Are newer PATA drives backward compatible with older PATA interfaces?

[Randy B. Singer]

There is a less well known hard drive size limit for external hard drives.

It is a 2TB limit for external hard drives connected via Firewire to a 2008 and earlier Mac.

You can get around this problem by using a special driver, but then your Firewire drive will no longer be bootable.

http://eshop.macsales.com/tech_center/manuals/mercury_elite/OWCMANMEPU3FWUG_R3.pdf
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2.2 LARGE VOLUME SUPPORT AND FIREWIRE BOOTING IN MAC OS

 

[LivingInThePast]

Um, no. My original question isn't 'highly technical' (to me anyway) and my method for finding an answer isn't overly-complicated. I put this exact same post on another forum, and I received one response that precisely answered my question. It was that simple.

On this forum, however, no one answered the original question, a few people were genuinely helpful, and the rest of the replies are littered with unnecessary judgements.


But since we're sharing our personal opinions about the philosophy of complicatedness, here's my opinion:

If I didn't have any theoretical knowledge about how drive interfaces worked, I would have to ask an upgrade question for every single computer I bought. If I bought 100 different models, I'd have to ask 100 different questions. To me, that is an overly-complicated approach.

On the other hand, if I ask a handful of questions that inform me about the limitations of hard drive interfaces, then I can apply that knowledge to every single situation I encounter, and without asking for help. To me, that is the least complicated approach.


The reason I went off-topic in my last post is that I'm trying to convey to the 'readers' that opinions such as 'highly technical' and 'overly-complicated' are relative to our personal experiences and values. All of us have different ways of doing things. Highlighting those differences doesn't serve any useful purpose in an forum that is dedicated to Apple computer products, not human psychology.

 

[pigoo3]

If I didn't have any theoretical knowledge about how drive interfaces worked, I would have to ask an upgrade question for every single computer I bought. If I bought 100 different models, I'd have to ask 100 different questions. To me, that is an overly-complicated approach.

Not true at all. If you had 100 different models that you were upgrading (assuming hard drives since this is what this thread seems to be focusing on)…you wouldn't have to ask 100 different questions…for at least two reasons:

1. Those 100 models would fall into only a few categories or "buckets" of upgrade paths. Not 100 different "buckets" or paths.
2. We learn from experience. After you've done a bunch of these upgrades..subsequent upgrades would be "no-brainers".



- Nick