 4.0 to install Windows 7 and then tried partitioning single internal HDD to have 3 partitions (4 total including BOOTCAMP partition). Disk Utility created a 648.5MB partition and then I was able to create 3 other partitions of custom sizes. After applying these changes, I got an error message that said selected volume size is too small. I resized this 648.5MB partion to a custom size and had total 4 partitions, including BOOTCAMP.
After reapplying these changes, BOOTCAMP partition was removed and I was left with only 3 partitions and empty space.
I've tried several different ways to partition the disk, all in vein. Is there a way I can partition my single internal HDD after installing Windows 7 Professional via Boot Camp 4.0?

You can't do what you want with GUI utilities, which will only allow a total of 4 partitions due to the limitation of MBR needed to support Windows. Those four partitions: EFI System (hidden), Mac OS, Recovery HD (hidden), Windows. So with Lion, you only get two visible partitions if you're going to use Windows with BootCamp. You can't make anymore with the included graphical tools.
If you need more partitions you'll need to use something like GPT fdisk (gdisk) to create the partitions in the GPT first. Then add the Windows partition only to the MBR and flag it as bootable. gdisk can be googled and downloaded for Mac OS X off sourceforge. It is not a GUI tool.
You should read this:
http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/
And this:
http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/hybrid.html

Maximum internal disk size accepted by MacOS Lion?

What's the maximum size of an internal HDD I can use with my late 2011 MacBook Pro 17"? And how much memory can I squeeze into it?
Thanks!
Fernando

Courcoul, greetings friend; You should change your avatar. I don't know if the OP is actually you using an alias or some one else. I have suspicions that you may be doing this to deliberately to confuse me. Take pity on those who are on the left side of the bell curve.
Wait until drum storage makes a comeback!
Ciao.

Having trouble transferring large files from SSD startup disk to newly installed internal HDD

Have just installed an additional 2TB Samsung HDD in place of my optical drive on my late-2011 MacBook Pro.
Specs:
MacBook Pro 15inch late-2011
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro8,2
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 8 GB
Boot ROM Version: MBP81.0047.B27
Hard Drives:
Startup = 120GB SSD
New HDD = 2TB SATA Samsung M9T
OS: Yosemite 10.10.1 (14B25)
Issue:
Installed my new 2TB SATA drive and it appeared OK in Finder. I was able to navigate to it and create new folders and move small files into it (under 100MB maybe)
Really want to move my iPhoto library onto the 2TB disk to free up space for Apps on my SSD, but when I try to copy/move it over it only does the first few MB then freezes and appears to timeout as the new HDD disappears from Finder and ejects itself. I'm surprised that the eject stuff shows for an internal HDD but that's a side issue.
Have read about similar issues in other OS versions, especially around external HDD and have tried the following already:
* Looked at power management of the hard disks to stop them going to sleep
* Have told Spotlight not to index the new HDD to prevent the indexing task causing issues
* Both SSD and new HDD are formatted using MAC OS/X Extended (not FAT)
* Have tried fixing permissions on both disks as I believe there can be issues in Yosemite
I'm still having a problem despite trying the above. Struggling!
Any help much appreciated.

Open Disk Utility. By selecting one of the two entries for the HDD please determine how it is formatted and what partition map it is using. I suspect you did not partition or erase this drive before use. If that's true, then do this:
Drive Partition and Format
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed.
Now you can try your file transfers again. However, before you do I recommend you clone your SSD to the HDD so the latter could be used as your boot drive should it be needed. That will also create an Home folder on the HDD with the files you wish to move to it. You can then simply remove those files from the SSD to free up the space.
Clone Yosemite, Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion using Restore Option of Disk Utility
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
     1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu then press the Continue
         button.
     2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
     3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
     4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it
         to the Destination entry field.
     5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to
         the Source entry field.
     6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the new HDD. Source means the SSD startup volume.

My disconnected external HDD is somehow writing itself to my internal HDD!

Ok, so the other night I got a notification from OS X that I was almost out of disk space, which I found very odd, because the last time this happened was when I had my external hard drive connected, and it was somehow writing itself onto my internal hard drive (it is formatted so that I can use it for both my MBP and the Windows machine at home). You can understand my puzzlement when I got the message, as I did not have my external connected at the time, and had not had it connected since the day before. I had, however, noticed some significant lagging in Safari and Adium, which I found very odd as being the only things affected. As of writing this, I will have cleaned off what has been written to my hard drive twice now (each time 50+ GB!), and I am starting to get very frustrated, with finals and projects coming due very fast now. It appears that the writing starts after I leave Safari/Adium idle for a while, which is very odd, as I can't imagine why either of these programs being idle would initiate this unexplained writing.
I have, however, noticed that there seems to be something invisible in the trash folder that will simply not delete, and has been there since I had the initial problem of my external writing to the internal drive. The Trash constantly tells me there is "1 item" in the trash, but nothing shows up. When I go to Secure Empty I get the little window that tells you the completion status on the emptying, and it always says "4 Items to delete." Even after showing all hidden files and folders, nothing shows up in the trash, despite there always being "1 Item" in there. My guess is that this could be what is causing the writes. What I don't understand is how in the world it managed to store my 100+ GB of stuff on my external in an invisible file that is taking up next to no space on my system, because when I do a scan using Grand Perspective, it doesn't show anything out of the ordinary files and folders that I know should be there. Certainly not 100+ GB of what I have on my external, as I know what I have where, and what are duplicates, and duplicates only show up after the external files have written themselves.
Some additional details for consideration:
Bootcamped hard drive, 15GB for my Windows partition, have only used it to play Roller Coaster Tycoon, and have only connected to the internet on Windows a total of 3 times, each time to download Firefox, iTunes, and Safari, no additional browsing.
External HDD is a LaCie Firewire 400 drive, 320GB formatted for both Windows and Mac (HFS+, right?), haven't connected it in at least two days. Last time this happened it was actually connected, but this time has not been connected when the files have magically appeared on my internal HDD.
There is an invisible file (or multiple files) somehow not showing up AT ALL that is hanging around in the trash. I believe this invisible file(s) to be the culprit, though I'm puzzled as to how. Each time the mysterious writes have happened, Safari/Adium have been idle and open.
If you're wondering how in the world this is happening, don't worry. The first time this happened when my drive was actually connected, I took my MBP to the Apple Store in Indianapolis and totally stumped three employees, including the store manager. If he thought that was odd, wait until I tell him its now writing to my HDD without being connected!

Each time the problem is in the /Volumes/LaCie folder, which is hidden. This leads me to believe its a ghost from my external HDD, rather than from my Bootcamp partition. The 50+ GB that it has written so far has not been duplicates of less than 10GB of information on my Windows partition, it is all files and folders from my approx. 130+GB of information on my external.
In talking with a friend on my floor last night, he thinks it might be a ghost image, as some people have evidently gotten this problem in their email accounts here at the school lately. This ghost image is on my OS X partition, and I'm almost 100% certain it isn't a problem with my Bootcamp partition, as nothing appears in my trash on the Windows side. I have also never used my external with my Windows partition. Like I said, everything being written is from my external hard drive.
Thanks for the link, checking it out now.

How can i Move pic from internal hdd to an external hdd

hi everyone, i had a new Mac Book Air for a couple months ago, notice my internal hdd is getting full of pic, i would like to move them to an external HDD, how can i do that, i looked at the Iphoto library folder, nothing there, or i can not see them, any help will be appreciate it, and thank you in advance for your help...

If you have a large iPhoto library, you can save space by moving it to an external drive, yes. You will not be able to see the individual pictures in the library file - just move the entire IPhoto Library file to the other drive, then double-click it to open iPhoto and tell the application where your new library is.
If your image collection is not in iPhoto, where is it?
Matt

How to Make my Macbook Pro's internal HDD external, when I get a SSD?

Hey, I know there are other posts on what enclosure you can use and if it's a possibility, but I haven't seen any that tell me how I get OS X on the SSD without a disc? Can I download the installer on a flash drive somehow? Also, I am wondering if this really is a good idea, using my Macbook Pro's HDD for a backup HDD, instead of buying one? I have no use for it anyway, if and when I get a new SSD. BTW, the HDD is the upgraded factory 500gb 7200rpm. Also, do you think it's smarter to have a bigger backup drive than internal drive? In other words, I would like to get a 1TB Samsung 850 Pro SSD, and my current HDD is only 500GB.... I am a musician and need a lot of storage for musical purposes. I use Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro X, Ableton Live 9, Office, and Photoshop.... My Macbook Pro is a Late 2011 Macbook Pro 15.4' 2.2ghz quad core i7 8gb RAM. Oh yeah and a mother thing is, I think I should get an enclosure that has a thunderbolt port with usb, what are your thoughts?

How to Make my Macbook Pro's internal HDD external, when I get a SSD?
Get an externel enclosure at the same time.
You can order from OWC
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/
Put the SSD in the externel enclosure and use something like Carbon Copy Cloner, to clone the internal drive and all it content to the SSD. Then swap them out.
Always good to have more than one backup.

Upgrading internal HDD on Macbook Pro 13(Unibody)-Mid 2009

Hi All,
I have a 160GB internal hdd on my MBP 13 which i am finding to be pretty low on space. So I am planning to upgrade the internal HDD. I did a lot of reading on the web and looks like there are 3 contenders:
1. WD scorpio blue 500/640/750 GB, 5400rpm
2. Seagate Momentus 500/640 GB, 5400rpm
3. WD scorpio black -- 500GB, 7200rpm
My space requirements are not too high. Even 500 would suffice, but since the 640 and 750 give a better bang for the buck(GB/$), i am still contemplating.
Would 640/750 be an overkill resulting in slow performance, reduced battery life and noise ? If so which one would be the best choice considering performance is more important for me once we cross the 500GB limit.
My parameters for performance are:
- Speed should not reduce compared to my currently installed HDD(Hitachi 160GB).
- Noise should be negligible, as it is now on my MBP.
- Battery life should not reduce.
Can any one suggest which one I should go for? My budget is $100.

Hi,
Not really a suggestion as such, but I have just installed a WD Scorpio Blue 500gb HDD myself. Unfortunately I've been having some issues with it and started a topic on this site to find an answer:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2518783&tstart=0
I thought you might be interested as it could affect your decision.
Rh

After SL upgrade - internal HDD now writes very slowly

After upgrading from Leopard to Snow Leopard, a strange problem has appeared on my Mid-2007 iMac, and I still haven't found a solution...
I backed up my system, erased and did a clean install of SL on my internal HDD, and proceeded to restore my data. This is when I noticed the problem: *Copying data from my external drives to the internal iMac HDD, the maximum transfer rate I can achieve is approx 2MB/sec.* It may or may not have had anything to do with SL, perhaps just a coincidence of timing, although the problem definitely wasn't there before the "upgrade".
Normally, write speeds used to be ~50MB/sec from my FW800 drives. I've tried from all my drives (I have 6 external drives - 4-USB 2.0 and 2-FW800) and the results are consistently the same for each. Copying data from an external drive to another external drive is at normal speeds, so this rules out any bus issues. Copying data FROM the iMac HDD to any external drive is normal - ~30MB/sec to USB 2.0 drives and ~65MB/sec to FW800 drives.
Needless to say, using the internal HDD leaves my iMac in a pretty much unusable state. At 2MB/sec it will take days to restore my data...
+Reading through other posts I've found here:+ I read a report from one user suggesting that the external cache on the WD 500GB internal SATA HDD is shot, although S.M.A.R.T. - or any other tests I've done, including TechTool 5 and DriveGenius 2 - reports no known errors.
At first I thought it may have been a glitch with SL, but I've since reverted back to stock Leopard 10.5.8 and, since the problem still exists, I'm now convinced that it's not a software issue any more.
*My question is:* Could the external cache on a HDD fail and the drive still operate normally, albeit slowly? And just to make it clear, only writes to the internal HDD have slowed, not reads.
If anyone has any suggestions, I'm completely open to them. I've tried just about everything I can think of up to now. If I had an extra drive around I would consider swapping out the internal HDD to rule out a hardware issue - yes I'm comfortable with the procedure and have the tools and service manual. I am without AppleCare on this system, which I've had for approx 2 years now.
FYI - I've reset the PRAM and NVRAM (4 chimes) and left my iMac unplugged for over an hour to reset the SMC...
Thanks for your time. I've tried to be as clear and thorough as possible. This is definitely a strange one, and so far I'm stumped...

Thanks, I checked and everything is properly set - GUID, 1 partition - simple (like I've done many times before).. I've tried just about everything I can think of now (except for the zero erase - it's going to take hours so I'll do it overnight tonight) yet nothing makes sense, and I'm still only getting 2MB/sec write speed..
I'm thinking the drive is pooched and I'm going to pick up a replacement this weekend unless I can figure something out sooner.. Would be a good excuse to upgrade to a 1TB model anyways, perhaps a 1.5TB if the iMac can handle it?
Please keep the suggestions coming, though.. I do appreciate it..

Error Code -50 on different internal HDDs

Hello Community,
I got a really exotic problem. After month of usage without any problems, my system (Mac OS X 10.8.2, MacBook Pro (Mid 2009), 500GB Hitachi HDD build in afterwards) failed its service multiple times out of a sudden.
Symptoms:
- System freezes after few tens of minutes after reboot (while working)
- previous attempts of saving/dublicating/pasting of files failed (message like "This process could not be finished, because an unknown error has occured. (error -50)")
- Download, install and opening of Apps wasn't possible anymore (propably because of writing errors, too)
- After restart (often only possible with hard-boot) sometimes troubles with access rights (key chain access denied etc.)
- Mail, Calendar, Messages were forgetting their accounts (and could remember afterwards sometimes)
- and just by the way, my battery life decreased from 5h to 2h hours with the nice notice "check battery"
I know, some of you are already thinking "Completely clear, dying HDD.", but the best is still coming
Counter-measures:
- Clean install of Max OS X ML + migration assistent => same problems
- Repair of rights and volumes with disk util (sometimes started from recovery partition or from Install-USB-Stick; checking done multiple times, also directly after freeze+reboot) => rights-repair could be done without problems, volume check without anz problems, S.M.A.R.T. Status is "verified" (or "checked" if translated by word)
- Clean install without migration of Apps and configs (only data) => same problems
- EXCHANGE of intern HDD by old intern HDD (until then, it was used as extern one without any troubles) + clean install von Mac OS X ML without migration of anything (only single data imported manually) => SAME PROBLEMS AGAIN, Disk util checkings without any problems again (beside some standard Java confusions)
Sometimes, after a clean install, I created a new admin account and deleted the old one, but this shouldn't be the reason for such big troubles which appear repeatly.
I have not even a clue, what the reason could be. Did someone has had such problems once knowing a solution? Every tip would be great.
Greetings, Mario.

Back up all data now.
This procedure will unlock all your user files (not system files) and reset their ownership and access-control lists to the default. If you've set special values for those attributes on any of your files, they will be reverted. In that case, either stop here, or be prepared to recreate the settings if necessary. If none of this is meaningful to you, you don't need to worry about it.
Step 1
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Drag or copy — do not type — the following line into the Terminal window, then press return:
sudo chflags -R nouchg,nouappnd ~ $TMPDIR.. ; sudo chown -R $UID:20 ~ $_ ; chmod -R -N ~ $_ 2> /dev/null
Be sure to select the whole line by triple-clicking anywhere in it. You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. You don't need to post the warning. If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before you can run the command.
The command will take a noticeable amount of time to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear, then quit Terminal.
Step 2
Boot into Recovery by holding down the key combination command-R at startup. Release the keys when you see a gray screen with a spinning dial.
When the OS X Utilities screen appears, select Utilities ▹ Terminal from the menu bar. A text window opens.
In the Terminal window, type this:
resetpassword
That's one word with no spaces. Then press return. A Reset Password window opens. You’re not going to reset a password.
Select your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name) if not already selected.
Select your username from the menu labeled Select the user account if not already selected.
Under Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs, click the Reset button.
Select  ▹ Restart from the menu bar.

Maximum internal HDD space on Dual G5 (late 2004)?

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