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What PC hard drives will work on a PowerMac?

post #1 of 7
4/19/02 at 7:08pm
Thread Starter 
Hi, I'm planning on buying a really big hard drive for my PC (i only have an ibook right now), but am planning on replacing the PC with a PowerMac G4 later on.

Are the current generation of Powermacs ATA/100? Are they backwards compatible? Are ATA/100 or ATA/133 hard drives backwards compatible with ATA/66 or ATA/33 computers?

Yeah my PC is getting aged and is only equipped with 16gigs on ATA/33. I'm thinking of going upwards of 100gigs, but want something that is going to be relatively futureproof.

Wow guys thanks for reading and helping me out!

Pres
The brain conceives of mathematical space in terms of numbers and dimensions ... The hand masters matter through the crafts, and with the help of tools and machinery.
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The brain conceives of mathematical space in terms of numbers and dimensions ... The hand masters matter through the crafts, and with the help of tools and machinery.
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post #2 of 7
4/19/02 at 7:29pm
[quote]Are the current generation of Powermacs ATA/100? Are they backwards compatible? Are ATA/100 or ATA/133 hard drives backwards compatible with ATA/66 or ATA/33 computers?<hr></blockquote>

Yep, everything in the ATA world is backwards compatable. An ATA/100 drive will work on an ATA/33 bus (granted, at ATA/33 speeds though), and an ATA/33 drive can be used on an ATA/66 or /100 etc bus. They're not platform specific either.

However, ATA/100 can only recognize a maximum of a 137GB HD I'm pretty sure, and ATA/33 probably cannot recognize even that.
*Registered March 1, 1999*
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*Registered March 1, 1999*
Member #14
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post #3 of 7
4/19/02 at 8:16pm
Thread Starter 
hmmm thats interesting about the 137gig rule.

guess I wont shell out for the 160gigger!

thanks muchly!

anyone know the ATA/33 size ceiling?

thanks again!

Pres
The brain conceives of mathematical space in terms of numbers and dimensions ... The hand masters matter through the crafts, and with the help of tools and machinery.
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The brain conceives of mathematical space in terms of numbers and dimensions ... The hand masters matter through the crafts, and with the help of tools and machinery.
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post #4 of 7
4/20/02 at 10:01am
ATA33 ceiling like ATA66/100 is 137GB, here is a nice little chart I found at Maxtor's website.



Green = Operating system will recognize drive's full capacity

Yellow = Requires Maxtor Ultra ATA/133 PCI Adapter Card to recognize full capacity

Blue = Requires Mac-compatible Utlra ATA/133 PCI Adapter Card to recognize full capacity

[ 04-20-2002: Message edited by: Eskimo ]</p>
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post #5 of 7
4/21/02 at 12:12am
Thread Starter 
wow, thanks eskimo!

looks like I'll be moving to win2000 earlier than i thought... no more unstable win98

thanks again

Pres
The brain conceives of mathematical space in terms of numbers and dimensions ... The hand masters matter through the crafts, and with the help of tools and machinery.
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The brain conceives of mathematical space in terms of numbers and dimensions ... The hand masters matter through the crafts, and with the help of tools and machinery.
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post #6 of 7
4/22/02 at 10:16am
Surely you cannot be telling me that win98 systems can't have bigger drives than 32GB?
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post #7 of 7
4/22/02 at 10:34am
[quote]Originally posted by MarcUK:
<strong>Surely you cannot be telling me that win98 systems can't have bigger drives than 32GB?</strong><hr></blockquote>

yes they can, they just need the appropriate driver from the manufacturer.
I'm having deja-vu and amnesia at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before.
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I'm having deja-vu and amnesia at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before.
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