Can Old G5 be used as HDD platform?
I use my old G5 as a stand for external hard drives and it got me to thinking.
Can I use cheaper internal HDD's in the G5 as external HDD's for my new iMac? I tried connecting FW from the G5 to the iMac but the iMac doesn't seem to recognize the G5 HDD's.
Is this possible and what would I have to do to make it possible?
Can I use cheaper internal HDD's in the G5 as external HDD's for my new iMac? I tried connecting FW from the G5 to the iMac but the iMac doesn't seem to recognize the G5 HDD's.
Is this possible and what would I have to do to make it possible?
Comments
I use my old G5 as a stand for external hard drives and it got me to thinking.
Can I use cheaper internal HDD's in the G5 as external HDD's for my new iMac? I tried connecting FW from the G5 to the iMac but the iMac doesn't seem to recognize the G5 HDD's.
Is this possible and what would I have to do to make it possible?
I assume you mean you tried Target Disk Mode. It should work, just holding T on the G5 and plugging it in with FW...I think? And they'd work in an external enclosure as well. I have used several old internal drives that way, buying a new external case for them, when I upgrade my internal drive. I have a laptop so hey what else would I do with them, play frisbee?
I assume you mean you tried Target Disk Mode. It should work, just holding T on the G5 and plugging it in with FW...I think? And they'd work in an external enclosure as well. I have used several old internal drives that way, buying a new external case for them, when I upgrade my internal drive. I have a laptop so hey what else would I do with them, play frisbee?
Had my head up my a__ again. OF course, I had to hold down the T. I knew enough to migrate old files and stuff to the new iMac that way. Then promptly forgot when I tried to connect to use the G5 HDD's. It's just so much easier to ask how on AI than to use my head. Thanks for straightening me out. AI members rock.
Could this be done using an older Mac tower without running the OS? And I'm only interested in two HDD's.
I think you'd be better off selling the old G5 and buying a dedicated external dual-HDD solution such as the Western Digital My Book Studio Edition II. The power consumption of the G5 is likely to be significant (=high running cost).
Mr. H, thanks for your concern.
I appreciate that you are trying to convince me to be logical, but unfortunately, I am emotional about my eight year old lucite G4 (error - not a G5). It was my first Mac and I became very attached to it.
For months prior to getting an i5 iMac, I tried to think up a way to continue to use the G4 as a computer, but that was unreasonable. Along with a Mini, I have no use for a third computer.
It isn't a need to be thrifty either. I already have a LaCie FW HDD as a backup. I use the G4 lucite tower as a table for the LaCie.
I don't NEED the tower. I just WANT to keep the tower: my first true (Mac) love. As long as I will still have it, I would like to see it turned into something other than a table for other HDD's, ergo, my attempt at making it into a HDD enclosure. I doubt that I will ever actually put it to use for two reasons:
1. The HDD's in it are not very big.
2. I prefer FW HDD's. I wouldn't buy new HDD's and not be able to use them with FireWire.
My MDC colleague has given me a procedure for doing what I want.
If anyone is interested, I will post it here. It is about a page long and I don't want to take up space if no one else is interested.