Dr Scrubbington

Q: iMac G3 not recognizing new hard drive?

So I recently bought an iMac G3 (Tray-loading, 1999, M4984, 333MHz) from Ebay. It's in very good condition and it ran perfectly when I got it. However, I decided to upgrade the hard drive. I put in a Hitachi Deskstar 60GB drive, but the only problem is, when I try to install OS X 10.3, it opens the installer, but the hard drive is not recognized! It doesn't show up in the "Select Destination" section, nor the Disk Utility. It's not detecting it at all. I don't see how this hard drive can be dead as it is in nearly new condition. I've tried resetting the PRAM, no luck. The iMac was running OS 8.6 before the upgrade, so do I have to install OS 9 before? Or is this drive just not compatible with the iMac G3? Here is a link to the hard drive so you can determine:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/111881767174?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STR K%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

All help is appreciated.

iMac, Mac OS 8.6 or Earlier

Posted on Mar 27, 2016 1:34 PM

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Q: iMac G3 not recognizing new hard drive?

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  • by Allan Jones,

    Allan Jones Allan Jones Mar 27, 2016 2:32 PM in response to Dr Scrubbington
    Level 8 (35,022 points)
    iPad
    Mar 27, 2016 2:32 PM in response to Dr Scrubbington

    Welcome good Doctor!

     

    PATA hard drives have jumpers that control how the computer "sees" the drive. A lot of drives shipped preset for "Cable Select" which is not appropriate to a G3 iMac. Use "Master" instaed.

     

    This support document shows the settings:

     

    http://eshop.macsales.com/Tech/manuals/idehdsettings/IBM72.pdf

     

    Hitachi bought IBM drives so the settings should be the same for yours as in the document. Also, many brands of drives have the jumper positions shown on the drive label.

  • by Dr Scrubbington,

    Dr Scrubbington Dr Scrubbington Mar 27, 2016 4:52 PM in response to Allan Jones
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 27, 2016 4:52 PM in response to Allan Jones

    Hello there, I tried setting the jumpers to the Master positions, but still no luck. I tried resetting the PRAM again and everything, but the drive is still undetected. Does that mean it's just broken? I don't see what else could be causing it to not detect...

  • by Dr Scrubbington,

    Dr Scrubbington Dr Scrubbington Mar 28, 2016 5:50 AM in response to Allan Jones
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 28, 2016 5:50 AM in response to Allan Jones

    Any other ideas?

  • by Kenichi Watanabe,

    Kenichi Watanabe Kenichi Watanabe Mar 28, 2016 6:37 AM in response to Dr Scrubbington
    Level 8 (38,248 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 28, 2016 6:37 AM in response to Dr Scrubbington

    What is your primary computer, the one you are using to post here?  Is it a Mac?  If so, do you have a away to connect that hard drive to that more recent Mac, using an external drive enclosure, or a USB to IDE/ATA adapter like this

     

    http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/U3NVSPATA/

     

    You could then test it, and set it up with the appropriate initialization to work in that old iMac.  There are some peculiarities for using a hard drive with a tray-loader iMac G3.  For example, to work properly in a tray-loader iMac G3, a hard drive larger than 8GB needs to be partitioned so that the first partition fits within the first 8GB of drive space (7.5GB is a safe setting to use).  This is a limitation of the IDE controller used in that iMac; only the first 8GB of drive space is accessible during the startup sequence.  Install the OS on that first partition.  After startup (when the full OS takes over), the rest of the drive is accessible, so the second partition can be the rest of the drive space (up to 128GB total). 

     

    You should be able to see the drive in Disk Utility, when you start up from the 10.3 installation disc.  But maybe there is something about its current setup, like partition scheme, that the old version of Disk Utility cannot handle.  The eBay description sounds like the drive was tested on a Windows PC, so it is currently set up for Windows.  If you can "reinitialize" it on a more recent Mac, it should be set up with Scheme set to Apple Partition Map (not the default GUID Partition Table).  Format should be the default OS X Extended (Journaled)

     

    If you are able to get the drive recognized by the 10.3 installation disc Disk Utility, you can then re-partition it there, so that the first partition is about 7.5GB.  You should do this with the old Disk Utility, if you want to be able to boot the iMac directly into Mac OS 9 (and earlier), because you need to install the Mac OS 9 driver.  Using Disk Utility on a more recent Mac does not install the Mac OS 9 driver, making the drive not accessible to Mac OS 9 (and earlier).

  • by Dr Scrubbington,

    Dr Scrubbington Dr Scrubbington Mar 28, 2016 11:20 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 28, 2016 11:20 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

    My main computer is a Windows laptop. What connectors or adapters would I need to buy to program it to a Mac-compatible format? Would the one you listed work for that? Also, you do not seem to understand the problem. Disk Utility is not seeing the drive at all. No option whatsoever appears for it.

  • by Dr Scrubbington,

    Dr Scrubbington Dr Scrubbington Mar 28, 2016 1:58 PM in response to Kenichi Watanabe
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 28, 2016 1:58 PM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

    I think the drive is just dead. I don't know how, but it's really my best guess at this point. I've ordered a new drive on Ebay, it should arrive Saturday. I'll put it in and test it once it comes.

  • by Kenichi Watanabe,

    Kenichi Watanabe Kenichi Watanabe Mar 28, 2016 5:42 PM in response to Dr Scrubbington
    Level 8 (38,248 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 28, 2016 5:42 PM in response to Dr Scrubbington

    Also, you do not seem to understand the problem. Disk Utility is not seeing the drive at all.

    Which is why you should test the drive elsewhere, to confirm it works.  A tray-loader iMac G3 is from before this century.  It's not going to work with everything you throw at it.  If you can confirm the drive works properly with your more modern PC, then figure out why Disk Utility does not see it.

     

    An adapter like the one I linked to should work with a Windows PC.  You can also buy an inexpensive enclosure that is for 3.5-inch IDE drives.