Internal HD compatibility for MDD/FW800 G4

edinla43edinla43
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I'm a newbie to the Mac world and working on my computer so please bear with me.



I've got a dual 1.42GHz MDD/FW800 G4 and I'd like to put a third hard drive in it. According to the manual, the front bay accepts only ATA/66 and SCSI drives. Since ATA/66 drives aren't made anymore, can I just put in an Ultra ATA/100? I figure I'll only get ATA/66 performance out of it but it's probably better and more reliable than buying a used or refurbished ATA/66.



Also, what's the difference between an ATA, Ultra ATA and EIDE Ultra ATA? Are all of those compatible with my G4?



Thanks for all the help.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    powerdocpowerdoc Posts: 8,123member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by EdinLA43

    I'm a newbie to the Mac world and working on my computer so please bear with me.



    I've got a dual 1.42GHz MDD/FW800 G4 and I'd like to put a third hard drive in it. According to the manual, the front bay accepts only ATA/66 and SCSI drives. Since ATA/66 drives aren't made anymore, can I just put in an Ultra ATA/100? I figure I'll only get ATA/66 performance out of it but it's probably better and more reliable than buying a used or refurbished ATA/66.



    Also, what's the difference between an ATA, Ultra ATA and EIDE Ultra ATA? Are all of those compatible with my G4?



    Thanks for all the help.



    An ATA 100 or an ATA 133 HD will work fine in your computer at the condition that you have acess to an ATA connector. Since you have two HD, connected to the more performant ATA channel, you have only acess to the slave connector of the ATA connector of your optical drive ( i dont think that they are 3 ATA controller in your computer, but i may be wrong). If you have acess to only this connector the performances will be terrible (you should better buy an ATA 133 PCI card controller).



    Otherwise you should, just buy an external Firewire HD.



    Anyway this question belong to the genius bar
  • Reply 2 of 5
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    or current hardware. (it's not really tech support, just a question about current hardware)



    for any drive info, www.xlr8yourmac.com is a great site, all sorts of compatibility info.
  • Reply 3 of 5
    edinla43edinla43 Posts: 43member
    Thanks for the good info. I found a used ATA/66 for the front bay so that would work for now. BTW, I went to xlr8yourmac but they aren't allowing any new people to register on their forums so I can't ask the question there. Most of the info is for the older Macs too.
  • Reply 4 of 5
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    you try this link?



    http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/drived....drivedb.lasso
  • Reply 5 of 5
    edinla43edinla43 Posts: 43member
    Thanks alcimedes. I did try that link but most of the stuff was for older Macs. Believe it or not I found some very good info on the Apple website Support Forums. Who'd of thought....
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