PDA

View Full Version : External Hard Drive

josephhubbard
2006-07-19, 14:24
Recently, my G4 quicksilver's 4-year old hard drive crashed and I've been trying to decide what to do. I had the data recovered, which is currently sitting on 11 DVD's at my apartment.

I had planned to buy a MacBook in a couple of months, but can't afford it right now. I decided to buy an external 250g firewire drive from LaCie to hook up to my old G4 in the interim, which could then be used with my MacBook in a few months to act as data back up/extra storage.

I know that it's possible to boot off of a firewire drive, but i'm not sure if it's smart to try and run a computer for a few months off of one. The drive I was looking at seems great, but I've read a few reviews that questioned its longevity.

Basically, should I buy an external drive to use as my main hard drive for a few weeks? If so, which one? Keep prices in mind: I wanted the LaCie b/c it was affordable, large storage capacity, and seemed reliable. I will need extra space in the MB if I buy it, but I can't afford to put a new internal in my G4 that will essentially be useless later when I get the MB. Plus, I would still have to increase the MB's capacity.
Fahrenheit
2006-07-19, 14:37
So are you saying the old HD is completely conked out, or that it is prone to crashes?
PB PM
2006-07-19, 14:54
There is another option, you could just get a new HD now, and when you get the Macbook get a FW case. Most of the time it is cheaper to get the case and drive separate anyway, since OEM drives are cheaper than retail.
josephhubbard
2006-07-19, 15:07
Farenheit:

yea the old hard drive went kablooie. it was really old...bought the g4 tower in in the spring of 2002.

PB PM:
Do you mean to use an internal for my G4 then turn it into an external later? Do you have a drive(150-250g) and a case that you would recommend?
Fahrenheit
2006-07-19, 15:09
I think thats what he means- just get an external hd enclosure, then when the macbook comes just put the G4's HD into it.

Google HD enclosure for the best ones I guess.
josephhubbard
2006-07-19, 15:27
Do you think there's any possibility that an internal that would work with my G4 tower would not work as an external with the new pentium MacBooks?

Just trying to cover all the bases so I don't spend a bunch of money uselessly...
PB PM
2006-07-19, 16:00
Do you think there's any possibility that an internal that would work with my G4 tower would not work as an external with the new pentium MacBooks?

Just trying to cover all the bases so I don't spend a bunch of money uselessly...
You would need to reformat the drive before using it with an Intel Mac (BTW, no Macs use a Pentium CPU, as for the drives, IIRC they use a different drive format IIRC), but the drive itself would work. Depending on the year of your QS (is it the 2001 or 2002 model? The 2002 model does not have the 128GB drive limit), you could use any internal 3.5" drive and later put it into a FW case.
ghoti
2006-07-19, 16:03
You would need to reformat the drive before using it with an Intel Mac
Why that? My iPod works fine on both PPC and Intel Macs, and it's formatted with HPFS.
chucker
2006-07-19, 16:03
Well, the Yonah Core Solo/Duo CPUs are the direct successors of the Pentium M, which is an optimized, modernized form of the Pentium 3.

So Intel Macs' CPUs are indeed somewhat related to Pentiums.
chucker
2006-07-19, 16:04
Why that? My iPod works fine on both PPC and Intel Macs, and it's formatted with HPFS.

<smartass> HPFS? I doubt that. Windows doesn't even support that any more, and Mac OS never has. </smartass>
PB PM
2006-07-19, 16:07
Why that? My iPod works fine on both PPC and Intel Macs, and it's formatted with HPFS.
I was under the impression (from some posts I saw in the Genius Bar here) that one had to reformat the drive to something else to use it externally on the new Intel Macs, but I could be wrong.
chucker
2006-07-19, 16:09
Oh, you're thinking of GPT (on Intel) vs. APM (on PowerPC)? As of 10.4.3 (10.4.4?), Mac OS X can read and write both partition formats. However, PowerPC-based Macs can only boot off APM, and while Intel-based Macs can technically boot off both, Apple advises against this, and makes it hard to set that up.

An iPod is best left with an MBR or APM table, not a GPT one.
ghoti
2006-07-19, 16:10
<smartass> HPFS? I doubt that. Windows doesn't even support that any more, and Mac OS never has. </smartass>
Well whatever the stupid Mac file system is ;) HFS+ or sumpin'
josephhubbard
2006-07-19, 16:41
ha...i'm glad I spawned some good discussion. that was purely a mistake when I typed 'pentium' instead of 'intel'.

it's a 2002 933mhz, so the 125 limit shouldn't be a problem. i'm eyeballing some 250 gig drives from OWC...I think I'll take PB PM's suggestion and turn it into an external later. thanks for all the help! best i've gotten on this site I think...
Boomerangmacuser
2006-07-19, 23:01
FWIW I also recommend replacing the drive in your machine until it dies then pick up an external drive enclosure.

I just picked up a external drive; a Vantec NexStarhttp://www.vantecusa.com/product-storage.html# model NST-350UF. It takes 3.5" IDE drives (from my crapped out PC). It uses both FW and USB 2.0. It's fanless, the aluminum enclosure dumps the heat pretty well. I only wish it were easier to change the HDD's, I have a couple of old ones I'd like to swap around.

When I hooked it up to my Mac with an NTFS formatted drive in it, Spotlight even indexed it! OS X veterans may say "well duh, of course it indexes external drives" but as a newb, I was impressed.