Using G4 M8493 HDD in a Power Mac G4 Mirrored Drive Doors M5870

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Level 1

15 points

Using G4 M8493 HDD in a Power Mac G4 Mirrored Drive Doors M5870

Hi there

I have acquired an M5870 Power Mac G4 with 1.25GHz Dual CPU and mirrored door drives. It has no hard disk or memory!! According to the apple web site, the M8573LL/A (nearest match) comes as standard with 120GB Ultra ATA/100 7200rpm HDD, and uses PC2700 (333MHz) DDR RAM.

I have an old M8493 G4 733MHz Power Mac, which I believe has a blown PSU. I have checked its HDD and it has a 40Gb ATA/IDE IBM HDD. I presume that such an old ATA HDD won't be compatible with the more powerful G4 (as described above)?

Many thanks.

Pat

Posted on Nov 1, 2007 6:12 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 1, 2007 6:20 AM in response to Pat Askew

Hi

I'd expect the drive itself to work, as ATA is generally forwards and backwards compatible. I'm not sure whether any OS already installed on the drive would fully work though. It may depend on whether it was installed from discs originally shipped with the older G4, or from a newer retail copy. Also if the OS predates the newer G4, you may experience problems.

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Answer 2

japamac

Level 7

24,400 points

Nov 1, 2007 6:22 AM in response to Pat Askew

Hi-

No, the older ATA will work in the MDD. It will get you going until you can buy some nice, large new ATA drives for it.

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Answer 3

Pat Askew Author

Level 1

15 points

Nov 1, 2007 6:25 AM in response to Pat Askew

Thanks guys. The HDD on the older G4 is partitioned into two, with OS 9.2.2 on one and OS X Tiger on the other. I will give it a whirl and see what happens. I was just concerned I might fry the old HDD. Much appreciated! Cheers, Pat

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Answer 4

Pat Askew Author

Level 1

15 points

Nov 1, 2007 7:27 AM in response to Pat Askew

If I was to source another HDD for this newer Mac, and I found an ultra ATA/100 HDD, would be drive speed necessary HAVE to be 7200rpm? And I presume either a PC or Mac HDD would work, as long as it was Ultra ATA/100 (7200rpm) right? Many thanks.

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Answer 5

japamac

Level 7

24,400 points

Nov 1, 2007 7:39 AM in response to Pat Askew

Hi-

It doesn't have to be a 7200 rpm drive. It could be slower. But, the performance will also be slower.
A new HDD, of ATA/100/133, 7200RPM, 8-16mb cache specs will provide your machine with the latest, best performing HDD.
All major drive makers drives can be used, as a Mac "specific" drive is made when you format the drive in your machine.
You can also use older ATA/100, ATA/66 drives, 5400 RPM, with 0-2mb cache. The drives will be a bit slower, and have some performance hits.

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