IDE HDD on Mac

[idn]

HI, I know this is kinda off topic but I really cant be bothered to goto a mac forum, plus most people on here would know an answer :)

Anyway, Im thinking of getting a mac in a week, finally making the switch, so i get finally get evil windows of my pc and use it soley for linux, i have had enough of microsoft so i donjt care splashing out for a mac.

Anyway, I wont to know if i can use my ide hdd in my mac, its not a sata just a regular hdd, well, i think it is if i can find it, its buried in my room somewhere.

Cheers,

JOn

[DJ_Max]

Yep a normal ATA HD will work fine. If you have an iMac, the older, CRT models have a firmware restricted 120GB limit, which can be removed with some "tweaking".

It's funny you mention HD's, as I've just bought a ATA/133 HD from my iMac to replace the current ATA drive.

BTW, what mac do you have? So I can give you more info.

[idn]

I was going to go for a dual processor G5, but I don't know, I have to get a new computer and still undecided whether to get a mac or not.

I mean for me, the only reason i think I want to buy a mac instead of getting a PC is because it wont have windows, and no windows = no throwing pens at screen.

I will have hoary running as my main OS but I want to be able to run WinXP or Tiger just in case I break my linux install, which is normally not down to bad software but me being over curious: "What will happen if I delete this file..." etc

[DJ_Max]

I was going to go for a dual processor G5, but I don't know, I have to get a new computer and still undecided whether to get a mac or not.

I mean for me, the only reason i think I want to buy a mac instead of getting a PC is because it wont have windows, and no windows = no throwing pens at screen.

I will have hoary running as my main OS but I want to be able to run WinXP or Tiger just in case I break my linux install, which is normally not down to bad software but me being over curious: "What will happen if I delete this file..." etc
heh, I know what you mean, but it's always good to experiment, you gain experience. I would go with the PowerMac, but thats just me. What do you normally do? If you like to play a lot of commercial PC games, a mac might not be the best choice.

Regards

[idn]

Well I would probably play alot of games on it, mainly Counter Strike Source :), but I used a Mac for the first time since I had one when I was 12 and I really enjoyed using it so much over windows, although not as much as Linux :)

But I mean the performance drop in playing games would be justified by the superior usability.

How in Hoary on a mac? Is it as stable as on PC? Also, what is the package support like for it? O mainly use Gaim, Epiphany, giFT, vlc, evolution, and rythmbox so if they are all there I would be happy.

[DJ_Max]

Yeah, macs are great and run forever. Everything you mentioned is in the repositories, except I've never heard of giFT, I have to look for it. If you used Ubuntu on a PC, it works the same, no difference in the package system.

In games, there are more open source games that run on multiple architectures, such as Nexuiz, or Wesnoth. So gaming is taking a step forward.

Stability is no issue on my iMac G3 400MHZ.

[PeteLM]

Yes Provided the Mac uses IDE then you can use the hard drive from your PC. Some things to be aware of though, just by dropping an ATA 133 HD into an ATA 33 bus (most early iMacs - tray loaders), or the Ultra ATA 66 PowerMac G3's and early G4's) does not mean that you will necessarily notice a speed bump, since the Hard drive will automatically drop it's ATA speed to the slower motherboard speeds). Most folk do notice a better data throughput, since when I dropped a 20GB Seagate Baraccuda 7200rpm ATA66 from my Bintel box into my iMac, I did notice a slight difference in performance over the original 4GB WD 5400rpm ATA33 drive that came with the iMac 233 Rev A with a NewerTech G3 466 Processor Upgrade.

If you get a G3/G4 Powermac (I have a G3 450 and a G4 Digital Audio 533) you can get ATA Hard Drive Controller PCI cards that will allow you to use your ATA 133 at full speed and also bypass the 120GB limit (think it is actuallyy 132GB, but noone makes drives this size, so the next one down is 120GB). A pseudo solution I used to get round the 120GB limit was to use 2 hard drives that are both under the limit, instead of buying a single 250GB drive.

[pvz]

Yep a normal ATA HD will work fine. If you have an iMac, the older, CRT models have a firmware restricted 120GB limit, which can be removed with some "tweaking".


Do you have some more info on that "tweaking" ? The other day I tried to put a 200 GB disk in my iMac that I use as a jukebox, and I ran into the disk size limitation.. I don't think it is possible to put a Hard Drive Controller PCI card or a second drive in my G3 600 Mhz iMac. Getting around this limit would be very nice.

[DJ_Max]

Do you have some more info on that "tweaking" ? The other day I tried to put a 200 GB disk in my iMac that I use as a jukebox, and I ran into the disk size limitation.. I don't think it is possible to put a Hard Drive Controller PCI card or a second drive in my G3 600 Mhz iMac. Getting around this limit would be very nice.
Take a look at this
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86178

There's another website to look at, but I forgot the link, I'll try to find it. The Apple boards are very active, try to search for it or make a thread.

http://discussions.info.apple.com/