trying to install another HD

jasonfjjasonfj
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Western Digital 120gb Caviar drive on my G4 400 in addition to the 30gb Maxtor that's already there.



Checked that the WD drive is set to slave, but computer locks up about 30 secs into the Drive Setup initialization process.



The last time I tried it got an 'initialization failed' alert.



Help!



[ 06-30-2002: Message edited by: jasonfj ]</p>

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Don't have too much to add, except I installed 2 of these drives two days ago, one as a slave and one in an external FireWire enclosure. No problems so far.
  • Reply 2 of 12
    jasonfjjasonfj Posts: 567member
    is there any other drive setup software I should be looking at?
  • Reply 3 of 12
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    not really. one thing though, have you checked your IDE cable? for some reason some Macs come with an IDE cable with a small hole cut in one wire. F's up installs of other drives sometimes. try swapping out your IDE cable for a normal one w/no cut.
  • Reply 4 of 12
    neutrino23neutrino23 Posts: 1,562member
    This is a stretch but the drive may be too big. I think you have an ATA-66 interface on the computer and I think that is limited to 100GB drives or smaller. It could be that it is running into a problem with the larger drive. If so, the solution would be to put it into a FW case.
  • Reply 5 of 12
    stroszekstroszek Posts: 801member
    [quote]Originally posted by neutrino23:

    <strong>This is a stretch but the drive may be too big. I think you have an ATA-66 interface on the computer and I think that is limited to 100GB drives or smaller. It could be that it is running into a problem with the larger drive. If so, the solution would be to put it into a FW case.</strong><hr></blockquote>

    I could be wrong, but I thought the G4 400s had an ATA100 interface.
  • Reply 6 of 12
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    The problem with large drives exists in ATA/100 controllers too. No single drive can be over 137 GB in volume. Right now I have an 80 GB master and 120 GB slave on my Power Mac...no problems.
  • Reply 6 of 12
    neutrino23neutrino23 Posts: 1,562member
    [quote]Originally posted by Stroszek:

    <strong>

    I could be wrong, but I thought the G4 400s had an ATA100 interface.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I think Apple has not used anything faster than ATA-66. On the current product page they are not very forthcoming. It only states that the interface is Ultra ATA. If you look up the older product specs on the Apple site it states either ATA-33 or ATA-66 for the G4-400 (there were several kinds - Gigabit, AGP Graphics, etc.). Interestingly, my system profiler does not tell me what I have installed on my Quicksilver though I think it is ATA-66.



    Even if the interface is ATA-66 I don't know that is the trouble. I have seen other interfaces that simply ignored the space beyond which they could handle. Don't know how ATA handles this.



    For the current G4 under options Apple offers up to 80GB ATA drives but the 160GB drive is via FireWire.
  • Reply 8 of 12
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    I had a 27gig ATA-100 for years and a new 80gig ATA-133 in a Beige G3. (ATA-33) They worked.
  • Reply 9 of 12
    neutrino23neutrino23 Posts: 1,562member
    [quote]Originally posted by Ebby:

    <strong>I had a 27gig ATA-100 for years and a new 80gig ATA-133 in a Beige G3. (ATA-33) They worked. </strong><hr></blockquote>



    It's OK if the drive interface is compatible with a faster standard. An ATA-100 drive should work on an ATA-33 interface card, for example. The only conflict I know of is that ATA-66 has a limit of something like 100GB and I don't know what happens if you try to add a drive that exceeds that limit. I think that the reason you can add a larger drive as a FW drive is 1) FW supports that size and 2) the bridge chips in the FW case supports ATA-100 or ATA-133.
  • Reply 10 of 12
    pastapasta Posts: 112member
    [quote]Originally posted by jasonfj:

    <strong>Western Digital 120gb Caviar drive on my G4 400 in addition to the 30gb Maxtor that's already there.



    Checked that the WD drive is set to slave, but computer locks up about 30 secs into the Drive Setup initialization process.



    The last time I tried it got an 'initialization failed' alert.



    Help!



    [ 06-30-2002: Message edited by: jasonfj ]</strong><hr></blockquote>





    Here's what to do:

    1. Remove the Maxtor drive and put the Western Digital drive in alone with it's jumper set to master.

    2. Boot off of OS 9 CD.

    3. Run drive setup and try to initialize drive.



    If step 3 fails, you've got a bad hard drive. If step 3 succeeds, then do the following:



    1. Put the Maxtor drive back in as master, switch the WD drive to slave.

    2. Boot from the Maxtor Drive.



    If the machine boots and runs fine, you're okay. You should see both drives no problem. If the machine freezes up or seems to run unstable all of a sudden, it's probably a conflict between the two drives. If that's the case, you can try replacing the WD with a different brand. I would recommend Quantum, Maxtor, or Seagate; I've never had a compatability problem among these 3.
  • Reply 11 of 12
    jasonfjjasonfj Posts: 567member
    ok, this might be the decider - I can hear something loose rattling around inside the case when I tilt it. Sounds like a small screw of something.



    I'm guessing I shouldn't be hearing that...?
  • Reply 12 of 12
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    Well, let me think.



    Um...



    No, that's not a good sign.
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