I have a G4 dual 450 with a DVD-Rom, an internal zip 100 drive and a single 30GB HD. can I fit another internal HD? If not, is it possible to fit another internal optical drive?
You can fit up to 2 or 3 internal HD's to PM G4, have a peek in G4 handbook is should tell you in their, if not look on the Apple tech supourt site, or you could take your computer to your local Apple Center and thay can fit an exra hard drive/drives. you can find your local center <a href="http://www.macworld.co.uk/resellers/"; target="_blank">here</a>. Hope this helps.
I have the same model as you only with a single G4 400 MHz. Out of the box, your computer supports 3 internal Hard Drives: the one it came with, another on the same bus and the third where the Zip drive is.
However, if you wish to invest a bit more money (and live on the edge) you can actually install up to 7 total drives. To do this you will need a PCI ATA controller card and a pair of hard drive carriers like the one holding the HD you currently have. These HD carriers replace the single drive carriers that are forward of your current HD.
You can have 4 drives through the built in ATA mechanism, unless Apple decided to put in more than 2 channels, which would be strange. So that's effectively 4 drives. Since you'll want a DVD, that's 3 HD's
But. . .
With the addition of an ATA controller card, you can put another 4 drives in there, or, with the addition of a dual-channel SCSI card, 30 drives. So basically, the G4 can have as many internal drives as you can fit in there. If you only use one of the PCI slots, you can probably rig up 4 more HD's in there. If the internals are close enough to the Yosemite (I have one, and have never really fooled with any tower newer than it) you can probably get away with as many as 7 or 8 internal HD's. Not really enough for a meaningful RAID 5, but certainly enough for a RAID 3. (or of course a 0 or 1.)
I used to have an 8500 with a lot of drives inside. They were just sort of floating inside the case. I currently have a 7500 with 3 internal HD's, a CD, and a MO-Drive (instead of floppy). I needed to augment the 150W power supply to support the drives. . .
The take-home message here is that the number of drives you can put in any machine is the number that will physically fit. Be careful, though, because on many of the newer machines you have to worry a lot about heat and airflow issues.
<<I have a G4 dual 450 with a DVD-Rom, an internal zip 100 drive and a single 30GB HD. can I fit another internal HD?>>
Yes, easily. Check the manual that came with your computer for step-by-step directions, starting on page 57, that include illustrations. Basically your stock 30GB hard drive sits in the bottom position of a two drive suppport carrier. The new hard drive goes in the top position.
It's quite easy to do yourself, anyone who has added ram to their computer should have no trouble doing it.
Thanx for all the info guys. of course the next question is inevitably; can I fit in any ATA or PC IDE drive in there? My G4 has ata66 but if I understand this correctly I could theoretically put an ATA100 in it even though it would drop to ata66 speed. is this correct?
<strong>My G4 has ata66 but if I understand this correctly I could theoretically put an ATA100 in it even though it would drop to ata66 speed. is this correct?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yes. As ATA66 is still faster than todays hard drives can deliver, you even won't feel much of a difference.
Comments
thanx for the reply.
I downloaded the spec for my machine from apple.com and I'm kinda confused. It says that there is room for:
One hard drive
One optical drive
3 x 3.5 inch hard drive expansion bays with one ATA drive preinstalled
support for up to 2 internal ata devices.
does my zip drive count as an internal ata device? if not then it sounds like I can add one more internal HD
thanx
spooky
However, if you wish to invest a bit more money (and live on the edge) you can actually install up to 7 total drives. To do this you will need a PCI ATA controller card and a pair of hard drive carriers like the one holding the HD you currently have. These HD carriers replace the single drive carriers that are forward of your current HD.
Blueflame
[ 01-26-2003: Message edited by: Blueflame ]</p>
You can have 4 drives through the built in ATA mechanism, unless Apple decided to put in more than 2 channels, which would be strange. So that's effectively 4 drives. Since you'll want a DVD, that's 3 HD's
But. . .
With the addition of an ATA controller card, you can put another 4 drives in there, or, with the addition of a dual-channel SCSI card, 30 drives. So basically, the G4 can have as many internal drives as you can fit in there. If you only use one of the PCI slots, you can probably rig up 4 more HD's in there. If the internals are close enough to the Yosemite (I have one, and have never really fooled with any tower newer than it) you can probably get away with as many as 7 or 8 internal HD's. Not really enough for a meaningful RAID 5, but certainly enough for a RAID 3. (or of course a 0 or 1.)
I used to have an 8500 with a lot of drives inside. They were just sort of floating inside the case. I currently have a 7500 with 3 internal HD's, a CD, and a MO-Drive (instead of floppy). I needed to augment the 150W power supply to support the drives. . .
The take-home message here is that the number of drives you can put in any machine is the number that will physically fit. Be careful, though, because on many of the newer machines you have to worry a lot about heat and airflow issues.
[ 01-27-2003: Message edited by: Splinemodel ]</p>
Yes, easily. Check the manual that came with your computer for step-by-step directions, starting on page 57, that include illustrations. Basically your stock 30GB hard drive sits in the bottom position of a two drive suppport carrier. The new hard drive goes in the top position.
It's quite easy to do yourself, anyone who has added ram to their computer should have no trouble doing it.
<strong>My G4 has ata66 but if I understand this correctly I could theoretically put an ATA100 in it even though it would drop to ata66 speed. is this correct?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yes. As ATA66 is still faster than todays hard drives can deliver, you even won't feel much of a difference.
[ 01-27-2003: Message edited by: GSpotter ]</p>