Hard Drive Recommendations

[EddieC]

Hello there,

I'm not very technically savvy and have only recently gotten into an OS9 System which is working quite well so far. My question is about adding more hard drives to a G4 Gigabit computer.

1) Is there a current model hard drive that works on this machine or is the only choice to find an old used one somewhere? In either case, what should I be looking for specifically?

2) Same question regarding RAM upgrades.

Thanks very much for the help!
Eduardo Citrinblum
Los Angeles

[iRolleder]

Hi, I am unable to make an offer which HDD you should use. But my question is quiet similar. I tend to buy this two things for my PB G4 Titanium 15".

https://www.amazon.de/DELOCK-Konverter-mSATA-2-5Z-Bauhöhe/dp/B00ELC8GFO
https://www.amazon.de/Kingston-HDSSD-mSATA-120GB-mS200/dp/B00CG8GTPO/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1479058298&sr=1-2&keywords=msata+ssd

Do you have experience with such IDE/PATA - mSATA converters (or similar)

What do you think about SSD's in an old Powerbook? Do I have to know something about protocols/configurations/installation / tool for erasing and formatting the SSD. Is it right that the TRIM command doesn't work? Do I need to erase it manually from time to time? Does only some SSD's allow the standby mode?

[EddieC]

Sorry but I can't help you iRolleder. You're way ahead of me on this. I was trying to get help myself but got nothing. Good luck!

[DieHard]

Please search the forum these questions and recommendations have been discussed in detail

[EddieC]

Hi there,

I try but it's hard for me because I don't understand the technical talk about computers. Also, I find it hard to navigate the forum. Maybe you could help me.

How do I know when somebody responds to me? Are there notifications you can sign up for?
Would you be kind enough to send me a link to a useful conversation about the hard drives that can get me going?

Thank you very much!

[ovalking]

Eddie
In short, any old IDE hard drive should do the job. Also known as ATA or PATA. Ultra ATA will also work on your machine.
Note drives larger than 128 GB are not natively supported.
I don't know much about the current market, but I would personally look for another similar Mac as a great source for parts and learning.. You should be able to get one quite cheaply and the drive in most G3 or G4 will be compatible.

If you are adding a 2nd drive, the Mac's existing cabling will usually be suitable for connecting up. Making it physically secure may be more problematic.

Note when using 2 IDE drives on the same bus (connected to the same socket on the motherboard) one must be set to 'Master' and one to 'Slave'. This is achieved by jumpers on the actual drive.

For RAM, look for PC100 or PC133.

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/index-powermac-g4.html is a good site for checking the specs of your Mac.

[EddieC]

You're the best! Thank you very much for that.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Eddie

[DieHard]

Eddie,

You can also use a SATA PCI Card as discussed here:
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,306.0.html

Or a SATA SSD with an IDE adater as discussed here:
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,2569.msg22493.html#msg22493

[iRolleder]

Hey everyone,

I tryed to get some more Information about Hard Drives for old Macs. Finally, my decission was to buy a 7200 RPM Drive (Seagate Momentous 7200.1)  The Performance now is much better than with the 4600 RPM Drive wich was installed before. The read/write speed now is about twice as fast as before. I bought a normal HDD because I think its fast enough for that old machine and the compatibility is better, but if you still tend to a SSD you should buy one with SATA/mSata and an adapter.

For my MacBook Pro mid 2010 i bought the Samsung 750 EVO 500 GB SSD. This was an amazing upgrade