IDE HD Upgrade G4 Dual 450 Questions

klt


Joined
Apr 20, 2008
Messages
12
Reaction score
0
Points
1
G4 Dual 450 - Gigabit Ethernet, OSX 10.4.11, 1.5GB memory

Internal IDE hard drive needs to be replaced. It's old and making some odd noises. It clicks and is, hopefully, the reason this machine is automatically jumping in to sleep mode over and over, even right after powering on. Sometimes it doesn't do this. Curious. Since no changes to this machine to cause this, I really hope the hard drive swap will solve the problem. At any rate, it can't hurt.

I already have a larger external hard drive for storage, but the internal one is the problem here.

This machine only recognizes 120GB internal IDE, but I can't find one that small. IDE is going away and only much bigger drives are available to me.

My questions:
I have found a new IDE 200 GB at a decent price. Temporarily placed in external case so I can format, should I go for a 120GB partition and put the remaining GB in another partition that will be ignored -OR - Should I forget the partitioning and assume the machine will just see the first 120GB and ignore the rest on its' own?

Since this is an 'outsized' HD, will this cause problems in general?

Also, since this is a first for me, is there some easy, solid way to make the new hard drive bootable, then move everything on to it from the old hard drive?

Thanks for any help.
 
Joined
Nov 28, 2007
Messages
25,564
Reaction score
486
Points
83
Location
Blue Mountains NSW Australia
Your Mac's Specs
Silver M1 iMac 512/16/8/8 macOS 11.6
Seagate and most other companies make 120GB IDE HDD and here is a link:-

http://dealnews.com/Seagate-120-GB-IDE-Internal-Hard-Drive-for-30-9-s-h/232233.html

If you wish to go larger you will need a PCI controller card which enables the Mac to recognize larger drives from a supplier such as OWC at www.macsales.com.

Set up the new drive as a slave and pop it into the machine, format OS Extended using Disk Utility, back up using SuperDuper or Disk Utility. Remove both drives, make the new drive master.
 
OP
klt

klt


Joined
Apr 20, 2008
Messages
12
Reaction score
0
Points
1
G4 Dual 450 Gigbit Ethernet HD Issue

Thanks for the links for smaller HDs. But, I have to pay to ship this Mac to the other side of the country once it's happy and healthy. That will be fairly costly so I am hoping to save wherever I can in this process.

Toward that end, I'm wondering if I can use the new 200 IDE HD I already have. I realize the Gigs beyond the approx 120 the Mac will recognize will be null and void, but does this matter? If this hard drive is treated as a 120GB hard drive, regardless of actual GBs, could I not just use it for the hard drive once I clone the original HD with SuperDuper, then make the swap?

Should this be an option, I am still not certain if there is some good reason to partition the overlarge HD so there will be a primary 120GB partition ready to be seen by the Mac, with the remaining GBs in an additional/expendable partition. Or, if I should forget the partitioning altogether and let the Mac see what it wants without any further interference from me.
 
Joined
Nov 28, 2007
Messages
25,564
Reaction score
486
Points
83
Location
Blue Mountains NSW Australia
Your Mac's Specs
Silver M1 iMac 512/16/8/8 macOS 11.6
If you look at this article, it seems the Mac will recognise only the 128GB and then partition from there. Suggest a PCI controller card from Sonnet or OWC would be the go to handle the Big Drive.

http://lowendmac.com/macdan/05/1024.html
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top