My experience adding a 2nd HD

The goal of this post is to help others. I invite anyone to any constructive critisizm, opinions, corrections or validations. I have both OS9 and OSX.
I searched this forum and many other Mac forums before I started and I could not find answers. Some of the similar questions on this forum were not answered at all or answered partially.
Your suggestions may be too late for me, but I would still like to know for next time.
I purchased a Seagate Barracuda 250GB internal HD for $95. 250GB is way too much for me, but I am hoping that it may be useful for my next computer. Per one of the advices on a different Mac forum, I can also partition it to be able to take advantage of the whole 250GB.
These are the questions that came up:
1) Could I have purchased a Serial ATA HD and purchased whatever else hardware to make it work for my Parallel ATA? Since, the computers are going the way of Serial ATA, I thought buying a Serial ATA HD would be wise. But, I ended up buying a Parallel ATA HD since return and exchange policies would not allow me to learn by trial and error.
2) Now that I have a Parallel ATA HD, what Macs could I use it for in the future.
3) Am I stuck with buying used Macs in order to utilize my 250GB HD?
4) Could a Parallel ATA HD be used as an external enclosure with a Serial ATA HD computer?
As far as connecting the second HD, it was pretty straight forward: Connect the Parallel cable and the power cable. The original HD became Master Drive and the 2nd Slave Drive.
The complications began when I could not tell why my 2nd HD did not show on the desktop.
So, I did the following:
1) The message said: Disk Insertion--The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer. Choices were Initialize, Ignore, Eject. So, I initialized it. No show yet.
2) Library, Utilites, Disk Utility, Click on the 2nd HD in the left hand window and Create a Disk Image (which turned out to be the incorrect step) which took an overnight procedure. Now, I had a disk image named Macintosh HD2, but did not have any Disk Utility choices available such as Verify Disk Permission, etc. Mount icon was also not available.
3) I did Verify Disk, etc. for the existing HD. Did not help.
4) I tried disk Image Mounter under System, Library, Drop. I tried Mac Janitor, Conflict Resolver..., etc. Could not hurt at this point.
5) I tried the System Boot off the Tiger install CD to do the Disk Utility. My eternal problem showed up once more and the Tiger CD spitted out. Though, later I found out that it would not have made any difference.
6) I kept checking under About this Mac and the 2nd HD did not show under the System Profiler.
7) I did some restarts in between each step.
8) I switched to OS9 and 2nd HD did not show on the desktop.
9) I noticed that under OS9 the 2nd HD showed under System Profile.
10) Internal ATA showed 2, ID 0 for the original HD and ID1 for the 2nd HD. Driver version for the orginal HD was there, but not for the 2nd HD. Partition 1 for the original HD and 0 for the 2nd HD. ID 0 showed the correct HD, but ID 1 said "No volumes mounted". This was the first time I saw the 2nd HD under either System Profiler, so, at this point, I was elated.
11) I turned on the File Sharing just in case (I don't remember whether I turned it on before or after I saw the 2nd HD in the System Profiler of OS9 and I don't know if it had any bearing) and switched to OSX.
12) After I switched to OSX I was able to see the 2nd HD under the System Profiler.
13) I used the Disk Utility and partitioned the 2nd HD as 1 Partition and named it HD2. The Icon showed on the desk top right away.
This was the answer all along.
I look forward to your suggestions and comments.
I will post separately for some advice on how to switch the Master and Slave drives.

:yinyang:

Great step by step tutorial John!

Here are some of the answers to my questions:

This is for people who wants to use their old Parallel ATA Hard Drive with a Serial ATA computer:

http://welovemacs.com/tpasa.html


Serial ATA HD in a G4 PowerMac?

http://www.macworld.com/forums/ubbth...sb=4&o=&fpart=

Based on this info., I was able to install a Serial ATA HD in my G4.

Going through the same stuff!

thanks john - i'm going through the same thing right now and your posts have been a tremendous help. I'm tring to take my original 20gb HD and make it the slave. purchased a Seagate barracud 120gb and i would like that to be the master. For the exact same reasons - lack of space for my apps.

I saw the jump pin chart -- did that work for you?

If i understand these steps correctly, to initialize; one must partition.

topscratch said:

thanks john - i'm going through the same thing right now and your posts have been a tremendous help. I'm tring to take my original 20gb HD and make it the slave. purchased a Seagate barracud 120gb and i would like that to be the master. For the exact same reasons - lack of space for my apps.

I saw the jump pin chart -- did that work for you?

If i understand these steps correctly, to initialize; one must partition.

Click to expand...

Glad to be of any help.
The answer is yes to the partitioning. Your computer will not "see" the new drive until it is partitioned even if just one partition which will amount to 120gb anyway.
In the current situation, I left my original as the Master and the new one as the Slave for practical purposes. I chose to have two HDs, because it is easier to repair one from the other.
I have another post called "Switching Master HD with Slave". I think you need to read that one, if you have a G4 Sawtooth.
It helps that your new HD is 120gb. In my case, I was upgrading a Sawtooth which has a limit of 128gb and I was adding a 250gb HD. I can only see 128gb which is OK. I can still switch the drives, but it will take a few more steps and a few more dollars.
In your case, though, you are in business with the 120gb.
GOOD LUCK!

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Sonnet Technology/TAT133/

That will give you the full 250GB on your hard drive and also run it at ATA133 so it will be a lot faster than on the stock ATA33 Sawtooth IDE controller. It's not cheap but a quality card.

dtravis7 said:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Sonnet Technology/TAT133/

That will give you the full 250GB on your hard drive and also run it at ATA133 so it will be a lot faster than on the stock ATA33 Sawtooth IDE controller. It's not cheap but a quality card.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I did find out about these types of choices when I was at the end of my process of adding a new HD. I decided to stick with the situation I am in now, because the suggestions did not come fast enough.
Not to blame anyone, but when I posted my first question, no one jumped in to answer. So, instead of waiting around, I decided to bang my head a few times and be happy with the result.
I am also thinking about more RAM. But, since I am not in love with my PowerMac anymore, I may go with a MacBook Pro in the future instead of upgrading.
Isn't this what Apple wants to hear?

Let's invite topscratch to add his/her experience of adding a HD to this thread.

After adding the second internal HD, there is a sudden "starting to fall asleep" issue. I hear the HD winding down while I am busy typing for e.g., as if there is no activity. Could it be because I am working on the Slave Drive?

Try this and see if it helps. Open System Preferences and the Energy control panel. See if Put the hard disks to sleep when possible is checked. If so uncheck it and see if that takes care of it.

Here is a very good article I found about this issue on the Mac - an interesting read and very informative

After taking dtravis's suggestion and then reading that it could be an issue with the new drive itself -
Working on windows machines over the years - I would also check the following:
the molex connector is not plugged snugly enough into the drive - unplug and re-insert the connector making sure it is in all the way
the molex connector is faulty - try a different connector
power supply just not providing enough power - replace the PSU
newbie on the mac, so I do not know of a good application for checking voltages except a multi-meter

bobtomay said:

Here is a very good article I found about this issue on the Mac - an interesting read and very informative

After taking dtravis's suggestion and then reading that it could be an issue with the new drive itself -
Working on windows machines over the years - I would also check the following:
the molex connector is not plugged snugly enough into the drive - unplug and re-insert the connector making sure it is in all the way
the molex connector is faulty - try a different connector
power supply just not providing enough power - replace the PSU
newbie on the mac, so I do not know of a good application for checking voltages except a multi-meter

Click to expand...

Ahmmmm! No clue what you are saying. Other than that I have a grounded three prong socket and a good surge protector.

dtravis7 said:

Try this and see if it helps. Open System Preferences and the Energy control panel. See if Put the hard disks to sleep when possible is checked. If so uncheck it and see if that takes care of it.

Click to expand...

I am kind a "save energy" enthusiast.
In your opinion, would it still work if I put the computer "sleep" in two hours?
I know, the point is to prevent winding down as long as I am working, but I do walk away many times with comp. on.

johntalin said:

Ahmmmm! No clue what you are saying. Other than that I have a grounded three prong socket and a good surge protector.

Click to expand...

Didn't put the link in there - have to go find it again -

johntalin said:

Ahmmmm! No clue what you are saying. Other than that I have a grounded three prong socket and a good surge protector.

Click to expand...

Could not find link again at Apple site - don't know if you have verified whether it is your primary drive or your new drive that is going to sleep. The Apple article I found noted that some hard drives will not be affected by your energy settings as the manufacturer has set up the drive on it's own internal timer, though I have not come across one of these in the bulding of my own systems. think this could only apply to the new drive.

The power related issue I spke of is not the external connections, but the power supply and connections inside the case. The molex connector is the power connector you plugged in to the new drive. After you have adjusted your energy saver settings to see if these work for you, then (after you have powered down the computer of course) try unplugging the power cable from the drive and plugging it back in to make sure it is seated properly or try a different connector if you have another one. Not getting quite enough power to the drive can cause them to appear to go to sleep, though this is admittedly rare.

There are 2 schools of thought on having your hard drives go to sleep. They are based on the fact that almost all failures occur when the drive spins up.
Basically, the first says that since failures occur during startup, have them run continuously to eliminate a large # of times that it could fail.
The 2nd, says to have them spin down when not in use to eliminate wear and tear on the drive.
Most tech's seem to go with the first option, particularly if the drive will be "awakened" multiple times throughout the day due to the belief that the spinup process causes more wear than the continuous spinning of the platters. Who is right - I don't know, I am of the old school though and pretty much leave my drives running all the time.

Thanks for all the answers.
I am working off of my new HD which is set up as the slave.
This is the other post I have about the Master and the Slave HDs.
It is a lot to read, so I don't expect you to taking that much time.

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54770

I believe, I have all the connections done correctly. I used the new parallel cables that came with the new HD.
It is not a certain set amount of minutes that this happens. I believe, it is when I try to save a file to my HD.

dtravis7 said:

Try this and see if it helps. Open System Preferences and the Energy control panel. See if Put the hard disks to sleep when possible is checked. If so uncheck it and see if that takes care of it.

Click to expand...

I am testing my Mac set on Sleep HD After One Hour. Let's see what happens.

Setting the energy saver to 1 hour for HD and 15 minutes for the screen is working perfect so far.