katmichaels
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What kind of G4 do I have??? - 2009/06/24 20:59
I found a great article on this site about how to install an additional internal hard drive in my PowerMac G4 -
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/faq/power-mac-g4-how-to-replace-upgrade-hard-
drive-big-drive-support.html .
However, there is a list of different "types" of G4's (PCI, AGP, Gigabit, Quicksilver, etc). I have no idea how to tell what kind I have. I can't even tell if my system uses ATA/33 or 66 or 100. Any help would be appreciated - as well as advice. I am also getting an external - for more backup space (I already have 2 other external firewire drives, but it's all full). The reason I want an internal drive is because I want to be able to both store my files (the originals, not the backups) and work on the computer. At this point, my hard drive keeps getting close to full and preventing me from working effectively.
In System Profiler, it just says the following:
Model Name: Power Mac G4".
Model Identifyer: PowerMac3.6
Processor Name: PowerPC G4 (2.1)
Processor Speed: 1GHz
Number of CPU's: 2
(there's more, but I don't want to bore you)
Also, when I look at the ATA information (in System Profiler), it says that there are 2 ATA Buses. One of them is the SuperDrive and the other is, I assume, the hard drive - an IBM. Under Protocol, it says ATA.
Thank you!!
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harryb
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Re:What kind of G4 do I have??? - 2009/06/24 23:42
It is either a Quicksilver 1GHz DP see this:-
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/stats/powermac_g4_1ghz_dp_qs.html
or if it does not look like that on the front, it may well be a MDD model, which is later and faster, and looks like this:-
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/stats/powermac_g4_1.0_dp_mdd.html
You can find out this information by going to 'Apple' in this forums menu bar, above the advertisement bar, clicking on Apple, Power Mac G4 and selection the various models listed by processor speed.
You can install a large internal drive, any IDE will do the trick, do not buy a SATA drive as they fit in G5's.I f you go to another site, xlr8yourmac.com there are 'how tos' on installing new or additional hard drives, with photos.
For an external, as your machine is a PowerPC (PPC) look for a Firewire external case, and pop again an IDE drive in and connect by Firewire, as your machine comes with Firewire 400 standard. May be an idea to pop say a 250/500GB HDD inside and use the current internal in the external case.
If you keep a copy of your Operating System on the external, it will be bootable using Firewire. A utility such as SuperDuper will back up the system for you.
You need to make sure you keep the internal drive about 15% empty for the drive to work at its peak.
Post edited by: harryb, at: 2009/06/24 23:44
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katmichaels
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Re:What kind of G4 do I have??? - 2009/06/25 11:43
Thanks, Harryb!!
That was incredibly helpful. I have the MDD, I guess (the picture looks like my unit).
I was wondering if you could clarify something for me. You mentioned installing the operating system on the external drive and booting from that using Firewire. My question for you is - what would be the advantage of that, as opposed to my plan, which is:
1. Get an external drive (320 GB) and make room on the current internal drive by moving stuff over to the external drive
2. Install an additional, larger internal drive (the current HD is only 80 GB). I would create new projects (Garageband, Logic, Final Cut, etc) on the new internal drive. That way, the programs would be running off of that larger internal drive.
I'm totally open to other ways of doing this - that was just my idea of the moment. Thanks again for your input.
Kat
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universe
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Re:What kind of G4 do I have??? - 2009/06/25 18:58
My experience with an external HD is that it is possible to use a larger capacity than an internal HD. Also there have been significant improvements in HDs, eg 500GB, since the G4 was made.
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krowmagnum
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Re:What kind of G4 do I have??? - 2009/06/25 23:49
universe wrote:
My experience with an external HD is that it is possible to use a larger capacity than an internal HD. Also there have been significant improvements in HDs, eg 500GB, since the G4 was made.
That's only on the 2001 and earlier model G4's. Anything after, and including the 2002 Quicksilver G4 has large drive support on the internal ATA/IDE bus. So there's no need for an external drive on a MDD to get more capacity.
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krowmagnum
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Re:What kind of G4 do I have??? - 2009/06/25 23:51
katmichaels wrote:
I was wondering if you could clarify something for me. You mentioned installing the operating system on the external drive and booting from that using Firewire. My question for you is - what would be the advantage of that, as opposed to my plan, which is:
1. Get an external drive (320 GB) and make room on the current internal drive by moving stuff over to the external drive
2. Install an additional, larger internal drive (the current HD is only 80 GB). I would create new projects (Garageband, Logic, Final Cut, etc) on the new internal drive. That way, the programs would be running off of that larger internal drive.
I'm totally open to other ways of doing this - that was just my idea of the moment. Thanks again for your input.
Kat
I don't think Harry intended for you to actually run the G4 from an external FW drive except in an emergency where the internal drive fails. By using one of the cloning applications you can make an exact duplicate of your internal OS drive and boot from it on an external FW drive in an emergency. I clone my drive every week or so just in case.
The nice thing about the MDD is you have room for 4 internal hard drives so use it if you need it. No sense in using external drives for anything but back-up and storage.
What I would do:
Get a large 7200rpm (or 10,000tpm Raptor) internal drive with 8 or 16MB cache, add it as a slave drive then clone the 80GB drive to the larger drive. The new drive will be faster and/or have more cache than the older drive and it will make a difference. Swap the drive jumpers so the larger drive is master and the 80GB is slave.
Erase the 80GB drive and keep it as a slave drive for backup and storage of files.
Post edited by: krowmagnum, at: 2009/06/26 00:01
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