Mr. Fred Garvin

Q: Is a WD My Book Studio Desktop 3TB Hard Drive - FW 400/800, USB 2.0, Apple Time Machine Ready external hard drive bootable with my Powerbook G4 12” PPC 10.5.8?

Sirs or madams,

 

Is my Powerbook G4 12” PPC 10.5.8 'bootable' with a Western Digital My Book Studio Desktop 3TB Hard Drive - FW 400/800, USB 2.0, Apple Time Machine Ready external hard drive? Western Digital says officially no, but that it MIGHT be. I primarily live in China and bought a datastorage.com.cn Clearlight s400+ external hard drive enclosure with a 320GB disk drive a few years ago in China. My computer 'boots' fine from it, but since I got it in China all the paperwork, etc. is in Chinese; my Chinese isn't quite sufficient enough yet to read it. But there are references to something called "SATA", whatever that is.

My level of computer 'under the hood' knowledge is extremely low. I've been told that SATA has some relationship as to whether or not an external hard drive will boot a computer via the Firewire connection, something relating to 'interface', which I assume is how separate electronic gadgets work, or don't work, with each other.

I frankly don't care much for computers, the internet, or their related gadgets such as all these fancy phones. I longingly reminisce about the days when there were no such things. I use a computer & the internet because I have to, and unfortunately unlike a car where one doesn't have to have 'under the hood' knowledge to operate it, just knowledge of the steering wheel, brake, gas, etc., one seemingly must know a ridiculously great amount of 'under the hood' knowledge, including jargon, to operate computers.

So, please try to respond accordingly; thank you.

If this particular external hard drive won't, for certain, be bootable with my computer, can you advise as to what readily available brand/model would be in the 3TB range for a similar price, roughly $150ish??

Thank you very much.

PowerBook, Mac OS X (10.5.8), Powerbook 12" G4 PPC 10.5.8

Posted on May 30, 2013 6:13 PM

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Q: Is a WD My Book Studio Desktop 3TB Hard Drive - FW 400/800, USB 2.0, Apple Time Machine Ready external hard drive bootable with my ... more

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  • by BGreg,Helpful

    BGreg BGreg May 30, 2013 8:34 PM in response to Mr. Fred Garvin
    Level 6 (17,522 points)
    May 30, 2013 8:34 PM in response to Mr. Fred Garvin

    Serial ATA, or SATA, is the interface between the hard drive and the electronics in the external case that is used most commonly today, and in recent years.

     

    What you care about is that the hard drive case electronics support Firewire, as a PowerBook can only boot from a Firewire device. A PowerBook cannot boot from a USB device. As long as the hard drive is formatted correctly, it can be booted via a Firewire cable connection.

     

    That said, Western Digital external hard drive cases aren't known for stout case electronics. The hard drives inside are fine, however, there are examples where the case electronics have gone wonky. If the case comes with a 3 year warranty, that suggests some level of vendor confidence, however, if it only has a 1 year warranty, I might look for another solution. 

     

    If I were in the US, I would look at what OWC has for cases, and put my own Western Digital black drive (which usually have a 5 year warranty on the drive, 3 years on the case).  Many of OWC cases use Oxford chipsets, which work well with macs. Sorry, this section may be too under the covers .....

  • by a brody,Helpful

    a brody a brody May 31, 2013 8:57 AM in response to Mr. Fred Garvin
    Level 9 (66,781 points)
    Classic Mac OS
    May 31, 2013 8:57 AM in response to Mr. Fred Garvin

    I really like Newertech's Voyager Firewire mounting stations at OWC.  If you have a SATA hard drive, it will connect to your Mac.  Now 3 TB may not be immediately readable by 10.5.8.  Disk Utility though can format it to a readable format for the Mac.  Here's why.

  • by Mr. Fred Garvin,

    Mr. Fred Garvin Mr. Fred Garvin May 31, 2013 10:17 AM in response to BGreg
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 31, 2013 10:17 AM in response to BGreg

    Mr. BGreg,

     

    Thank you very much. "...under the covers...". I think you meant "under the hood", as in a car. I suppose "under the covers" would be man/woman interfacing, which I am familiar with!

    Actually, I'm back in the US now for a few months. I looked at the OWC web site, but only cusorily so far. I'll contact them; they appear knowledgeable about Apple computers.

     

    As to what you wrote about Western Digital's cases, I certainly wouldn't want a poor case. In China I had over time gotten 3 different external drive cases, 3 different Chinese brands, and separately bought Hitachi brand disk drives that 'simply' plugged into the cases. The drives are roughly 80GB 120GB and 320GB. The two larger ones are in cases that have Firewire plugs/jacks, which are bootable with my computer.

    So my understanding, as you wrote, has been that my Powerbook will boot from an external hard drive, provided it connects via Firewire, and the disk drive itself is 'normally' formatted with however my computer's own disk drive is formatted, (HFS OS extended (journaled) or some such??). So I was left wondering why Western Digital would indicate that even though their such-and-so external hard drive case/drive was Firewire capable, that they would then say it would not be bootable with my Apple PPC computer......

    Well, anyway, since you indicated Western Digital's case quality is suspect, then I'll try OWC and disregard Western Digital.

     

    Naturally, OWC should be able to address this, but your thoughts are also welcome. You mentioned the OWC cases are good with Apples. Would the disk drives OWC supplied with the cases also be of relatively dependable quality?? From my so far only cursory look at their web site they appear to have various options, including case only options where I could insert my own or their own drives. These sorts of options seem preferable, also along with quality components. 

     

    My Powerbook has been in use since 2004. In China I put in a 1.25 memory 'chip' in the bottom and installed the 10.5.8 operating system, which I understand are the maximum workable with my Powerbook. When I inquired with Chinese friends if my 1.33 GHz processor could be taken out and a more powerful one put in, they said it wasn't feasible because in my particular computer my processor was, as I recall them saying, soldered/'permanently' connected with the 'motherboard', that it would just be easier to get a new computer.

     

    I would be with them and they would nonchalantly open it completely up showing me all its tightly arranged 'innards' while at least giving it a good internal dust/dirt clean job for cheap lunch and a beer (& so much dirt/dust/lint there was!)...these are the same folks who build the things of course...fast moving hands with tiny screws flying everywhere, but everything 100% all back in place when finished.

     

    My Chinese friends also said that nowadays Apples are not as well built as when my Powerbook was built, that nowadays an Apple's life expectancy was considerably lower, so I fear that when I get a new computer that, though it will be more up-to-date and powerful, etc., it most probably won't last near as long as my Powerbook has. They also said that in an older computer the fan was often the first component to go bad, and if a new one couldn't be easily found, as they said was my case, then you're just left with having to get an entirely new computer.  Part of why I dislike electronic computer gadgets generally is that they are obsolete so quickly.

    So, anyway, thanks very much for your information.

  • by Mr. Fred Garvin,

    Mr. Fred Garvin Mr. Fred Garvin May 31, 2013 10:20 AM in response to Mr. Fred Garvin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 31, 2013 10:20 AM in response to Mr. Fred Garvin

    Oh, and Mr./Miss "A Brody",

    Thank you very much for your input. I'll look into it.

    Thank you.

  • by Allan Jones,

    Allan Jones Allan Jones May 31, 2013 10:26 AM in response to Mr. Fred Garvin
    Level 8 (35,039 points)
    iPad
    May 31, 2013 10:26 AM in response to Mr. Fred Garvin

    I vote for going with OWC drives, too. I had a WD Studio Mac Edition with the same port layout you describe but a smaller 750GB SATA drive. Was nothing but trouble on both my old G4 MDD and the iMac Quad-Cor i7 that replaced it. It stalled, locked up both computers, overheated---you name the problem and I got to 'enjoy" it.

     

    I stripped the bare drive out of the WD enclosure and placed it in an OWC enclosure; now I have 100 percent reliable function, and the fanless metal case is seldom above room temperature. Same internal drive--different and better enclosure with high-end electronic bits.

     

    This is a good time not to get too budget-constrained. The OWC drives are more expensive but their reputation around here is stellar. Remember, the reason those "name brand" externals you see on sale every week at the office superstores are so cheap is that they are, well, cheap.

     

    http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB

     

    A founder of a company I worked for had a saying, "Why not start with what your are going to end up with anyway?" He knew that buying cheap first and then finding that didn't work was more expensive in the long run.

  • by Mr. Fred Garvin,

    Mr. Fred Garvin Mr. Fred Garvin May 31, 2013 11:13 AM in response to Allan Jones
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 31, 2013 11:13 AM in response to Allan Jones

    Thank you Mr. Jones.

     

    "Why not start with what you are going to end up with anyway?", ah yes Grasshopper. "You get what you pay for." (usually!), "What goes around, comes around.", "Wherever you go, there you are.", "Be careful that when you see a tiger at the front door, a wolf is not coming in the back door.", etc.

    Yes, I'm disregarding Western Digital. I'll call the OWC folks on the phone and discuss what they can do.

    Thank you.

  • by BGreg,

    BGreg BGreg May 31, 2013 5:35 PM in response to Mr. Fred Garvin
    Level 6 (17,522 points)
    May 31, 2013 5:35 PM in response to Mr. Fred Garvin

    If I were wanting a 3TB external drive today, I would consider this OWC case.  The case is a Firewire 400 speed case ... you can get the same case with Firewire 800, which is coincidentally twice as expensive.  I'd put into it a Western DIgital Black 3.5" 3TB drive, which comes with a 5 year warranty.

     

    The drives that OWC puts in their cases are all name brand, and typically comes with a 3 year warranty.  If you aren't inclined to muck about putting your own hard drive in the case, I wouldn't hesitate to go with any of the OWC cases with installed hard drives. Again, I'd look for those with Oxford chip sets, just because I have several and they have all worked well with our PowerBooks.

  • by Mr. Fred Garvin,

    Mr. Fred Garvin Mr. Fred Garvin Jun 3, 2013 12:03 PM in response to BGreg
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 3, 2013 12:03 PM in response to BGreg

    Mr. BGreg,

    Thank you again.